Josh van der Flier has admitted he is unsure how pivotal Alex Coles’s illegal intervention was in the 79th minute of Leinster‘s Champions Cup semi-final loss to Northampton at the Aviva Stadium last Saturday.
The Leinster openside was tackled just short of the line by Tommy Freeman. In twisting his body around, he looked like he would have grounded the ball on the line until Coles dived on to him and ripped the ball from Van der Flier while off his feet.
The increasingly frazzled French referee, Pierre Brousset, rejected claims for a penalty try despite sinbinning Coles and Northampton held on to win 37-34.
“No, because he was short and he cannot move forward,” said Brousset.
Asked if he knew why a penalty try was not awarded, Van der Flier said: “No, I didn’t ask anyone. I couldn’t see why it couldn’t be on the field because obviously you are biased and it’s the heat of the moment and everything.”
Did he knock-on?
“No.”
Was the ball stripped from him?
“Yeah, and as I was turning the ball got pulled out of my hands as I was on the ground.”
However, when asked if he would have grounded the ball but for Coles’s intervention, Van der Flier admitted: “I don’t know which I was going to do, to be honest. Sometimes you’re in the moment and it feels right, but I’m not sure.
“I definitely was thinking of trying to get to the line when I was carrying, but it’s hard to think back to the moment exactly.”
Had Van der Flier grounded the ball, it would have completed his own hat-trick and thus ensured a different perspective on the match and his own performance.
Where do Leinster go next after more Champions Cup heartache?
Prior to Saturday, Leinster hadn’t conceded a point in European knockout action this year. No team had run in five tries against them in this competition since 2016. Northampton changed all that, leaving Leinster’s latest European escapade in tatters, scoring 37 points on route to a thrilling victory at the Aviva Stadium. How did they do what no other team has done since 2016, let alone this year? Is Leinster’s galactico bubble burst? Why did they not start Jordie Barrett? If Leinster aren’t going to win in Europe this year with this squad at their disposal, when will they? Gordon D’Arcy and John O’Sullivan join Nathan Johns to pick through the latest defeat, the extent of the damage and work out where the province can go from here.Produced by John Casey.
No one knows more about painful Leinster postmortems than Van der Flier since missing the knock-out stages (including the final against Racing 92 in Bilbao) when Leinster last won the Champions Cup in 2018, when he’d been an ever-present in the six pool games.
He has only missed one of Leinster’s 30 Champions Cup games over the last four seasons (scoring 19 tries in that time to take his tournament haul to 23). He finished all three losing finals in succession, playing the full 80 minutes of both losses against La Rochelle and the last 55 minutes off the bench against Toulouse last May, as well as the full 80 against Northampton last Saturday.
Talking to the media on Monday, with Saturday’s loss still fresh, he said: “Yeah, it’s tough coming in. Knowing we would have to look back at the game, that was the hard bit.
“To be honest, I wasn’t actually too bad coming in because you get to hang out with the lads again. Yesterday (Sunday) I spent half the day playing golf because I wanted to be out of my own head, you know what I mean?
“Just trying to distract yourself a little, so it is nice to be here and get this reviewed and parked to an extent.”
It’s all very fine margins and with a bit of luck, a lot of those would have been successful
— Josh van der Flier
As for the round of golf last Sunday, he said: “It started off well and then I started lashing it, getting frustrated. But at least I was frustrated at golf and not rugby, so that was good.”
The 32-year-old doesn’t believe that the cumulative near misses have left scars or accentuated the pressure to deliver, but does understand why that might be the perception.
“It’s such a hard tournament, so many good teams and in the last seven years, how many of those moments are just one bounce that doesn’t go our way, or one decision?
“It’s all very fine margins and with a bit of luck, a lot of those would have been successful. There is always a grey area in sport and certainly in rugby, around rules and decision-making and then the bounce of the ball. It’s not a round ball,” he said with a rueful smile.
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“I’d actually almost say if anything, we care too much. That’s how I’d see it. Trying to make it happen. You can’t force things as well.
“I don’t know where we’re at exactly but I’d say we’re more towards that side. How hard people work here, especially the staff. And that’s probably one of the things that’s so tough about these results.”
Leinster host Zebre this Saturday in the BKT URC at the Aviva Stadium (kick-off 5.15pm). A win will secure top seeding in the knock-out stages and a potential home route all the way to the final and a badly needed first trophy in four seasons.
He believes this is a realistic target but added: “You could also play your best and another team plays their best and it doesn’t go our way. But it’s definitely the goal anyway.”
Meanwhile, there is the minor matter of the Lions squad announcement on Thursday in London, when the Leinster players will be training in UCD.
“It would mean a huge amount to me. I remember watching it since I was a kid,” admitted Van der Flier.
“At the start of the season I put a bit of pressure on myself because obviously I’m 32 now. You never know, but I decided early in the season I’m just going to play my best, try my hardest and try and just forget about it and take it out of my control.
“I’m at peace with it whether I’m involved or not,” he assured us, but paused, smiled once more and said: “I’m trying to be anyway.”
