Opportunity comes knocking for Toner

If reports from New Zealand this week are accurate, then 38-year-old Brad Thorn will be following up his three-month stint with Leinster earlier this year with a swansong of a season back on home soil with the Highlanders.

Thorn, a Rugby World Cup winner with the All Blacks in 2011, has a contract with Japanese club Fukuoka Sanix Blues due to expire in February, which would be just in time to saddle up for the next Super Rugby campaign.

The capture of Thorn by Joe Schmidt was perhaps one of the most savvy moves made by the Leinster coach since his arrival in Dublin in 2010. But the lack of a big-name replacement over the summer has again turned the focus inwards. True, Quinn Roux and Tom Denton have been drafted in, but it is impossible to overstate the importance of the current campaign for Devin Toner, who has been on the books for six years without ever cementing a first-team place.