Furlong and Vunipola: A reunion of the props’ mutual admiration club

It is a measure of the quality in play at tomorrow’s Heineken Champions Cup final that there is so much mutual respect between the two teams, respect borne out of the shared experience of a successful British & Irish Lions tour two summers ago.

When Warren Gatland named his touring party to New Zealand in 2017 for the toughest Lions series of all against the back-to-back world-champion All Blacks, the head coach named 12 players likely to go toe-to-toe at St James’ Park when Leinster defend their title against Saracens, the team they succeeded as champions of Europe.