“There was never any panic even when they had another breakaway try”
Investec Champions Cup Round of 16, Aviva Stadium, Dublin 5/4/2026
Leinster vs Edinburgh Rugby
Leinster’s Josh van der Flier celebrates after the match (Image: Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Henry Simpson)
Josh van der Flier revealed that while Leinster had given away three intercept tries – part of four first-half touchdowns for Edinburgh – there wasn’t any panic in the Leinster ranks.
The squad have been around a lot of knockout games and knew their attack was firing and capable of scoring more.
While, intercept tries aside, the defence hadn’t been placed under any great pressure through the opening 40 minutes.
“Tommy O’Brien spoke at half-time, Caelan was really good throughout in the huddles,” explained JVDF.
“There was never any panic even when they had another breakaway try, they’re three points in the lead and it was never any panic out there.
“I’ve been involved in games before where you can kind of feel maybe a small bit panic but it was unbelievably calm.
“We spoke about the control side of things because, in terms of attack, there were plenty of opportunities, and we took a few of them.
“We maybe forced it a small bit at times as well and hat’s probably what led to a couple of the tries.”
Patently, there was no great mystery as to why Edinburgh were only two points down!
“I didn’t think there was a huge amount out there that we couldn’t just fix ourselves but it was a funny game, we didn’t do a huge amount of defending.
“I thought it was pretty positive and we have next week to look forward to. “Obviously, it was not ideal, the amount of points we conceded.
“I’m sure when we go through the review, there’ll be plenty of things we could have done better, but definitely I’ll be thinking positively anyway.”
Besides, what doesn’t knock you out of a tournament makes you stronger.
“At some stage or throughout the season, you have times where things just aren’t going your way.
“We’ve had a few like that earlier in the season where we probably have had close games and managed to get a win out of them.
“You feel like you’re doing everything right, or you’re certainly preparing as well as you can and performing as as well as you can, and things just aren’t going your way.
“Certainly you build momentum that way and take a bit of confidence from the fact that if we get into a bad situation, which will probably happen at some stage, then then we’ll be better for it.”