Tadhg Furlong embracing the pressure ahead of Scotland clash

DO-OR-DIE: Tadhg Furlong during an Ireland training session at Complexe de la Chambrerie in Tours. Pic: INPHO/Dan Sheridan

There may be jeopardy in the offing for Ireland at Stade de France this weekend but Tadhg Furlong feels a do-or-die occasion such as Saturday night’s World Cup pool clash with Scotland will have a positive effect on him and his team-mates.

Qualification for the quarter-finals and a chance to make history as the first Irish team to go beyond the last eight is on the line when the Six Nations rivals meet in Saint-Denis but amid all the permutations that spell doom for Andy Farrell’s team at the hands of a Scotland team they have not lost to since 2017, Furlong is firmly in favour of embracing the pressure.

The tighthead prop’s forwards coach Paul O’Connell on Wednesday signalled this Saturday’s final encounter in Pool B as the starting point of knockout rugby for the Grand Slam winners at this World Cup. Wins over Romania, Tonga, and defending champions South Africa will be meaningless unless the job is completed in the northern Parisian suburbs. Only two match points are required from this fixture but the overwhelming consensus from the squad’s talking heads this week is that victory over the Scots is the only objective on their minds.

“Yeah, there is probably a sense of jeopardy about it if you lose, yeah, 100 per cent,” Furlong conceded Wednesday afternoon as Ireland completed their final session at their Stade de la Chambrerie training complex in Tours before breaking camp in the Loire Valley and moving north of Paris for the concluding act of Pool B and, they hope, beyond.

“You just try to put your best foot forward. You know it’s there, if you try to play well and whatever happens, happens after that. It’s not being afraid of it, it’s about embracing it and getting on with it.” 

With centre Robbie Henshaw currently Ireland’s only injury doubt with an unspecified “niggle” ahead of Thursday afternoon’s team announcement, Furlong feels he is over a spell of fitness misfortune that sidelined him for long periods in each of the past two seasons.

“I’m only 30, you know,” he reminded his audience at Wednesday’s media conference. “In terms of training load and all the GPS craic and all that, we’ve always been building up through.

“I haven’t, touch wood, had a setback or a niggle or anything like that. The body is feeling really good at the minute.” 

These are the big-match weeks the two-time British & Irish Lions tourist and Test starter relishes. He has been front and centre in all of Ireland’s seminal moments of the last few years, conqueror of New Zealand in 2016, 2018, and 2021, series winner over the All Blacks in Wellington in 2022, and a Grand Slam winner twice over in 2019 and 2023. Like many of his team-mates in green, Furlong has been there, done that and come out as a winner. This Ireland team knows how to deal with pressure, the tighthead feels.

“I think it brings the best out of rugby players,” he said. “It shows your mentality, it shows what you are about, it shows what the group is about. It shows a lot.

“The proof is always in the pudding in terms of how the match goes, and how you deal with the pressure. It’s just about trying to get on.

“I think as a group, we are relatively experienced, and we have a good understanding of how we work and how the team works and how to get the most out of the team in these big games.

“We have played in big games before. So, now it’s just about trying to get your prep right and try to get your best performance out there.” 

As much as those winning experiences have been banked, Furlong is not for dwelling too much on the past, and that includes only a passing interest in Ireland’s excellent recent record of eight consecutive victories against Scotland.

“We don’t look into that a massive amount. Of course you look at the last game; you probably don’t look at the seven before that. Rugby is ever changing and evolving.

“I think they’re flying at the minute. I was really impressed with their warm-up games, against France, and have been really impressed with how they’ve performed in the tournament so far. I would imagine they’re disappointed with their South Africa performance (in their opening pool game).

“They’ve come on a lot since the Six Nations, and they had a really good Six Nations. I thought they were flying then as well. It’s going to be a huge challenge for us this weekend.”