Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
STAR POWER
Furlong desperate to drive Blues to another on Leinster shirt
TADHG FURLONG is asked what would mean more – his Grand Slam with Ireland or a Champions Cup for Leinster.
These, ladies and gentlemen, are the golden times that Furlong and his brothers in arms are living in right now.
“It’s a toss up,” came the reply from one of the world’s top props.
“I probably would have eyed trying to succeed at a Champions Cup for longer than I would have tried to envisage a Grand Slam because I came through the academy and I wasn’t playing with Ireland. They’re two different feelings in a way but I don’t know, it’s a hard question to answer.”
Deep down it may well mean more to the Wexford man if Isa Nacewa does lift the trophy in Bilbao tomorrow – and a fourth star is added to the blue jersey – than completing the Six Nations clean sweep did on St Patrick’s Day at Twickenham (right).
Rewind nine years to Leinster’s first European triumph and Brian O’driscoll was adamant that that Heineken Cup success trumped the historic Grand Slam he had helped to orchestrate in Cardiff only a couple of months earlier.
“This was the one I wanted above all the others,” said O’driscoll, after Leinster edged Leicester Tigers 19-16 at Murrayfield. “It’s been 10 years coming and it’s with your pals.”
Whereas O’driscoll had been a pivotal player for the province for almost all of
that decade, Furlong is only 25 – still young for a prop – and only a line-up regular for the past three years.
Before that, the British and Irish Lion had to toil to establish himself.
“Without question it’s my biggest game for the province,” said the tighthead. “Coming in as a young fella, you saw Leinster teams win in Europe.
“I can’t remember where I watched it or my feelings during the 2011 game. What I do remember is the big fightback, being down by so much at half-time, to find a way to win, stay calm and battle their way back in. That was pretty impressive.
“Ever since then we’ve got to semifinals but we’ve never really pushed on and I suppose as a young fella you want to get that respect. You want to be able to stand over something from your time and I think that’s something that massively drives it on.
“It’s something that I’ve thought about over the last few years. It’s something that you really want to succeed at and it means a massive amount to me. “When you talk about adding a star to the jersey, the drive to succeed and be a part of something special like teams before us, that’s what drives you on to try and be as good as you can every day.”
Though it’s a first European final for Furlong – and for the core group of Leinster’s new wave of talent such as James Ryan, Dan Leavy and Andrew Porter – they obviously do have that Grand Slam pocketed.
They have been to the Six Nations bearpits of the Stade de France and Twickenham and emerged victorious.
“There’s a lot of experience within the squad – some of the more senior members of the team have three Champions’ Cups,” Furlong pointed out.
“They know what it takes, they know the best way to prep up a team.”