Rugby
Martyn Thomas, Special to ESPN.co.uk 6y

Ireland Grand Slam has given Leinster momentum ahead of Saracens clash

Rugby, European Rugby Champions Cup

Irish rugby is riding the crest of a wave that Leinster and Ireland lock Devin Toner hopes will wash away Saracens' Champions Cup hopes on Sunday.

Back-to-back defending European champions Saracens travel to Dublin to take on top seeds Leinster, whose starting XV boasts 10 players who were involved at Twickenham two weeks ago as Ireland swept past England to secure a third Grand Slam.

One of the hallmarks of that championship success, and a Leinster campaign that remains unbeaten in European competition, has been the emergence of a hugely promising group of young players.

Dan Leavy, Garry Ringrose, James Ryan, Andrew Porter, Joey Carbery and Jordan Larmour are all under the age of 23 and have gained invaluable experience over the last six weeks. All bar Larmour have been named in the squad that will welcome Saracens to the Aviva Stadium this weekend.

"The future is looking very bright," Toner said this week. "When you look at the young guys coming out of school these days, they're coming out ready to go straight away.

"They've got a lot of experience in this Six Nations getting that Grand Slam. So even the young guys like Andrew Porter, like James Ryan, Jordan Larmour, Garry Ringrose, they're getting a lot of good experience now and they're playing in big games and they're winning as well.

"It's huge for them in their development being able to win at such an early age. It can only be good for Leinster."

He added: "Irish rugby as a whole is on a bit of a high at the minute after a Grand Slam and hopefully we will continue [that]."

As a lock with more than a half century of Test caps, Toner, 31, is paying particular attention to the rise of Ryan, his club colleague who has supplanted him in Ireland's starting second row.

"In relation to James [Ryan], he's obviously a massive talent, he's hugely physical and he's got so much skill," Toner said. "So, there's not much more I can teach him!

"I suppose how I hold myself going into a game or how I prepare, hopefully he can learn a little bit about that from me. Maybe, how to run a lineout, I would say the little things.

"Obviously, when you're a young player you're always trying to pick up things. When I was young I was picking up things from Leo Cullen and from Mal O'Kelly, and then kind of other really good second rows.

"So, hopefully he can pick up a few things from me."

As a team Leinster have collectively learned a lot since Stuart Lancaster arrived in Dublin. This week, Jamie Heaslip said that the former England head coach was "up there with [Ireland boss] Joe Schmidt" and Toner agreed with his former teammate's appraisal.

"The impact he [Lancaster] has made on Leinster is huge. He's really driven the attacking ethos in the club, he's really driving standards in training," the second row said.

"The training sessions that he holds are fast, they're skilful and he's pushing us to up our skills and up our ability to attack basically. I would 100 percent agree with Jamie, he has really has driven the club on."

Toner has been a part of all three of Leinster's European Cup winning squads. But while Ireland's Grand Slam win has given the current sideĀ  a lift, he is far too experienced to underestimate a Saracens team that limped into the quarterfinals.

He said: "We are 100 percent aware of the talent they have in their squad.

"All the previous games have gone out of the window and we know that quarterfinals rugby is all about 80 minutes and they can come out with all guns blazing, which I'm sure they will."

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