Tadhg Furlong: Warren Gatland will bring out the best in Wales

Tadhg Furlong says he's expecting to face a very different Wales when Ireland travel to Cardiff for the opening game of their Guinness Six Nations campaign on Saturday.

Ireland were comfortable 29-7 winners when the sides met on the opening day of last year's championship in Dublin, and the season didn't get much better for the Welsh after that, as they lost nine out of their 12 games in the calendar year, including defeats to both Italy and Georgia.

That form led to the sacking of head coach Wayne Pivac in November, and the return of Warren Gatland, the man whom Pivac took over from in 2020.

The New Zealander led Wales to four Six Nations titles, three of which were Gland Slams, and two World Cup semi-final appearances during his first term in charge between 2008 and 2019.

And Furlong, who has worked under Gatland on both the 2017 and 2021 British and Irish Lions tours, says he's one of the best coaches around.

"I loved him because he always picked me!" the Ireland prop joked.

And while Furlong says Gatland's coaching methods on a Lions tour might be slightly different due to the short-term nature of the tour, he says the former Ireland boss commands a lot of respect.

"The game, the week, being a rugby player is different, it's totally different. I mean, you go on the Lions tour and it's a different way. It's a different way of going about it.

"The meetings are very short, keeping lads fresh, a lot more contact in training than we would do in Ireland. Double-days a lot, he works you very hard, so it's different.

"But yeah, he is incredibly clued in. I suppose he was a hooker, so he takes a good interest in the scrums, but a lot of it is just on tactics, getting the motion of it right, framing the week, he does it very, very