Away from the rugby, the travel, the injuries and the rehab, Tadhg Furlong has squeezed in a lot of life experience over the past 14 months. There was another Six Nations success with Ireland last year that came just weeks after his beloved father, James, passed away a year after his cancer diagnosis."I think it’s different with cancer," said Furlong. "You nearly pre-mourn. So, it happens and it’s not a surprise. The hardest part is seeing it happen in front of your two eyes. "I’m not saying it’s a relief when you pass away, it’s just, what did you expect to happen really? You see this coming, you see it happening and in some ways, for them, for their own sake, you’re kind of…they’re at peace." Furlong told the funeral mourners in Wexford that his father was 'a loveable rogue' who was 'unbelievably happy in his own skin', a trait that he himself is happy to have inherited.“Yeah, definitely," said the Campile man. "There’s certain things from both parents that you pick up on. That was something I respected about him. He wanted money for a pint and a box of fags and a horse race, but he didn’t really care either about what other people thought or the social circles or niceties."He recounts the story of how his dad spent a long haul trip to New Zealand. “I think he was the original raw dog," laughed Furlong, referring to the social media trend. "That’s a long aul' trip."I said to my mother, 'how was the flight?' and she started laughing, 'He watched that little plane on the screen the whole way over'. "I was like, 'you did not!'. He said, 'I did and I’d fall asleep for about 10 minutes and wake up and see if it had moved on for a bit'. The original raw dogger back in the day!”. While working to return from injury, Furlong became a dad for the first time in January after his wife, Áine, gave birth to a baby girl. "We're doing up the house in Dublin," said the Leinster tighthead. "The family were down in Wexford while I was up here training. It was a nice distraction, but it wasn’t as if I was hands on. I was a part-time dad!".He loves returning home to family and to the friends who have returned there to live. “I get it the whole time and the lads would be slagging me, I’d be going through somewhere and it's ‘Tadhg, Tadhg, Tadhg, we’re from Wexford too'...I’m like ‘fair enough!’ It’s great."I’m not trying to make out that I’m LeBron James walking around! In my local village, it’s low key. I go down there to switch off, to meet up with people. "I don’t go out looking for (recognition). It’s more family time, chill out by the sea and go for an aul' spin. That kind of craic.”He returned to action off the bench in Ireland's final Six Nations game a fortnight ago. It was only his fourth appearance of the season. The 32-year-old's frustration at missing almost all of the last two Test windows is tempered by previous experience. In 2020 he had 12 breakdowns with a similar injury. “I went through the ringer during Covid," recalled Furlong. "I think I had 12 breakdowns, then we went on a good run since then. "Like this one isn’t that bad in comparison. The 12 breakdowns - that was tough going now. Legs. Calf, hamstrings. It’s not as if you’re blowing muscles out, you’re doing small tears."Why the small tears, we don’t know. We did a fair bit of rooting and discovery at that time. We could lean back on that a little and tweak it this time around.“I feel very fortunate to be where I am in some respects. There were times in 2020, not that I was ever going to retire but it was, 'Jesus Christ like, what's going wrong?'. I remember asking the physio, 'is this something I need to worry about here?'. Obviously it wasn't, but I do remember if I did have to retire I'd given a fair innings from where I came from." But now he is eyeing a potentially momentous few months of further Champions Cup glory and a third Lions tour. On Saturday, Leinster face Harlequins in the European tournament's round of 16 at Croke Park. He feels that the squad is that bit more mature and ready to put a series of final heartbreaks behind them.The frontliners enjoyed some bonding time in Wicklow last weekend before preparations began in earnest for the business end of the season. "It's boom or bust time in Champions Cup and if your eyes are anywhere else it's no good," Furlong stressed.He's referring to a question about a potential Lions call-up - he started the three Test matches in his two tours to date. "It's always been there," said Furlong of his desire to tour again. "It's one of the most special things you can do. I've loved both tours that I've been on in different ways and would do anything to get on another. So it's always in the back of your mind."Maybe it's an accolade-y type of thing, three (starts) in three, but I don't think that's what you're aiming for. You're trying to put your best foot forward, you get on that plane and then try to perform when you can. You have to take it - it can't be given to you." Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts.