No place like home as Toolis bids to kick-start his Scots career
BEN TOOLIS freely admits it will be a ‘surreal’ experience if he reignites his Scotland career in his Australian homeland this summer.
The 6ft 7in Edinburgh forward, who was born in Brisbane, has been selected as part of Gregor Townsend’s summer touring squad which will take on Italy in Singapore on June 10, the Wallabies in Sydney on June 17 and Fiji in Suva the following week.
And it represents a major opportunity for the 25-year-old to re-establish himself after he received a yellow card in his one and only appearance for Scotland in a humiliating Six Nations defeat to the Azzurri in 2015.
‘I’m excited about it,’ said Toolis. ‘I’m pleased to be a part of it. Obviously, it’s Gregor’s first squad in and I’m happy with the way I’ve been playing, so I’m proud to be part of his first squad.
‘I’m looking forward to the tour, especially going to the southern hemisphere, which is where I was born and bred.
‘It will be strange but also very special. I grew up wanting to play for the Wallabies, but my second option was to come over here with my strong Scottish heritage.
‘I’m happy to wear the thistle and, if it happens, playing against the Wallabies would be surreal for me. But it would be special and I’d definitely give everything I could to try and beat those guys.’
Toolis’s hopes of playing rugby for Australia ended at national academy level, although he did pull on the green and gold as an age-grade volleyball international.
Word of his Scottish ancestry — through Carluke-born mother Linda — reached Murrayfield via the SRU’s director of rugby Scott Johnson, and Toolis and twin Alex were offered the chance to turn pro here in 2013.
They worked their way into Edinburgh’s first team and, while Alex has returned to Australia, Ben is now back in the navy blue preparing for his first tour.
He knows a few of his potential opponents well, having attended Marist College in Brisbane with Wallabies scrum-half Nick Frisby, as well as playing with Rory Arnold and Fijian-born Samu Kerevi in academy and club rugby.
He has little idea what to expect when he returns Down Under but hopes it is less spiky than Dan Parks’ reception on his first Scotland tour when he was labelled an Aussie reject by local media.
Toolis admitted: ‘I don’t know what it will be like. When Australia were over for the autumn Tests, they knew I was in and around the squad and hoping to get a chance in the summer. I think it will be a friendly reaction and, hopefully, we have a good game.’
They say international debuts are over in a flash, but Toolis’s took the biscuit as the moment he had waited for since first arriving in Scotland came and went in precisely nine minutes.
He replaced Tim Swinson for the last ten minutes in a 2015 Murrayfield encounter that became a siege as Italy sensed victory at 19-15 down. Toolis and fellow debutant Hamish Watson were shown yellow cards for infringements close to the Scottish line as the Azzurri went on to triumph.
Since then, Jonny Gray has upped the ante in the boiler-room and Toolis is delighted just to be back in the mix, even before Richie Gray was ruled out injured.
‘It was a frustrating first cap for me, but you can’t control that,’ said Toolis. ‘Worse things have happened, stranger things have happened, and there are boys who have gone on to make 100 caps for Scotland after getting their second cap a year or two later.
‘It didn’t really stress me out. I knew I was young and needed to keep improving to get that chance again. I’ve been in the squad a fair few times even if I haven’t got that second cap yet.’
Toolis’s form for Edinburgh this season has been exceptional considering the club’s poor record. He has been the standout forward, with his Guinness Pro12 tally of 140 line-outs won almost double the next lock’s while, among a group of flankers, he is second top tackler in the league.
It may be a strange feeling to be trying to resurrect his Scotland career in the land of his birth, but the only surprise next month would be if Toolis didn’t collect his second cap and provide a timely reminder that Scotland has real strength in depth in the second row.