99 Test caps down and still going strong.
Tadhg Furlong was up early this morning.
He thought he’d beat everyone to it.
Up he got, dressed he got and freshened up he was. Ready to put himself through a gentle gym grind. Get himself set for the day.
As he arrived at the gym, towel slung over his shoulder, one lad was heading off. Done for the morning. Ready for breakfast, a rest and another training run.
Jamie Heaslip.
Jamie bloody Heaslip.
Doing a good job avoiding the distractions of Sean O’Brien at Carton House this afternoon, Furlong told us:
“It’s absolutely crazy. I walked into the gym at around quarter to eight this morning and he was just after finishing a session, having done his mobility and switch-on work for the pitch.
“The work-rate he has off the pitch, in getting his body ready right, and his little skills sessions, just shows what type of man he is and the type of leader he is for the team.”
This morning was no once-off, Furlong assured us. Heaslip is, more often than not, the first arrival at the gym.
It was no surprise really. Heaslip is a first in, last out kind of a player. He prides himself on his fitness and refers to himself as the bus that doesn’t break.
When he tells you about his ‘Wolverine blood’, don’t scoff either. Leinster ran recovery tests and found Heaslip was streets ahead when it came to red blood cells replenishing faster. It means he recovers quickly.
It means that after 75 minutes against the All Blacks in Chicago, he had the presence of mind to run a smart line off an Irish scrum and switch an inside pass for Robbie Henshaw to drive the dagger home.
When it comes to gym records, Heaslip is up there in many of them. Peter O’Mahony has the best Counter Movement Jump [63 centimetres] while Cian Healy holds the squatting record [300 kilos] and one for bench press.
On the pitch, too, Heaslip has only played two bad games out of his last 30 outings since the 2015 World Cup – Montpellier away and Scotland away. It is no surprise that Ireland lost them both.
The No.8 was good against France and great against Italy. Following that game, Donncha O’Callaghan told The Hard Yards rugby podcast:
“Heaslip was immense. He was a forwards captain yesterday. I loved how he backed his front five and, more so, his front row early in the game by going for scrums rather than kick for points. As a front five forward, you really grow from that.”
Heaslip has the respect of his peers, his coaches and he will be acclaimed on Friday for making his 100th Test appearance [including British & Irish Lions].
And still, he will keep going.
The bus will make its’ final stop in the future but not yet. That day feels a long way off.
