The hits, they keep coming.
It’s a given now, in world rugby, that Tadhg Furlong is up there with the very best of tight-head props.
The 25-year-old is less than three years into his Test career but he quickly claimed the No.3 jersey for Ireland and did not look back. In his country’s Six Nations opener against France, he returns to the place where he made his tournament debut back in February 2016.
That was a baptism of fire for the Wexford native as he replaced the flagging Nathan White with 25 minutes to go and battled manfully against a Les Bleus pack with their tails up and a baying crowd behind them. It does not come much tougher than that but Furlong and Ireland are much improved since then.
Ahead of Ireland’s Six Nations opener, Frederic Bernes as a big profile on Furlong in leading French sports paper L’Equipe. The piece focuses on the prop’s rapid rise to become one of the world’s top 10 players [citing Rugby Worl’s comprehensive Top 100] and includes how Furlong got the nickname ‘Jukebox’.
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The ‘Jukebox’ story came to light in Ireland ahead of the 2017 Six Nations and from a Mike Ruddock interview with The Sunday Times’ David Walsh.
Ruddock, the former Ireland U20 coach, had given his young front-row prospect another nickname but it did not last long. He explained:
“At our video reviews, I would give an award for ‘tackle of the game’. After our first game at the World Cup I called out the winner. ‘The Mayor of Wexford, Tadhg Furlong.’ Next game, it’s the same, the Mayor of Wexford wins the same award.”
“Third game he gets it again. ‘The Mayor of Wexford,’ I announce. And he says, ‘Mike, I don’t like the Mayor of Wexford bit.’
“I had nicknames for a lot of the lads, so I asked, ‘Ok, what should I call you?’“
As soon as the Wexford native uttered his suggested nickname, Ruddock must have had an inkling he was bested. Furlong’s reasoning for the new name would only confirm this suspicion.
“And he said, ‘Call me The Jukebox’.
“I said, ‘Why the Jukebox?'”
“And he said, ‘Because the hits keep coming!’
“He was funny, not boastful, but he knew he could do it. That was the thing.”
The legend of Tadhg ‘Jukebox’ Furlong has now well and truly arrived in France.
