It is eight years and five weeks since Tadhg Furlong was first named as a British and Irish Lions Test starter; nine Tests across three countries later, the tighthead prop is still going strong. Only four men have ever made more consecutive starts in the famous red shirt: Willie John McBride (15), Graham Price (12), Tony O’Reilly and RH Williams (both 10).
It appears unlikely that Furlong will make it to double figures given how tough a life at the front row coal face can be but an increasingly creaking body has come good again on this tour. Perhaps it is luck, perhaps something more, but through all of the fluctuations in form and fitness that come with being an international prop, Furlong has always seemed to peak at the right time come this quadrennial assembly.
“Lions tours are some of the best days of your career and I'm delighted to be able to go again,” he says ahead of the third Test in Sydney.
“How does it compare to 2017? I was probably young and making my way through it all and learning it all. [Warren Gatland] kind of backed me really. He backed Mako, myself and Jamie George through each of the Saturdays. I felt pressure by it, in a rugby country like New Zealand, there was pressure. I probably didn't enjoy it socially as much as I should have, looking back.
“I think it's all part of the journey. Whereas this one, it's a great group of lads. I suppose I'm very familiar with the coaches. You feel more at ease. Obviously, I've gone on two and been around rugby a lot more. You feel more belonging straight from the start.”
There have been plenty of times over the last 12 months where others have questioned if Furlong would make this trip, but his own belief never wavered. His involvement across Ireland’s November and Six Nations campaigns amounted to 34 minutes off the bench against Italy and yet there appeared little doubt that there was sufficient credit in the bank for him to tour when the time came for Andy Farrell to select his squad. England’s Will Stuart had a standout Six Nations, fellow Irishman Finlay Bealham an impressive tour, but come the first Test squad naming, Farrell trusted in a figure who had been there and done it before.
The rhythm of a Lions tour has suited Furlong, who cannot train fully in every session across a week – though has avoided the debilitating issues others in his position can be ailed by. “I've never really had a long-term injury, per se”, he explains. “I've had very healthy joints, knees, backs, necks. I've avoided all those things throughout my career, so I am very fortunate. I was very fortunate to get breaks when I got breaks as a young fella.
“I obviously came up through a good tutelage of the older lads in Leinster and Ireland, but I kind of got breaks. That breakthrough year I had in 2016/17, kind of came in time with a Lions tour, which was pure fortune.”
Furlong has, though, moved with the times in an era in which front rowers have had to be more than just stable set-piece operators. “The game has changed, definitely,” he admits. “Look, rugby was so different back [when I started]. You're around the corner, you're just working hard and then the game kind of got into one-out carriers and I found my mould there.
“Then the game changed to more of a pass and options at the line and it kind of changed my game and it's changed in a way to a hybrid of all of them at the minute, I feel. So, you try to change your game as the game changes.”
A winning series is a first for Furlong, who has now experienced all three series results after completing the set of touring destinations. Any idea of the Lions not being up for what is, effectively, a dead rubber in Sydney is quickly dismissed by the tighthead.
“It's not hard to motivate yourself. My motivation is obvious. I'm not going to say I won't. I probably won't. I probably won't play for the Lions again. It's been very good to me. It's been very good to my career. You want to play well in it.
“I'm kind of leaving a lot of that emotional stuff behind us. Without being clinical about it. You want to give the best version of yourself to it. Sometimes the last memory is the lasting memory you have in a jersey. I want it to be a good one.”
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