Grieving Devin Toner does family and country proud

Devin Toner arrived in South Africa under the darkest of clouds following the death of his father, but there was never any question of the lock missing a shot at Irish rugby history.

A week in and a fortnight after Peter Toner passed away, with that place in the annals secured thanks to an epic first Test win at Newlands last Saturday, the second row had the perfect platform to emerge into a little sunshine. As he collected his man of the match award and completed his obligatory on-field television interview, the second row pointed to the skies above and said: “I just want to say, this is for you Dad.”

His family had given him little choice but to travel with Joe Schmidt’s squad to Cape Town and the decision to press on made more sense as kick-off approached last weekend.