Matthew Papali'i To’omua (born 2 January 1990) is an Australian

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

professional player who has played over 35 times for since 2013. He plays for the

Melbourne Rebels The Melbourne Rebels is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Melbourne. They made their debut in SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. They were the first privately owned professional rugby union team in Australia, until 2017 ...

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

and his usual position is at

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

inside centre In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

. He has previously played for the

Brumbies The ACT Brumbies (known from 2005–2022 as simply the Brumbies) is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), The team competes in Super Rugby and named for the brumby, feral horses whi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and for

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

in England's

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

Early life

To'omua was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

to a Samoan father and a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

mother of European origin. To'omua moved to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

where he played his junior football with Logan City and Logan Brothers before attending

Brisbane State High School , motto_translation = Knowledge is Power , city = South Brisbane , state = Queensland , country = Australia , coordinates = , type = Public, selective, co-educational, secondary, ...

. In 2006 he guided the Queensland II side to their maiden Australian National Schools Championship title, scoring all of his side's points in their 14–13 final win over NSW II in Sydney. Competing against the likes of older flyhalves

Kurtley Beale Kurtley James Beale (born 6 January 1989) is an Australian professional rugby union representative player who has made over 90 national representative appearances in a ten-year playing career at the world-class level. He is of Aboriginal desce ...

(NSW) and Queensland's

Quade Cooper Quade Santini Cooper (born 5 April 1988) is a professional rugby union player and occasional boxer. Although born in New Zealand, he has represented Australia in rugby at international level. He currently plays for Hanazono Liners in Japan, ...

, To'omua was selected in the Australia A side that defeated the Tongan Under 18s, 22–18. Two months later, he captained Queensland Red to the finals of the National Under 16 Championship in Sydney.

Career

To'omua is a fly-half who headed to

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

as a potential long-term playmaker prospect for the two-time Super Rugby champions. To'omua is a product of Brisbane State High School. In July 2007 To'omua won his second Australian Schools Championship, guiding Queensland I to a come-from-behind 23–17 win over NSW I in Canberra. His performance during the tournament earned him the pivot's role for the Australian Schoolboys where he helped guide the side to wins over the England Under 18s (11–3), Samoan Schools (50–9) and a 23–17 win over New Zealand Schools in Sydney, the side's first win over their trans-Tasman rivals since 1997. In 2013, the Brumbies selected To'omua at fly half. In the Brumbies first game of the

2013 Super Rugby season The 2013 Super Rugby season was the third season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The tournament was won by the Chiefs, who defeated the Canberra-based Brumb ...

, Lealiifano moved to inside centre; and both To'omua and Lealiifano played the full 80 minutes to help the Brumbies defeat the Reds. During the semi-final clash against the South African team the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld in

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

, To'omua help set-up the match-winning try to outside-centre

Tevita Kuridrani Tevita Kuridrani (born 31 March 1991) is a Fijian-born Australian rugby union player. His usual position is outside-centre. He is currently with French club Biarritz and previously played for the Brumbies and Western Force in Super Rugby. Kur ...

in the final minutes of the game, helping the Brumbies to win 26–23 which had also guided the team to the Grand Final match against the Chiefs. After an outstanding Super Rugby season with the Brumbies in 2013, To'omua was selected in the

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and so ...

2013 Rugby Championship The 2013 Rugby Championship, known as ''The Castle Rugby Championship'' in South Africa, ''The Investec Rugby Championship'' in New Zealand, ''The Castrol Edge Rugby Championship'' in Australia and ''The Personal Rugby Championship'' in Argentin ...

Squad. On 18 August, he made his Test debut for the Wallabies at Sydney's

ANZ Stadium ANZ may refer to: People * Anz (musician), a British DJ and electronic musician Banks * ANZ (bank), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, the fourth-largest bank in Australia ** ANZ Bank New Zealand, the largest bank in New Zealand ...

facing the current World Champion All Blacks in the 1st

Bledisloe Cup The Bledisloe Cup is an annual rugby union competition originally staged between the national teams of Australia's Wallabies and New Zealand's All Blacks that has been contested since the 1930s. The frequency that the competition is held has va ...

Test (of 2013). He became the first Wallaby debutant player to make his Test debut against the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

in the Wallabies starting XV since

Rod Kafer Rodney B. Kafer (born 25 June 1971) is a retired rugby union player for the ACT Brumbies and the Australian Wallabies. He is remembered by Brumbies fans for kicking a drop-goal in the final minute in a 2001 game against the Cats giving the Bru ...

. He was on the field for 60 minutes before being substituted by

. Following the Sydney

game loss,

Ewen McKenzie Ewen James Andrew McKenzie (born 21 June 1965) is an Australian professional rugby union coach and a former international rugby player. He played for Australia's World Cup winning team in 1991 and earned 51 caps for the Wallabies during his tes ...

stuck with him at fly-half for the second

Test at

Westpac Stadium Wellington Regional Stadium (known commercially as Sky Stadium through naming rights) is a major sporting venue in Wellington, New Zealand. The stadium's bowl site size is . The stadium was built in 1999 by Fletcher Construction and is situa ...

in the New Zealand national capital,

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

. However, the Wallabies ended-up losing 16–27, and the All Blacks won the

(for 2013). The following that game To'omua was benched for the rest of the

and

claimed the No. 10 fly-half jersey. On 19 October, To'omua was selected at inside centre for the third

clash at

Forsyth Barr Stadium The Forsyth Barr Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Dunedin, New Zealand. At various stages of development it was also known as Dunedin Stadium or Awatea Street Stadium, or its non-commercial official name during the 2011 Rugby World Cup an ...

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

. He scored a try at Test level in the game's second half. The Wallabies lost 33–41. On the Wallabies European spring tour, coach

selected him at inside centre for the clashes against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

(where he scored the only try for the Wallabies in that game),

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. In the lead-up to the clash against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, To'omua injured his hamstring at training which ruled him out of the rest of the Wallabies final two Spring Tour games. On 15 November 2015

announced the signing of To'omua from the summer of 2016. He made his debut for Leicester on 14 October 2016 in a 42–13 defeat to

Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became t ...

, To'omua was sent to the sin bin after 13 minutes for a spear tackle. To'omua then suffered a serious knee injury in the next game, his first game at Welford Road, which ruled him out for six months. In August 2018, it was announced that To'omua would return to his hometown to join the

after the

2018–19 Premiership Rugby The 2018–19 Gallagher Premiership was the 32nd season of the top flight English domestic rugby union competition and the first one to be sponsored by Gallagher. The reigning champions entering the season were Saracens, who had claimed their fo ...

season. Following a disappointing season where Leicester had to fight relegation To'ouma was released early on 13 May 2019 to join the Rebels with immediate effect.

Personal life

To'omua married international cricket and soccer star

Ellyse Perry Ellyse Alexandra Perry (born 3 November 1990) is an Australian sportswoman who has represented her country in cricket and association football. Having debuted for both the national cricket team and the national soccer team at the age of 16, s ...

in December 2015. In July 2020, they announced they had separated earlier that year.

Career statistics

References

External links

Brumbies Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toomua, Matt 1990 births Living people Australian people of Samoan descent Australian people of New Zealand descent Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players ACT Brumbies players Western Province (rugby union) players Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union centres People educated at Brisbane State High School Australian expatriate rugby union players Australian expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Expatriate rugby union players in South Africa Leicester Tigers players Melbourne Rebels players Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate rugby union players in England Eastern Suburbs players Rugby union players from Melbourne Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars players Expatriate rugby union players in Japan