Tadhg Furlong interview: 'Rugby's changed a massive amount... I'm a much more rounded rugby player now'

There's a very particular noise a rugby audience makes when they see a tight-five forward kicking a ball downfield.

It may pale in significance to a try being scored, or a jackal turnover on your own line, but there’s something about that guttural roar in a crowd that seems reserved for when someone with a low single-digit on their back instinctively hoofs it away from danger.

A prime example of that came in Leinster’s BKT United Rugby Championship win over the Ospreys a couple of weeks ago.

The province had been under pressure in their own half, leading 21-14 after 32 minutes when Caelan Doris won a turnover, popping back to Ryan Baird, who in turn offloaded to Tadhg Furlong.

With an Ospreys defender coming in off his right shoulder, the Leinster tighthead quickly shifted the ball to his left, and cannoned a kick down to the Ospreys 22, to the delight of the Leinster supporters at the RDS. A rushed Ospreys clearance resulted in a big net gain for the province.

Furlong, left-handed but two-footed according to the man himself, has always offered a little bit more than the classic tighthead prop.

Earlier in that game, his wide pass to the left wing set up Leinster’s opening try of the night, while in Irish colours we’ve grown used to seeing him pop up as a first receiver in the backline where he’s just as likely to barrel the ball into contact as he is to whip a pass out the back door.

The days of prop forwards being nothing more than scrummagers, maulers and ruckers have long gone from the game of rugby, and the 31-year-old has been at the front of those changes.

That kick against the Ospreys, or his delicate one-handed offload in the lead-up to their third try a week before that against Northampton Saints are the highlights that