Toole-time in Cape Town for Wallabies pace merchant

Corey Toole has waited a while for his Wallabies debut but finally gets his chance to showcase his blinding pace on Saturday when Australia look to back up their stunning upset of the Springboks in last week's Rugby Championship opener.

A fractured jaw suffered by Dylan Pietsch in the 38-22 win at Ellis Park opened the door for Australian rugby's quickest man, who will start on the left wing more than a year after being first called in to a Wallabies squad.    

"It's just excitement," the 25-year-old said of his selection to win his first cap in Cape Town on Thursday.

"I've been around the squad for a little while now, so I've been quite excited for a little while now.

"Obviously, I wanted to play last year but didn't get the opportunity. But the longer you're amongst the squad, and the more training you do, you definitely get a lot more confidence out of that."

Toole's hopes of making his test debut last year were in part stymied by his release back to the Australia sevens squad for the Paris Olympics.

He had been a standout for Australia in the Sevens World series in the 2021-22 season before moving to Super Rugby with the ACT Brumbies in 2023.

Toole, who hits speeds of 10.2 metres a second at full pelt, has scored 28 tries in 43 appearances for the Brumbies and is convinced he is ready for the step up to test rugby. 

"It's quite a different game to sevens," Toole explained. "There's not that much space, and there's a lot bigger guys ... on the field, so making those tackles is always gonna be on bigger guys.

"It's really a completely different game, but I've had three years at the Brumbies now, so I have a lot of confidence and belief (that) I can go out there and do a job this weekend." 

Coach Joe Schmidt said Toole had done