Pretty soon we’ll just have to shelf the sound Tadhg Furlong stories and accept that’s just in his Wexford blood.
The Leinster and Ireland prop has been a professional rugby player three and a half years now but it has been less than a year since he was thrust into the limelight.
Furlong was selected ahead of Mike Ross for Ireland’s Second Test against South Africa, last June. Ireland coughed up a winning position that afternoon but Furlong had a stormer in the No.3 jersey.
It was enough for Joe Schmidt to give him the nod when Ireland took on the All Blacks at Chicago’s Soldier Field on November 5 last year.
Just a week before his 24th birthday, Furlong was a force of nature against the world champions. He chased down fullbacks, won turnovers, did a fine job at the scrum and rolling maul and was lively and effective in the loose.
Furlong returned back to Ireland soon after and, in the lead-up to the victory over Australia, proved to be an absolute legend by donating his green jersey to his old secondary school, Good Counsel.
Need a lunchtime read? The making of Tadhg Furlong, by those who know him best | @dionfanninghttps://t.co/JZSS1fkRUJ
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) January 30, 2017
That is just a taste of Furlong, the man.
During a ‘Your Club, Your Lion’ article on the official British & Irish Lions site, Maurice Quirke of New Ross RFC recalls Furlong’s first visit to the club-house after those Soldier Field heroics.
The tale pretty much tells you all you need to know of a humble, grounded young man. Quirke says:
“Tadhg came back to the club for a sponsors’ day last November and it was just after Chicago, so everybody wanted to ask him about that.
“But when he could, he slinked off outside and was throwing a ball around with a couple of six-year-olds.
“Tadhg came back in again and obviously, someone else then started quizzing him about it, so he went missing again to go and play some more as soon as he could.”
Furlong remains close to his old club, school and friends from the locale. He will hopefully return from New Zealand, later this summer, with more victorious stories and a red jersey to share.
“We’re really looking forward to hanging a red number three shirt on the wall,” Quirke declared.
