Van der Flier: 'Farrell was honest about leaving me out of Lions Tests'
Michael Bolton
Josh Van Der Flier may have the number seven jersey nailed to his back for Ireland and Leinster over the past few years, but he found himself out of the test side for the British and Irish Lions in Australia.
World Player of the Year in 2022, the Leinster flanker was overlooked by Andy Farrell as the Lions won the series 2-1.
Arguably the most competitive area of the squad, Van Der Flier played five warm-up games, but it was Tadhg Beirne, Jack Conan, Ben Earl, Tom Curry, and Jack Morgan preferred in the back row.
Not one to feel sorry for himself, the Wicklow man said Farrell spoke to him about his decision to leave him out.
"I spoke to him each of the Test weeks," said Van Der Flier.
"It’s a funny one. You work your whole career to get on a Lions tour.
"You’d bite anyone’s hand off to get the opportunity just to go, and then once you are there, the overall goal is to play in the Test games.
"Yeah, it was definitely disappointing. I had good chats with Andy.
"In fairness, he’s always really honest, giving you things to work on and everything.
"He said it was a gut feeling about the balance of the back row, that was the decision he made, and that was the way he wanted his back row balance.
"In fairness, that’s what you want from coaches, you just want, like in anything in life, you just want them to be straight and honest with you, and Andy is always that.
"He had his decision, and that’s his decision."
In another key moment for Van Der Flier, he captained Leinster for the first time as they defeated the Sharks in their first home game of the season.
The last time he was a captain of a team was for the school cricket team.
Surrounded by leaders during his Leinster career, he thanked those who helped him prepare for the extra duties as captain.
"Last time I was captaining a side was in my sixth year in a cricket final.
"A cricket match is a bit harder to do as captain, I think.
"There are a few meetings that the captain would be involved in towards the end of the week as well, so there was a bit of that.
"The lads were very helpful, there were some very experienced lads that helped out, and it was a cool experience and a great honour to be asked to do it.
"I just tried to be myself as much as possible, approach the week the way I like to do it.
"I was very influenced by Johnny Sexton in terms of how I think about the game and looked up to him as captain. He sent me a nice message before the game to be myself and enjoy it.
"That was quite a nice thing, and that is what I would like to do."
All eyes will be on Croke Park on Saturday evening, as Leinster face rivals Munster in the URC.
For many players on both sides, it will be their last game for their provinces before they prepare for New Zealand in Chicago.
A game Van Der Flier has enjoyed more as his career has progressed, he is looking forward to coming up against some familiar faces.
"When you know the lads you are playing against, it makes it more enjoyable.
"It is like playing sport against your brother, it is always nice to beat them. Hopefully, nobody will be picking any fights they will have to sort out in two days' time.
"I’ve been involved in a good few of those games, and we’ve probably come up with some of our best performances of the year on those days, for whatever reason."
