Josh van der Flier

Joshua Dirk van der Flier (born 25 April 1993) is an Irish professional rugby union player who plays as a flanker for United Rugby Championship club Leinster and the Ireland national team.

Van der Flier is of Dutch descent through his paternal grandparents, who moved to Ireland in the 1950s to open a radiator factory. He is commonly referred to among Leinster Rugby circles as ‘The Dutch Disciple’.

Club career
Van der Flier began his professional career with the Leinster academy. During his time at the academy, he played with the Leinster senior team, making his debut in October 2014 against Italian side Zebre Parma. It was announced in April 2015 that he had been awarded a senior contract with Leinster.

Following the 2022 Champions Cup final, Van der Flier became the third Leinster player to win European player of the year, after Sean O’Brien in 2011 and Rob Kearney in 2012. In June 2022 he was named Leinster's 2021–22 Men's Player of the Year.

International career
Van der Flier received his first call up to the senior Ireland squad by coach Joe Schmidt for the 2016 Six Nations. Van der Flier debuted for Ireland on 27 February 2016 against England in the Six Nations at Twickenham.

He was named as the Ireland men's XVs Players' Player of the Year at the 2022 Rugby Players Ireland awards. He also won the Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland men's player of the year award for the 2021-22 campaign. In November 2022, Van der Flier was named as the World Rugby Men's 15s Player of the Year. In August 2023, he was selected to be part of Ireland's World Cup squad ahead of the 2023 World Cup in France.

Personal life
Van Der Flier was born and raised in Wicklow town and attended Wesley College in Dublin as a boarder, where he began to play rugby, along with cricket and hockey. He is of Dutch descent on his father's side, his grandparents having moved to Ireland from the Netherlands in the 1950s. His father, Dirk Van Der Flier, played rugby for Old Wesley.

He married Sophie De Patoul in August 2022.

Van Der Flier is a practicing Christian, and wears the cross drawn on his wrist tape during games.

He has a master's in business administration from Dublin Business School, completed in 2020.

Honours

 * Leinster
 * 1× Heineken Cup: 2018
 * 4× Pro14: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021


 * Ireland
 * 3× Six Nations Championship: 2018, 2023, 2024
 * 2× Grand Slam: 2018, 2023
 * 3× Triple Crown: 2018, 2022, 2023


 * Individual
 * 1× European Professional Club Rugby Player of the Year: 2022
 * 1× World Rugby Men's 15s Player of the Year: 2022