slum wrote:He has signed a year deal with Sharks back home.
I think the smart move would be for Leinster to bring Caldwell back from bath.
Caldwell has a season and a half to run on his contract with Bath. I doubt they'd want to let him go, even if we [Leinster] offered to buy the contract out - he has been very, very good for them this season. I'd say that he has to be a target for the season starting September 2013-14.
Toner is still only 25 years old [as I have said many times before, closer in age to Ian Nagle than to Donnacha Ryan] and has improved on an annual basis, bar the blip in 2009-10 when he broke his leg for Lansdowne and when his gametime was a little more restricted by the presence of Leo, Big Mal and Nathan Hines. A Caldwell/Toner partnership would be a good engine-room partnership for 3-4 years, if it kicks off at the start of the 2013-14 season: at that stage, Toner will be 27 and Caldwell will be 29, both of them in their prime as lock forwards.
Age looks to have mellowed the wilder aspects of Caldwell's character somewhat! With regards to Devin, I'd like to see him given the captaincy once or twice for Pro12 games during the Six Nations. He has stepped up physically this year very noticeably, and it'd be a further improvement to see him show more authority and leadership on the pitch. I think that might come naturally to him with the likes of Leo, Jamie and Sean away with Ireland, but I think it'd be well worth putting the captaincy on him for a home game with Jenno and Rhys in the team and see how he reacts to it.