Van der Flier shoutout adding to Connors' motivation

MOTIVATED: Will Connors of Leinster. Pic: ©INPHO/Billy Stickland

Working your way back from injury can be a lonely, thankless task so it can’t do a man in that situation any harm to be name-checked by the new World Player of the Year at a glitzy gala event in Monaco.

Josh van der Flier had hardly been announced as the best men’s performer across 2022 when he started talking about Will Connors and how his Leinster teammate had usurped him in the club’s back row less than two years before.