Devin Toner the keeper of Ireland’s lineout flame

Devin Toner has been in enough scrapes against England to know that recent descriptions of their physical approach as “brutal” are not misleading.

With Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt expecting his counterpart Eddie Jones to send his side out at Aviva Stadium on Saturday with brutality in mind for the Guinness Six Nations opener against the defending Grand Slam champions, Toner believes the cap fits.

“I think every good rugby team tries to bring that. We’re going to try to bring our own brand of brutality and physicality and I think in order to win Test matches that’s what you need to do.

“You’re never going to win a Test match if the front five don’t get physical, to be honest. So, we try to do it every time and when they’re coming to the Aviva, their first game, away from home, they haven’t won for a while there, they are 100% going to (be physical).

“Every team is different but yeah, they are particularly physical. Especially when you get the two Vunipolas (Mako and Billy) playing and they have a full-strength team, they are quite a big, heavy, physical pack.”

Toner, 32, underlined his own physicality in last November’s home win over the All Blacks when he put in an early monster hit on opposite number Brodie Retallick as Ireland defended their line on the 22, James Ryan coming in with the assis as the ball came loose from the New Zealand star’s grip to a roar from the crowd as thunderous as the initial contact. The Leinster lock accepts that was not always a strength to his game.

“I was just trying to put my stamp on the game and obviously that was JR who finished off the tackle, it wasn’t me,” he said. “I suppose I didn’t really have it in my game. Obviously, I’m still not as physical as many other players, I’ve got other strings to my bow, but again I try to do as much as I can.”

Of course, the main string to Toner’s bow is his lineout prowess and not just his 6ft 10ins frame. As Ireland’s lineout caller, he follows an esteemed line of succession and is very much the keeper of the flame having taken over the mantle from Paul O’Connell.

Not that there is a document handed down that line. Ask him where the secrets of the Irish system are kept and a smiling Toner taps his head before explaining how they have developed.

“It’s very much evolved over time. Leo (Cullen) went off, I’m not sure who he learnt it with — it could have been Ben Kay or whoever he was with at Leicester — but he came back and we started using it with Leinster.

“It’s not particular movements, it’s how you call them aloud — having bailouts. There was never any bailouts before that. The calls, the different names for the calls have changed over time. There’s no set document saying ‘this is what we do and how we do it’.

“It has evolved so much over time, each caller puts their own stamp on it.

Leo had his stamp, Paulie had his and so it evolved. We bring in different movements, but how you call it was the new thing he brought in.

Whether the Leicester influence is still at work in the England lineout unit is not known but regardless of recent stresses against the All Blacks last November, Toner is an admirer of the personnel, with Eddie Jones due to select his second row this morning from Maro Itoje, George Kruis, Joe Launchbury and Courtney Lawes. Whichever combination he picks, Ireland will need to be at their disruptive best on English ball this Saturday and in flanker Peter O’Mahony, Toner acknowledges a fine exponent of the art, both for Munster and the national side.

“Pete is one of the best in the world at it, he’s really good at springing up. If I’m calling lineouts (against him) I’d keep it away from him. That’s the good thing about familiarity.

“But there have been times where I’ve called and he’s got them, it happened in the (2018 Guinness PRO14) semi-final at the RDS when the first ball I called he stole it.

“That’s the evolving thing. If you get caught there...”

So what is the secret of O’Mahony’s famous spring?

“He’s a skinny bastard,” exclaimed Toner, “He’s got a big CMJ (counter-movement jump). I don’t know the number, but he’d be one of the top performers. He’s strong and springy

if you get a good lift on him.”

Whoever gets the job, it will not matter to Toner and as he prepares to win his 65th Test cap in his seventh championship, the lock remains grateful to be involved.

“I don’t think you’d ever take anything for granted, every cap is different — every cap is special, to be honest.

“Yeah, especially being at the tail end of my career the more I play the more special it gets. I’ve got little Max (his one-year-old son) in the crowd, my family and you want to do them proud.

“I’m very much aware that I don’t have that many more years left in me, so I want to make every one special.”