Wallabies prop Smith returning home to link with Hurricanes

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Australia prop Toby Smith has left the Melbourne Rebels and signed a two-year deal with defending Super Rugby champions the Wellington Hurricanes, the 28-year-old said on Thursday. Smith, who was born in northern Queensland and moved to New Zealand as a child, helped the Waikato Chiefs to the Super Rugby title in 2012 and 2013. He was a member of New Zealand's under-20 World Cup winning squad in 2008 but did not progress to the senior All Blacks side. He returned to Australia in 2014 to join the Rebels with an eye to playing international rugby for the Wallabies. "I'll always be grateful for my time in Australia and I have really enjoyed playing for the Melbourne Rebels, but when the opportunity to play for the Hurricanes came up it was very appealing to me," Smith said in a statement. Smith was selected for the 2015 Rugby World Cup and played six tests for the Wallabies, including two matches in June against Fiji in Melbourne and then Italy in Brisbane. The move back to New Zealand effectively ends his international career, at least in the short term, as he is not eligible under the 'Giteau clause', which allows Wallabies coach Michael Cheika to select overseas-based players who have met long-service requirements. At the Hurricanes, Smith is likely to be a straight replacement for Loni Uhila, who is heading to France to join Clermont Auvergne at the end of New Zealand's domestic provincial competition. (Reporting by Greg Stutchbury; Editing by Peter Rutherford)