The flanker was unable to add to his tally in Dublin as Leinster suffered another heartbreaking loss at the hands of La Rochelle, but he enjoyed a prolific run prior to the showpiece game, amassing six tries.

2022 EPCR Player of the year Van der Flier crossed the whitewash in each of his team’s four pool stage games, including a double at Racing 92 in Round 1, and also dotted down in their semi-final thrashing of Stade Toulousain.

La Rochelle’s Tawera Kerr-Barlow lifted the Heineken Champions Cup but couldn’t draw level with Van der Flier, ending with a personal tally of five tries.

The scrum-half found his scoring touch in the knockout stage, going over against Gloucester Rugby in the Round of 16, before notching braces against Saracens and Exeter Chiefs in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively.

Dan Sheehan (2) and Jimmy O’Brien provided Leinster’s three tries in their early blitz in the Heineken Champions Cup final, and they are among a contingent of players to end the competition on four scores, along with teammate Garry Ringrose.

La Rochelle’s UJ Seuteni went over as the TOP 14 side produced a remarkable fightback in the Heineken Champions Cup final and he joins teammate Pierre Bourgarit on four tries as well for this campaign.

Thomas Darmon (Montpellier Hérault Rugby), André Esterhuizen (Harlequins), Elliot Daly (Saracens), Jaden Hendrikse (Cell C Sharks), Deon Fourie (DHL Stormers) and Gavin Coombes (Munster Rugby) are the other players to manage four tries over the course of this season’s Heineken Champions Cup.

Full-back Daly had the best scoring rate of those to have dotted down four times, having only featured four times, while Hendrikse’s haul came in his debut campaign in EPCR competitions amid the maiden inclusion of South African clubs.

Josh van der Flier was part of the Leinster Rugby side defeated by Stade Rochelais in the Heineken Champions Cup final at the weekend, but he ends the competition as the leading try-scorer this season.