No Irish rugby player who confronted the All Blacks before the 2016 meeting in Chicago’s Soldier Field ever experienced the winning feeling. Some of the greats suffered on numerous occasions: Brian O’Driscoll, Paul O’Connell, Ronan O’Gara et al. Then along comes a 22-year-old in just his third Test and beats them at the first attempt.
“Yeah, it was an unbelievable experience. It was very surreal, to be honest,” recalls Josh van der Flier of that momentous 40-29 win over the All Blacks nine years ago. “Even being in camp was fairly new to me.”
“I don’t know if I contributed a huge amount,” he adds modestly when speaking to the media inside the SeatGeek Stadium, about half an hour southwest of the city.
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He’d only made his Test debut, along with Ultan Dillane and Stuart McCloskey, the previous February in Twickenham and won a second cap at home to Italy. The game in Chicago is something of a blur. He admits to being “incredibly nervous”. Yet he remembers quite a bit from the week.
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“One thing that stood out to me,” says Van der Flier, “when Joe [Schmidt] went through the meetings earlier in the week, the Monday and Tuesday meetings, and we were talking through the game plan and looking at New Zealand, I remember thinking: ‘Gosh, this game plan is so good, I don’t know how we’re going to lose’.
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“He had us very well up for it and we managed to perform. It was obviously a strange time as well, with the passing of Anthony Foley recently before that.
“There was a whole whirlwind of things going on, and the Chicago Cubs won the World Series. But it was a very special day to remember.”
Van der Flier was a 25th-minute replacement for Jordi Murphy.
“Sometimes you’re sitting on the bench and you’re just trying to relax but I was so into the game. I was standing up for everything that happened. I was giving it socks. I nearly lost my voice, shouting so much.
“Jordi did well, he scored a try and he was going well but then unfortunately hurt his knee and I got called on. But I was very pumped up to go on, I felt ready to go.”
The seeds of the win had been sowed in the dramatic 24-22 defeat to the All Blacks at the Aviva three years previously when Aaron Cruden’s retaken conversion to Ryan Crotty’s try with the last play secured victory for the visitors.
“I was right beside Aaron Cruden where he was kicking [that conversion]. I was with my dad and my brother. It was a tough day. They’ve all been tough days, I suppose, all the games previously to that. We’d come close so many times.”
Particularly against New Zealand, I think you have to be particularly switched on in every way
He also says that discussions with the team’s then sports psychiatrist Enda McNulty eased his apprehension, the latter reminding Van der Flier how long he’s been honing his skills.
“And it was the same for the team. You think of all you’ve done as an individual to get to that stage and just have confidence in that and just go out and play. That’s where my head was at.”
It tells us much about Van der Flier’s importance to the Irish team in the last decade that having been a first-half replacement for CJ Stander in the All Blacks’ spiteful revenge mission in Dublin a fortnight later, he has since started all eight meetings between the countries. Hence, he is the only Irish ever-present player in all of the last 10 meetings.
“I think Ardie Savea has played pretty much all of those and I played against him at under-20s as well. Every time I’ve played I think he’s been playing as far as I know. So, we always have a chat afterwards. It’s funny how it’s worked out like that,” says Van der Flier, who succeeded Savea as the World Rugby Player of the Year in 2022.
“They are always fierce Tests. The one thing I’ve noticed, in any of the big Test matches really, but particularly against New Zealand, I think you have to be particularly switched on in every way. You switch off for a small moment and they’re good enough players that they take those opportunities.
“That’s one thing that’s always stood out for me having played them a good few times at this stage. So you’ve got to be on your game for 80 minutes.”
He’s been enjoying the mix of time training and preparing for Saturday’s game, and the downtime in Chicago, which he describes as his favourite American city.
“We’re right in the middle of the city so it’s nice just to have a walk around or a swim in the lake,” he says, in reference to Lake Michigan. He didn’t join his squad mates who went to the Blackhawks ice hockey game but will be among those at the Chicago Bulls NBA game on Wednesday night.
Van der Flier has had two outings for Leinster this season. The change of scenery and city, and indeed squad, has helped to park the disappointment of Leinster’s loss to Munster last Saturday week when, as he concedes, Tadhg Beirne underlined that post-Lions rustiness cannot be an excuse.
“He was brilliant. He was at his best really, good breakdown steals and good around the park as well, so yeah, I don’t think we can use that excuse if he’s playing that well.
“He’s been absolutely incredible this year. He’s probably been our best player I think this year – he’s been on both sides of the ball, attack, defence.”
