Van der Flier: unflappable Byrne

JOSH van der Flier knows what it’s like to be thrown in at the deep end against England at Twickenham and he has no concerns about Ross Byrne’s ability to swim tomorrow.

The flanker made his international debut away to England in the 2016 Six Nations and, while it ended in defeat, he made a positive contribution on the day that marked him out as a key figure for this World Cup cycle.

Despite winning just two caps off the bench against Italy and the United States, Byrne is tasked with leading the Irish back-line against a locked and loaded England team.

Van der Flier has been playing with the 24-year-old since their days at UCD and has no fears over his Leinster colleague’s ability to thrive in such circumstances.

“He’s been brilliant, I would have played a couple of times on the A team with him. Then he kind of broke into the senior team with Leinster,” Van der Flier recalled.

“It’s always tough for the younger guys with a few more experienced players around to come in and run the show, but he comes in at training and in matches whenever he’s on and he’s telling everyone what needs to be done, he’ll be running the show just like Johnny would do when he’s playing.

“He’s an incredible player, he controls the game really, really well. I absolutely love playing with him, he’s a very steady head and I’ve never seen him get panicked or flustered in a game.

“He’s very calm, controlled and a man you want running the show. It’s very exciting to be lining out with him, this time in Twickenham.

“From the moment he started playing with the Leinster senior team he’s been one of the leaders, one of the voices in training.

“He understands the game really well. He understands defences and what he expects of his forwards and backs.

“He’s very assured, he doesn’t seem to doubt himself at all and that’s very, very impressive to see working.”

With Joey Carbery in a race to be fit for Japan, Byrne has a big chance to impress at Twickenham after leap-frogging Jack Carty into the starting XV.

The Connacht star will get a chance to impress, but not before his rival has his audition.

“He’s trained really well and it’s not his debut, he’s had time with us before so that we’ve got a lot of confidence in him anyway, and I think he built his way through the season,” Joe Schmidt said.

“I thought he was maybe not as impressive as Jack early in the season, and I think those two have become really important to us.

“Joey has done well this week.