Taj bloody Furlong!
James Lowe is in awe of the big guy from Wexford.
He may have taken some time to get the pronunciation of his first name right – and it is still not perfect – but he likes everything that he sees from the Leinster tight-head.
Lowe lit up The RDS in Leinster’s 52-3 shellacking of Wasps but some of the passing and handling of their forwards was truly breath-taking. Sean Cronin, James Ryan and Furlong all contributed with great attacking play, while Rhys Ruddock was pure, uncomplicated class in everything he did.
51 minutes into the game and Furlong’s break, show-and-go and offload set Leinster up for a try-scoring bonus point chance that Luke McGrath finished off in style.
You will see (from the clip below) that McGrath set off in pursuit of Furlong, knowing the prop was likely to make something happen. He is as comfortable in the 13 channel as he is trucking it up the guts. Lowe, he teed up McGrath with the try assist, marvelled:
“Tadhg’s bloody show-and-go and his one-handed pass, they are special moments and it shows in the end.
“I don’t think there a many front rows in the world who could do that. He’s a special human, on and off the field, so credit where it is due. He did everything well today.”
Luke McGrath bagged two tries in @leinsterrugby’s rout of @WaspsRugby 💪
But how about @tadhgfurlong's turn of pace 😳⚡️
Who stood out for you? #ChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/Ga9UqpuJT7
— Investec Champions Cup (@ChampionsCup) October 13, 2018
Ahead of the game, in a brief chat with BT’s Brian O’Driscoll, Furlong set out the Leinster mentality as they embarked on a Champions Cup title defence.
“We’re not looking to defend it, we’re trying to go and attack it again, and we were successful with that last season.”
It is not just attack – dashing as it so often is – that makes this Leinster side scarily good. Lowe summed up his mindset, and that of his teammates, when it comes to defence and hitting rucks.
“Hit on suspicion. If anyone’s in that metre [of the breakdown], you just get rid of them.
“Every time you go to a ruck you should completely rearrange it. If you go off your feet, you’ve got to take someone with you. It’s kind of like a little rule.
“You can’t take it too far but if they land around the ruck, it’s fair game. It’s not my area of expertise but I know that every time I go near a ruck I’m taking someone with me.”
From the winger Lowe to the tighthead Tadhg ‘Tigger’ Furlong – the big man’s latest in a long list of nicknames – each and every Leinster player has bought into their play big and play hard philosophy. Bouncing and bounding around the place with a big grin on his face, Furlong as ‘Tigger’ could catch on.
