A Scotstoun baptism of fire awaits this weekend for Leicester’s new golden boy Matt Toomua. The Australian international playmaker will make his long-awaited debut as Glasgow Warriors kick off their European Champions Cup campaign against the Tigers on Friday night.

Leicester director of rugby Richard Cockerill is ready to throw the attack-minded Toomua into the fray because he believes taking the game to Glasgow is the way to help them secure a valuable away win.

Equally comfortable in the centre, where he will play on Friday, or at stand-off, Toomua is at the peak of his career, which is why the Australian Rugby Union were disappointed when the 33 times-capped back decided to move to the Aviva Premiership rather than take the next step in his career in his own country.

Australian playmaker Matt Toomua is set to make his debut for Leicester Tigers on Friday

The anticipation over his debut for Leicester has been building for months as he originally signed nearly a year ago.

Under the terms of the deal, he was allowed to play a final year for the Brumbies of Canberra in Super Rugby. He also played for Australia in the Rugby Championship, but suffered a concussion in the opening game against New Zealand in Sydney and missed the remaining matches.

Now, the 26-year-old, who only arrived at the club on September 28, is fully recovered and ready to take his place in the squad to face Glasgow.

‘There’s every chance Matt will start against Glasgow at the weekend,’ said Cockerill. ‘There aren’t many second chances in Europe and we need to get something out of Friday night, so we need our best players available.

‘Matt will travel up to Glasgow as he is a top-quality player, who makes everything look very easy. There’s no substitute for quality.

‘He’s only been here a short period of time, but he’s a great footballer and he learns quickly. Predominantly, he’ll be a 12 for us because we’ve got two good guys at 10.

The Wallabies centre is set to start against Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun on Friday night

‘We know he can kick well and do all those things, but we’ve missed that intelligence at 12 for quite a while and he will be an important player in our European campaign.

‘Any points in Europe, especially away from home, are vital and this is not the easiest European pool to win away matches in, is it? There are no games where you think: “Oh, we’ll go there and win”.

‘If we do go and win at Scotstoun on Friday or against Munster or Racing 92 away later in the campaign, it will be a bloody good day at the office.’

The Warriors coaching staff had a hunch that Leicester would play their star signing at the earliest possible opportunity with assistant head coach Kenny Murray revealing they had already done their homework on him.

Murray feels players such as Finn Russell are as talented as the Aussie and predicted the new boy would be given a tough debut in Tigers colours.

‘The chat is that he is going to get put straight in there against us,’ said Murray. ‘We have discussed him this week as we knew he might be involved.

Equally comfortable in the centre, or at fly-half, Toomua is at the peak of his career

‘He is a top-class player with great international experience, but we have guys in our squad who are every bit as good.

‘For example, Finn Russell is as good a back as anyone in the northern hemisphere at the moment and is the sort of guy who thrives in these big European games.

‘He got time off last week and didn’t play against Treviso, which has given him more time to recover and prepare for the Leicester match. He can turn things our way.’

Murray expects Toomua to be part of a Leicester side that will play expansive rugby at Scotstoun rather than their traditional forward-driven style. He puts that down to the influence of head coach Aaron Mauger, who works under Cockerill and who favours an attack-minded game.

Assistant head coach Kenny Murray ha backed Finn Russell (pictured) to shine this season

‘A lot of people see Leicester as a typical English-style rugby team and, yes, they have a physical set of forwards and kick a fair bit, but they are more than that now,’ said Murray.

‘When I was on a scholarship to help my coaching, I went to the Crusaders in New Zealand two summers ago and I spent a bit of time with Aaron Mauger. He is a very attack-minded coach and from speaking to him in the past, he will be looking to play expansive rugby against us.’

Murray revealed that Warriors are sweating over the fitness of second row Tim Swinson, who has a rib injury, and Simone Favaro, who had a shoulder strain.

Both missed the win over Zebre in Parma last weekend and will be given fitness tests today.