Rugby Confidential: Wallabies to unleash Toomua on Springboks, Sunwolves’ touching gesture
RUGBY Confidential: Nick Phipps has been reappointed as one of the Waratahs’ team leaders and a former Wallaby returns for the Rugby Championships.
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MATT Toomua could be back in a Wallabies jersey by September.
In a major boost for Australia’s playmaking stocks, Toomua is returning home and is expected to sign a deal with Melbourne Rebels through to the end of 2021.
As part of release negotiations with his contracted club Leicester, Toomua is hoping to be available for games against South Africa and Argentina later in The Rugby Championship before returning to play in England.
Toomua’s return will fix a major concern for the Wallabies ahead of next year’s World Cup; five-eighth options beyond Bernard Foley.
The 28-year-old Toomua is finalising a deal with the Rebels that could also see him turn out for the Melbourne club late next Super Rugby season.
Toomua and his cricket star wife Ellyse Perry have been juggling a long distance relationship, with both visiting each other in their respective off seasons, but will settle in Melbourne for the next few years.
Toomua’s Leicester teammate Tatafu Polota-Nau will also return for The Rugby Championship but he will be available for the opening two Bledisloe Cup games on August 18 (Sydney) and August 25 (Auckland) before he heads back to England.
THE GREAT ES-SPEIGHT
HENRY Speight is being chased by Irish club Ulster for a short-term deal over the summer.
The Brumbies winger was not picked in the Wallabies team for the three Tests against Ireland in June by Michael Cheika, and seems to have fallen in the pecking order with Dane Haylett-Petty and Marika Koroibete the preferred starters and Reece Hodge a versatile option off the bench.
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It’s understood the Brumbies are considering allowing Speight to take up a short-term stint before returning to them in January but an agreement is not finalised.
This would be contingent on Speight not being required for Wallabies duty on the spring tour.
SUNWOLVES FOLLOW BLUE SAMURAI
JAPAN’S football team earned global praise for cleaning their dressing room spotless after exiting the World Cup in Russia, and their Super Rugby side is equally as courteous.
This was how the Sunwolves left their Allianz Stadium dressing room after playing their first match in Sydney against NSW Waratahs last Saturday.
“The reason we clean up like we do is because we respect the spaces that we use and aim to keep things as tidy or tidier than we found them,” assistant team manager James Kumate told Rugby Confidential.
“There’s a lot of mutual respect in rugby and it’s just one of the ways we show that.”
SCG Trust cleaning staff have become accustomed to Japanese sports fans making their lives easier; when they’ve hosted teams from Japan against Sydney FC as part of the Asian Champions League, the visiting supporters ask for empty bin bags, pick up their own rubbish and stack all the bags at the end of the aisles.
But to see that extend to the rugby players was doubly pleasing.
“Our cleaning team got a pleasant surprise when they entered the Sunwolves rooms, which looked as if they hadn’t been used at all,” a Trust spokesman said.
“We could have used their help out in the seating bowl as well given the very healthy crowd that showed up to cheer on the Waratahs.”
TAH FORGIVEN FOR UDDER MADNESS
NICK Phipps has been reappointed as one of the Waratahs’ team leaders after management decided he been punished enough for urinating in a Sydney bar on his buck’s night two months ago.
Phipps was not only lampooned by all and sundry after he was kicked out of the Woollahra Hotel on April 21 after deciding to take a leak on the bar while dressed as cow but he was also heavily penalised by the clearly unimpressed Waratahs.
They slapped him with a $4000 fine and stripped him of his role as club captain. But after almost two months, he was quietly reinstated as off-field skipper before last weekend’s big win over the Sunwolves.
“He probably had his best performance of the year against the Sunwolves,” Waratahs coach Daryl Gibson said. “We felt he’d served his punishment and the timing was right for him to come back and just in the last two weeks having him fully reinstated in that position has been a real bonus for the team.”
HOOPER’S ON THE RUN FOR RETURN
WARATAHS captain Michael Hooper is making steady progress as he races to get back on the field after injuring his hamstring in last month’s series against Ireland.
Although no timetable has been set for his return, he resumed running at a team training session on Thursday and is getting better with every day.
“He’s running for the first time. And that’s really positive. He’s very energised by that. He’s desperate to try and make the final series and he’s doing everything he can,” Gibson said.
“He’s still got a long way to go. Running today was very positive for him and who knows where it will end up but he’s certainly doing everything he can.”
QUADE TROLLED BY BOND BOYS
WITH the scores at 24-all last Saturday, Souths’ Quade Cooper stepped up on full-time for a possible matchwinning conversion from the sideline.
The high-spirited Bond University crowd played it beautifully with a chorus of “Hamish Stewart, Hamish Stewart, Hamish Stewart” as Cooper took his stance and skewed the kick right.
Stewart is the Bond product who is filling the Reds’ No.10 jersey that Cooper once called his own.
A QUIRKY ENGAGEMENT
CONGRATULATIONS to Australian sevens women’s star Alicia Quirk and her partner, Brumbies halfback Matt Lucas, on their engagement.
The couple announced their exciting news on social media last week.
Quirk will head to San Francisco this weekend with the rest of the sevens squad for the World Cup from July 21-23.
HOLLAND EYES OLYMPICS
MEN’S captain Lewis Holland has inked a new deal with the sevens program despite approaches from the Brumbies.
The new contract has seen Holland re-sign until the end of the 2020 Olympics, which has likely ended his prospects of switching to XVs given he’ll be 28 by the time the following Super Rugby season rolls around.
KYLIE’S CUZ DRIVING TAHS’ LOCO-MOTION
KYLIE Minogue’s 17-year-old cousin will steer the NSW II side in the Australian Schools Rugby Championship finals on Saturday against NSW I.
Matt Minogue will start at No.10 in the decider at Riverview on Saturday, going head-to-head with NSW I five-eighth Tane Edmed - son of Balmain Tigers forward Steve Edmed.
The match will be streamed on rugby.com.au.
FITTING END FOR GREAT RIVALS
THE grudge derby between Manly and Warringah finished in a 20-all draw last Saturday in front of a packed Rat Park - the first draw between the clubs since they started contesting the Bayfield Cup.
In a thrilling game, Manly raced to a 17-3 lead before Warringah stormed back to be up 20-17.
A late penalty goal by Manly evened the score, and both teams ran the ball desperately back and forth before the siren sounded.
Rats veteran Josh Holmes brought up 150 first grade games for the club in the encounter.
THE PEOPLES’ CHAMP
TICKETS for the Waratahs’ quarter-final at Allianz Stadium next week will be the same price as regular season ones.
The Tahs will keep costs the same as they seek to get a big home crowd for their first playoff match in three seasons.
Tickets go on sale on Friday.
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