van der Flier ready for tough week for shot at redemption against Scotland

CHANCE TO REDEEM: Ireland’s Josh van der Flier says its lucky that Ireland have a shot at redemption when they take on Scotland in the final round of the Six Nations. Pic: ©INPHO/Andrew Fosker

Josh van der Flier and Hugo Keenan have each vowed to put Grand Slam disappointment behind them this week and quickly concentrate on securing a second Guinness Six Nations title in a row this Saturday against Scotland in Dublin.

Ireland remain on course for silverware despite losing their bid for history in defeat away to England last Saturday, ending hopes of the first back-to-back Grand Slams of the Six Nations era.

Their 23-22 defeat at Twickenham, secured for England by a last-minute Marcus Smith drop goal drew instant comparisons with Ireland’s agonising loss to New Zealand in last October’s World Cup quarter-final but both full-back Keenan and openside flanker van der Flier were grateful to be given an immediate opportunity to get back to winning ways.

"The beauty in this one is that we have got a shot (at) redemption,” Keenan said, “it wasn't a final today although you are nearly treating it like one.

"We have got an opportunity to bounce back and to do it at home in front of our fans, our families or friends, and our brilliant support.

"That's a lucky opportunity and a privilege to have and it is one that probably we haven't had too many opportunities to do in the past so I think we are all going to have to dust ourselves down and get excited and I am sure we will.

"It will be a tough week but I think we will be ready for it and looking forward to it.” 

For van der Flier, who was arguably Ireland’s man of the match with a performance reminiscent of the towering heights he reached in 2022, when he was crowned World Rugby Player of the Year, defeat to the All Blacks five months earlier marked the end of a tournament campaign cut short by knockout defeat. The chance to make amends seven days later this Saturday at Aviva Stadium is something to embrace.

“One of the worst things in sport is probably that you lose a game, you wait a whole year for it to come back around. Yeah, that is a positive I hadn’t really come round to thinking about yet. But it’s so important now that we get rid of our disappointment and shift the focus, and kind of get the confidence back I suppose to get ourselves ready to put in a really big performance.

“The dream of every team every year in Six Nations is to be on for a Grand Slam and that was obviously the overriding goal but to win a championship is close to as good. I’ll have to get over that now, as a team we’ll review it. That normally helps a good bit, once you have it reviewed, you go through your mistakes and then it’s just ramping it up for Scotland.

“You have to accept how you are feeling. It’s definitely a lot of frustration in the dressing room there. We’ll allow ourselves to be a little bit disappointed today and then tomorrow we’ll recover. I think we’re back in Monday, it’s review it, turn the page and then try to forget about it pretty much.”