Furlong hopeful of return in time for Six Nations

Tadhg Furlong says he's hopeful of being passed fit for the start of the Guinness Six Nations next month.

The tighthead has not played since early December when he picked up a hamstring injury in Leinster's 38-29 win against Ulster at the RDS, with his recovery stalled by a calf issue which has prevented him from a comeback in recent weeks.

Furlong will sit out tomorrow's final Champions Cup pool game with Racing 92 at the Aviva Stadium (live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player), but is hopeful of being fit for the Six Nations opener against Wales in Cardiff on 4 February.

"I hope so," he said, when asked if he'll be back in the next fortnight.

"That's the plan, or back available for selection anyway. We have to see how we go. You have to hit certain markers and stuff like that along the way.

"I pulled my hamstring against Ulster, then I got back, and usually they integrate you into units and stuff the week before you go back fully training.

"So, I did all that and then I was fit the Ospreys week, scrum session, one of them ones, scrum collapsed, leg got caught weird and - ping - goes the calf. It's one of them ones, but it's unrelated [to his hamstring injury].

"Sometimes you re-injure something and that's a real pain, but it's just one of them things, it's part of the job."

It's been a stop-start season so far for Furlong, who has played just over 70 minutes of rugby for the province, and featured just five times across the campaign in total, three for Ireland and two for Leinster.

An ankle injury saw him play just once in the opening block of games, and while he returned to start all three games for Ireland in the Autumn Nations Series, he's only been able to make one appearance in the last two months.

And while he admits to some