LONG READ Only one Irish front-rower can be confident as Furlong and Porter fight for Test spots

“I’ve only played 25 minutes and I have one cap now, and I’ve been injured for much of the pre-season. If they told me those were the reasons for not selecting me, I could understand it.”

Coming back from an injury. Desperate to get minutes into his legs. Having his form and fitness openly questioned. Still capable of so much. That was Tadhg Furlong, back in 2015.

Before Ireland settled on a top-table format for post-match interviews, rather than those huddled ‘scrums’, players were ushered into an unused Aviva Stadium dressing room. Separated by one of those stretchy bands and posts you find at cinema or airport queues, in came Furlong.

The 22-year-old had two seasons with Leinster behind him, dicing with Marty Moore and Mike Ross. He had bags of potential but went into Ireland’s World Cup training camp with plenty to prove. In that first week of pre-season, Furlong tore his quad muscle. He ended up making just one of the warm-up games, against Wales, before Joe Schmidt would name his squad.

Asked what it was like, hoping to make it to his first World Cup, Furlong remarked, “I’d tell you that you were cracked if you told me I’d be in this situation, but I’ve worked hard for this.”

Ten years and 83 Test appearances later – six for the British & Irish Lions – Furlong finds himself in a similar situation. Plagued by injuries and setbacks all season, the Wexford native has started only four games since the turn of the year. “As desperate as you are to get on to the pitch,” he admitted, before the Western Force game, “you also have a situation where you can’t push.”

Furlong has played 71 minutes, so far, on this Lions tour and must content himself with a replacement role against the Waratahs on Saturday. For the first time in a long, long time, ‘Tadhg Furlong’ is not one of the first three or four names inked in when team-sheets are being composed.

Praise and criticism is amplified. If a player is off their game, two or three proven internationals lie in wait for a crack at the jersey you just put back on the hook.

Every piece you read, segment you watch or podcast you listen to offers a variation on this – Tadhg Furlong, right now, is not the Tadhg Furlong of old. There is heightened pressure on a Lions tour. Players now have media, fans and former players from four nations all weighing in, as well as those covering the hosts. Praise and criticism is amplified. If a player is off their game, two or three proven internationals lie in wait for a crack at the jersey you just put back on the hook.

Furlong knows how it goes. He may have been Ireland’s main tighthead for the past nine years, but retains that inner drive. “Every game you play for your country is a privilege,” he said, ahead of the 2023 World Cup. “You have to prove it all over again. Prove it to yourself, prove it to the management, prove it to everyone.”

We have had some distinguished correspondents and commentators weighing in on Furlong’s trundling start to the 2025 Lions tour. Sky Sports even took a crack – unveiling a Top Trumps style graphic for the three Lions tightheads, entitled ‘BIL’s Player Rankings’.

There we had Will Stuart out-ranking Furlong for Grit, Power, Contest and Set-Piece. Finlay Bealham scored higher in three out of four arbitrary measurements but Furlong could at least cling to a higher set-piece ranking. I doubt Andy Farrell will pay much heed, but good to see ‘BIL’ trying to lend a hand/paw.

In truth, Furlong will be well aware of the importance of Saturday’s game against the Waratahs. If one were to go off the season as a whole, Will Stuart would have the edge. From the opening three games, Bealham has looked the best option. The Connacht prop gets another chance to impress against the ‘Tahs.

Furlong has looked handy in the loose and has even moonlighted as first and second receiver for a couple of attacking pulses. He had one stand-out carry against Argentina when he sent Francisco Coria Marchetti skittling. Along with Pierre Schoeman and Rónan Kelleher, though, the Lions scrum lost its edge against the Pumas.

Searching for form and fitness on a Lions tour are heavy burdens. Andy Farrell relies on Furlong, and will need him for the Wallabies.

Schoeman and Furlong packed down with Dan Sheehan against Western Force and had a tough go in the scrum. Tom Robertson, who has not played for the Wallabies in three years, caused Furlong headaches. “I would give my left testicle to do it again,” Robertson declared, post-match. Australia may draft him, yet. He can keep the testicle.

Furlong should get better with each game he plays. Searching for form and fitness on a Lions tour, however, are heavy burdens. Andy Farrell relies on him, and will need him for the Wallabies.

Then we come to Andrew Porter. Desperately unlucky to miss the 2021 tour with a foot injury, after being selected in the initial squad, the Leinster loosehead arrived in Australia as a truly world-class operator. Porter had to sit in the stands, in Dublin, and watch as Ellis Genge got the jump on him with an excellent scrummaging and ball-carrying display. From the tour diary footage we have seen, Genge is talking up a storm, too.

Porter’s long-awaited Lions debut came as a replacement for Schoeman in the win over Western Force, and he acquitted himself well. Against the Reds, he was pinged in a couple of scrums and targeted on a couple of strike-plays. Seven minutes into the match in Brisbane, Hunter Paisami knew exactly what he was doing when he hared between Porter and Stuart before offloading to Harry McLaughlin-Phillips. Reds team-mates swarmed in and 60 seconds, and 14 phases, later they had their opening try.

Porter can hang his hat on a try under the posts that gave the Lions a lead they never relinquished, on 29 minutes. He was part of a relentless starting XV that, in the words of Lions scrum coach John Fogarty, helped “take the legs” from the Reds, but the scrum issues are a concern. Stuart had a poor game while neither Genge or Bealham delivered that punching impact Farrell demands of his replacements.

A fortnight out from the First Test against the Wallabies, Sheehan is the only player one would confidently etch into the starting front row. Genge is shading it for the starting loosehead role but that, then, takes away from one of Porter’s biggest strengths – his ability to go deep and still make meaningful contributions in big matches.

At tighthead, in the words of Furlong, I’d tell you that you were cracked if you told me Farrell had already decided on that.