Lions tour ‘no excuse’ for loss of form – Furlong

Ireland tight-head prop Tadhg Furlong feels it is “much of an excuse” for players to use last summer’s the British and Irish Lions tour to Australia as a reason for any dip in form.

In all, there were 18 Irish players involved in Andy Farrell’s squad and while there have been suggestions some may be suffering from a post-tour hangover, Furlong feels it may be more of a mindset tissue.

The 33-year-old acknowledged that the extra games can take an added toll on the body, but was quick to point out that the balance was somewhat redressed by a shorter pre-season.

Furlong took part in his third Lions tour and having experience of players losing form in the aftermath, suggests it may even be a case of some thinking “they’re better than they are”.

“It puts extra strain on your body and some of the lads play eight games on those tours, but does it have a hangover? I’m not sure, as the Irish system you get a good pre-season although it was short this year and straight into rugby,” Furlong said.

“For some players, to get on the Lions is nearly their pinnacle and the next thing it’s how do they get up for the next game, this game or that game and everything seems insignificant the year after. Maybe some think they’re better than they are.

Furlong and the Ireland squad have turned their attention to Saturday’s trip to face England in Twickenham (14:10 GMT) where he will likely come into direct contact with Lions team-mate Ellis Genge who he acknowledges is “not a fella with a Lions hangover”.

While England lost their Calcutta Cup match against Scotland, Furlong felt Steve Borthwick’s side were strong in the scrum and this is an area Ireland are seeking to improve after some struggles in their win over Italy.

“We were negative three in the penalty count so that was a disappointing result,” Furlong acknowledged.

“Italy do have a good scrum and we saw what they did to South Africa in November.

“The fixes are the simple stuff – height, entry and angles, but they did a good job of isolating the two on ones in the scrum.”

Furlong won his 83rd cap as a replacement against the Italians and is now firmly in the veteran category in the squad.

Ireland have suffered a number of injuries for this Six Nations, especially in the forwards, which has resulted in a number of new faces promoted into starting line-ups and match-day squads.

Despite a chastening defeat by France in their opener and struggles in victory against Italy, Furlong remains optimistic as to regards the trajectory of the team.

“There are players missing through injury or retirement and it changes the feel of the group,” he acknowledged.

“I remember travelling off to Portugal (pre-Six Nations training camp) and there were a load of new faces there and I was thinking ‘this feels a bit different, I feel a bit older’.

“As the weeks went on with the younger players and come of the others came back into camp, the younger players have come out of themselves a bit from a rugby point of view.