Tadhg Furlong: 'I think there's good growth there... it doesn't feel like we're far away'

Lions prop Tadhg Furlong. Pic: Dan Sheridan/Inpho

It should come as no surprise that the British & Irish Lions continue to produce “clunky” performances when you listen to Tadhg Furlong’s comparison of a typical scrum training week with Ireland to the realities of three matches in eight days on tour in Australia.

Andy Farrell’s squad was back in the air early on Thursday, bound from Canberra to Adelaide ahead of Saturday’s tour match against an Australia/New Zealand XV, the final opportunity to click before the opening Test against Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies seven days later in Brisbane.

The previous night’s outing against the Brumbies may have brought a 36-24 win against the host country’s most consistently successful province but it was far from the polished 80-minute performance that will be required to win a Test series. 

What is a concern is the fact that head coach Farrell picked what looked like his strongest starting line-up for the match-up with Stephen Larkham’s Super Rugby semi-finalists. 

That they conceded four tries to a Brumbies side missing eight frontline Wallabies and were held up three times over the tryline suggests Farrell was not too far from the truth when he said there was still “plenty to do” ahead of that first Test.

It was not a terrible performance by any means and some of the scores were top-drawer in terms of quality yet Furlong, who produced his best individual effort of what is his third Lions tour in his 50 minutes at tighthead prop, was not convinced this was the game the tourists got their act together.

“Yeah, it doesn't probably feel like we're there yet but it doesn't feel like we're far away,” the Ireland star said.

“We still are a little bit clunky because of the breakdown. We're maybe forcing passes, maybe we're not decisive at times. I think there's good growth there.” 

Furlong agreed the breakdown had become a free-for-all all against the Brumbies, just as it had been in the previous Saturday’s win over the Waratahs in Sydney.

“I think they had three players at a lot of breakdowns there today. A lot of that is on us to sort out. It feels like this thing is coming together. We're dialling this thing up. It feels like it's coming together. We just need to iron out the last bit.” 

There is a sense that the Lions touring party is eager to just get through Saturday’s game and head to Brisbane for the first opportunity of a solid week’s work on the training field, without the distraction of a midweek fixture and the three flights a week schedule that this tour demands in its early stages.

For Furlong, that makes for a compromise on optimum match preparation.

“I think it's the adjustment in your very core belief in how you prep for a game. Your week gets ripped apart. You're thrown out there. Your body might be a little bit sore. You're playing two games a week. You're travelling. You've no downtime.

“And you're just thrown out there and you have to perform. You learn a lot about yourself. I'm saying that to the young lads. I think they learn a lot about themselves coming off the back of the first Lions tour. It's something I reflected on massively after New Zealand, particularly about how this thing all works and what's really important.” 

In short, he conceded, a Lions tour is “a little bit mad”.

“You've no training time really. Especially this is kind of into the madness of a Lions tour here with the three-day, four-day turnaround. It's something we're embracing but also it's something that takes you outside your comfort zone because it's way outside of what you're used to prepping for a normal game.” 

He described a typical weekly training schedule for the scrummaging unit with Ireland with up to 11 engagements on the field.

“You might do a few setups and binds, maybe a little bit of drilling on a Monday, Tuesday, three, four scrums. Wednesday with Ireland, six, seven scrums. So you're just cutting right back. You're getting your scrum in the game here.

“Which is good in one way, but when you're trying to learn the whole time, look at footage, look at video, make tweaks, to get everyone on the same page, on Saturday it's different, yeah. But look, we're all experienced props, we're very lucky the prop group we have here is very experienced. It's just about having those conversations to get everyone on the same page.” 

After a season in which calf issues limited Furlong to just eight appearances for Leinster and just 33 minutes off the bench for Ireland in the final game of the Six Nations against Italy, the 32-year-old has already made four appearances on tour in Australia, two 50-minute starts and two off the bench. He appreciates the opportunity to play.

“I've probably had a fractured enough season, coming into this. I always like playing rugby and I suppose you're not really training a whole lot, you're just playing rugby and it's good. You can't beat playing the game. It's different but it's great.” 

A third tour with the Lions means a lot to Furlong, who is a lot more comfortable than he was on his maiden trip to New Zealand in 2017.

“It's great. Once you get to two years out, this thing goes into your head. I suppose I was very young in the first one. I didn't take a whole lot in. I had a quick rise to it. I didn't know a whole lot about myself or rugby and how to perform.

“It’s not that I didn't enjoy it, I found it stressful the whole time because you're coming up against New Zealand scrums but you're trying to get into the Test team, and I always thought if I go on another one it would be great. To go on a third one is an absolute bonus.

“I suppose it's something you look on now and you realise how privileged you are. You take everything in. It's an unbelievable thing and I'm delighted to be part of it.”