Toner ‘at peace’ with his time in green jersey after World Cup snub
IF Devin Toner hadn’t got a chance to pull on the green jersey one last time this year, one wonders how he might have reflected on his Ireland career.
That he got to do so three more times said as much about his enduring quality as it did about his character.
Over a year on from his shock omission from the World Cup squad, Toner doesn’t harbour any ill-feeling and, if anything, it has made him appreciate all the good days even more. The 34-year-old hasn’t pulled the curtain down on his international career, but he knows that, barring a spate of injuries, he has likely played his last game for his country.
Ireland may be moving on without Toner, but he remains a key man in Leinster, where his vast knowledge and experience is helping the province’s exciting young locks.
If Toner has made his last appearance in green, then he bows out having played a key role in many of Ireland’s biggest wins.
“I’m a little bit at peace,” Toner said. “If I don’t get picked again, I’ve got 70 caps for Ireland. I’ve won a fair bit and I’ve played well when I did.
“So I would probably be happy enough but, on the flip side, if I get picked again and I get called upon to play, I’ll absolutely put my heart and soul into it. But, again, I’m a little bit at peace.
“I was at home for the whole of camp. We’ve a little 12-weekold at home, I would have found it fairly hard to leave my wife and two children to go into camp for eight weeks and not be able to go home.
“It would have been fairly hard for her not having the help at home. So it was probably a blessing in disguise that I wasn’t involved.”
Toner is out of contract at the end of the season and, while he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of following Rob Kearney to some far flung place like Australia, he isn’t getting sidetracked by the future ahead of Leinster’s Champions Cup opener in Montpellier tomorrow.
“Obviously before this year, it was see how the body holds up, and at the minute I’m feeling really good and I think I can play on. I think I can offer something,” Toner added.
“Obviously the contract situation is a bit different now. I’ve got to wait for this month and next month and see what’s happening. But yeah, I’d never rule out going away, to be honest.
“I might be up for a bit of an adventure before the career ends. But I’ll see what happens here first.”