WAGGA rugby sevens star Corey Toole has his sights set on a Commonwealth Games gold medal after being selected in the Australian team for Birmingham.
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Toole and Batlow's Sharni Williams OAM are Riverina's two representatives in the Australian rugby seven squads after the team announcement on Tuesday.
Toole's selection for the Commonwealth Games continues his rapid rise in the sport after only making his international sevens debut last December.
The 22-year-old former Waratahs flyer is taking it all as it comes.
"It's pretty surreal," Toole said.
"I haven't had a lot of time to think about it because it's been pretty quick with all the sevens and that but I'm very excited and keen to rip in over there in Birmingham."
Australia will go into the Commonwealth Games looking for their first gold medal. They won silver at Selhi in 2010 and claimed bronze at Kuala Lumpur (1998) and Glasgow (2014).
Toole believes they are a live chance and a win at the London leg of the World Series in May only gives the team more confidence.
"That's the plan. Hopefully we can put together what we've been training for the last six months together and hopefully as a team we can get some good results and come away with the gold medal," Toole said.
"We've been building pretty well over the year and obviously that win in London definitely helped the confidence and we know we can match it with any team, whether it be New Zealand or South Africa.
"We've got Uganda, Jamaica and Kenya, with crossover with South Africa and England. It's always going to be tough quarters and tough pool games, so we've just got to take each game as it comes and prep right and hopefully the results will come."
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Toole has quickly forged a reputation as one of the most dangerous players in world rugby sevens. He leads the world series impact standings and has amassed 38 tries at international level already.
"Yeah I'm pretty proud, I guess I haven't thought about it too much," Toole said of his achievements.
"I've been thinking about each tournament as it comes but I'll reflect once the year's over I guess, it's been pretty hectic and I don't really think too much about it.
"Each day at training I've got to focus and mentally prepare for training, not really think too much about what we've just done, just getting ready for the next job I guess."
With the Commonwealth Games approaching at the end of this month, it is ironic that the introduction of rugby sevens to the Olympic Games was what drew Toole to the game.
"When I was growing up, I wasn't that much into sevens until it got brought into the Olympics in 2016 at Rio," he said.
"Then I started watching it a bit more and got a bit more involved in it and became more keener as the years got on and the sport built, basically, and it grew a bit internationally."
Toole will have a big fan base watching on from Wagga, including his family, parents Scotty and Lisy, his siblings and friends.
After Birmingham, Toole will then quickly turn his attention to the final leg of the world series in Los Angeles, where Australia will bid for their first ever overall series victory. Then it is the rugby sevens World Cup in Cape Town in September.
After all that, Toole will then head to Canberra to take up his two-year Super Pacific Rugby contract with ACT Brumbies.
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