{"id":236039,"date":"2026-01-09T12:39:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T12:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/236039\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T12:39:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T12:39:11","slug":"josh-van-der-flier-has-his-homework-done-for-latest-la-rochelle-exam-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/236039\/","title":{"rendered":"Josh van der Flier has his homework done for latest La Rochelle exam \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Josh van der Flier<\/a> 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\u2019s Champions Cup<\/a> match week as Leinster<\/a> host La Rochelle at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening (kick-off 5.30pm), the seventh time that the clubs have met since 2021.<\/p>\n

The French outfit have proved to be Leinster\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 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\u2019Gara\u2019s side stir the competitive juices more than most, and that there is always an edge. It\u2019s replicated off the pitch; he is stopped more often in the streets around these games where people are keen to chat about the rivalry.<\/p>\n

He first encountered O\u2019Gara 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was there for the first week or two,\u201d says van der Flier. \u201cI 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s obviously a brilliant coach, who\u2019s done very, very well. He\u2019s always been very good to me whenever I\u2019ve had personal interactions and stuff with him. It\u2019s always been challenging to play against his teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

The notebook is both a symbol and a practical reminder of the 32-year-old flanker\u2019s dedication to his craft and a commitment to continually adding layers to his rugby repertoire. It\u2019s that relentless pursuit of excellence that defines his attitude.<\/p>\n

He offers a practical example. \u201cI 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.<\/p>\n

\"DeonDeon Fourie in action for the Stormers. Photograph: James Crombie\/Inpho <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Joshua Kenny added to Leinster\u2019s Champions Cup rosterOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to watch him play, a great player, he\u2019s late 30s but [still] very much involved in games, having huge moments in and around the breakdown. He\u2019s been very effective, which obviously was something [of inspiration] as I\u2019m getting older \u2013 I wouldn\u2019t say I\u2019m old by any stretch, there\u2019s still plenty left in me. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something I\u2019ve 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\u2019m always trying to work on the whole game, but those are probably a few specific things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another player to whom van der Flier pays tribute is Fiji\u2019s Levani Botia, a frequent and troublesome adversary in the colours of La Rochelle. \u201cHe\u2019s brilliant whether he plays backrow or centre, particularly in the contact area. He\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\"LaLa Rochelle’s Levani Botia. Photograph: Inpho\/Laszlo Geczo <\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be there before him because you\u2019d be doing very well to get him off the ball once he\u2019s on it. He gets very low. He\u2019s a bit of a talisman, a leader figure for them. A lot of the bad days we\u2019ve had against La Rochelle, he\u2019s been right in the centre of it playing very well. He\u2019s an impressive character.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019d like to think that he has another \u201cfour or five years left in him,\u201d injuries permitting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe training is probably what I find the toughest, when you\u2019ve gone through a tough game on a Saturday and then you\u2019re coming into training and your body\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut also trying to improve on different things, getting after things each week. That\u2019s how I break it down.\u201d It has served him well.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Champions Cup: TV details, kick-off times and team news with Leinster and Munster in actionOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Josh van der Flier grabs a chair and places a blue hardback notebook on the table. A guesstimate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42553,32728,42,58265,117866,11287,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-236039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-ronan-ogara","tag-champions-cup","tag-headlines","tag-josh-van-der-flier","tag-la-rochelle-rugby","tag-leinster-rugby","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}