Paris ‘outpouring’ will help us evolve, reckons Tadhg Furlong

The sight of Dan Leavy joining the victory celebrations as players mobbed drop-goal hero Johnny Sexton gave Tadhg Furlong a chuckle as Ireland’s post-match review got underway at Carton House.

Leavy, the replacement flanker, had dived on top of the growing mass of bodies gathering on the Stade de France turf after Sexton’s dramatic overtime match-winner and the 23-year-old promptly flew over the top of the lot of them, landing head first on the other side of the heap.

Furlong described the moment as “an outpouring” which followed a pressure-filled and nerve-jangling 41 phases that had delivered a come-from-behind 15-13 win that had looked nigh impossible five minutes and 22 seconds earlier when Sexton had caught Anthony Belleau’s missed penalty under the Irish posts to restart his side’s final throw of the dice.