JOE SCHMIDT HAS offered little explanation for his shock omission of Devin Toner other than that Munster’s Jean Kleyn fitted into the balance the head coach sought in his 31-man World Cup squad.
An ever-present in Schmidt’s second row, 33-year-old Toner didn’t make the final cut for Japan, with his place going to twice-capped Kleyn, who only made his Test debut at the start of last month.
Toner has been an integral part of Ireland’s set-piece having played in 50 of Schmidt’s 67 games in charge and although the lineout has suffered in his absence in the recent past, Kleyn joins James Ryan, Iain Henderson and Tadhg Beirne on the plane.
“I’ve coached Dev for 10 years,” Schmidt said. “And he’s not just a lineout champion for us, he’s such a good player and an absolutely quality person. That was an incredibly tough conversation yesterday.”
On the selection of Kleyn, the head coach continued: “We probably don’t have a specialist tight-head second row. At the start, I talked about the balance that we’re looking for across that squad of 31. Jean Kleyn fitted that.
“Tadhg Beirne gives you the versatility of both a second row and he can play in the back row. He’s teamed up really well with Jean Kleyn for Munster this year. And he also gives you the threat over the ball like a 6 or a 7 would.
“You’ve got James Ryan who made an immediate impression coming into the side and Iain Henderson who’s promised so much and performed incredibly well for us at times. We’re going to very much need him to put his best foot forward.
“So, it was a very tight decision around Dev.”
The other headline from Schmidt’s squad announcement — which was made six days ahead of schedule — was the selection of Luke McGrath ahead of Kieran Marmion as the second scrum-half behind Conor Murray.
Marmion has been one of Schmidt’s most trusted performers and starred during the win over the All Blacks last November in Murray’s absence.
“The two scrum-halves, that was an incredibly tough decision,” Schmidt added.
“You’re going to have a guy who is the quintessential team member. Kieran Marmion is a guy who you’d hold up as done some fantastic stuff for us. Obviously at scrum-half but he’s so versatile.
“It’s that balance of past performance. Conor Murray has been a world-leading scrum-half and Luke McGrath has been incredibly good this season. It was a very tough decision to come to.”
Schmidt added that both Keith Earls and Joey Carbery trained yesterday, with the former set to make his first appearance of pre-season against Wales at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
