TADHG FURLONG SITS back and listens to Munster’s dismal recent record against Leinster. Since the prop first faced the province back in October 2014, the two sides have played each other 19 times, with Leinster winning 15, including eight of the last nine.
It’s far from the most competitive of matchups these days, but there’s something about Leinster v Munster which still makes it one of the first fixtures players, supporters and media look for when the season schedule lands.
“It stands alone,” Furlong replies. “It stands outside tournament points, it stands outside league points, you know what I mean? It’s a big game.
“Even you see Liverpool v Man City (last weekend), you know it’s a big one-off game (regardless of where they are in the table). I think that’s what’s exciting for us not only as a group, but it’s exciting for the fan-base, the people as well. And you can’t get around that you know.
“It’s a big game. It’s a big game for us. It’s a big game for them.”
The comparison to last Sunday’s headline Premier League clash is an interesting one. With recent form thrown out the window, Liverpool managed to hold free-scoring Man City scoreless and pull off a massive win which could reignite their season. Jurgen Klopp’s side did, however, have a fervent Anfield behind them. If Munster are to cause to an upset today, they’ll have to do it in front of a Leinster-heavy crowd at Aviva Stadium, with a string of key players watching on from the stands.
There’s no sense of any tension in the Leinster camp at least, and there’s a bit of divilment about Furlong when he’s asked to dig a little deeper into the rivalry.
“I know a lot of their players, you are teammates with a lot of their players for a good part of the season as well (with Ireland). So you’ve a lot of respect for them,” Furlong continues.
“Obviously I don’t know the inner workings of Munster rugby, I have never played for them – you should ask James Ryan that!” (Ryan played for a Munster development side against the Ireland U20s in 2017)
“But you know the players, respect the players, respect how much Munster means to them as well, how much Munster means to the fans etc.”
Furlong’s first experience of a Leinster-Munster derby on the pitch wasn’t one for the scrapbook, the tighthead lasting just five minutes before leaving the pitch for a HIA in a 2014 win in Dublin.
It was never likely to top his first taste as a supporter, anyway. May 2009, Heineken Cup semi-final, Croke Park – Leinster 25 Munster 9.
“I was down in the student section when Brian O’Driscoll… I remember going nuts when he intercepted the ball and went the length, well three-quarters of the way.”
Playing his underage rugby in New Ross, County Wexford, and with his mother hailing from Cork, Furlong’s upbringing ensured the Leinster-Munster rivalry was more front and centre than it may have been for some of his current teammates.
“It’s always been around me,” he continues.
I’m obviously from the border really, looking across into Waterford. And you know it’s Munster/Leinster, Munster jerseys around, Leinster jerseys around, it’s always been a thing in my life. Even in the rugby club in New Ross, so I suppose you grew up around it as much as anything.
“You wouldn’t see it with the young lads in the club. But you’ll have a few alickadoos now with the Munster jersey and that. Obviously my mother is from Cork as well.”
The club game is still important to Furlong, who watched on with interest as his former teammate, current Leinster contact skills coach, Sean O’Brien, was recently denied the chance to represent his own home team.
O’Brien, 35, saw his application to represent Tullow in the Towns Cup and Leinster League rejected by Leinster Rugby’s domestic committee, due to a Leinster Rugby regulation which states players who have been professionals within the preceding two seasons are not allowed go straight into junior club rugby.
“New Ross is obviously a junior club too. So I’d fall under the same bracket there,” Furlong says.
“I’ll be watching to see what happens with that rule or whatever. If there was an opportunity and the body was able to, I’d love to, I suppose, give back in a way. But I am 29, but I’m not old yet.
“I can understand both sides of it (the rule) in terms of player safety, from potentially teams abusing the rule, in terms of incentivising it, I don’t know the ins and outs of it.
“But I can also see the selfish nature for me where you know, if I was 35 or 36 and long finished rugby and not training like a professional anymore. I can also see other the side of it. I’d be devastated if I had to wait two years and try and play for New Ross. You know that way? I can understand that, but there there rules. I can sympathise but I understand the rule.”
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