REACTION DEVIN TONER: JOHN OSULLIVANtalks to the 6ft 10in lock who along with running the Leinster lineout has been challenged by Joe Schmidt to make a greater impact on all aspects of the province's play

IN THE absence of captain Leo Cullen, Leinster coach Joe Schmidt has thrust greater responsibility on the broad shoulders of Devin Toner, charging him with running the lineout but also challenging him to have a greater impact in all facets of play.

Toner has embraced the task with gusto and against Racing Metro 92 produced an impressive mature and rounded performance.

It was the second match in succession he has been conspicuous away from his primary duties out of touch, although conversation invariably alighted on the lineout initially.

Toner smiled: “I was happy enough. I think we had just four on our ball so it wasn’t like last week (against Munster).

“We didn’t really get a chance to show off what we can do ahead of Saracens so it’s not too bad. I’ve been working hard on the extras. Today we didn’t have any real lineouts, so I had to help around the pitch, try get noticed; it didn’t go too bad.

“I think Mike Ross had a brilliant game; the scrums were solid. I’m especially (happy) for Seánie (O’Brien), he was amazing around the pitch.

“He deserved man of the match and he just keeps getting better every week.”

Toner also highlighted the contribution of hooker Richardt Strauss, whose footballing intelligence and work-rate made him one of the game’s outstanding players.

“We see in training that he has great skill. H didn’t really get a chance because of Bernard Jackman and John Fogarty last year, but now he’s really taken his chance.

“He’s got great darts in the lineout, I love calling with him . . . he can hit the back every time if you want and he’s got great pace. He gets really low over the ball so he’s doing really well this year.”

Racing’s assistant coach, the former All Black Simon Mannix was relatively upbeat about the French club’s performance on the day, while acknowledging they made too many mistakes.

“I am not going to fault them at all; they put in a hell of an effort.

“When you make that many mistakes against a quality opposition you are going to pay. There are simple lessons to take out of it. When we got back to 26-19 we were right back in the game and we felt we had control of the ball. We’d kicked out goals, scored a nice try but couldn’t sustain the momentum.

“The big lesson from today was the importance of controlling the ball.

“The message from Racing is that we are here to play this competition because we want to be part of the best clubs in Europe.

“We came up against one of the best clubs in Europe and they put in probably their best performance of the season so far.

“If that’s a sign of respect that we drew it out of them then so be it. We know we are capable of much better.

“We have to eliminate the mistakes if we want to get something out of this pool and do it real quick.”