AS ENJOYABLE AS it was to watch an Ireland team play with such variety and intent in sticking 60 points on Japan, there was one big, unavoidable issue hanging over Saturday’s one-sided affair at the Aviva Stadium.
New Zealand are not Japan. So for all Ireland’s free-flowing, heads up rugby against a depleted, out of practice Japan side, how realistic is it for Ireland to take the same approach when the All Blacks pull up to Lansdowne Road this weekend?
“That’s the goal anyway,” says Josh van der Flier, one of many players to enjoy a good afternoon’s work on Saturday.
“It was very pleasing (against Japan), but New Zealand will definitely pose a different challenge. Everyone knows how good they are.
“But we’ll definitely look to start like that (with the same intent), and I’m sure there will be things in video that we’ll look back at and say ‘If we do that against New Zealand, we’ll be punished.’
Overall I think it was a pretty pleasing performance, but looking at next week, I thought our defence was one of the most pleasing elements. It’s not as glamorous as the tries we scored, but it was really pleasing to keep them to five points. We conceded 31 points against them the last time, and especially against New Zealand, defence will have to be on top.
“When we’ve had success against them in the past, that’s what’s been really good – our defence. So that will definitely be something we’ll take the positives from, and try to get a good start against New Zealand.”
When Ireland were buzzing in the opening half – building up a 29-0 lead by the break – Van der Flier found himself heavily involved.
For the second of Andrew Conway’s three tries, the Leinster flanker ran off the shoulder of Johnny Sexton as the out-half broke forward. Van der Flier then collected the pass from his captain and played in Tadhg Beirne, part of a move that saw backs and forwards combining neatly before Jamison Gibson-Park’s superb grubber released Conway out wide.
It’s something Van der Flier has worked hard on adding to his game. Known as a ferocious tackler with a tireless workrate, the 28-year-old is now striving to make positive contributions by getting the ball in his hands.
By the time he departed the action on 51 minutes, his stats included eight runs and one offload to go with the five tackles he nailed.
“It’s definitely been a focus. Normally as a seven, depending on who you are playing against, you generally have quite a lot of defensive involvements.
It’s just the nature of the position, but then sometimes it can be hard to get into the game in the attack, other than hitting rucks and running support lines, so it’s definitely been something I’ve been very conscious of, trying to get more carries.
“The linebreak you mentioned, that was brilliant from Johnny, he kind of drew the guy who was going to be marking me in, and left me in open space, so that was good from him but yeah, it’s definitely something I’ve been trying to work on.”
As he says himself, the attack always steals the headlines, but it’s the defence that will decide Saturday’s meeting with New Zealand.
“I’m sure Japan will be disappointed at various stages where they struggled to hold on to the ball,” Van der Flier continued.
“New Zealand will have seen that and we know they can go through the phases. But it’s definitely something we can strive towards. Whether it will have the same affect defensively on them, they’re obviously a very impressive attacking team. But we’ll be trying to put on as much defensive pressure as we can.
“New Zealand can rack up scores very quickly, in a short period of time, or at the end of games. So defensively, if we can bring some confidence from today, defence can be a part of that.
It’s incredibly exciting. Any time you see the calendar and the games that are coming, the New Zealand game always stands out. They have been the best or near the best for such a long time and it is a game everyone wants to play in. It’s a real test and you want to benchmark yourself against them. Anyone who is competitive wants to play against the best and it is a very exciting prospect.”
Saturday also marked a special occasion for Van der Flier’s Leinster teammate Johnny Sexton, who won his 100th cap.
“It was mentioned a lot, the enormity of the week, it is an astounding achievement,” Van der Flier says.
“But also Tadhg (Furlong, 50th cap) and Dan (Sheehan, Test debut). And a few others had never played before a crowd like that. I’ve been fortunate to do so but it has been a couple of years so it is a special time for all of us.
“We had a nice ceremony a couple of days ago and it was very emotional when the jerseys were being handed out (by Paul O’Connell). It was special to be a part of it.
I’ve looked up to Johnny since I was a kid, maybe not so little, makes him feel old. He drives the standards for everyone and we’re all grateful to him for how good he makes the teams he is in and the players around him.
“It was nice to make it special for him and you could see what we all thought of him when he scored that try and everyone was piled up on top of him. It was a very special feeling and I’m glad we could make it a special day for him.”
Sexton has been an important figure in Van der Flier’s rugby career, going from a distant hero on the pitch to an influential, supportive teammate.
“With me, I’ve worked on defence in lineouts and we speak quite a lot and at this stage I know what he likes and doesn’t like,” Van der Flier continues.
“But also in attack, his understanding of how to manipulate defenders and create attacking shape is definitely something he has taught me a lot about. But also his day to day drive to be better and to be competitive.
“That winning mentality is something I’ve definitely learned about (from him).”
