Toner now ready to step up a grade

IRELAND v SAMOA:Leinster's Devin Toner is excited about making some big calls against the Samoans, writes Johnny Watterson

SINCE DEVIN Toner was invited from the Leinster Academy into the senior squad by Michael Cheika, he has always been seen as something of a work in progress.

Yesterday, Declan Kidney changed that perception.

Toner’s selection for the Ireland secondrow and his first cap has elevated Toner from apprentice to Nathan Hines, Leo Cullen and Malcolm O’Kelly, to the player who will call the lineout this weekend when Ireland face Samoa.

Toner and his frontrow buddy for the underage years, hooker Seán Cronin, will be expecting to fix a set-piece that was working very efficiently, but broke last week under pressure from the Victor Matfield-led Springboks.

It doesn’t happen very often that a first cap is asked to assume the responsibility of running the lineout.

Kidney certainly hasn’t choked on handing down the pressure to his most inexperienced player.

Yesterday also passed another landmark for the former Castleknock College student when nobody asked him if he had ever played basketball. His 6ft 10in is a handy height for many things, but his lineout jumping strength has always excited. In other areas he may have been seen as a player still being shaped. Until today.

“I’m just excited. I can’t wait for the game. It can’t come quick enough,” he says. “I was told when the team was announced. I wasn’t told beforehand, so it was a bit of a shock.”

Defying gravity can also be a hindrance when you need to be at knee level to a prop shielding or ripping a ball. It is around the pitch doing what Trevor Brennan once called “drain cleaning” that Toner believes he still needs to improve.

“Malcolm and Leo were both great influences, as soon as I was called into senior squad, learning as much as I could from both of them,” he says. “There are still a good few challenges and I always continue to try to work on them. Some of the challenges are getting down low in rucks, scrummaging as well. Getting down low is the biggest challenge. But I’m trying to work at it all of the time.”

The more visible aspect of the 24-year-old that has changed since he was at school has been his broadening. Leinster has worked hard on filling him out and maintaining enough mobility to cover ground.

His selection also illustrates the importance Kidney places on having options around a sound Ireland lineout when it comes to selecting the travelling squad for the World Cup next September.

It’s an early season litmus test for Toner as a frustrated Paul O’Connell continues to gaze on from the sidelines.

“I’m going to be calling the lineouts,” Toner confirms. “As Brian (O’Driscoll) said earlier, it’s the same size pitch. I’m playing with 15 guys. It’s the same game. I’ll do exactly what I do in Leinster, the same preparation.

“They are not the same lineouts, but you’re going through the same process. Donncha (O’Callaghan) hasn’t really called that many. I’m just experienced more in calling them.

“I suppose the challenge in every game is to get them right.

I like to see myself as a bit of a lineout man. I’m just going to be doing my best this week and I’m not going to leave any stone unturned . . . do the best to try to stabilise it, I suppose. It’s about getting the technicalities, getting the throw, the jumps right. Everyone keyed in knows what’s doing. Donncha beside me has a great wealth of experience.”

The instinct is to downgrade the Samoan match, especially coming on the back of the World champions’ visit. Like the other changes on the team, Toner sees the match as just one thing, an opportunity. Kidney doesn’t exactly have a mantra but if he did it would be “selection headaches are good for coaches”.

“Seán Cronin and Dev were together for the Churchill Cup and spent time together. It’s something we’ve been trying to build over the last 18 months. Now there’s the opportunity to take centre stage in a full international at home against Samoa,” says Kidney. “Sometimes when you play Pacific Island teams you mightn’t get a full team if it’s not a World Cup year because clubs won’t release them. But look at their record in the World Cup. They got to the play-offs as often if not more often than ourselves. I’ve huge faith in these fellas.”

Toner possesses his own understated faith too. Stepping up a level and that becomes a welcome companion.