Busy Tadhg Furlong focussed on Wasps

The last time we saw Tadhg Furlong, he looked just about done in.

With 75 minutes played and Ireland leading England 13-9, Joe Schmidt called the tighthead ashore.

The grimace on his face as he shuffled almost the width of the pitch towards the bench told the story of a man who had all but emptied the tank.

The pat reaction was that no tighthead had been asked for more during the Six Nations and, if England’s Dan Cole managed 12 more minutes than Furlong’s 348 across the five games, then there was no doubt but that the Wexford man delivered the most notable combination of quality and quantity.

“You’d maybe have points within the game where you are like that,” he said of that painful exit two weeks ago.

“Just before I went off, there was two or three scrums, a reset and then a scrum again. That tends to take it out of you a small bit. It was a long trot from the far side of the field.”

Though it was his first Six Nations, Furlong is practically the one player to have emerged from the tournament as a certainty for the Lions test team later this summer.

He’s been coy about that sort of talk for months now, even if he allowed himself a wry smile yesterday.

For now, the focus is on Wasps at Lansdowne Road this weekend.

A European semi-final spot is at stake, so talk of the Lions or even revenge for two heavy defeats at the hands of the English club last term is unnecessary when it comes to motivation.

“They are scoring tries for fun. They are very dangerous all around the pitch. They can create tries from anywhere, so couple that with a home quarter-final — 47,000 tickets sold — [and] there’s enough motivation for the players in itself: The chance to push on from last year and right the wrongs.”