Josh Van Der Flier may have the number seven jersey nailed to his back for Ireland and Leinster over the past few years, but he found himself out of the test side for the British and Irish Lions in Australia.
World Player of the Year in 2022, the Leinster flanker was overlooked by Andy Farrell as the Lions won the series 2-1.
Arguably the most competitive area of the squad, Van Der Flier played five warm-up games, but it was Tadhg Beirne, Jack Conan, Ben Earl, Tom Curry, and Jack Morgan preferred in the back row.
Not one to feel sorry for himself, the Wicklow man said Farrell spoke to him about his decision to leave him out.
"I spoke to him each of the Test weeks," said Van Der Flier.
"It’s a funny one. You work your whole career to get on a Lions tour.
"You’d bite anyone’s hand off to get the opportunity just to go, and then once you are there, the overall goal is to play in the Test games.
"Yeah, it was definitely disappointing. I had good chats with Andy.
"In fairness, he’s always really honest, giving you things to work on and everything.
"He said it was a gut feeling about the balance of the back row, that was the decision he made, and that was the way he wanted his back row balance.
"In fairness, that’s what you want from coaches, you just want, like in anything in life, you just want them to be straight and honest with you, and Andy is always that.
"He had his decision, and that’s his decision."
In another key moment for Van Der Flier, he captained Leinster for the first time as they defeated the Sharks in their first home game of the season.
The last time he was a captain of a team was for the school cricket team.
Surrounded by leaders during his Leinster career, he thanked those who helped him prepare for the
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