Josh van der Flier: 'It's hard to get my head around'
Josh van Flier's head is still in a spin as he digests the news he will be part of Andy Farrell's 38-man British and Irish Lions squad for the tour of Australia this summer.
Fifteen Irish players have made the cut, 12 of them from Leinster, including 32-year-old Van der Flier.
He's spent all year trying to ignore the hype and build-up around the Lions. On Thursday, he could ignore it no longer - for the first time, Van der Flier is a Lion.
"It's hard to get my head around to be honest," Van der Flier told RTÉ 2fm's Game On.
"I finished training and was obviously focused on training and tried not to think about it too much. It's incredibly special. My phone's been hopping, a lot of family and friends texting.
"What's really special is you see what it means to your family and everything but even having past coaches, people who coached me in Wicklow Rugby Club, in Wesley my school, in UCD and in Leinster as well.
"It's kind of nice for what it means to everyone else. I'm delighted with myself, very happy."
It was a nervy day for Van der Flier and all those players who were in contention to be selected.
"I spoke to Jack Conan (Thursday) morning because he'd obviously been selected the last time," Van der Flier said.
"With Ireland, you get an email just before it comes out. You kind of have an idea before the teams are announced, whereas he was like, 'no you've got to watch it, and you've got to wait and see if your name comes up'.
"It was tough. I've never really been too bothered by being the last in the alphabet normally, but this time around it was quite stressful. I tried to be as relaxed as I could but it was still a little stressful watching.
"We finished training and we had lunch. Lunch was going to coincide with when the annoucement was.
"I just grabbed my lunch to take away and went straight home to watch it on my own. I had my wife Sophie on FaceTime. She was watching it in work, I was talking to her on FaceTime throughout it. It was a very nice moment."
The Lions will take on Australia in a three-Test series, the first of which is in Brisbane on 19 July, before Tests in Melbourne on 26 July and and Sydney on 2 August.
The magnitude of being selected is still hitting Van der Flier, who added: "It's very much a pinnacle in rugby.
"It's so different to being picked for your country. It's obviously an unbelievable honour to play for your country but to be selected, including all the other nations that are involved in it, is pretty special.
"I'm very happy to be a part of it.
"I just turned 32 last week. I could play until I'm 36 but I suppose there wouldn't be many 36-year-olds who'd be in contention for the Lions, so I'm kind of thinking that way... there's not many chances left to get on a Lions tour.
"I've watched these throughout the years. Even when I was younger you watched the squad being named and you're kind of like, 'oh I like that player, that's a good player, I'm happy to see them', all these kind of things.
"When you know the lads as friends, and you see how hard they work, the effort they put in, how much it means to their family going to support every game... you're just as happy for them as a person."
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