'I couldn’t do anything wrong because I’d just be slated for it'
Ireland star Josh van der Flier feels his team-mates have “long forgotten” about his status as World Player of the Year.
The Leinster flanker goes into the Rugby World Cup as the holder of the sport’s ultimate individual prize following a string of stellar performances across 2022.
Van der Flier was on the receiving end of some good-natured jibes in the aftermath of claiming the award ahead of Ireland captain Johnny Sexton, France skipper Antoine Dupont and South Africa’s Lukhanyo Am.
The unassuming 30-year-old admits the recognition gives him further confidence to perform on the biggest stage but says the in-house references and ribbing have ceased.
“It’s long forgotten about now,” he said. “It’s kind of back to normal, I think.
“It was funny for the first while because I couldn’t do anything wrong because I’d just be slated for it.
“It’s normal enough now.
“I suppose if anything it (the award) gives you a bit of confidence, for me anyway, that I can play well at this level. That’s all I get from it now at this stage, I suppose.
“It was a great honour but it feels like a long time ago now.”
Van der Flier was only the third Irishman to receive the award following Keith Wood (2001) and Sexton (2018).
He backed it up by helping Ireland win the Guinness Six Nations grand slam and retain their spot at the top of the world rankings.
“It’s a team sport and looking back it’s the success of the team that makes the individuals in a team look good or better,” he said.
“But it’s obviously nice to be in that position coming into a World Cup. You want to be playing your best rugby and hopefully I can try and do that now over the next few weeks.
“I am definitely incredibly excited to get going.”
Ireland begin their campaign on Saturday afternoon against Romania in Bordeaux ahead of further Pool B clashes with Tonga, reigning champions South Africa and Scotland.
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its such a shame he hasn’t achieved more success at club level. He’s really not been a potent finisher for a while now, but he’s still excellent in the kick chase. That’s the kind of skillset that generally only gets appreciated when you’re playing in premiership and european finals. I’m not sure whether the challenge cup counts given the quality of the competition seems lower than in previous years, but his duel with Mapimpi should be enthralling.
Go to commentsThe point is the irish players were arrogant,call it like you want sugar coat it aswell but they were you could see it in their way they handeled themselfs on the field when they got something right so dont tell me it was not arrogance it was,you can fool other people but not me,and to say to one of our players see you in the final put a nail in the coffin for this bullsh@t,just be grown men and accept it that you were arrogant,you could if seen it from a mile away, and then you lost to the allblacks what a cocky move that didnt work out for you ,Eben was right when he said u were arrogant,the point is you will deny it because you lost it all just grow some balls and move on we had won you lost accept it.
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