Josh van der Flier 'frustrated' by lack of game time with Ireland

Josh van der Flier during Leinster training this week

Josh van der Flier admits he was frustrated by his lack of action in Ireland’s Autumn Nations Cup campaign.

Having been first-choice openside flanker at last year’s World Cup and this year’s opening Six Nations games, the 27-year-old found himself in the cold for the inaugural competition.

The Leinster star made just one start, against Wales, and came off the bench against Scotland earlier this month.

Alongside Peter O’Mahony and CJ Stander, van der Flier was a regular fixture in the Ireland backrow, but no longer as the emergence of Will Connors and the return of Dan Leavy heighten the competition.

“I found it very frustrating,” van der Flier said. “l’m like everyone going into Ireland camp, you want to play and to start for Ireland. So the goal going into camp is to start all the games, and it didn’t quite work out like that for me.

“I played 70 minutes against Wales, 20-odd against Scotland, and that was all the game time I had for nine weeks or so, so I wasn’t exactly coming in with a lot of game time into the [Leinster] game last week, so I wasn’t sure where that would put me. I was delighted to get 80 minutes in — and then most importantly the team went well.”

Van der Flier marked his start against Montpellier with an early try and played his part as the Irish province enjoyed the perfect start to the European competition. It was, the flanker says, the best answer to any questions surrounding his class.

“How do you accept it? I suppose you can look at it in two ways; one is that you try and improve your game, you try to get to a place where you can’t not be played, where you’re undisputed. That’s the best place to be in.

“On the other side of it then, every time you train and play, you’re trying to prove the coaches wrong and prove why you should be in that position. Those are the ways that I’d approach it anyway, but I think you can get into a negative mindset.”

The pressure to perform is not a new one for van der Flier, who has been in one of the most competitive areas of the pitch since making his breakthrough at Leinster.

“I have always felt it since I have been in Leinster,” he said.

There is always a lot of pressure that you do need to be playing well to play. If you’re not playing well, the chances are you won’t get picked.

“When I have been out of the squad with Ireland, when Seán O’Brien was there when I was first coming in. He was someone you are competing with and has gone on a couple of Lions tours, so you could maybe understand not playing.

“But it is frustrating any time you are not playing, it has been especially frustrating the last few weeks, but that’s the way it goes. I’ll do everything to not be in that position when the next group of games come around.

"Getting a starting place in Leinster is probably the only thing to focus on at the moment, it’s hard enough as it is.”