TIGHTHEAD PROP TADHG Furlong is set to bring “maturity, power and leadership” to the Ireland team as they face Scotland on Sunday, according to The42 rugby journalist Murray Kinsella, who was speaking on the Rugby Weekly Extra podcast today. 

Furlong will makes his first appearance of this Six Nations championship, having recovered from a calf issue that has kept him out since early December, 

“He’s one of the very best, and I mean that across all positions when he’s at his best. And maybe that hasn’t always been the case,” Kinsella said. 

The42 Rugby Weekly / SoundCloud

“We judge him to the highest of high standards and he’s had a bit of a disrupted time in rugby really over the last while, but when he is close to that peak and when he gets going in a game and gets momentum behind him he’s very difficult to stop because he’s a really rounded threat.” 

Kinsella added: “He can carry with explosive power, he can tip on, he can tip in, he can sweep those passes out the back. He makes really good decisions. His workrate is excellent off the ball to put himself into good positions in the first place. So he brings all that as well as that maturity and leadership that has really grown in his game, maybe to the surprise of himself included. He probably never saw himself as that kind of figure but he’s been important for Ireland in that regard. 

“It’s brilliant that the last person who was in that jersey did so well. Finlay Bealham had three of the best games of his career, really established himself as an important part of Ireland’s depth chart and it was a big question mark. The fact that he played so well against South Africa in November and has been one of the best tightheads in this championship really has answered that question.”