It is eight years and five weeks since Tadhg Furlong was first named as a British and Irish Lions Test starter; nine Tests across three countries later, the tighthead prop is still going strong. Only four men have ever made more consecutive starts in the famous red shirt: Willie John McBride (15), Graham Price (12), Tony O’Reilly and RH Williams (both 10).
It appears unlikely that Furlong will make it to double figures given how tough a life at the front row coal face can be but an increasingly creaking body has come good again on this tour. Perhaps it is luck, perhaps something more, but through all of the fluctuations in form and fitness that come with being an international prop, Furlong has always seemed to peak at the right time come this quadrennial assembly.
