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Australia Under-20 flyhalf Matt Toomua is heading to England to join the Qantas Wallabies touring party after being called up by coach Robbie Deans as cover for the squad’s injured vice captain Berrick Barnes.
No decision has yet been made on Barnes’ future involvement in the Spring Tour after he damaged his left ankle at training in Tokyo on Thursday, with an MRI scan this afternoon proving inconclusive. However, he is definitely unavailable for next week’s midweek tour match.
As a result, Toomua, who left for the United Kingdom tonight, has been added to the touring group ahead of Tuesday night’s midweek match against English Premiership club Gloucester at the Kingsholm Ground in Gloucester. His presence, which will give Deans 34 available players to select from for the midweek match, will allow the coach to minimise the involvement in that match of members of the Test squad involved in tomorrow night’s fourth Bledisloe Cup Test against New Zealand at the National Stadium in Tokyo.
“This is a great development opportunity for Matt, as it is for his Brumbies team-mate Tyrone Smith, who joined us earlier in the week,” Deans says.
“We had always planned to restrict the involvement of the Test playing staff in this match as much as we could, to allow those individuals to recover from the match in Tokyo on the Saturday. By having 19 players available to us who didn’t start in Tokyo, we can ensure those who started against the All Blacks can recover properly, while providing a valuable development opportunity to a wider group of players at Gloucester, before we then settle on a combination for the Cook Cup Test against England the following weekend at Twickenham.”
Three players who start in tomorrow night’s Test match in Tokyo will be required for the match night 22 at Gloucester. Deans says these players will only be named on the bench.
The Qantas Wallabies side to play Gloucester will be named on Monday morning (England time). The Wallabies are due to arrive in London on Sunday afternoon, after departing from Japan earlier that morning.
Toomua has become the second member of the Brumbies to be added to the touring party this week, after midfield back Tyrone Smith was added to the group as replacement for NSW Waratahs back Rob Horne, who tore his hamstring at training.
The 19-year-old Brumbies pivot, who represented his country at the Under-20 Rugby World Cup in Japan earlier in the year, is just back from a short stint playing for Western Province in South Africa’s Currie Cup provincial competition.
Earlier this year, he featured in eight matches for the Brumbies senior squad during the 2009 Investec Super 14. This included starts at flyhalf in each of the team’s last four matches. Toomua has played 12 Super rugby matches for the Brumbies thus far in his career.
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