It tells us much about the attritional nature of modern rugby that this initial Lions squad contained only three players who had been chosen for their third tour. Of those Elliot Daly has returned home injured, which is another factor in why Owen Farrell was called up for his fourth tour to supplement Maro Itoje and Tadhg Furlong. You can’t buy experience.
And this is Tadhg Furlong 3.0 if you like, for he is a far cry from the 24-year-old tighthead who had less than 20 Test caps whom Warren Gatland brought to New Zealand in 2017 and first established himself as a world-class prop.
He was an altogether more mature player, physically and mentally, with over 50 caps under his belt when cementing that status on the tour to South Africa four years ago. Primarily due to recurring calf and hamstring issues, he has only extended his tally of Irish caps to 78 in the last four years.
What’s more, he has played just eight games for Leinster and one for Ireland, and only once played three games in succession this season. Yet he has started twice for around 50 minutes and had two half-hour impact roles off for the Lions.
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“I’ve probably had a fractured enough season, coming into this,” he said in the wake of a strong-scrummaging, energetic 50-minute display against the Brumbies on Wednesday night.
“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.”
Now fresh as well as fit, he looks well primed to continue his run of Lions Test starts into a third successive series. But he’s a different Test match animal nowadays.
“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.”
He’s also still learning.
“Of course, I am. My body’s changed. I have to keep on top of stuff to stay on the pitch. So, what do I actually need to do in a week to get out there on a Saturday and play? What’s really important for me? I have to really boil that down further again.
“I need to feel good in the scrums. I need to have it in the legs. Just feel right. I don’t go chasing it. Don’t waste too much emotional energy on stuff. Stay nice and loose and play ball.”
The scrum has come on strongly in the last two games, albeit the Wallabies will be a different proposition, and starting Ellis Genge, Dan Sheehan and Furlong together, after the same trio finished the Reds’ game, looks like a portent of the starting front-row in Brisbane on Saturday week.
Necessity being the mother of invention, giving combinations match time is the best substitute for limited scrummaging practice on the training ground.
“We don’t get any scrums really in training, especially with these two games a week. We did one entry yesterday which is kind of unheard of really. It’s kind of back-of-a-fag-pack stuff really.”
By contrast, there was scarcely any travel during the pandemic-affected tour to South Africa four years ago. However, even with experience, Lions tours remain ultra demanding.
“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 down time. And you’re just thrown out there and you have to perform.”
In some respects this is still the calm before the storm of the series.
“You’ll be talking to younger lads saying ‘wait till this thing kicks off’. You learn a lot about yourself.”
He has the impending arrival of the Red Army en masse in mind and, to his evident relief, his own family arrive today in Adelaide.
“It’s mad. You lose all track of days. I think it’ll kick off. Obviously, I’ve never toured Australia. Andy Farrell said that in 2013 it was madness coming into the Tests. It’s been nice for us to be able to get out and about as well. At the same time, I’ve never toured Australia. South Africa was different. New Zealand is a rugby country anyway so you couldn’t get away from it.
“I think that’s the special thing about the Lions tour as well. It brings all the fans together and brings the red. You saw it in Dublin.”
Yet Furlong also concedes that the Lions are “a little bit clunky because of the breakdown.” He added: “We’re maybe forcing passes, maybe we’re not decisive at times. But I think there’s good growth there.”
They would have wanted last Wednesday in Canberra to be the game when they clicked, akin to the win over the Crusaders in 2017 which effectively secured Furlong’s starting place in the first Test team, along with a few others, as well as Peter O’Mahony’s captaincy.
“Yeah, it doesn’t probably feel like we’re there yet,” said Furlong, summing things up neatly. “But it doesn’t feel like we’re far away.”
