New Ross, Wexford, Leinster and legend admits he almost signed for Munster

There are a lot of things that can be called ever-so-nearly.

Ireland nearly won a World Cup quarter-final at Italia 90; nearly won a RWC quarter-final in 2023; Monaghan have won 16 Ulster SF titles but have never won the All Ireland.

But Tadhg Furlong signing for Munster? Yup, it was almost a thing!

Back then the Reds were first off the mark tracking the Irish Youth/U18 international and were expecting him to join the Academy before a former Ireland Head Coach stuck his beak in.

And Furling has not always been as divorced, as far away from the Red province as you might think, revealing he spent COVID jogging around there in his hoodie.

"Munster was in my 5k run back each day during the Covid period, I'd leave my house in Campile and firstly cross to Waterford there.

"Where we are, we are looking across to Dunmore East, Passage East, Faithlegg, all that kind of pocket of Waterford.

"So when I left school, and when I was doing the Leaving Cert, I was going to go to University of Limerick to do PE teaching at the time.

"God knows what kind of a teacher I would have turned out to be."

His was part of a normal enough dilemma for kids going to school in New Ross - the town is not 'near' anywhere.

"Because with New Ross, you have to think about what to do. It’s kind of two hours Limerick, two hours Cork, two hours Dublin.

"We kind of scatter in the wind a little bit."

Furlong was always a decent rugby player albeit his first incarnation was as a no8.

"So as it turned former Munster and Ireland (1994) no8 Ken O'Connell coached me for the Irish Youths.

"He’s a great old fella, Sunday’s Well, Kenny’s a great lad.

"I remember ringing him and saying, I'm thinking of going down to Limerick, and wonder could we ever get into the Academy down there, or wherever, and they offered me a sub-academy slot in Munster."

Yes, it was happening, take it as 'Red' for a player now considered ever so Blue...

"And then Gerry Murphy (Former Ireland Head Coach 1992-95 and Leinster Forwards Coach) who would be a great Leinster man, he rang me up and said 'We see something in you, would you come up?',

"He said he knew I had this going on, but we're going to back you with a full Academy place. They sorted a few things out for me, and off the road up to Dublin I went."

Furlong knows a good gag when he sees it and explodes with laughter when asked about what could have been, the new 'Bull' Hayes at Thomond Park.

"More like what could not have been!" he grins and makes a party animal sign, "a lot of my friends went to college in Limerick...

"And I suppose I came up to Dublin a little bit on my own, I moved over to Clontarf, played rugby at Clontarf, fell in with a good crowd there, and we had a great time.

"I left school at 17 you see, so, God knows what would have happened me in UL with a few of the lads from New Ross.

"I was raw back then. Good social scene, yeah, yeah. That’s what I'd be worried about, I often wonder what life there would have turned out."

Indeed Furlong was also wondering what would happen as he took his first tentative steps in the Big Smoke.

"It was more I didn't know if I'd be any good at rugby really, to be honest with you, or not, or what way the future would hold. "It wasn't like I'm going to be a rugby player, it's like I'd love to do this. I don't know if it would work out, you know that kind of a way?

"It was very much looking into the unknown. And coming from, I suppose, maybe the background where I did."

And so Furlong, with three Lions tours, 88 Ireland caps, and 162 Leinster appearances will packing down against Munster this evening at the Aviva.

And a scrum, he says, that has been one of their bst units to date this season.

"Obviously, two new tight-heads in," he says of Kieran Brooks and Jack Augier. "And if you want to fix a scrum, getting a South African hooker in (i.e Marnus van der Merwe) is always a good start as well.

"I know I'm saying this as a tight-head, but people make out a tight-head to be the most important in the scrum.

"But I think the hooker has the biggest job to do and you see some of the teams who have scrummaged really well in world rugby, in club rugby, all of them have very, very good scrummaging hookers.

"It can be a real point of difference for a team. South Africans love their scrum and I’ve heard good things about him."

Then again Leinster's hooker is in the news too, Dan Sheehan moving to no8 for this game.

With Ireland internationals Ronan Kelleher and Gus McCarthy being promoted from the bench and to the bench respectively.

Switching Sheehan stems directly from the unavailability of injured Lions and Ireland duo Jack Conan and Caelan Doris and leans heavily on the idea Sheehan is a powerful ball carrier.

It's been a move greeted with almost universal acclaim, with Brian O'Driscoll, Alan Quinlan, Ian Madigan and others of the mind that Sheehan and the no8 shirt are an instant fit.

For sure, Leinster are sacrificing a lineout jumping no8 which is not too much of a concession when Ryan Baird is in the team as a back-row.

While it will be super-interesting to see what international aspirants Gavin Coombes, Alex Kendellen along with Jack O'Donoghue in Munster's back-row make of it.

They will surely be looking for short-route angles to the Leinster line in the hope the ersatz no8 is a second too slow or half-a-metre off the correct spot.

Gavin Coombes to get among the try-scorers? It's a decent bet!

Leinster (vs Munster, Aviva, Stadium, 6pm, Premier, URC.tv): Hugo Keenan; Tommy O’Brien, Jamie Osborne, Robbie Henshaw, Jimmy O’Brien; Joey Carbery, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Ronan Kelleher, Tadhg Furlong; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Dan Sheehan (captain).

Replacements: Gus McCarthy, Alex Usanov, Thomas Clarkson, Conor O’Tighearnaigh, Scott Penny, Fintan Gunne, Caspar Gabriel, Charlie Tector.

Munster: Ben O’Connor; Shay McCarthy, Seán O’Brien, Alex Nankivell, Shane Daly; Charlie O’Shea, Craig Casey; Josh Wycherley, Marnus van der Merwe, Kieran Brookes; Fineen Wycherley, Tadhg Beirne (captain); Jack O’Donoghue, Alex Kendellen, Gavin Coombes.

Replacements: Max Clein, Mark Donnelly, Michael Ala’alatoa, Seán Edogbo, Brian Gleeson, Ben O’Donovan, JJ Hanrahan, Gordon Wood.