New Scot Toolis keen to take on his old enemies
For Ben Toolis, growing up in Brisbane meant that the All Blacks were the enemy. It is a facet of his sporting DNA which will, says the 6ft 7in lock who qualifies for Scotland through his Carluke-raised mother Linda, sharpen his focus when he steps out to face the haka at Murrayfield on Saturday.
“Growing up in Oz, you always have that next-door-neighbour-enemy line,” he said. “If that’s what’s going to help me get into the right mindset against the All Blacks, I’ll definitely bring that. I think it will help us as a team if I’m involved because deep down there’s always that aggressive edge in wanting to beat them in anything. Even when I was playing other sports, playing against New Zealand you always wanted to get one up on them.”
Before throwing in his lot with Scotland when he and brother Alex joined Edinburgh in 2013, the 25-year-old had played for the Australian National Rugby Academy in the Pacific Nations Cup, a competition which also included the Junior All Blacks. He also represented Australia Under-18 and Under-20 at volleyball, a sport in which New Zealand are main regional rivals.
Toolis concedes that his regular sporting contact with Kiwis – and Australia’s record of regular wins over them – has removed some of the mystique, and that his aim now is to help Scotland follow Ireland’s example and record the first win over the All Blacks in their history.
“There are chinks in their armour that we can exploit, and there will always be areas of the game where we can do damage,” he said. “They’ve lost to a few teams – Australia beat them, South Africa came close, and Ireland beat them last year for the first time – so it’s always at the back of your mind, that ‘what if?’ If we could win for the first time that would be very special.”
Toolis, who made his first Murrayfield start against Samoa last week, said that he views himself as a fully naturalised Scot, and now fully understands how much it would mean to the nation to beat the All Blacks after drawing with them twice, 0-0 in 1964 and 25-25 in 1983, when only Peter Dods’s missed final-kick touchline conversion denied Scotland victory.
“I now have an understanding of how important it is that we win this game and make history,” he said, “so that’s brought a new edge to my mindset. My heritage is here and obviously I’m Scottish now, and although at the back of my mind the All Blacks were that enemy [when I was] growing up, my mentality has changed.”