British and Irish Lions hooker Jamie George has praised his teammate Tadhg Furlong for both his rugby excellence and “ridiculous personality.”
George and Furlong both toured New Zealand with the Lions in 2017 have become reacquainted with one another over the last 10 days since the Saracens contingent’s arrival in Jersey.
The Lions have been in South Africa since the early hours of Monday morning and George revealed in a press conference that the battle among the front row players is already starting to heat up.
Hear from @J_George2 as the hooker opens up on adjusting to life with the Lions and his excitement about being on his second Tour ?️#LionsRugby #CastleLionsSeries #BoksvLions
— British & Irish Lions (@lionsofficial) June 30, 2021
‘The scrum sessions so far have been pretty tasty.’
“[Furlong] is a great personality, a ridiculous personality. He’s a great guy, very funny and he takes his work very seriously. That struck me straight away – I had a great relationship with him,” George said, via the Lions’ website.
“We picked up where we left off as soon as I walked through the door in Jersey. He had a laptop in my face looking at scrum set-ups, engages and all that stuff, what he needs from me.
“That’s perfect for me and it’s great to have that relationship with him and the role of a hooker in a scrum is to try and get the best in the people either side of you.
“He’s a great character and one of the best tightheads in the world. I think we’re blessed in this team, you look at [Andrew] Porter going out and you bring in someone with the calibre of Sinckler.
“The scrum sessions so far have been pretty tasty, I have to say, and the competition for places is great and Tadhg is really putting his hand up – he had a great game against Japan.”
Jamie George’s second tour with the Lions.
George was the first-choice hooker for Warren Gatland on the 2017 Lions tour, starting in all three tests against the All Blacks.
However, in this year’s Six Nations George started in just two of England’s five matches, as Exeter Chiefs hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie was picked ahead of him for the games against Italy, France and Ireland.
Cowan-Dickie has also been selected for this year’s Lions tour, along with Wales hooker Ken Owens, with the verdict still very much out on which player will start for the touring side in the test matches against the Springboks.
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