Josh van der Flier is excited to face Australia in the opening round of the Nations Championship Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
Ireland kick off their Nations Championship in 100 days at the Allianz Stadium in Sydney against Australia. That match marks the start of an exciting new chapter in the history of international rugby as the Southern Series in July and the Northern Series in November culminate in a brand new Finals Weekend in London.
Ireland flanker Josh van der Flier says that facing the Wallabies in Australia brings a whole new challenge for him, “I’m looking forward to getting down there as I’ve never played against Australia, in Australia. It’s bound to be a big challenge. We’ve been fortunate enough to do reasonably well against them in the past few years but playing at home is a bit different to playing away. That will be a big challenge and a very exciting way to kick off the our Nations Championship campaign.”
Tickets for the finals weekend are on sale now
Billed as ‘Where Hemispheres Collide’ the Nations Championship pits the best of the Northern and Southern hemisphere teams against each other with a Finals Weekend in London for every team and Van der Flier is excited at the prospect of seeinghow the tournament pans out, “The fact that we’ll have the best teams in the world, Northern Hemisphere vs Southern Hemisphere is unbelievable.
Even if you’re not a fan of rugby, you want to see the best players playing against each other at whatever sport it is. Whenever that happens, you get a great spectacle and great games. There will be some seriously good rugby on show. At Allianz Stadium as well, a really cool place to play – London is a great city. It’s very exciting.
Ireland will also face Japan and New Zealand in July before hosting South Africa, Fiji and Argentina in November. Van der Flier is no stranger to some of the biggest games against some of Ireland’s biggest rivals, “South Africa and New Zealand having beaten us in November, we’ll be really looking forward to those games. Anytime you lose to a team, you can’t wait to for the next time to get a go at them and hopefully get a win the next time.”
Tickets for the finals weekend are on sale now and with every team involved over three days of action at Allianz Stadium in London it promises to be a festival of rugby.
“Having two games each day Friday, Saturday, Sunday makes for a brilliant spectacle. Normally you would go for a rugby weekend somewhere and you get one Test Match which is brilliant but to have the prospect of six matches will be fantastic.
“Even from a player’s point of view, it’s great fun being in and around the same city when all of this rugby is going on and you can go down to watch the other games if you’re not playing. It makes for a great buzz, a great spectacle.
“The other thing I like is having all the fans around. Obviously if it’s Ireland vs England you would have two sets of fans, but with this concept, you could have twelve sets of fans there in London for the weekend. It will be really cool, there will be a great buzz around the city I’m sure.”
Australia v Ireland, Saturday, July 4, Allianz Stadium, Sydney
Japan v Ireland, Saturday, July 11, TBC
New Zealand v Ireland, Saturday, July 18, Eden Park, Auckland
Kick off times and ticket details will be confirmed in due course.
Ireland v Argentina, Friday, November 6, Aviva Stadium
Ireland v Fiji, Saturday, November 14, Aviva Stadium
Ireland v South Africa, Saturday, November 21, Aviva Stadium
Friday 27, Saturday 28 Sunday 29, Allianz Stadium, London – Tickets On Sale Now
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