Josh van der Flier throwing everything at decider against Scotland

Josh van der Flier is hoping his lineout throwing won't be needed tonight when Ireland face Scotland in their Pool B decider at the Stade de France, but is prepared to step in again if needed after his heroics at Murrayfield last March.

The world player of the year found himself in the unusual position of lineout thrower during the second half of the 22-7 Six Nations win, when both Dan Sheehan and Rónan Kelleher had departed the game with injuries.

The flanker did lose two throws late in that game but by then the result was beyond doubt, and he crucially nailed each of his throws when the match was still up for grabs.

"With the lineout throwing I'm always messing around and practicing. We do the odd bit here and there just preparing for scenarios like that, I guess," he says ahead of this evening's renewal with the Scots.

That game at Murrayfield taught us a lot about this Ireland team, who found themselves stuck in the mud when they lost two hookers due to injury, which could have seen them reduced to 14 players had their been a need for uncontested scrums.

However, with Cian Healy covering at hooker and Van der Flier on lineouts (below), they saw things out with little fuss and it was the manner in which they navigated their way through a minefield of a second half that says a lot about the temperament of this side.

"It’s a testament to the group that looking over the last the or four years we’ve ended up in loads of difficult situations and we’ve managed to have a few people playing out of position, or maybe a man down, or whatever happens.

"We've had a lot of adversity with people dropping out late and injured in warm-ups, that kind of thing, and the group has always managed to stay calm and not to panic and still come up