Six Nations: Josh van der Flier keeps his standards high as Ireland fall to England

Josh van der Flier was indefatigable in trying to bend the game to his will, whether skittling tacklers or sending white shirts tumbling to the Twickenham turf. He played with a cold-eyed focus. The former World Player of the Year came to play from the get-go, as if he sensed the turmoil that lay ahead.

And how his team needed him, particularly in the first half, as England hustled and harried Ireland to the point of distraction, bristling with aggression in contesting every collision, breakdown, lineout and scrum, a relentless pressure that produced a raft of mistakes, some enforced, some that will disappoint from an Irish perspective in the review.

England fought, drawing on the tenacity of a side defending with every fibre Billy Williams’s “Cabbage Patch”, the ground not the pub just down the road – for that is how Twickenham was once described in honour of the sports entrepreneur charged by the RFU with finding a home for English rugby back in the first decade of the 20th century.

Their commitment elicited a boisterous response from the stands, which grew ever louder as the locals cottoned on to the fact that the glory of victory was very much within reach on a fresh evening in southwest London.

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Ireland’s open-side flanker served a notice of intent in inspiring his team’s first positive attacking moment, the red scrum cap emerging from a white thicket of bodies on the far side of a ruck that he had entered after realising that England’s blitz defence was focused elsewhere.

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Despite being scragged he gave his team ‘go-forward’ possession that was in short supply. On nine minutes he offered an example from the flip side of his duties, in defence. England had muscled their way into their opponents’ 22 but Van der Flier sensed an opportunity at a ruck and braced to pilfer, before being illegally ejected by English number eight Ben Earl.

It was an important intervention to win the penalty, scuppering a promising English attack.,But the respite was short lived as the home side began to get more and more ball. Ireland’s pitchy performance tone was a source of concern.

In the midst of the maelstrom, Van der Flier was in his element, both in terms of tangible results from his actions and in inspiring others; Tadhg Beirne and Bundee Aki came up with big breakdown moments.

Ireland’s openside hunted down Tommy Freeman in a tackle as the frequency of Van der Flier’s interventions grew increasingly important. One aspect of his game that he was once challenged to improve was his ball carrying – that was three years ago when he was faced with losing his place to Will Connors at Leinster and Ireland.

Two coaches offered a blueprint for his evolution as a player at the time. Van der Flier later recalled Farrell’s words: “Get some big moments and try to get more involved. Find ways to make a big difference in big games,’ Farrell told hi, “Before then I was very happy just to be in the background, work really hard, make my tackles, hit the rucks,” admitted Van der Flier.

Stuart Lancaster at Leinster had a word too, which the player has spoken about. “It might be the wrong word but before then I would be happy for our best ball‑carriers to take charge,” Van der Flier said. “But I’d got to the stage where, if there’s three of us, I’m going to stand up and take this ball. That was one of the key things I developed.”

It enabled him to reach a standard recognised by his peers in the 2022 World Player of the Year accolade. Those characteristics were very much in evidence again at Twickenham. The footwork in contact allowed him several times to emerge from buffetings by multiple tacklers.

He’s also become a distributor from the lineout set piece, the latest example of which was when he received the ball off the top and fired a long pass to Jamison Gibson-Park standing as first receiver in the backline.

The scrumhalf then hit Bundee Aki on a cutback, and that allowed the centre to unpick the seam of the defence and carry into the English 22. On 23-minutes Van der Flier charged down George Ford’s attempted drop goal, Then, 120 seconds later, he was the lone chaser of a James Lowe clearance.

England fullback George Furbank had space and time but the Irish openside took away both in an instant by making a brilliant tackle as his opponent tried to shimmy around him. In tandem with Robbie Henshaw, they held up Henry Slade to force a turnover and then, acting as a wingman to Jack Crowley, van der Flier put Ollie Lawrence to ground, as the latter looked to escape the outhalf’s clutches.

Two minutes after the restart with England again ensconced in the Irish 22, Van der Flier forced Lawrence to give away a penalty at a ruck as the Irish open-side hovered over the ball. His last acts on the pitch were three tackles in the phases leading up to Earl’s try.

On 60-minutes he was replaced by Jack Conan. Personal excellence doesn’t matter in the immediate aftermath of a defeat and Van der Flier took no refuge there. But if he gets a moment to reflect, he should recognise that he honoured that commitment to have “big moments” in a big match.