Latest news with #VanderFlier
Extra.ie
5 days ago
- General
- Extra.ie
Clock ticking for Ireland to sort out their problem position
Ireland have named a decent squad for their summer outings against Georgia and Portugal, a progressive party laced with youth and just the right amount of experience. With 15 frontliners away on Lions duty, there is a rare opportunity for fringe players to hold their hands up in a way that could be highly significant come the next World Cup in two years' time. Paul O'Connell will bring a young Ireland squad on tour to play Georgia and Portugal this summer. Pic: INPHO/Dan Sheridan Especially when you consider that eight of those Irish Lions (Aki, Lowe, Gibson-Park, Furlong, Beirne, Ringrose, Conan, Ringrose and Van der Flier) are in their 30s and not guaranteed to be in the mix come Australia 2027. Plenty to play for then and a selection that has pretty much all audition bases covered. However, the one area causing concern when looking through this squad is the ongoing issue of who is next up at openside if anything should happen to Josh van der Flier? The likes of James Lowe, Jamison Gibson-Park, Bundee Aki and Tadhg Furlong are all in their 30s and there may be spots available at the next World cup. Pic: INPHO Ireland have seemed uncertain as to who covers for Van der Flier for around four years now and have been fortunate that the 32-year-old has been so durable and available over that period. The most like for like player in the Irish system is Leinster's Scott Penney, but he is not named in the squad. Nor is fellow Leinster openside Will Connors — who was in favour at the start of Andy Farrell's Ireland reign but has fallen away since for injury and other reasons. Nor is there a place for John Hodnett — Munster first choice in the No7 jersey for some time and a player battle hardened by exposure to high pressure Champions Cup and URC rugby but one who has become something of a cause célèbre omission by Ireland over the years. Josh van der Flier has been first choice No7 for Ireland for some time. Pic: Sportsfile Instead, it is Hodnett's understudy at Munster, Alex Kendellen, who is named in this Ireland squad as the only specialist openside flanker. Kendellen is a fine player and has performed well for his province, primarily off the bench, for some seasons but there has been no concerted clamour for Kendellen's elevation to the international stage the way there has been with Hodnett and, even if he goes well on this tour, it is clear the No7 depth issue remains a live one. Nick Timoney is the other openside option in the squad and the Ulster flanker is a player who looks to have all the tools needed for international rugby. John Hodnett of Munster has not made the touring party. Pic: Sportsfile The problem is that Timoney is not a natural No7, although he has plenty of experience in that position, and he is more of a six-and-a-half David Wallace style openside — very different in style to Van der Flier. He will also be 32 come the next World Cup. The problem of talented players not getting enough exposure is an ongoing headache for Irish rugby and it has cost Scott Penney in this instance. Opportunity knocks for Munster's Alex Kendellen. Pic: INPHO/Billy Stickland It has opened a door for Kendellen this summer but the fact he cannot force his way into the Munster starting team raises questions about his ability to step through that door. One hopes he can because it is clear Ireland have a real issue at openside and the clock is ticking.
RTÉ News
09-05-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
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."
RTÉ News
07-05-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
'If it happens, it happens' - Josh van der Flier on Lions call-up
Josh van der Flier reckons he will be "training away", fully focussed on this weekend's BKT URC tie against Zebre when the Lions squad is announced tomorrow. The Ireland flanker can rest easy. Since missing out on Warren Gatland's touring party four years ago, Van der Flier has picked up European and World Rugby player of the year awards and two Six Nations titles, including a Grand Slam. The 32-year-old has been one of Leinster and Ireland's most consistent performers and, but for the illegal intervention of a Northampton Saint on Saturday, would likely have scored a famous match-winning hat-trick try to get his side back into the Champions Cup final. Andy Farrell will announce his squad tomorrow afternoon at 2pm and despite competition from the likes of Jack Conan, Jac Morgan, Tom and Ben Curry, Sam Underhill, Tom and Jack Willis, Ben Earl, Courtney Lawes and Northampton Saints bolter Henry Pollock, it would be a huge shock if the Wicklow man missed out. "We have training on Thursday, so I'd say I'll be training away," Van der Flier told RTÉ Sport. "I'm not sure how it's announced. "I've heard of lads finding out on the TV. I assume it will be like that but I'm not really thinking too much about it, to be honest. "I feel I've tried my hardest. I [decided] at the start of the season that I'd try not to have it in my mind too much, if it happens it happens. "I'll be training away on Thursday, prepping for Zebre. "Try to stay focussed on that [but] it would be a huge honour to be involved." Van der Flier's team-mate, Leinster and Ireland skipper Caelan Doris, looks set to miss out with a shoulder injury that requires surgery. The number 8 had been touted as a possible tour captain. Leinster expect more details on the extent of his injury and recovery time later this week. The Lions begin their preparations with a game in Dublin on 20 June against Argentina, with the first of three Tests against Australia on 19 August. "He's probably the best player in Ireland the last couple of years," said Van der Flier of Doris. "He's been a brilliant captain; he's an amazing leader. "What he does so well is he plays with such ferocity and intensity, but he's unbelievably calm in the way he communicates. "It's always tough to see someone like that getting injured. Hopefully we'll be seeing him involved in the rest of the season." Farrell will have been impressed with Pollock's performance at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday. The 20-year-old Saints flanker was all-action, winning turnovers, conceding penalties, including one for barging into Van der Flier, and scoring the try of the game, a weaving run-in from 50 metres. Van der Flier said: "There's a lot of talent. I suppose the way he plays the game; it suits the way they play. "[He] comes up with some really big moments in attack and defence. He's not afraid to push the limits of the law, which is good. "I mean, we would have seen the likes of Richie McCaw would have been very good at it, where you're happy to risk giving away penalties, but you obviously get the odd turnover as well. "It's a balance, and he seems to have got away with it quite often. "It takes a lot of risks, but it's fair play to him. He seems a great talent in fairness to him, and he's done well." Meanwhile, Van der Flier has backed Sam Prendergast after the out-half was outshone by his Saints counterpart, Fin Smith, in the semi-final. "Sam's been brilliant for us," said the back row, who has 73 Ireland caps. "He's a good leader already among the group. He's unbelievably talented. I thought he did quite well on the weekend. "He managed the game well. Just, I suppose, a few moments that let us down as a team. "We probably let him down ourselves, I suppose. "He's a tough fella and I think all of us have made mistakes on the weekend and all of us will want to be better again."
The 42
07-05-2025
- Sport
- The 42
Josh van der Flier believes Leinster can end their season on a high
DESPITE THEIR latest disappointment at the Aviva Stadium last weekend, Josh van der Flier believes Leinster are more than capable of ending the current season with some silverware to show for their efforts. Following three consecutive final losses, Leinster were hoping the 2024/25 campaign would finally see them reclaim the European Champions Cup. Leo Cullen's side defeated Northampton Saints by three points in the last-four of Europe's top-tier 12 months ago, but in their renewal of acquaintances at the Aviva on Saturday, Phil Dowson's English Premiership outfit produced an outstanding display to overcome the eastern province by the same margin (37-34). Instead of challenging on two fronts in the coming weeks, Leinster's only shot at winning a major trophy in the present term will now be in the United Rugby Championship. While the Blues have suffered three successive semi-final reversals since the competition was rebranded as the URC — they were the last winners of the old Pro14 in March 2021 — Van der Flier is confident he and his provincial colleagues can still end the season on a positive note. Advertisement 'Certainly, that would be great, to win a trophy. In my head, from a sports psychology point of view, you'd probably get in a bit of trouble if you're putting too much pressure on yourself. If we can perform at our best in a quarter-final, semi-final, final in the URC, in my head that's enough to win a trophy,' Van der Flier said at a Leinster media briefing in UCD on Monday. 'You could also play your best, another team plays their best, and it doesn't go our way, but it's definitely the goal.' In a frantic finale to Saturday's game, Van der Flier was seemingly on the verge of joining Northampton winger Tommy Freeman in claiming a hat-trick of tries. Yet after the Wicklow native came under intense pressure from Saints lock Alex Coles within inches of the opposition whitewash, the ball broke loose for Leinster replacement Ross Byrne to dot down in the left corner. While Byrne being off his feet when he grounded the ball was the reason why he wasn't awarded a five-pointer, Leinster did earn a penalty after Coles was yellow carded for what was deemed to be an illegal intervention on van der Flier. Since the conclusion of Saturday's gripping contest, many commentators have suggested this incident could have led to a game-changing penalty try for Leinster as it was felt Van der Flier would more than likely have grounded the ball only for Coles' indiscretion. Although he couldn't understand at the time why his side weren't awarded an automatic seven points, Van der Flier acknowledged he was always likely to feel that way and that he couldn't say for certain if he was definitely going to score his third try of the game. 'I actually didn't ask anyone today [Monday] what came back. I couldn't see why it wouldn't be on the field, but obviously, I'm biased because you're in the heat of the moment and everything. I carried and then got tackled. Then, as I was turning, the ball got pulled out of my hands when I was on the ground. 'I don't know which I was going to do, to be honest. Sometimes in the moment, you do what feels right, but I'm not sure. I definitely was thinking of trying to get to the line obviously, when I was carrying, but it's hard to think back to the moment exactly.' While van der Flier's main focus from a team perspective will be on Leinster's URC round 17 game against Zebre at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, tomorrow's British & Irish Lions squad announcement is also set to be of interest to the openside flanker. After missing out on trips to New Zealand and South Africa in 2017 and 2021, the Ireland international is expected to be included in Andy Farrell's official selection for the Lions' Tour of Australia later this summer. He admitted it would mean a huge amount if he were to make the cut tomorrow, and is hopeful the performances he has delivered across 23 appearances for province and country this season will be enough for him to book a seat on the plane to the southern hemisphere. 'It would mean a huge amount to me. I remember watching it since I was a kid. It's obviously the pinnacle in terms of individual selections. I know the Irish internationals are also incredibly special, but it's kind of different that way,' van der Flier added. 'At the start of the season, I put a bit of pressure on myself because I'm 32 now. You never know, but I decided earlier in the season that I'm just going to play my best, try my hardest and try to just forget about it. Take it out of my own control. That's where my head is at. I'm at peace with it, whether I'm involved or not.'
Irish Examiner
07-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Josh Van der Flier 'at peace' with Lions fate whether or not he makes touring squad
Whatever about Leinster's uncanny knack of hitting the bar when it comes to the biggest prize on offer, Josh van der Flier will be hoping it can be a case of third time lucky when the British and Irish Lions squad is revealed in London on Thursday. The Leinster flanker was just 24 when the 2017 party was revealed. Injured and going through rehab at the time with Luke Fitzgerald, a tourist from eight years before, he remembers his then teammate all but ignoring the announcement. Fitzgerald wasn't going to be fit in time, he wasn't in the head space to pay heed. By 2021, van der Flier was Ireland's starting openside. He had over 30 caps and was already starting to play the sort of rugby that would see him named World Player of the Year the following year. It didn't matter. Warren Gatland overlooked him again. The Wicklow man watched that announcement at home on a day off. Wales' Justin Tipuric and Hamish Watson of Scotland got the nod in his position. Then, when Tipuric got injured, Gatland turned to Josh Navidi instead as cover. Now, here we are again. This latest Lions 'reveal' will be either an extravagant or a bloated spectacle at the Indigo at the O2 venue, depending on your taste, with a two-hour live show, starting at lunchtime. Van der Flier and his Leinster teammates will be deep into a training day by then. He makes no bones about the import of it, though. Playing for Ireland is special and unique in its own way, but it is hard to argue with his appraisal that being picked for a Lions is 'the pinnacle in terms of individual selections'. This is a squad for the best of the best in this part of the world. 'At the start of the season I put a bit of pressure on myself because obviously I'm 32 now. You never know [come 2029], but I decided early in the season I'm just going to play my best, try my hardest and try and just forget about it and take it out of my control. 'That's where my head is at. I'm at peace with it, whether I'm involved or not. I'm trying to be anyway.' It's hard to say if he will make it this time or not. Leinster's shock loss to Northampton Saints last Saturday has seen their stock, collectively and individually, drop. The question is whether that causes any reappraisal on the part of Andy Farrell who is still expected to lean heavily on an Irish axis in Australia. Van der Flier is one of those players who, at least in the public's eye, is borderline to make that plane. Of 13 predicted squads this writer has seen this week, most of them in English publications, he made six. Others are in the same boat. Guys like Robbie Henshaw and Jack Conan. Whatever the breakdown, Leinster will still be bulk suppliers to that squad but the boon that will come for those included won't be enough to laser the scars left from that Saints semi-final defeat when another tilt at a fifth Champions Cup star came up short. Van der Flier spent a good chunk of the next day playing golf and, while he was frustrated with his game by the end of the 18 holes, it had at least provided a different focus and outlet for any negative energy built up from the day before. He looked back on it all this week and rued some of the 'small margins' but it is worrying to hear players and coaches speak since about 'effort errors', as he termed them, being tired or, in Leo Cullen's case, not being clued in to the Saints attacking threat. These are basics, after all. At any level of rugby. For all that, Leinster probably would, and should, have won it only for a controversial decision by referee Pierre Brousset not to award a penalty try when Alex Coles illegally stripped van der Flier when inches from the line in the dying seconds. Would he have grounded it otherwise? Was he even thinking of grounding it? Truth is, he doesn't know. 'You are playing with instincts or whatever. Sometimes you do things in a game and you don't know how you did it, but it worked great. "I definitely was thinking of trying to get to the line when I was carrying, but it's hard to think back to the moment exactly.'
