Josh van der Flier: 'It probably feels the best I’ve ever felt playing, to be honest'

Josh van der Flier has been getting advise from Peter O'Mahony and Cian Healy on their longevity.

Fri, 31 Jan, 2025 - 01:00

Simon Lewis

Josh van der Flier feels like a different person to the more anxious 23-year-old version of himself who ran out at Twickenham nine years ago for his Ireland Test debut.

Yet it is the difference he feels from the 2022 version that will pique Ireland supporters ahead of their Guinness Six Nations opener against England in Dublin on Saturday. Now 31, van der Flier believes he is playing the best rugby of his career as he prepares to chalk up his 69th Ireland cap with a start at Aviva Stadium against the side he faced on debut, and considering he was crowned World Rugby Player of the Year two years ago, that is a big statement.

Last November’s Autumn Nations Series confirmed his assertion as he pipped South Africa wing Cheslin Kolbe in a supporters’ vote to the official Player of Series award, with the openside flanker’s statistics across Ireland’s four games backing up the fans’ perceptions.

The back-rower contributed three tries, 27 carries, 45 tackles, and 101 rucks hit, while the Opta stats revealed a combined average of 68 carries, tackles and rucks per 80 minutes – more than any player of any nation to have played 100 or more minutes.

“It probably feels the best I’ve ever felt playing, to be honest,” van der Flier said this week before Ireland departed their Portuguese training base on the Algarve.

“I’ve been trying to get the body in as good a place as it could, my body feels the best it’s ever been. A few chats, I spoke with Peter O’Mahony a few times and Cian Healy and they’ve obviously had brilliant longevity. I wouldn’t consider myself old by any means, (but) it’s certainly something that once you get past the 30 mark, you need to be thinking, and they’ve been really helpful to me, they’ve given me a few tips here and there.

“You have to be more efficient, I suppose. Up until three or four years ago, I’d probably finish training and staying out for ages afterwards and then you’d be stiff and sore the next day, probably get more efficient with what works for you. Try and get the key bits of practice in when warming up, a bit more efficiency, feeling very good, and hopefully keep the momentum going.”

The Leinster and Ireland star spoke of the anxiety and nervousness he felt before his 2016 debut but also that a switch was flicked ahead of the 2021/22 season having realised “maybe I don’t need to be so wound up about the game”.

“I lived with five other lads that played rugby for years and all we talked about was rugby. And then I met my girlfriend, now wife, and she wasn’t that interested in talking about rugby so you kind of went away from it, and I found that helped me, gave me a much better balance.

“So pre-season I started trying to switch off more in the build-up to games… felt really good, felt more relaxed, and I was able to not be as uptight, read the game better and get into more of a flow state. And then kind of kept that on from then. So since then I’ve kind of being happy being as relaxed as possible. Actually, if there is a 24th man, or lads who aren’t playing, I like to chat to them because they’re always really relaxed whereas everyone else can be a bit tense. I like to keep it as calm as possible, I found that worked.”