Leinster Rugby vs Glasgow Warriors

Munster to keep Leinster in first place in
the URC.
As we entered the knock-out stages of the
Heineken Champions Cup, van der Flier
wore number seven for both legs of the
last 16 tie against Connacht, with Leinster
winning 26-21 in Galway, before a 56-
20 win at Aviva Stadium.
Up next was a trip to Welford Road and
a tough tie against Leicester Tigers. Van
der Flier scored a pivotal try off the back
of a lineout to help Leinster claim a 23-14
win to set up a semi-final with Toulouse.
Once again, van der Flier touched
down for a key try from a Johnny Sexton
offload as Leinster reached another
Champions Cup final with a 40-17 win.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be in Marseille
as La Rochelle scored a try in the dying
moments to claim a 24-21 win.
At the end of the 2021/22 season, van
der Flier set his sights on a tour to New
Zealand and he was a pivotal member
of the Ireland squad that won a first ever
series away to New Zealand. He played
in all three test matches, scored a try in
the final test and played all but the last
eight minutes of the final test.
Van der Flier helped Ireland to complete
a hat-trick of scalps of the Southern
Hemisphere’s big three when starting
against South Africa and Australia in the
Bank of Ireland Nations Series.
It is very much a case of hard work
paying off though for van der Flier in
terms of his current rich vein of form. He
has had a few setbacks along the way,
including his ACL injury in 2018, and
they have certainly motivated him to get
the best out of his game.
This time last year Ireland head coach
Farrell, when praising van der Flier’s
ever-improving displays, reckoned that
‘something clicked with Josh when Will
Connors was coming onto the scene’.
The man himself acknowledged as
much tonight as he spoke about
managing to blend aspects of his
game better than he has in the
past and ‘getting more all-round
performances’.
“I suppose if I was to look at a period
that has definitely kicked me on
was two years ago around now, when
I wasn’t getting picked for some games
with Leinster. Will Connors was starting,
he was playing brilliantly.
I wasn’t getting picked for some of the
Irish games as well. I was kind of in
and out of the team. I realised, I mean I
always try to improve, but I was like, ‘I
need to kind of up my game or I won’t be
playing for Leinster or Ireland’.
“That was definitely a thing that drove me
on. I probably managed to get a good
blend the last year or so of the various
bits of my game that had been good over
a few years, I just managed to get it to
performances on the weekend.
“As things fall into place I guess, I
managed to stay fit and got a few
bounces of the ball and obviously was in
a great Leinster team and a really, really
good Irish team.”
It was a memorable night in general for
Irish Rugby at the World Rugby Awards,
with St Mary’s College RFC man Terry
Kennedy crowned the World Rugby
Men’s Sevens Player of the Year, and
van der Flier, Sexton, Tadhg Furlong and
Tadhg Beirne selected on the Men’s 15s
Dream Team. Unfortunately, another
Leinster man nominated on the night, Dan
Sheehan, came up short in the Break
Through Player of the Year Award.
Van der Flier is only the third Irishman
to win rugby’s biggest individual
honour, following in the footsteps of the
legendary Keith Wood, the inaugural
recipient back in 2001, and Sexton who
was chosen on the back of Ireland’s
2018 Grand Slam triumph.
To be up there now with national
captains, record breakers and World
Cup winners, van der Flier is well aware
of the enormity of it all given how closely
he followed the awards during his school
days in Wesley College, in Dublin.
“I remember in school I used to know
off by heart, every year, who had
won the World Player of the Year,”
he explained.
“I’d say if you had asked me today
I would have been able to rattle it off
as well! It’s crazy really to be up there
with them (Wood and Sexton).
“Obviously it’s a nice moment, but I do
have to think it’s as a result of how well
the team’s performed and obviously
being on a winning team helps for sure.”
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