GIVEN THE HIGHLY competitive nature of the Leinster and Ireland back rows, it’s no surprise that Josh van der Flier is always looking for ways to add to his game.
As Van der Flier, and many of his fellow backrows have experienced, it doesn’t take much to go from man of the moment to finding yourself on the outside looking in.
Against Japan last Saturday, the openside looked like a player with a point to prove, something Ireland head coach Andy Farrell touched on while praising the flanker for an “outstanding” display.
“I guess the competitiveness I’ve experienced, there is always competitiveness to play in an Ireland jersey but definitely this season it’s been a lot of competition, a lot of back rows playing well,” Van der Flier says.
I certainly had in the back of my head in every game I’ve played this year that you have to be playing well and taking your chances, so definitely I knew I needed to put in a good performance and give my all.
“It’s tricky, you don’t always get those opportunities to get the starting jersey and to put a marker down. There is always that motivation in every game I guess but certainly this season with how competitive it has been, I’m definitely aware that I need to take every chance I get.”
In his ongoing search to find an extra edge, Van der Flier has honed in on improving his ball carrying this season. Against Japan, the 28-year-old mixed his usual impressive workrate in defence with seven carries, two defenders beaten and one offload.
“My whole career, I’ve always been trying to tweak things, work my footwork a bit more, that kind of thing,” he explains.
“There’s been a few things I’ve worked on but one of them is trying to get up as much speed as I can in the carries but also a read, there are times when you’re running into a bit of a wall where you need to get up as much speed and be as powerful as you can into the carry, it’s something I’ve been working on.
And then another thing I’ve been working on is keeping my legs under me, I look at lads like Caelan Doris, the way he breaks tackles, he keeps his legs pumping, definitely something I’ve been trying to work on is to try and find ways of ball carrying that I can keep my legs under me. Because sometimes someone can take out your legs or tackle you low and just trying to work out ways that I can be effective that way and then try to be explosive as I can, I guess.”
Luckily for Van der Flier, there is no shortage of experienced heads he can turn to for some pointers.
“There are a few coaches that have helped out a bit. Hugh Hogan definitely, Stuart Lancaster when we went through a few clips earlier in the season. Since he has come into Leinster, he has been trying to encourage me to carry a bit more aggressively, a bit more power onto it. He has definitely been helpful.
“Then here in (Ireland) camp, Fogs has been great, Paulie as well. And Robin McBryde as well has helped me on different things. I had a bit of bit of a chat during the last pre-season with Denis Leamy around ball-carrying.
“You get chatting with loads of different coaches and you kinda take little insights from people.
“Even chatting with a few of the other players and things they do well, you’re just trying to pick up different things here and there. You might try and tweak things here and there.
“It just be something I am subconsciously doing or maybe I am just being a bit more aggressive than I was before, and it just seems to be going well at the moment.”
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