‘Holistic’ Furlong is aiming to make up for his lost time

TADHG FURLONG smiles as he reflects on his new-found, self-confessed “holistic” approach, having spent so long out of the game. Eleven months without a game will do that to any player and for Furlong, the frustrating period on the sidelines allowed him plenty of time to self-reflect.

Prior to picking up an initial calf injury in last year’s Six Nations defeat in Twickenham, Furlong had pretty much been a mainstay in the Ireland team, and as such, barely had time to catch his breath from as far back as the 2017 Lions tour.

There were plenty of niggles along the way, but nothing serious enough to keep him out for a prolonged spell, so the last year has been challenging in all sorts of ways.

However, the way the Wexford native sees it, had rugby not gone into lockdown following Ireland’s loss against England, he might not have missed as many games.

It was a nightmare spell for Furlong, who after overcoming a calf issue, was then hampered by back and hamstring injuries, which meant that he only returned for Leinster at the end of last month.

Since then, the tighthead has made two appearances for Ireland off the bench, but he will hope to make his first start in over a year when Ireland travel to Rome on Saturday.

Steadied

To do so, Furlong will have to overtake the in-form Andrew Porter, who has steadied the ship in his Leinster team-mate’s absence.

“There were a few rough patches,” Furlong says, looking back on the frustrating spell out.

“The first part was (mentally tough) because you’re still in that performance mindset where you want to be out on the pitch.

“You’re doing the rehab but everything is game-specific, ‘I need to be doing this, I need to hit the ground running when I get back training.’” says Furlong (right).

“When it goes into that longer-term picture, the more it was a holistic view, is that a better example lads, where it’s like ‘I have a bit of time off here, I’ll go away about my work, rehab, nail it, but when I’m out of here, I’m out of here.’

“I suppose you are focusing on different areas, like I did a bit of college and stuff, which was good.”

That holistic approach might not be something Furlong placed a huge amount of value on in the past, but now 28, he knows it’s more important than ever to take a broader view of things. With much more free time on his hands, Furlong focused his attention on his accountancy degree, which helped take his mind off how much rugby he was missing.

“It didn’t come naturally because I suppose you’re so used to training, being involved and having an end goal every week or every two weeks when you’re playing games,” he admits.

“So, it probably takes a bit of time to get used to, but when you’re in it I suppose you just try and de-stress as much as you can and control what you can control.

“I started doing my accountancy exams which is a tough slog but, again, it gives you something in lockdown times ... when you leave training you’re not just twiddling your thumbs or watching a TV series on Netflix. It gives you something to go after.

“I have about four years ahead of me (in college). A slow burner but I passed my first exam there anyway so ... I’m delira!”

Setbacks

Several setbacks later, Furlong is back fully fit and although he might be short on game-time, he has already shown what Ireland have been missing, as he looks to involve himself in Ireland’s link play.

It’s not often a tighthead is heralded as someone who can help improve the attack, but Furlong certainly has the ability to do just that over the remaining three Six Nations games.

“I wouldn’t have had a proper pre-season for probably three years because you’re carrying niggles from the season before and you’re kinda, not putting band aids on it, but if you go back to the Lions tour, I got surgery, then you’re carrying niggles into the following year,” he adds.

“And then the following year, the first few weeks of pre-season have been eaten up by rehab and injury prevention stuff and you probably didn’t get the window to push on.

“So, it was a great window for me in terms of even just strength gains.

“There’s no point lying to ya, I’ve only played what 90/95 odd minutes of rugby since this game last year. “So, it hasn’t been a whole lot of rugby but even the training load has been really good for me in terms of getting that six/ seven weeks now of consistent training or robustness into the body, the sharpness from training etc. “I’m not sure how fully match fit I am yet but I think every week you get there you feel a little bit better,” concludes the Wexford powerhouse.