TADHG FURLONG paid tribute to his late father James and explained how he took his carefree attitude from him.
It was James who got his son into rugby at New Ross Rugby Club where he had played and coached himself.
And he was proud of his son, who went on to play for Leinster, Ireland and the Lions — and become the best tighthead prop in the world.
He sadly died last December, a year after being diagnosed with cancer.
And Furlong admitted that being afforded the time to process his beloved dad’s condition and prepare for the worst meant a lot to him.
He said: “You nearly pre-mourn. It happens and it’s not a surprise, if that makes sense?
“The hardest part is seeing it happen in front of your eyes.
“I’m not saying it’s a relief when you pass away, it’s just . . . I suppose . . . what did you expect to happen really?
“You see this coming, you see it happening and in some ways, for them, for their own sake, you’re kind of . . . they’re at peace.”
Tadhg spoke in his eulogy of James being a man who was incredibly happy in his own skin, just like his son.
Furlong, 32, said: “There’s certain things from both parents that you pick up on. That was something I respected about him.
“He didn’t really care about — I’m not saying money or anything like that — he wanted money for a pint and a box of fags and a horse race.
“But he didn’t really care about what other people thought or the social circles.”
And Furlong is the same. He might be a superstar in Irish rugby’s Mecca of south Dublin but he will never tolerate any hero worship when home in Wexford.
Furlong said: “South Wexford is kind of a tribal place, a bit like West Cork.
“If you meet someone from West Cork they’ll tell you they’re from West Cork, they won’t tell you they’re from Cork.
“I find Wexford people . . . I get it the whole time and the lads would be slagging me, I’d be going through somewhere and, ‘Tadhg, Tadhg, Tadhg, we’re from Wexford too’.
“Ah look, I’m not trying to make out that I’m LeBron James but in my local village, yeah, it’s low-key.
“I go down there to switch off. To meet up with people, I don’t go out looking for it or anything, it’s more family time, chill out by the sea and go for an aul spin.”
‘STILL VERY MUCH HOME’
He often joked that he could not stay in south Dublin with Leinster too long for fear of losing his accent.
But there appears to be no risk of that as the Wexford brogue is as strong as ever.
Furlong continued: “I get home as much as I possibly can to be honest with you!
“I’m up here, I left school at 17, so I’m up here 15 years, which is hard to believe.
“I still have a very strong connection to home, I still get home a lot. I’ve a lot of friends at home.
“New Ross is a funny place. Cork is two hours away, Limerick is two hours, Dublin is two hours and people scatter.
“But I’m at a funny stage now where people are migrating home.
“A lot of my close friends have started setting up house, starting families and are well on the road to it.
“Wexford is still very much home.”
RUGBY WOES
But so is Leinster’s base in Belfield, and the RDS, the Aviva, or Croke Park this coming Saturday for the Champions Cup last-16 tie with Harlequins.
Furlong signed a new IRFU contract to keep him with the Blues until the 2027 World Cup.
And the big prop admitted that playing high-level rugby means as much to him as ever.
The injuries he has had — he missed all but 33 minutes of the Six Nations with a niggly calf problem — have only added to his hunger to play on.
Furlong said: “I feel very fortunate to be where I am in some respects, I know that.
“There’s times there in 2020, not that I was ever going to retire but I was like, ‘Jesus Christ like, what is going wrong?’
“I went through the wringer during Covid. I think I had 12 breakdowns on one injury.
“I remember asking the physio, ‘Is this something I need to worry about here or not?’
“Obviously it wasn’t but I do remember if I did have to retire I’d given a fair innings from maybe where I came from and the teams I’d represented in my career.
“Then we went on a good run since then.”
The Six Nations campaign calf problem was frustrating.
He expected to be back quicker but minor breakdowns kept him out until the final game against Italy.
But dealing with it was easy.
He continued: “When you’re living it, you don’t think it’s that bad.
“One of the physios I worked with before, he’s left the IRFU now, but he said, ‘You’re a young man, but you’re not necessarily a young athlete — you have to be cute around your body, listen to what your body is saying to stay on the pitch primarily, but also get the most out of yourself come Saturdays and Sundays’.”
TOO LONG
And being ready for next Saturday is now the focus, as Leinster look to go all the way and win their first Champions Cup since 2018.
That seems like a lifetime ago but Furlong cracked a wry smile when asked can he believe Leinster have not won the big one in seven years.
He laughed: “Yeah I can believe, because I was playing! But it is hard to believe maybe.
“When you’re there or thereabouts every year, was it four finals, a quarter-final and a semi-final?
“And all close games you know.” The hurt of those near-misses still lingers.
But Furlong knows there is not much drastic change needed to turn the agonising defeats into glorious wins.
Referencing a late missed drop-goal from Ciarán Frawley in last year’s Euro decider against Toulouse, he added: “Frawley’s drop-goal drops a metre the other way, it’s us.
“There is a certain element of luck, as much as you don’t want to acknowledge it in sport. I suppose it is to take the luck out of the equation.
“It is to nail those big moments in big games, I think that La Rochelle game just gone there (a game Leinster won 16-14), I think that’s a game we might have lost a year or two ago.
“We managed to grind it out, so I think there is an understanding there, when the pressure is really on in tight games, how do we react and how do we nail it down.”
