Van der Flier: Back row group 'kind of bounce off each other'

If selected to face England on Saturday, Josh van der Flier will be making his first appearance of the summer, having watched from the stands as fellow Grand Slam-winning back-rower Caelan Doris put in a try-scoring, man of the match performance in the August 7 victory over Italy playing in his specialised position.

COMPETITION: Josh van der Flier on the competition between the back row group and how they help each other. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Josh van der Flier has paid tribute to the leadership, humility and “incredible tries” delivered by Ireland team-mate Keith Earls ahead of the veteran winger’s 100th Test cap this Saturday.

Earls, 35, will become Ireland’s ninth Test rugby centurion when he faces England at Aviva Stadium in the second of three Summer Series warm-up games and last one on home soil before the 2023 World Cup gets underway in France next month.

World Rugby player of the year van der Flier, who reached 50 caps in his most recent Test appearance as Ireland clinched the Six Nations Grand Slam in Dublin against the English on March 18, made his international debut in the same team as Earls in the 2016 championship, also against England. His admiration for the Munster winger, however, stretches back way before they became Ireland team-mates.

“He's a brilliant person and player,” van der Flier said yesterday. “It's hard to put into words what he's like, he's probably one of those rugby heroes we would have seen when I was coming up through the Leinster academy and that type of thing.

"It was always pretty cool to play against him and then to play alongside him, he's a great character, a real team player.

"He's very, very humble, everything he does is about the team. If I could score the incredible tries and do the other stuff, the unbelievable stuff he does, I don't know if I would be as humble as him.

"But he's a great, great bloke to have around and I think someone like that, to win their 100th cap, I think everyone is absolutely thrilled because he's such a good guy and the leadership he brings, that experience, is pretty incredible as well.

"I know he's a huge asset to the backfield any time he's involved just because of his knowledge and then particularly defensively, I think he's one of the big leaders in the team that way.

"Yeah, it's an incredible achievement to get there and I'm delighted for him.” 

If selected to face England on Saturday, openside flanker van der Flier will be making his first appearance of the summer, having watched from the stands as fellow Grand Slam-winning back-rower Caelan Doris put in a try-scoring, man of the match performance in the August 7 victory over Italy playing in his specialised position.

"Yeah, there always seems to be a lot of competition around the back row and Caelan did brilliantly the last day,” he said. “He had a very, very good game and I think any time he takes the field at the moment he's performing really, really well.

"There's always a lot of competition and I'm well used to it!

“We kind of bounce off each other, the whole back row group in the squad moment, we tend to be learning different things off each other.

"It's something that (forwards coach) Paul O'Connell encourages quite a lot, if there's someone who is really good at something Paul would be like, 'why don't you work with them on that'.

"That's encouraged a huge amount within the group and I think in the same way he has learned things from me, I have certainly learned things from him as well.”