TADHG FURLONG ALMOST forgot he was a rugby player there for a while.
He jokes that he was “a professional rehabber” for long periods of the last two years.
“I must go back and change the LinkedIn,” says the Leinster tighthead prop.
In fairness, he has been sidelined more than he’s been fit this season. Last weekend against Ulster was just his third Leinster appearance of this entire campaign. While Furlong played all three November Tests, he missed the opening three games of the Six Nations before returning for the wins over Scotland and England.
Furlong had been due to get back from his calf injury for the start of what proved to be a Grand Slam campaign, but he hurt it again in Ireland’s pre-championship training camp in Portugal.
“It’s dull then because you miss the Six Nations,” says Furlong, but he was highly motivated to get back before the end of it.
When he did return against Scotland, Furlong was straight back into the starting XV for a big 65-minute shift on a day when loosehead prop Cian Healy ended up scrummaging at hooker for the second half.
“They were laughing,” says Furlong of the Scots. “We were binding up for the first scrum and they were going to us, ‘Who’s hooker?’ looking at three props. Dealer’s choice!”
That worked out well for Ireland and Furlong was in the number three shirt against the English six days later as Andy Farrell’s side sealed their Slam.
Despite his lack of rugby, Furlong felt good in terms of energy but admits there was a little sharpness missing.
“Some of the time you are kinda reacting rather than being ahead, if that’s making sense, of the match and how it unfolds in front of you, so there is a little bit of that,” says the Wexford man.
“I suppose I’m only three games in really, so still trying to find your way back in, to really hit top straps.
“I don’t think anyone is content with just kind of fitting in either, you know what I mean? It’s just trying to get back, get back on top of the ground, and get back playing your best rugby.”
Furlong appears to be heading in that direction judging by his performance last weekend against Ulster. He took evident delight in a couple of scrum penalties, while he made five strong carries, completed four tackles, and hit 25 rucks for Leinster. Among his other contributions was the latch that helped Andrew Porter over the line for his try.
“Full credit!” says Furlong when asked if he deserves the plaudits for that one.
Furlong will look for more against Leicester in this evening’s Champions Cup quarter-final at the Aviva Stadium [KO 8pm, RTÉ/BT Sport]. Indeed, he believes his spells on the sidelines mean he is now in ideal condition to kick on. He feels fresher than he has in a long time.
“As fresh as paint,” says Furlong.
“No, generally, the body feels really good and I feel like even training and stuff, it’s coming back. While I don’t miss a whole lot of big games it has been quite stop-start with a few little issues and stuff like that.
“It feels like the first time in a long time where we have a good grasp of everything. There’s a lot of work gone in since probably the 2019 World Cup. I was only just talking to my physio about it, I went to there but my body was in absolute bits at it.
“I had so many niggles and I had probably under-trained, because I’d gone through a lot of rugby without getting injured, and sometimes when you get injured, you get an eight-week or ten-week break, and you start hitting the gym hard.
“I was low on a full pre-season because I was carrying on, you know that kind of way? Whereas now it feels like we’re on top of a lot of stuff.”
It does make sense that Furlong wasn’t feeling in ideal physical condition at the 2019 World Cup. We didn’t see his world-class best in that tournament, which was an unhappy one overall for Ireland.
“I do know I was battling. Every week was tough,” says Furlong.
“It was tough to actually get onto the pitch, whereas now I suppose you have a better grasp of your body.
“But we’ve done a lot of work in building up, a lot of the boring stuff in your body, like calves and all that, and strength levels and endurance levels and iso tests [isometric tests].”
The fact that Furlong is on top of all of this bodes well for Ireland and Leinster, who continue their drive for a fifth Champions Cup title against Leicester this evening.
Opposite Furlong will be former Munster and Ireland loosehead James Cronin who he views as “a good scrummager, a big man, a big block of a man, like most of their pack to be fair, good scrummagers.”
For Leinster, it’s all about the job at hand tonight but Furlong is motivated by the prospect of getting back to trophy-winning ways with his province.
“Look behind you, look at all the pictures on the wall,” he says, pointing at images of Leinster teams lifting trophies, “that’s what the club wants to do.
“We haven’t won Europe since 2018. We’ve got close lots of times. There’s no lack of desire there. It’s on us to go out there and try to prove that we’re good enough to win it.”
