Josh van der Flier is currently among the Leinster team’s most seasoned players—a fact that even he finds hard to accept.
Even though there are seven players in the current lineup who are older, only Cian Healy, Tadhg Furlong, Luke McGrath, and Jack Conan—another Wicklow native—made their Leinster debuts prior to the openside flanker.
Van der Flier’s first competitive match with the Blues took place less than a decade ago on October 11, 2014, when they played Zebre away in a Pro12 match.
In the third round of the Six Nations in 2016, he went on to earn his first of 64 senior caps for Ireland against England, and with some guidance from
“I feel fantastic. Looking back even ten years or so, I would frequently injure my ankle and had numerous hip problems after graduating from the academy. I’d been hurt a lot recently.
You begin to discover what works and what doesn’t for you as part of it. You discover what has to be maintained and rehabilitated; you also discover what your inclinations are and what workouts suit you best. Your ankle or hamstrings start to hurt. My body was in far worse form back then than it is now, and I had numerous injuries. like, “I feel so good right now.”
The anterior cruciate ligament injury van der Flier suffered in the opening round of the 2018 Six Nations against France in Saint-Denis is without a doubt the most serious injury he has had as a professional player. Dan Leavy, his Leinster teammate, took his position in that game and went on to play a crucial part in Ireland’s Grand Slam victory that year as well as the eastern province’s Pro14 and European Champions Cup victories.
However, Leavy later suffered from injuries of his own and, at the age of just 27, was compelled to retire from rugby in April 2022 per medical recommendation. When Van der Flier considers how he got to be 31 years old and had made 144 games for Leinster, he is
The Italians have played two games this term and have recorded one victory, one draw, and one loss. However, following a 2023–24 campaign that saw them advance to the finals of the URC and the European Challenge Cup, van der Flier acknowledges that Leinster will need to be extremely cautious when playing Benetton this evening.
“I’ve played there a few times, and it’s always a tough game.” They are an excellent group. Even going back a few years, they were in the URC quarterfinals and the Challenge Cup semifinal last year. They’ve been excellent, said van der Flier.
“I’ve seen them put on a few performances where they could have easily defeated anybody. Then, I assume, it’s constructing the
weekend.
