Josh van der Flier’s first memory of a Heineken Cup final was as a 16-year-old watching Leinster beat Leicester at Murrayfield in 2009. His recall of that game and many others involving Leinster are enhanced by watching videos since, but the first recollection which springs to mind is Johnny Sexton’s goalkicking and long-range drop goal.
Even to this day he occasionally reminds himself that once upon time he was a fan and Sexton was a boyhood hero.
“I think when Johnny walks into the room there’s still a bit of like ‘it’s Johnny’,” says Van der Flier, smiling at his own feeling of wonderment even to this day.
“You get used to being their team-mate, their mate or whatever but when you shift your mind sometimes you think: ‘It’s mad that I’m playing with him.’ I watched him on TV when I was younger and he was my hero and if I drove past him even it would be the highlight of my day, and now you’re playing with them. It goes in waves, when you go in that frame of mind, I still haven’t gotten used to it.”
Sexton was a key part of all four of Leinster’s Champions Cup triumphs but, sadly for him, will not be playing against La Rochelle at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday (kick-of 4.45pm). By contrast, Van der Flier has yet to be part of a winning final, having missed the 2018 final against Racing 92 in Bilbao through injury.
“In 2018 I played all the group games but even though you played the majority of the games, and lads might say, ‘oh no, you played a huge part in the group games to get us there’, you still want to be there on those big days, playing on the pitch.
“It’s something you dream about. You asked about my first European memories, you watch 2009 and all you want to do is kick a ball around. Well, not kick for me but pass the ball around and do a few tackles and runs on the field in those big days and win a European Cup. So yeah, it’s a huge motivation for me. Very exciting.”
Last year’s final in Marseille was one of the few disappointments in his year, at the end of which he was crowned World Player of the Year, and was only compounded by him receiving the Player of the Tournament award on-pitch after the game while the La Rochelle players celebrated.
“Yeah, it was very strange. I was obviously incredibly disappointed. It was a nice personal accolade to get that looking back, I’m proud of it, but you’d obviously trade anything to have a medal rather than an award like that.
“It was very strange. I wasn’t in the best of moods. It was a funny feeling, because you’re obviously getting a special award but the whole thing was to win, so I was incredibly disappointed. I don’t know how to describe it really.”
The players are given three tickets with the option to buy a couple more. “I could have bought a hundred and there would still be people looking for them,” admits Van der Flier, who lets his dad sort out the tickets.
But that’s the only downside to having a final at home.
“It’s great to have this opportunity, having your family and friends there supporting you, and obviously you’re staying at home. You’re not travelling abroad and the Leinster supporters, they’ve been so good, you have them so close and there will be loads of them at the game and you’ll have all the supporters in the pubs all around Dublin and Leinster.
“They’ll all be supporting us so it’s incredibly exciting, it’s kind of the dream situation really to be in the final at home.”
