Josh van der Flier grabs a chair and places a blue hardback notebook on the table. A guesstimate is that it contains some scribblings from team meetings earlier in the day. It’s Champions Cup match week as Leinster host La Rochelle at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening (kick-off 5.30pm), the seventh time that the clubs have met since 2021.
The French outfit have proved to be Leinster’s nemesis when silverware was at stake, as they won finals in Marseilles and Dublin, although the head-to-head stands at three victories apiece, with the Irish province chasing a fourth in succession.
It’s a pool match, there are no baubles to be handed over, but when the clubs collide none of the constituents are apathetic to the outcome. Van der Flier admits that matches against Ronan O’Gara’s side stir the competitive juices more than most, and that there is always an edge. It’s replicated off the pitch; he is stopped more often in the streets around these games where people are keen to chat about the rivalry.
He first encountered O’Gara the player as a teenager, van der Flier a tackle pad holder at Ireland training sessions while in the Leinster academy. Their next meeting took place on a summer tour to America and Japan in 2017, when the Cork man was part of the coaching team.
“He was there for the first week or two,” says van der Flier. “I had a good few chats with him then when he was on the tour to America. I found him really good, learnt a huge amount from him in those few conversations. Yeah, always got on well.
“He’s obviously a brilliant coach, who’s done very, very well. He’s always been very good to me whenever I’ve had personal interactions and stuff with him. It’s always been challenging to play against his teams.”
The notebook is both a symbol and a practical reminder of the 32-year-old flanker’s dedication to his craft and a commitment to continually adding layers to his rugby repertoire. It’s that relentless pursuit of excellence that defines his attitude.
He offers a practical example. “I touched base with a good few of the coaches here [in Leinster] and with Ireland earlier on in the season, tried to work on different ways to have more involvement in games. One thing I was particularly looking at was [Springbok] Deon Fourie.
Deon Fourie in action for the Stormers. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
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“I used to watch him play, a great player, he’s late 30s but [still] very much involved in games, having huge moments in and around the breakdown. He’s been very effective, which obviously was something [of inspiration] as I’m getting older – I wouldn’t say I’m old by any stretch, there’s still plenty left in me.
“It’s hard to be making 50m line breaks and burning people on the outside, but poaching or breakdown work is always something that you can do, no matter how the body is during the season, always kind of have a good impact there.
“That’s something I’ve been trying to work on. Defensively as well, and then I suppose in attack, winning collisions, but also changing it up with a bit of link play. I’m always trying to work on the whole game, but those are probably a few specific things.”
Another player to whom van der Flier pays tribute is Fiji’s Levani Botia, a frequent and troublesome adversary in the colours of La Rochelle. “He’s brilliant whether he plays backrow or centre, particularly in the contact area. He’s incredibly strong, a very good ball carrier but one of his biggest strengths, and the hardest things to deal with, is when he gets in on the ball in the poach at the breakdown.
La Rochelle’s Levani Botia. Photograph: Inpho/Laszlo Geczo
“You have to be there before him because you’d be doing very well to get him off the ball once he’s on it. He gets very low. He’s a bit of a talisman, a leader figure for them. A lot of the bad days we’ve had against La Rochelle, he’s been right in the centre of it playing very well. He’s an impressive character.”
Longevity in sport bears a direct correlation to a healthy body and mind. Van der Flier feels better now than he did in his early to mid-20s when trying to shake off ankle and hip issues. He’d like to think that he has another “four or five years left in him,” injuries permitting.
“The training is probably what I find the toughest, when you’ve gone through a tough game on a Saturday and then you’re coming into training and your body’s still sore. I just love playing games. But the routine helps. And then also having goals, long-term goals, Leinster trying to win trophies, whatever it is.
“But also trying to improve on different things, getting after things each week. That’s how I break it down.” It has served him well.