Toomaga-Allen part of Hurricanes future

Jeffery Toomaga-Allen seems to be exactly what Hurricanes coach Mark Hammett was looking for when he hit the reboot button on the Wellington-based franchise last season. As Hammett shed some experienced players and endured an exodus of All Blacks, he was left with rookies and a few off-cuts from other teams among a sprinkling of internationals and Hurricanes stalwarts. It hardly looked like a team of world-beaters when he announced it last year but his side have begun the 2012 campaign with two wins from their opening three games. Sure, the two wins came against the woeful Lions and Force but they were achieved on the road, which is never an easy prospect. Prop Toomaga-Allen played from the bench during the first two games and made his run-on debut as the Hurricanes accounted for the Force 46-19 in Perth last week. The giant 21-year-old, who inked a two-year deal with the Hurricanes last July despite having never played first-class rugby, will line-up again in the tighthead role against the Highlanders at Wellington's Westpac Stadium tomorrow night. His dimensions are imposing - 1.92m and 122kg of prime Porirua-bred front-row talent - and he told APNZ that playing for his hometown franchise was something he had long aspired to. "It's just like a dream come true,'' he said. "It's happened so fast. I'm just really happy and thankful for the opportunities.'' There aren't many players who make their professional debut at Super Rugby level - even the most prodigious rookies play a few games for their provincial side - but when Toomaga-Allen left the bench and made his way on to the field against the Stormers in February he did just that. A hamstring injury robbed him of the chance to play in the ITM Cup last season and he said nobody even noticed the game against the Stormers was his maiden professional appearance. "Nah, it wasn't daunting. Just because the boys were behind me and I didn't think anyone really knew that I hadn't played ITM Cup, to be honest, and then all the boys realised afterwards. But I didn't think about it. I was just itching to play because I hadn't played rugby in a while. "It's just a whole another level. Especially because I came from club rugby, then missing ITM Cup because of my hamstring, and then it's just way quicker and sometime the rucks are a bit more intense. Then the older guys are niggling in to you because it's their territory. But you get that, it comes with the job.'' It's a job he looks pretty comfortable in and Hammett said his young tighthead is a player with potential to burn. "He's very goal-driven and he's prepared to make sacrifices to get to where he wants,'' Hammett said. ``He's very hard-working, does extra sessions and he's a non-drinker. Not that that's important but it's just to give an example of how hard he wants to work. "He's a very physical man and wants to dominate physically.'' Physicality is an over-used term in rugby but it'd be accurate to say the Highlanders are a physical forward pack and Toomaga-Allen can look forward to that contest tomorrow night when he packs down against experienced front-rower Jamie Mackintosh. "It'll definitely be our biggest challenge so far, I think with them just being such a confrontational team,'' Toomaga-Allen said. "So we are going to take that up and I reckon it'll be won in the forwards.'' Toomaga-Allen, who was educated at Wellington College and played for the New Zealand secondary schools and under-20 sides, said he was keen to get out on to Westpac Stadium for the first time this year, too. "I've been gunning for it for a while. Since I came in to the team to be honest. I just wanted to start my first home game ... I just wanted to really push my name forward, now I've got the opportunity I'm really looking forward to it.''