Devin Toner spoke of his relief after claiming his fourth European title with Leinster thanks to their 15-12 victory over Racing 92 in the Champions Cup final.
The lock joined an illustrious list of players to win the competition for a fourth time as late heroics by Isa Nacewa sealed another triumph for Leo Cullen’s men.
Speaking to Dave McIntyre post match, Toner described the gruelling nature of his latest episode of final glory.
“It’s absolutely brilliant. It was a weird old game but thank God we got over the line. And to get that fourth one was extra special,” Toner told Off The Ball.
“It was ridiculously tough. We knew we were going to be up against it with their set-pieces. We knew they were going to get up in the air and disrupt it and they did.
“We didn’t really get to maul against them and to release any plays. But it was a bit of an arm wrestle and thank God we got over in the end.”
— Leinster Rugby (@leinsterrugby) May 12, 2018
Toner also touched on Leinster’s self belief as they secured a late victory thanks to the boot of Nacewa.
“A big thing we focused on was the ruck and our quick ruck ball,” Toner added.
“We knew if we got it and worked it quickly around the corner that we could open up a bit. It happened a good few times but we lost it at the last minute and let them get the ball and gave away penalties.
“It was a lack of concentration maybe. I think we did well to get back into it and get them penalties.
“We know that they always come out of the blocks really fast but we had to negate that anyway. We did well to weather that storm in the first half and we believed in our fitness.”
But Toner resisted the urge to indulge in his latest European success as he switched his attentions to the Pro14.
“You need time to look back over it,” Toner said. “I haven’t had a chance to look back over what has happened. It’s on to the next one now. We’ve got another big match next week and we’ll see what happens then.”
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