Tadhg Furlong

Tadhg Furlong is the tighthead who changed what the job description looks like. For most of rugby history a number three was a scrummaging specialist first and a rugby player somewhere after that. Furlong scrummages as well as anyone in the northern hemisphere and then throws the kind of pass that puts a winger into space.

It came from Wexford, from a farm, and from a Leinster academy that spotted early that the handling was not a novelty. Two Lions tours confirmed it: he was the first-choice Test tighthead in 2017 and again in 2021, in an era stacked with candidates.

The scrum remains the foundation. Ireland’s set piece has been built on the assumption that his side of it holds, which frees the pack to plan around the loosehead contest rather than their own.

The complication of recent seasons has been availability. Calf and hamstring problems have cost him blocks of rugby at exactly the age when a prop should be at his most valuable, and Ireland have had to learn to function without him more often than they would like.

When he plays, the difference is not subtle. Ireland’s attack simply has an extra set of hands in the middle of the field, and defences that leave him unattended in a wide channel usually regret it once.