Leinster's Josh van der Flier ready to go after 'mentally' exhausting season

Josh van der Flier would want to be careful.

The last thing the 2022 World Rugby player of the year needs is to get a reputation as an impact sub.

Leinster were "clunky", according to senior coach Jacques Nienaber, for large spells of the weekend's URC win over Dragons but impetus arrived when Van der Flier came on for his first appearance of the season in the 62nd minute.

Within 30 seconds of landing he had completed a tackle and busied four defenders with a bullocking run in midfield. They scored three tries in the remaining 18 minutes of the 34-6 victory.

Last season, Van der Flier started three of his side's most important games on the bench, with Will Connors preferred at openside for their two Champions Cup games against La Rochelle and the final against Toulouse, in which Van der Flier scored Leinster's only try of the 31-22 defeat.

For Ireland boss Andy Farrell, the Wicklow man remains one of the first names on the team sheet.

The 31-year-old had the 7 jersey for 10 of their last 11 Tests, the one exception being a run off the bench against Italy in the second round of the Six Nations.

"I know, you don't want to be the person who's good at the end of the game," laughed Van der Flier, speaking to RTÉ Sport ahead of Saturday's third-round clash against Benetton (5.15pm, live on RTÉ Sport).

"I'm happy where I'm put, I suppose, but my obvious preference is playing all the games, starting the games and that's what I've been most used to.

"Last year I probably played a few games off the bench for, kind of, eh, different reasons, and yeah, it's a hard one because you want to make a big impact but you need to make sure you are doing it when you are playing from the start.

"Whenever you are playing off the bench, whatever area you