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Brumbies snag schoolboy sensation
Chris Wilson - The Canberra Times
The NSW Waratahs have Kurtley Beale, the Queensland Reds have Quade Cooper, but the ACT Brumbies are banking on their own schoolboy sensation to replace superstar Stephen Larkham.
Matt Toomua will complete Year 12 at Brisbane State High School this year before graduating to the Super14 as the potential Brumbies flyhalf.
The Brumbies beat the Reds and Western Force to sign Toomua, who dominated Beale and Quade as a 16-year-old at last year's Australian Schoolboys Carnival in Canberra.
Quade was Queensland first-choice flyhalf, but the younger Toomua led Queensland II to championship victory, scoring all his team's 14 points in the final.
Brumbies coach Laurie Fisher said Toomua, now 17, was an exciting prospect. "Cooper and Beale were both at that championships and he wasn't outshone by either of those," Fisher said. "What we liked about him was his composure and his capacity to organise and provide for other players around him ... he's got good composure, a strong kicking-game and an excellent passing-game."
Julian Huxley and Gene Fairbanks are the more senior options as a replacement for Larkham, but Brumbies chief Andrew Fagan said Super 14 was within Toomua's reach.
"He's got a tremendous future," Fagan said. "He's very much in the mould of Beale and Cooper, the guys who have been making headlines this year. We are preparing for life after George Gregan and Stephen Larkham."