LORD OF THE SKIES
Ahern can bring security to Irish lineout to rival Toner
DEVIN Toner has moved into the finance game since he retired at the conclusion of the 2021/22 season. It was a fitting career move for the former Leinster and Ireland lock. Because you could have bet the mortgage on an efficient lineout when the 6ft 10in giant was on the pitch.
Toner was the lord of the skies for the best part of a decade. He was virtually untouchable when lifted to full stretch by his fellow forwards. He provided so much security at the set-piece.
Joe Schmidt valued the Meath native’s lineout acumen. Toner was there for all the good days under the Kiwi’s watch, from the back-to-back Six Nations triumphs in 2014 and 2015 to Cape Town and Soldier Field a year later as well as all the great days during the all-conquering campaign of 2018. Infamously, he was deemed surplus to requirements on the eve of the 2019 World Cup but Schmidt’s Ireland were a sinking ship by then. Even a slick lineout wasn’t going to paper over the cracks.
In truth, the national team have never found a replacement. Andy Farrell moved on quickly, favouring a more dynamic second row parternship of James Ryan and Iain Henderson, with Tadhg Beirne and Joe McCarthy emerging on the scene in the following seasons.
All superb athletes and brilliant players, but would you describe any of them as lineout technicians? In terms of making the right call and securing possession, no one comes close to Toner.
Forwards coach Paul O’Connell has spent the last few seasons trying to fix an Irish lineout which has stuttered on occasion.
Indeed, the former Munster and Ireland lock — a sublime lineout operator in his playing days — was drafted in by Farrell for that very reason in 2021. For a while, the lineout seems to settle down and operate efficiently. But there have been some costly implosions at crucial times. There were plenty of notable malfunctions at last year’s World Cup, with the Springboks doing a demolition job in the pool stages. It didn’t cost Ireland a win on the night but the same issues resurfaced in the quarter-final defeat to the All Blacks.
There are a lot of moving parts in the lineout, literally. All the forwards have to be on the same page when it comes to the call. The jumper, lifters and hooker have to be perfectly in sync. Even if you get all that right, the opposition might have cracked the code and managed to get an opposing jumper in the air.
You can understand why O’Connell spends so muct time poring over footage of lineouts.
Again, O’Connell and the Irish forwards had seemingly worked out the kinks in the early rounds of the Six Nations, with a flawless and slick supply of ball in the wins against France and Italy. Ireland secured 100 per cent of their own ball in both games.
The lineout hit a few snags against the Welsh, however. Dan Sheehan’s throws missing their intended targets was an all-toofamiliar occurrence. It was such a huge weapon on Schmidt’s watch and it is same story with Farrell’s Ireland. It is a key launching pad for so many Irish attacks. If the lineout isn’t going well, this team suffers.
So, what’s the solution? To this observer, there has long been suspicion that this Irish unit is lacking height in the aerial battle. Ireland simply haven’t had a beanpole lock who can dominate in the air. Ryan, Henderson and Beirne are by no means small. Neither is McCarthy while Peter O’Mahony and Ryan Baird provide excellent auxiliary options from the backrow.
Long term, the solution to Ireland’s lineout ills may be solved by a young lock who is making a big name for himself down in Thomond Park.
Tom Ahern was poised to link up with Farrell’s squad ahead of the warm weather training camp in Portugal as a ‘training panellist’.
A concussion suffered in a Champions Cup loss to Northampton derailed those plans. Ahern has been in and around Irish camps for a while and his time will come, eventually.
In terms of height (6ft 9in), reach and an explosive jump, few other second rows can match what the 24-year-old brings.
Think a more athletic Toner with more pace and a bit more punch in contact. Interestingly, he was one of the standout performers in the early months of the season, blazing a trail on the blindside flank in the injuryenforced absence of O’Mahony.
Toulon know all about Ahern. There were many big displays from players in red during that memorable away win at Stade Felix Mayol a few months ago but he was a pest at the lineout all afternoon, disrupting the French side’s ball.
Farrell was surely taking note and it would have been fascinating to see how he would have fared in this set-up in recent months. When you look at Oli Jager’s rise on the back of what he delivered in training of late, it makes you think if Ahern could have upset the established pecking order as well.
Sooner rather than later, he will get an international call. And when that happens, he will be hard to shift. Because Ahern will offer a level of lineout security that few other locks can deliver. He has the size and explosiveness to really dominate in this area. It won’t happen in this current championship but it will be fascinating to see if Ahern gets a crack at the Springboks in the summer. What an audition that would be.
He would certainly make O’Connell’s life a lot easier. Having a Toner-esque presence would be a game-changer for the Irish forwards.