TADHG FURLONG HAS served his time under Mike Ross with Leinster and Ireland.
Now, the young tighthead is ready to grasp his first Test start with both hands.
After six appearances from the bench, the 23-year-old will start a game for the first time in an Ireland shirt and what a place to earn that chance.
Packing down against Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira in front of a vociferous crowd at Ellis Park will be quite the experience for Furlong but the guidance of Ross and scrum coach Greg Feek has prepared him for this seismic moment.
“Yeah, absolutely; Rossy’s been great, Feeky’s been great. I’ve been on a long road with them throughout the years, through Feeky’s time with Leinster and Rossy’s been great,” said the Wexford man.
“He’s always been a helping hand, going through video with you and teaching you stuff. Even his record, his consistency is something to admire as a prop; especially as a young fellah looking up to him, coming through the ranks.
“The way he does it consistently every week is something you admire because being out there I know how hard it is to do. It’s something you’d be striving for.”
Ross has been the cornerstone of the Irish pack throughout the Joe Schmidt era, but the Corkman, who won his 60th cap in the victory at Newlands, is now 36 and, with one eye to the future, Furlong has earned this opportunity.
A healthy rivalry and a great friendship with Ross at Leinster has been vital to his rise through the ranks.
“It’s a strange thing, front-rowers seem to get on really well together, I don’t why it is, off the pitch,” said Furlong.
“I don’t know why but any team I go into they seem to always get on. So off the pitch we’re obviously friends, we can chat away or we go for coffee or a bit of lunch or whatever.
“But at the same time you can be friends but you’re still competing with that man and especially in Leinster I would have done anything to get ahead of him.”
Furlong certainly has a good record in South Africa having been part of the Ireland U20 side which shocked the Baby Boks during the pool stages of the 2012 Junior World Championship.
Furlong and Iain Henderson were part of the Irish pack that day as a young Irish side defeated the tournament hosts 23-19 in Stellenbosch.
“It was sort of surreal in one way after the game [last Saturday]. I looked over at Hendy. ‘Jeez, two from two against South Africa.’ It’s sort of hard to believe in a way,” Furlong recalled.
“Obviously this one was a much bigger occasion doing it at Test level, and especially to do it when the Under-20s had beaten New Zealand as well. It was incredible. It’s not a bad record to have I suppose.”
It was certainly a memorably day for Furlong and Henderson four years ago:
“I remember just going ballistic because no-one gave us a chance, and we were in Stellenbosch Stadium. The place was packed out and they were making a serious amount of noise. It was very similar to the weekend, we had to dig really deep. We were under a fair bit of pressure from them. We managed to hold tough and we came out.
“Unfortunately then we lost to England only four days later, so we didn’t progress to the semi-finals. But I remember just feeling ecstatic, especially at U20s level. You haven’t come up against those sort of teams before and to beat them is such a big thing for a young rugby player.”
Furlong can count on Quinn Roux for support at scrum-time this weekend. Highly-regarded as a tight-head lock by Schmidt and the Irish management, his 124kg of raw South African power will be most welcome against the Springboks pack on Saturday.
“He’s a good man to park behind you,” Furlong added.
“Stand and look at the man and he’s a big old unit, isn’t he? He transfers really good power across the scrum. He holds a really good connection with his lock and with my left leg and the hooker’s right. He transfers a lot of power and he’s eager to.
“He likes scrummaging and he’s an out-and-out tight-head lock, which makes a big difference. It’s good to have him behind you and you can have confidence that he’s going to push and push and push, and all you to worry then about is trying to keep their prop and hooker down and true.”
