Fail, fail better. Josh van der Flier says it lasted for about two weeks. Ireland’s crushing exit didn’t become proper, put away history until the World Cup had folded its tent and headed out of Paris.
Until then perspective was difficult, the infuriating close-but-no-cigar end lingered as the team Ireland had beaten in the pool stage, South Africa, went on to win the trophy and take it home. Painful. Then, says the Irish flanker, things got easier.
Compared to four years ago, Beckett’s well-worn line is all Van der Flier can take away from the quarter-final defeat to the All Blacks. Cold comfort certainly, and a crumb of satisfaction that the narrow defeat in Stade de France was a better loss than the one-sided game in 2019.
But it took two weeks before the dust blew away and a season with Leinster provided fresh hopes. They failed, explains the Irish flanker, but failed better.
“I think once the World Cup was over, it was kind of just a line in the sand,” he says. “It’s over now. Let’s move on. So, I’m feeling great. A completely new focus and a new goal.
“One thing that made it particularly tough . . . I remember the last quarter-final [2019] we lost and it was obviously very disappointing. But the game wasn’t close at all, we were beaten well. This one . . . I imagine other lads were pretty similar [in thinking] because it’s such a close game, you look back at every mistake you made. You felt you could have done better and you’re like ‘If I had just done better then, that would have been the difference or if this had just gone right or if I’d ran that line’.”
Van der Flier has had three weeks off and even that adjustment was not straightforward, with the dramatic fall away from World Cup intensity to nothing proving an uncomfortable jolt.
No next match to prepare for, no schedule of training, no video analysis, no media, no challenge, no crowds, no coach to please. After months in camp and having every day detailed and organised from breakfast to sleep, there was, instead, an unnatural whispering voice in the head.
Lots of time, and Van der Flier had nothing to do with it. Although rest and recovery was a priority, at the beginning cold turkey was a challenge.
“There is such a set schedule and obviously you have the goal of the World Cup. Day-to-day everything is planned,” he says.
“Then all of a sudden you’re back home. There’s no schedule. You haven’t readjusted your goals yet to work towards Leinster. You’re kind of in a bit of no man’s land. That was tricky. But I managed to get away for a week and that helped a lot – just to get away from rugby and anything resembling it.”
From the All Blacks in Paris to Scarlets in the RDS this weekend and there are more mental adjustments to make, although, as he explains it, the whole Leinster thing is an entirely different vibe, refreshingly so.
From Ireland’s first match against England in the pre-World Cup warm-up series in August, Van der Flier played in seven international matches, started in six, coming off the bench against Romania and played for a full 80 minutes in five of them.
He will be raced lightly to begin and, familiar as he is with Leinster, he faces more changes with Stuart Lancaster gone, Johnny Sexton playing golf in Dubai and Jacques Nienaber arriving as defence coach. Andrew Goodman has also taken over the attacking side of training, the change ups welcome with new voices and ideas.
What Nienaber will bring to Leinster, nobody is yet quite certain. Leo Cullen has been talking to him constantly but from the players’ side there is a heightened sense of anticipation.
“It’s hard to know, really,” says Van der Flier. “Yeah, I don’t know if he might come in and say we’re defending the exact same way that South Africa do or he might like some of the stuff we do and change it. I’m not really sure.
“But it’s definitely exciting, looking at any of the teams he’s coached, the way they defend. It’s aggressive and you’re on the edge of your seat watching that defence.
“He obviously has his philosophy, or things he finds that work well, so it’s the experience he has and what he has achieved that says it all, really. So, everyone will be listening hard and trying to soak in everything they can from him.”
