Updated 08.45

EVEN BEFORE IRELAND and Argentina reached the halfway point last week, many onlookers had already come to the conclusion that, without even taking the field,  Devin Toner had played his way into the starting line-up for today’s clash with New Zealand (kick-off 7pm, RTE 2).

The line-out struggled badly without the tallest of timber, who is also the experienced voice tasked with calling the set-piece when he is on the field.

Devin Toner and Jordan Larmour leave the field last Saturday. Source: Bryan Keane/INPHO

Sure enough, Joe Schmidt unveiled his team on Thursday with just two changes not enforced by injury and Toner was back as a totemic presence in Ireland’s pack.

“It’s not all about set-piece hopefully,” says Toner, gently reminding those listening that he lends his weight to plenty of collisions and rucks around the park too.

However, the line-out will be an essential platform if Ireland are to take a second ever win over the All Blacks at the Aviva Stadium tonight as it so often provides the base for Ireland’s attack.

And while New Zealand succeeded in stealing five of England’s 15 line-outs in Twickenham, Toner and his pack made sure to take a long look at the maul which led to Dylan Hartley’s 24th-minute try.

“The All Blacks learned from that first drive,” the Meathman cautions. 

“But we’ve a bit to go before that. We’ll have to perform over the next while now.”

Performing will likely mean out-performing a formidable second row partnership in Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick on the day of their All Black-record breaking 50th Test start in tandem.

Toner and Whitelock doing battle in 2016. Source: Billy Stickland/INPHO

Whitelock is an archetype of the position, ticking all the boxes for exactly what you could want from a tighthead lock. Retallick is something else though. On top of acting in that ‘enforcer’ role that tends to go with the number 4 shirt, the 27-year-old has gone a long way to changing the way people see the second row positions as he has brought genuine handling skills to offer playmaking threat with clever screen passes.

“Yeah, he’s making us look bad now,” says Toner, whose passing is an increasingly common feature in his performances.

“I think there’s so much been said about him so far I can’t really add to it, to be honest… he can score tries, he tackles, he poaches, he’s stealing line-outs, he’s winning line-outs.