While every sport is constantly evolving, few can match the strides made by professional rugby over the last couple of decades.
The game is always changing in terms of playing style, with previously dominant ideologies often usurped by new ideas that go on to become commonplace. In terms of sports science, nutrition, and player conditioning, the game is almost unrecognisable to what it was 20 years or so ago.
As a result of these changes, rugby is now producing player types that we had previously never seen before. In the front row, Tadhg Furlong is certainly one of those trailblazers.
The Ireland and Leinster prop approaches the sport in a manner that few of his predecessors could have even considered, mixing top class scrummaging with the ability to contribute in open play with impressive carries, soft hands, and a genuine playmaking ability.
Some have gone as far as to say that Furlong is revolutionising the position, but he doesn't necessarily see it that way.
Speaking to Balls in his role as a Tackle Your Feelings ambassador, the Wexford native said that far from going into each training session with the mindset of changing the sport, he sees it as his responsibility to continue to improve in all areas of the game.
You don't pay a whole lot of attention to (the praise).
In my view, the way the game is playing or the way we play the game at the minute, it naturally kind of suits and my game where you are able to pass. I mean, the passes we make are a meter or a meter and a half, it's just about being able to see if the pass is on or not...
The way the game has gone, or especially the way we play, there's a reliance on everyone being able to do their job, or a job for us and being fairly interchangeable within that. It's just about trying to get your your core skills down.
A lot of it isn't the pass past or maybe the tackle or whatever, it's about being able to understand why you're doing something
The saying we have in the group at the minute, there's always someone better than you at a skill within the group. It's trying to learn off those lads and what they see when they're trying to execute something, what they feel or what they look at.
Everyone has a different perspective on it, we just try to learn on it as much we can so we can all become better players off the back of it.
Those skills will certainly be put to the test over the coming months. The buildup to this World Cup has been a steady one for Ireland, who have been in and out of camp in recent weeks as they prepare for the tournament in France. Warmup game against Italy, England, and Samoa are to come before they play their first pool fixture against Romania on September 9th.
Having made remarkable strides in their game over the last couple of years, it could be said that Ireland have never been better prepared to go into this particular event. The proof of that will not come until the latter stages of the championship.
Furlong will be a key figure both on and off the pitch. Not only is he a world class operator in his position, but his experience will also be key away from the field of play.
This will be the 30-year old's third World Cup, although they first two did not exactly go to plan. Having been a squad player in 2015, he had an up close view to what was a poor showing in Japan four years later.
While those experiences were disappointing, they will all stand to him in France on this occasion. When it comes to maximising his performance over the course of a long tournament, he feels a lot of it will come down to actually separating himself from the rugby.
I suppose you're a little bit more comfortable in your skin. I think that just comes naturally with the experience of being in them before, maybe being in the game for a bit longer.
It's of an understanding of yourself, what you need, and how you operate when you're away. You're boxed away from family and home for such a long period. It's a good understanding of oneself, how to get way and how to refresh.
If you stew there and you sit in the hotel all day and rugby is always on your mind, it'll eat you up. That's something that's valuable.
So is the kind of headspace and because like you said, it's probably a long stint in France. You can be sitting there thinking about rugby in the next game all the time. We're trying to find that downtime...
There's been a lot of really good work that's gone on out in the training centre for the four weeks we have been it. Lads are working hard. I suppose it's all about proving it, all about proving it all over again, proving it to each other and proving it to the Irish people that the work we have been doing has been worthwhile.
As Furlong himself says, the proof will be in the pudding come the latter rounds of the tournament itself.
Ireland have certainly seem to have put themselves in a good position to meet the sky high expectations surrounding the team at the moment.
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Rugby Players Ireland is teaming up with Tadhg Furlong, for a new content series centred on his journey back to his school Good Counsel College in New Ross to spotlight the work of the Tackle Your Feelings (TYF) Schools programme to promote mental wellbeing. The new Tackle Your Feelings video, is available here.
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