La Rochelle have inflicted more than a fair share of grief on Leinster in the last three seasons and no one more so than Josh van der Flier. The Leinster openside played every minute of the semi-final defeat behind closed doors at the Stade Marcel Deflandre in the 2020-21 season, as well as the 2022 and 2023 finals losses in Marseille and the Aviva Stadium.
What compounded that wounding 27-26 loss in the final last May, after roaring into a 17-0 lead after 12 minutes and going 23-7 ahead just past the half-hour mark, was that it was only the second loss Van der Flier had experienced that season. He’d been a replacement a week beforehand in the URC semi-final loss to Munster.
It had been a stellar season, in which Van der Flier had played every minute of Ireland’s Grand Slam, but it ended with the openside in tears.
“They were both painful,” Van der Flier admitted of the two final defeats by La Rochelle, “but I suppose there was a bit of a compounding effect from the previous year as well and having pretty much all of your loved ones there and everything. We obviously had the good side of it with the Grand Slam and the Six Nations this year with your family there, but it obviously feels like you have let people down sometimes if everyone comes (to support) and you don’t perform.
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“It was definitely one of the tougher days, but I suppose it makes the good times sweeter. That’s the way I look at it.”
Revenge, no matter what players say, is always a powerful spur, albeit the relatively mild-mannered Van der Flier will be less inclined to use the memory of that hurt in advance of next Saturday’s Champions Cup quarter-final at the Aviva Stadium (kick-off 5.30pm).
“I suppose some lads like to get real psyched up and have that bit of aggression, and some lads like to be more calm. I’d probably try to be on more of the calmer side of things.
“So, definitely use it as motivation to get my head right, but in terms of playing on the field, it’s still pretty much just trying to do my job and perform as well as I can.
“Some lads are definitely easy going. Like Devin Toner would be the most chilled out man before a game and some lads need something to be aggressive at because obviously it’s a physical game. I suppose it comes down to the individual at the end of the day.”
Asked if he was a bit sick of La Rochelle, in that Leinster might have had two more Champions Cup medals but for them, Van der Flier ruminated a while. “Em, I suppose whatever team you come across in a final, they’re always going to be close games. We could have played someone else and still not won. You try not to look at it that way, but there’s definitely a bit more of . . . an edge is probably the wrong word,” said Van der Flier, when of course an ‘edge’ barely conveys the rivalry that inevitably follows such high-profile and close contests.
“There’s definitely a bit more to it because they’ve denied us the opportunity to win a couple of trophies. But they’ve been fully deserving. They obviously were the best team last year and the year before because they won it. They’ve set the standard that way so it’s exactly the way you’d want it.
“I was thinking back, if you are to win a tournament you always want to have played and be able to beat the best teams, so that’s the challenge this week. It’s great in that way and I think that’s the mentality with the rest of the lads as well.”
Although Van der Flier made a big impact in last December’s win on the opening weekend of this season’s pool stages back in a packed and sodden Stade Deflandre, it was as a replacement for the last 32 minutes after Will Connors had been preferred as the starting openside.
Furthermore, of course, the rain was biblical, and however miserable it’s been in Ireland lately, the long-range forecast is for a breezy but dry afternoon and evening in Dublin next Saturday.
“Yeah, it was very different to the previous two games in lovely sunny weather. It was tough. It’s interesting in a way, (in) the drier weather, both of those were still one score games; the wet weather one was a one score game as well. So, they’re still tight games either way.
“I suppose if it’s pouring rain it definitely levels everyone out and it comes down more to tactics, playing field position right and then physicality, winning collisions and not giving momentum to the opposition. Hopefully it’s not raining like that, but it doesn’t bother me too much in the backrow!”
Leinster’s self-belief can only be swelled by that win in December, Van der Flier agreed, if only to a certain extent.
“I suppose if you think of a lot of their strengths, they’re very good at close quarters physical battles, like maul, scrum and big ball-carriers running hard. So yeah, we take a big confidence boost from it I suppose, but we definitely won’t lose any respect for La Rochelle as a team because they’ve obviously shown what they can do over the last few years and they’re a brilliant team.
“We can definitely take confidence from winning a game like that, but it will also be a different game this week.”
That it will be.
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