Wallabies hopeful reveals Joe Schmidt’s honest admission about Olympics ‘pinnacle’ as speedster sets sight on medal
Corey Toole in action for the Brumbies and Australia's sevens team.
Australia sevens star Corey Toole is hoping his return to the shortened version of the game will help the team to give a good account of themselves at the Olympic Games in Paris this week.
Toole was one of the Brumbies’ stars during their Super Rugby Pacific campaign and it was his exploits as a sevens player, particularly his performances in helping Australia to lift the world series title during the 2021/22 season, which resulted in him being recruited by the Canberra-based outfit.
He hit the ground running at Super Rugby level and has already scored 17 tries over two campaigns in that competition, and his impressive form led to him being named as a possible bolter in Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt‘s squad.
Ready to shine at the Olympics
Toole revealed that it was a conversation with Schmidt which convinced him to return to Australia’s sevens programme and he is determined to make a favourable impression at the Olympics.
“I had a chat with Joe (Schmidt) a couple of weeks ago and he said the Olympics is the pinnacle of rugby this year. It was a good conversation so I’m really excited to be amongst it and heading to Paris,” the 24-year-old told the media.
“Hopefully we can put a good performance out there and bring back a medal, play some good footy over there.
“We’ve got a great bunch of boys out here and coaching staff that helped me along the way. Obviously haven’t played in a while but with the coaches and players around me, hopefully I can hit the ground running over there.
“The 2021/22 season was unreal and it was a quite successful year in winning the world series. I think most of the boys have stuck around for the last three years since then and they’re a good group and hopefully we can connect well in Paris.”
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With the Olympics men’s sevens tournament taking place from Wednesday July 24 to Saturday July 27, Toole could still come into consideration for the Wallabies’ Rugby Championship squad – especially since Filipo Daugunu is set to be suspended after he was red carded against Georgia on Saturday – but he is fully focused on doing well for Australia in Paris.
“It’s a possibility but there’s no guarantees. We’ll just have to wait and see,” said Toole.
“My full focus is on the Olympics and the Sevens team.”
Wallabies sevens skipper Nick Malouf is delighted that Toole is back for the Olympics and believes his speed could be a great attacking weapon at the Olympics.
‘Slotted back in perfectly’
“We saw what Corey could do on the Sevens field for us in the year we won in 2021/22 and been seeing plenty of glimpses of that throughout Super Rugby and he’s slotted back in perfectly,” Malouf told Rugby Australia’s official website.
“He’s such a weapon with his speed so we’ve been trying to get him in positions where he can unlock that for us. It’s as much about us getting reacquainted with his style of play as it is about him with us so the more we can give him opportunities to use his pace the better.”
