Josh van der Flier relishes Chicago return as Ireland chase more history

Van der Flier had two caps under his belt when Ireland beat the All Blacks nine years ago. Now he has 73, and is the most experienced member of the backrow. 

Josh van der Flier, Nick Timoney and Finlay Bealham in Chicago ahead of this weekend's Test against the All Blacks. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Josh van der Flier is back to soaking-it-all-up mode. It hasn’t always been that way. At times in his career he’s strolled no more than 100 metres from a team hotel and left it at that.

Back on familiar and favoured turf here this past week he’s been outgoing again. There’s been community engagement clinics, a round of golf at North Shore, steakhouse sittings with bone-in ribeyes that would feed a small family. If a carb-loading day allows he’ll drop into Mr. Beef, the sandwich shop made famous by restaurant drama The Bear. He’s taken the soaking literally, strolling from the Ireland hotel with towel under arm and braving the bracing waters of Lake Michigan with Garry Ringrose and Jamison Gibson-Park for company.

It’s important to still be surprised by things. The dive into Chicago’s great lake was one such moment, the fresh rather than salt water catching him briefly off-guard. This is a business trip and the task at hand isn’t being ignored. Far, far from it. But there’s room for the trip as well as the business. Does that perspective come with time? He’s not so sure. It comes and it goes. But he is 32 now and nine years have passed since his first visit here with Ireland.

If somewhere in this remarkably gridded city you can find a full circle, it may well belong to Van der Flier. In 2016 he had just two caps to his name. His international career hadn’t yet been very international at all, making it to London and no further. But on a day when Ireland shook off the shackles of 111 years of misery against the All Blacks, Van der Flier, improbably, made the moment of history his own. There’s been plenty more since, which brings more of that perspective — and appreciation for what that day meant in his grand scheme.

“It was an unbelievable experience. It was very surreal,” Van der Flier reflected. “Everything was new, even being in camp was new. [It was] my first time travelling abroad with Ireland, really.

“To win the game over here it was an unbelievable buzz afterwards. It was all a bit of a blur, to be honest. I tried not to think too much of the significance of it, because I was incredibly nervous.”

It never showed. Sprung from the bench as an early replacement for the injured Jordi Murphy he racked up 12 tackles in less than an hour’s trojan work as Joe Schmidt guided Ireland to a promised land.

“One thing that stood out to me, when Joe went through the meetings earlier in the week, the Monday and Tuesday meetings, and we were talking through the game plan and looking at New Zealand, and I remember thinking: “Gosh, this game plan is so good, I don't know how we're going to lose’. He had us very well up for it and we managed to perform. It was a very special day to remember.” 

The beauty of memories is there are always more to be made. Saturday’s renewal offers opportunity. Van der Flier has added 70 caps to the three he left with last time. He’s the most experienced back row in the panel which again went through their paces at SeatGeek Stadium on Tuesday. The last ten meetings between the sides have been evenly split, 5-5, with Van der Flier a constant in the contests.

“I've played them a good few times. I think Ardie Savea has played pretty much all of those as well and I played against him at under-20s as well. So, we always have a chat afterwards. It’s funny how it's worked out like that,” he said.

“They are always fierce Tests. The one thing I’ve noticed…particularly against New Zealand, you have to be particularly switched on in every way. You switch off for a small moment and they're good enough players that they take those opportunities.

“There's definitely a monkey off the back…you know you can do it. If you even have subconscious belief or subconscious thought that you might not be able to do it, you probably won’t. Once you've done something before, especially the younger lads or anyone who's seen Ireland having success against them, that becomes the expectation or what the goal is.” 

Van der Flier referenced the raised expectations of the Farrell era. But the disruption caused by both coach and a huge cohort of his players being on Lions duty for most of the summer has tempered outside expectations this week. The 2022 World Player of the Year insists Ireland can cope with truncated preparations. As a non-Test tourist, he had the benefit of returning to action one week earlier than his fellow Lions.

Unlikely to reach for mitigation anyway, Van der Flier pointed to Tadhg Beirne’s tour de force for Munster at Croke Park two weeks ago as reason for the rest to believe they’ll be plenty ready for what the All Blacks bring.

“He's been absolutely incredible this year, probably our best player on both sides of the ball,” he added. “He was brilliant [against Leinster], at his best really, his breakdowns, steals, he was just good around the park. So yeah, I don't think we can use that excuse if he's playing that well.”