Sexton’s ‘rugby brain’ leaves van der Flier speechless
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Leinster Rugby flanker Josh van der Flier has heaped praise on his captain Johnny Sexton ahead of Saturday’s Heineken Champions Cup final against Stade Rochelais.
Sexton was Heineken Star of the Match in Leinster’s semi-final victory over Stade Toulousain, setting van der Flier up for a try on 19 minutes, and the decorated fly-half will no doubt play a key role in their bid to secure a fifth European star in Marseille.
An EPCR European Player of the Year nominee, van der Flier hailed the importance of Sexton to the Irish province’s title bid, as well back-row forward Caelan Doris and scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park.
“Johnny, Caelan, Jamison, they’re incredible players,” he said.
“Caelan’s been brilliant for us this year and Jamison has been one of the best players in the squad this season. He’s been incredible.
Adding more on Sexton, van der Flier said: “He’s a great guy. His rugby prowess and quality you can see it for yourselves. He was appropriately recognised when he was World Player of the Year a few years ago
“He’s an unbelievable player and as captain of the club he adds a huge amount. His experience, having played under so many coaches, being the man leading Leinster and Ireland for so many years.
The road to Marseille 🏆
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“He demands the highest standards from everyone who’s playing with him. Not just demanding his standards – he has an incredible rugby brain.
“You think he’s looking another way on the field then he turns and tells you off for going the wrong way in a lineout play or something. He just sees everything.
“I don’t know how to put into words how good he is, but it’s very impressive.”
Stade Rochelais defeated Leinster in the Heineken Champions Cup semi-finals last season, but van der Flier believes his team has the necessary desire and confidence to overcome the TOP 14 side this time around.
“There’s a hunger, certainly, in the team to go back there and to win it. I wouldn’t say we feel a huge amount of pressure because obviously it’s such a hard thing to win.
“It’s a very, very difficult competition, a huge number of great teams. But definitely, there’s a huge desire and hunger from the team, from everyone, from me personally to get to that stage and to win.
“Looking at the team and the squad, there’s a lot of us on the team who wouldn’t have played in a European final before. It’s certainly not something that we’re used to, so it’s very, very exciting.
“La Rochelle played very, very well [in last season’s semi-final]. They made it very difficult for us and they performed better than us on the day and they managed to get the win. It was certainly a great performance from them.”
