All eyes on Leinster’s honorary All Black

WHEN it comes to openside flankers, New Zealand’s grand tradition has long been grander than everyone else’s. Nathan, Mourie, Jones, Kronfeld, McCaw? They weren’t many mugs amongst that little lot.

Yet it is possible to argue that over the last couple of decades, Ireland have been doing just as many things right in the No.7 department. David Wallace and Sean O’Brien were both Test Lions in the position; Jonny O’Connor and Dan Leavy had the makings of worldbeaters and might have fulfilled their potential but for cruel luck with injuries.

And now, after years of receiving less than his due from the punditocracy, Josh van der Flier has our full attention. For all the talk of Tom Curry and Siya Kolisi and Pablo Matera (not to mention the inexhaustible Michael Hooper), it is the Leinsterman who is catching the eye most often.

If he is not so bullish on the carry as O’Brien or such an unmitigated bandit as O’Connor, he can pick a long-range supporting line with the best of them. His tackle count is high, his pilfering skills highly developed and when it comes to making the right call with ball in hand, he rarely gets it round his neck.

As we head towards the European quarterfinals – just about the best weekend of the season for right-thinking rugby folk – the prospect of Van der Flier mixing it with a takeno-prisoners Leicester pack at Welford Road is something to savour.

It is the kind of challenge that made life worth living for the Mouries and McCaws of blessed memory, down there in All Black land. Which is where Ireland – and, fingers crossed, their outstanding breakaway from County Wexford – head this summer. Can’t wait for that, either.