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Josh van der Flier wins European player of the year
By Kim Ekin
Leinster flanker Josh van der Flier rounded off an outstanding European season by being named EPCR European Player of the Year 2022.
Despite his side's agonising last minute loss to La Rochelle, Van Der Flier made 25 tackles in the final.
He becomes the third Leinster player to claim one of the most prized individual accolades in the game following in the footsteps of club legends Sean O’Brien (2011) and Rob Kearney (2012).
The 29-year-old, who impressed in Leinster’s brave losing Heineken Champions Cup final display, was presented with the Anthony Foley Memorial Trophy following the final at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille.
More than 30,000 votes were registered on HeinekenChampionsCup.com, and that poll, combined with the verdict of an expert panel of judges, eventually determined the winner.
Van der Flier edged out his teammates Caelan Doris and James Lowe for the prestigious award, as well as Grégory Alldritt of Stade Rochelais, and Antoine Dupont of Stade Toulousain who were also included in the five-player shortlist.
PAST WINNERS:
2021: Antoine Dupont (Stade Toulousain)
2020: Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs)
2019: Alex Goode (Saracens)
2018:?Leone Nakarawa (Racing 92)
2017:?Owen Farrell (Saracens)
2016:?Maro?Itoje?(Saracens)
2015:?Nick Abendanon (ASM Clermont Auvergne)
2014:?Steffon?Armitage (RC Toulon)
2013:?Jonny Wilkinson (RC Toulon)
2012:?Rob Kearney (Leinster Rugby)
2011:?Sean O’Brien (Leinster Rugby)
2010:?Ronan O’Gara (Munster Rugby – best player of first 15 years of European club rugby)
Judging panel
Erik Bonneval (beIN SPORTS), Bryan Habana (two-time Heineken Champions Cup winner), Lee McKenzie (Channel 4), Alan Quinlan (two-time Heineken Champions Cup winner / Virgin Media), Dimitri Yachvili (EPCR Challenge Cup winner / France Télévisions).
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Latest Comments
The surprising stat I saw in the Blues game when showing Sotutu equaling the Blues forwards record was that Akira has not scored a try since 2019. Now my memory is pretty bad when it comes to those sorts of the things, I can remember his AB try though, but anyway I can’t see I can remember his last blues touchdown or any in recent years. Surely that still has to be a bogus stat. Maybe excludes SRA games?
Go to commentsDude to me looks pretty fast for a big man, nearly 2m and 130kg, in his workout vid he was signed off. Possibly a bit slow on his reads movement wise though, but I’ve not got anything to compare him to. Hope the dude nails it and finds his sport, could have been a devastating lock in rugby if he wasn’t a footballer growing up.
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