Not only was it enough for Tadhg Furlong to torment and torture Bath loosehead prop Jacques van Rooyen at scrum time on Saturday, but the Ireland tighthead also had to showcase that he had the ball handling skills of a player that we’d typically associate with a much higher jersey number than three on his back.
Furlong has redefined in many ways what is expected of a tighthead prop but so much of what he did on Saturday against Bath was down to execution of the basic fundamentals.
He hit hard, he carried strong, he scrummaged spectacularly well and he showed the deftest of hands for Leinster’s first try of the game.
The Wexford native has been very comfortable at stepping in at first-receiver all season for the PRO14 and European champions and his presence generally gives the rest of the province’s backline enough time to create mismatches on the outside.
Furlong again fulfilled this role against Bath and we can see below his pass to set up Johnny Sexton below with Leinster running two decoy runners to give Conan some space on the outside which he expertly availed of.
Two things we learned from Leinster's opening try vs Bath:
• Tadhg Furlong could be a fly-half if he wanted to 👌
• Jack Conan is a beast 💪Actually, we already knew both of those things, carry on. pic.twitter.com/pHDe5qGNdA
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) December 15, 2018
Tries from O’Loughlin, James Lowe and Adam Byrne helped Leinster wrap up the bonus point before half-time as the hosts take a 28-10 lead into the break.
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