Irish Daily Star - Inside Sport
The most humble hard working lad you’ll ever meet
How van der flier quieT ly Took over world rugby
IRElaND are the world’s number one-ranked international rugby team.
And no7 Josh van der Flier is the reigning World Rugby Player of theYear.
So how is it that he could probably walk down Dublin’s O’Connell St or Cork’s Grand Parade or Limerick’s O’Connell St tomorrow without being recognised?
That wouldn’t happen to Ireland’s previous WPOTYs — Keith Wood in 2001 or Johnny Sexton in 2018 — nevermind three-time nominee but never a winner Brian O’Driscoll.
Yet the answer to the seemingVan Der Flier lack of profile is simple and starts with the idea that he is partially ‘hidden away’ on match day.
Viewers
Andy Farrell’s team clocks up close to one million RTE/Virgin/BBC viewers for eve- ry Six Nations game — with another 26 million worldwide catching at least a part of the competition live or in clips.
Yet Ireland’s superstar performer is hidden away under his ‘lucky’ red scrum cap, first adopted when he was a schoolboy.
The player doesn’t ‘do’ night clubs, is happily married and is about as likely to entertain frosted tips in his hair as declare himself the leader of the Irish wing of the Monster Raving Loony party.
Humble
Van der Flier (29), who married Sophie in May 2022, is a straightforward, quiet, nice guy.
“Josh, first of all, as a fella is the most humble hard working lad you’ll ever meet,” says Ireland and Leinster captain Johnny Sexton.
“He has no ego,” offers Ireland Defence Coach Simon Easterby, a former back-row himself.
“Josh is simply one of the most diligent, hardworking professionals I have worked with.”
“Josh is a very, very proud Wicklow man who has never lost touch with where he is from,” says Wicklow RFC’s Stephen Clarke.
“He still regularly pops down to our ‘minis’ which is where he first started out at the age of five and, indeed, is the ambassador for our Disabilities Rugby team.
“His brother Johan is a terrific 6’4” second-row and played for us last year and our dream is to get the two of them on a pitch in a red and black shirt!”
Van Der Flier’s grandfather was Dutch and came to Ireland to open a radiator factory.
His son Dirk played rugby at Wicklow and Old Wesley, where Josh’s uncle Dermot Strong is a former captain, a club to which the WPOTY retains strong links not least as he had been a pupil at Wesley College.
“Josh is incredible when he comes down to the kids,” says Old Wesley’s ‘minis’ coach Shane Hunt.
Summer
“He attends our summer camp every year and will sometimes simply arrive down unannounced at Donnybrook and won’t do the photo opps with the kids until he has taken them for some training.
“He is a superb communicator with them and sets up fascinating passing or covering drills or whatever.”
Last week in the Six Nations opener against Wales in Cardiff Van Der Flier was in outstanding form, Conor Murray revealing Ireland’s debrief on the Tuesday morning put a lot of credit the back-row’s way.
“Particularly at the start with the carries they made, the front-foot ball made the rucks so clean and quick but look at Josh in particular.
“People go on about size and Josh is hardly classified as big or huge.
“He is still well capable of going toe to toe with people, he’ll run at the outside of someone rather than trying to go through him.
“His game obviously is in an incredible place but his ballcarrying in the last four or five years has gone through the roof.
“I know that has been something he has been working hard on over the last four or five years and he is reaping the rewards now.”
Continues Sexton of a player of whom he admits he once harboured doubts about.
“Josh has been fantastic the last 18 months since he got his big break.
Outstanding
“Rugby-wise he is an outstanding defender — the kind of guy you look to see which side he is on if there is a contact match in training — he can make you look bad!
“Specifically though, Josh has worked on his attacking game, it was an area he was quite weak at during his first few years with the senior team at Leinster.
“Now he is one the best and most efficient carriers in world rugby, he has obviously taken his game to a new level.
“To see him voted World Player of theYear has been outstanding for us and it is great to see there is no sign of his letting up because we are going to need him in this campaign and for the Rugby World Cup.”
Sexton’s ‘attacking’ assessment, by the way, is not something Van Der Flier necessarily disagrees with.
The flanker, who had been a scrum-half for most of his time at school before a growth spurt prompted the switch, admits to having specifically targeted improving that part of his game, the biggest help coming via reading Richie McCaw’s — also a no7 — book.
Number
“I noticed he (McCaw) said he stopped looking at the number of turnovers he got,” says JVDF.
“But looked at how effective he was with the number of chances he had and that’s probably more the way I’d look at it after that.”
There is all that talent, agrees Easterby, but his work ethic and commitment to improving his game day by day, year on year, has proved a key boost er.
“Physically he is very impressive in terms of his fitness, power and speed, having worked incredibly hard on his game over the past few years.
“So much so you can understand how, in one of the most competitive positions he keeps delivering on the field.
“He just wants to be the best teammate he can be.”
‘He is the kind of guy you look to see which side he is on if there is a contact match in training - he can make you look bad!