As one of the world’s best tighthead props, Tadhg Furlong certainly knows a thing or two about scrummaging on the biggest stages – whether for Ireland or The British & Irish Lions.
Furlong started all three Tests four years ago as the Lions secured a historic draw against New Zealand, having only started nine games for his country before being called up. With almost 50 Ireland caps to his name now, the 2021 version of Furlong is much more experienced and streetwise enough to know how to handle the Lions transition.
With the mighty Springboks awaiting in just a few weeks, every session counts for Furlong and his fellow forwards as they look to get in sync under the watch of Robin McBryde.
“The scrum is probably the one that hits me most to be honest because everyone does it that little bit different and I feel like you have to be comfortable in there,”
“It needs to be quite simultaneous, muscle-memory, you have to feel comfortable knowing where you’re at and it just takes a bit of time, we’ve done a fair few set-ups and things like that.
Whenever the Lions and South Africa have collided in the past, the battle between the forwards has often dominated the agenda and become etched into the folklore of the rivalry.
You only have to look at Tendai ‘The Beast’ Mtawarira against Phil Vickery in the first Test of the 2009 Tour or the front-row duel during the Lions’ famous 1997 series win to see the lustre in which it is held.
And Furlong is expecting a similarly brutal contest this time around, especially having seen what one of the Springboks’ key men – Steven Kitshoff – can do up close many times over the years.
“I first met Steven in under-20s when we were playing in South Africa against their under-20s team and I kind of kept in contact with him ever since,” Furlong said.
“We toured there in 2016 with Ireland and again I would have caught up with him. They also came over I think in the November of ’18 and he’s done very, very well for himself.
“He’s such a big player for them, a power athlete, physical, abrasive, strong in the scrum, he’s a really good player. He’s got plenty of experience, he’s started plenty of Tests for South Africa.
“There’s plenty of experience there and he’s 28, 29 now and he’s up for his crack at the jersey. We’ve all seen there wasn’t really a starting front row for that South Africa team in the World Cup.
“They kind of had 45 minutes and full change, that was the way it was. He’s a dynamic player. There’s kind of a little prop family going around in rugby, isn’t there?
“We kind of recognise each other’s weirdness in a small little way, you even find yourself gravitating to the props here at the minute, it’s just one of those weird things.”