Blow for Leinster as Devin Toner ruled out of Pro14 final

DEVIN TONER HAS been ruled out of Leinster’s Guinness Pro14 final against Glasgow Warriors this weekend with the knee injury he sustained against Munster in the province’s semi-final win.

The second row sustained the injury shortly before half-time at the RDS as he twisted awkwardly after being tackled by Dave Kilcoyne, and was seen on a crutch with his left knee heavily strapped at full-time.

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Toner suffered the injury on Saturday. Source: Inpho

While Leinster have confirmed Toner will miss Saturday’s Pro14 decider at Celtic Park [KO 6.30pm, eir Sport/Premier Sports], the province await further scan results to determine the extent of the damage.

Joe Schmidt will be anxiously awaiting news of the exact diagnosis.

“He is still going under some studies but he’s definitely ruled out for this week,” Felipe Contepomi said this afternoon. “We’d like to think it’s not a long-term injury but we still don’t have all the tests. He’s going through MRIs and those things.

“I haven’t spoken directly to Dev about his World Cup prospects but I’m telling you, we hope it’s not a long-term injury so hopefully, he’ll be fine for the World Cup. It’s still three months to go for kick-off.”

The experienced lock missed four of Ireland’s Six Nations games after undergoing ankle surgery following the championship opener against England, and only returned in time for Leinster’s Champions Cup semi-final win over Toulouse.

Josh van der Flier came through his return unscathed and in producing a man-of-the-match performance against Munster, is now primed to start in Glasgow.

Joe Tomane [hamstring], Barry Daly [collarbone], Mick Kearney [shoulder], Dan Leavy [knee] and Adam Byrne [quad] are all long-term absentees.

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