BEN Toolis is by no means the first player to come from the antipodes to represent Scotland, but the lock forward seems to be looking to find a way of combining all elements of his identity to find what it takes to make history at BT Murrayfield this weekend.
In the past there has been a tendency among imported players to play down the relevance of their background, some choosing to focus on their heritage while others, most notably Nathan Hines, would explain that his commitment, which could never be questioned when he pulled on a Scotland shirt, was essentially to the team-mates around him.
Thankfully the majority in Scotland seem to have moved on since the days when self-flagellation was a characteristic in these matters, with supporters and even players protesting about those they deemed insufficiently ‘Scottish’ to be selected ahead of inferior homegrown players.
To quibble about the selection of the likes of Toolis, Tommy Seymour, Cornell du Preez or Willem Nel, who were born overseas, or for that matter the half a dozen or so English-born players who will be in the Scotland squad this weekend, would be as ludicrous as it has always been given Scotland’s rugby resources.
That only becomes more evident when we are reminded that the world’s greatest team is expected to have Fijian-born winger Waisale Naholo, scorer of two of their tries in Saturday’s defeat of France, Samoan-born prop Nepo Laulala and Tongan-born flanker Vala Fifita in their line-up when they take the field on Saturday.
The more intelligent approach is that espoused by Toolis who simply wants to tap into everything he can for his and his colleagues’ benefit, which includes having grown up in a culture in which New Zealanders, even the All Blacks, were not seen as unbeatable.
Toolis was, after all born in Brisbane in the spring of 1992, just a few months after the Wallabies had taken the World Cup from New Zealand and as a seven-year-old he watched them do it again.
They have beaten them a dozen times since, so for all that he has switched personal allegiance, the lad knows what he has in his sporting DNA.
“Growing up in Oz you always have that next door neighbour enemy lines I guess and if that’s what’s going to help me get into the right mindset I’ll definitely bring that,” he said. “I think it will help us as a team if I’m involved and 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 as well, so yes, I’m excited.”
Not that he is suggesting it is anything other than the ultimate challenge, noting that even the Aussies have found it harder to beat their trans-Tasman rivals in recent years. However, that only seems to have helped heighten his understanding of what a win on Saturday would mean.
“The fact that I’ve been living here in Scotland and playing for them now, I have an understanding of how important it is that we want to win the game and make history as well, so that’s brought a new edge to my mindset,” Toolis explained.
“My heritage is here and obviously I’m Scottish now. I guess at the back of my mind I have that enemy growing up, but now with the mindset living here, being part of the boys and part of the group we know what we want to do and I think that’s taken over from what I’m used to, so that’s my mentality at the moment.”
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