The headlines in describing Josh van der Flier’s performance would pay homage to stripping England number eight Billy Vunipola in a tackle before escaping with the ball and also being perched atop the tackle count metrics from an Irish perspective. The body of the report carries a great deal more substance.
An injury to Will Connors gave van der Flier the opportunity but one flecked with expectation and responsibility. The backrow promotes the stiffest of competition but when presented with a chance it’s equally important to step from the shadows. Selection is subjective, based on opinion, so the only aim within van der Flier’s ambit is to train well; that’s been his philosophy on the outside looking in for the past couple of weeks.
He admitted: “It is focusing on doing those basic things well, focusing on what I’m good at and trying to improve the things I’m not good at as well and yeah, keep putting my hand up every time I get the chance to play.”
Ireland brought an emotional intensity but were physically accurate, something that players had spoken about in the build-up. “We had that physicality and that desire to put hits in, and to go after teams, but maybe at times we had been a bit sloppy and maybe not using our heads along with the physicality if that makes sense.
“So it was pleasing in that way we were kind of switched on mentally for what they brought to us, but also we had that physical edge. It’s always a balance. You can go too far either way, be all thinking and no physical edge, or else all physicality and no thinking. So it was good to get that balance, it stood to us and was pleasing.
"It would have been nice to have that kind of performance from the start of the tournament. But that's the way this team and group are, it's quite new together still and we're building. It's quite pleasing to finish the Six Nations in that way."
Benchmark
He understands that Ireland’s display in winning will be a benchmark for future performances. “It was a very good performance; we were pretty pleased with it. There are things to improve on. We can’t say we just need to replicate that every game, we need to keep improving areas. There are things we could have done better. I suppose on other days, you don’t get the bounce of the ball or decisions don’t quite go your way. So we have to be able to do it on those days as well.
“From my experience it is doing the really simple things well and that’s what we have done during those good runs that we have had (in the past). We did the basics well and I know the discipline wasn’t great towards the end but we have always had good discipline, rucks being good, tackle efficiency, those kind of things.
“Obviously the glamorous tries look wonderful, you want to do them every game but, to be honest in my experience there are some games that won’t be won by magnificent moments; it is often just a grind and doing the basics very well. That is something that we can strive for and really aim to do every week.”
