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Ireland reeling after 'massive' Toner injury blow

(Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Rory Best has admitted losing Devin Toner to an ankle injury for the rest of the Guinness Six Nations is a “massive” blow to Ireland.

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Leinster lock Toner has undergone ankle surgery for the issue suffered in Ireland’s 32-20 loss to England last weekend and will be sidelined for two months.

The dependable second-row has so far only missed six Test matches since Joe Schmidt took charge of Ireland in 2013, featuring more regularly than any other player under the Kiwi’s stewardship.

Ireland’s defence of their 2018 title took a hefty hit with that punishing loss to England in Dublin, and hooker Best has admitted Toner’s extended absence is another dent.

“Look it’s massive, he’s been a big part of what we’ve created here over the last while,” said Best.

“He’s a great player, and over the last 18 months, two years, he’s probably played some of the best rugby of his career.

“So to lose a player like that, and the intellectual property he brings around the lineout.

“You all know him, the calmness he has is a great thing to have around the team environment. So he’ll be a loss, as any great player is.”

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Toner is Ireland’s third frontline lock injury in this tournament, with British and Irish Lion Iain Henderson missing with a finger complaint and Munster powerhouse Tadhg Beirne out with knee trouble.

Ireland’s much-vaunted strength in depth at lock has taken something of hammering, though the fast-rising James Ryan remains in situ and will be partnered in Scotland on Saturday by Quinn Roux.

Connacht’s Roux will share the burden of calling Ireland’s lineouts at Murrayfield, while provincial team-mate Ultan Dillane can offer pace and power on the ball from the bench.

“When these things happen it gives an opportunity to somebody else,” said Best.

“I thought Quinn Roux was great when he came on against England, he showed a lot of physicality, he’s been playing very well for Connacht.

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“This is a massive opportunity for him, and also a big opportunity for James Ryan to step up, and also lead in that second-row.”

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When asked if Ireland’s second-row strength turning to an injury glut is rotten luck, Best continued: “I suppose it’s better happening now, and we’ll see just how much depth we have.

“We saw at the last World Cup what a couple of injuries can do. You need to make sure of the layer below that.

“And even when you look at Ultan Dillane on the bench, when called upon he’s been fantastic for Ireland.

“And it’s great to see him back involved. It’s unfortunate for the three boys, and to lose three world-class players in one position is difficult.

“But what an opportunity for the two boys to come in and show what they’re about, and to say ‘yes we’ve lost three world-class players, but we’ve actually opened our eyes to two that were right there as well’.

“And hopefully what depth we’ll have then – we’ll not just have four, we’ll have six.”

Press Association

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J
JW 1 hour ago
Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones

This piece is nothing more than the result of revisionist fancy of Northern Hemisphere rugby fans. Seeing what they want to see, helped but some surprisingly good results and a desire to get excited about doing something well.


I went back through the 6N highlights and sure enough in every English win I remembered seeing these exact holes on the inside, that are supposedly the fallout out of a Felix Jones system breaking down in the hands of some replacement. Every time the commentators mentioned England being targeted up the seam/around the ruck or whatever. Each game had a try scored on the inside of the blitz, no doubt it was a theme throughout all of their games. Will Jordan specifically says that Holland had design that move to target space he saw during their home series win.


Well I'm here to tell you they were the same holes in a Felix Jones system being built as well. This woe is now sentiment has got to stop. The game is on a high, these games have been fantastic! It is Englands attack that has seen their stocks increase this year, and no doubt that is what SB told him was the teams priority. Or it's simply science, with Englands elite players having worked towards a new player welfare and management system, as part of new partnership with the ERU, that's dictating what the players can and can't put their bodies through.


The only bit of truth in this article is that Felix is not there to work on fixing his defence. England threw away another good chance of winning in the weekend when they froze all enterprise under pressure when no longer playing attacking footy for the second half. That mindset helped (or not helped if you like) of course by all this knee jerk, red brained criticism.

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