Josh van der Flier can take off as an attacking force

Josh van der Flier lost out on many a ready-made headline when his career path took him into the back row and not the back three but the 24-year-old remains well able to make a name for himself.

Not far off the 50-cap marker with Leinster, and with nine Irish caps to his credit, he managed an astonishing 34 tackles in the Guinness PRO14 New Year’s Eve defeat of Connacht at the RDS.

No-one has managed anything like it in the seven years since the league has been stockpiling those kinds of records. He beat the previous marker by four.