Tadgh Furlong’s Da has a very stubborn attitude when it comes to modern technology.
When Ireland shocked the All Blacks in Chicago last November, Joe Schmidt’s players did not emerge from the dressingroom until they had read congratulatory texts from friends and family, after they had made history with the 40-29 win.
Emerging tighthead Furlong would have been in no doubt his father, a prop himself, would have been proud of his son’s performance against that fearsome New Zealand front-row, but the 24-year-old would be waiting a long time for a text.
“The landline. You have to ring the landline,” explained Furlong. “He doesn’t have a mobile phone so he’s no way to text you!”
Well, it seems the Leinster man’s comments did not go unnoticed in his home village of Campile. In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, the Wexford native reveals that the locals in Hart’s Bar started a whip-around for Furlong Senior.
The “Buy James Furlong a mobile phone fund” is still going.
You have to admire a determined technophobe like that. A man who enjoys his own company and likes to focus on his farm work. Imagine he had a smartphone as his physically imposing son was growing up. How many more of these feats of strength would be in circulation.
Here comes Furlong. Tadhg is gonna get you! #IREvROM pic.twitter.com/jqAldGea24
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) September 27, 2015
