Toomua’s aiming for new reign of terror
MATT Toomua is one of Leicester’s new summer signings in all but name and he is determined to repay the faith the club has shown in him over the past year.
The Australian star arrived in the East Midlands as a marquee signing last September but two games into his Tigers’ career he ruptured his posterior cruciate ligament against Racing 92 in the Champions Cup and missed the remainder of the season.
Back fit and firing, Toomua has already doubled his appearance tally by playing in two preseason games against Treviso and Ospreys and he is looking to make it three on the bounce against historic rivals Bath today as the Premiership season kicks off.
“The past few weeks have been Tigers debut No.2 for me,” he told The Rugby Paper. “I was pretty nervous coming back against Treviso but I’m really excited to get back playing.
“I didn’t have the greatest of debuts for Leicester, picking up a yellow card against Glasgow and injuring Finn Russell in my first game – and then I did my knee the following week against Racing 92.
“I feel indebted to the club to be honest because for the past ten months I’ve been on the books but I was on the sidelines not able to play. Leicester signed me to play rugby and I’m now looking to getting out there and playing some footy.
“I was pushing to come back towards the end of last season but we had a hiccup and I had to have a minor surgery to clean up my knee.
“Thinking back, it may be a silver lining because it gave me more time to be ready and I’m going into the season with a full preseason behind me.
“I caught myself watching the game a lot in the 40 minutes I played against Treviso but I managed to get involved more against the Ospreys. I was quite happy with my performance but there are plenty of things to work on.”
Tigers fans will expect to see fireworks from the midfield partnership with both Toomua and Manu Tuilagi being fit again and if that wasn’t enough to whet their appetite there are also the arrivals of George Ford and Jonny May.
Given the calibre of players around him, Toomua admits feeling like he did in the Wallabies camp but he is fully aware reputations will count for nothing and all will need to be at their best following a difficult season on and off the field.
He added: “All in all it wasn’t a great season for me and the club with all the changes that happened coaching-wise.
“But if anything it showed how resilient this club was and how everyone pulled together to reach the Premiership semifinal.
“It doesn’t guarantee anything but it’s nice to know we have the resilience to overcome tough times. Hopefully we won’t have to put up with so much stuff that went on last year.
“George and Jonny have been great since joining and to an extent Manu is probably a new player, too. It feels like a Test team in the sense that you know the players alongside you are good.
“You don’t have to worry about them and you can just focus on your role. There’s a lot of quality in that backline but we’ve only played a couple of games together so I don’t want to get too carried away and say we’re going to win the Premiership.
“We had a good preseason but we know we have a difficult game against Bath. Everyone was a bit excited when the fixtures were released.
“We’re looking to get out there and get going.”