Perhaps no Irish player went into this Six Nations more grateful for an opportunity to right wrongs than Finlay Bealham. When Tadhg Furlong suffered an unfortunate recurrence of his calf problems in the pre-tournament camp in Portugal, it afforded Bealham a chance to banish personal demons lingering from Ireland’s November outing against Australia.
Some uncharacteristic and standout handling errors stained an otherwise unremarkable performance that day, but there’s been no doubting the strength of Bealham’s scrummaging in the wins over England and Scotland. Ditto his work-rate art the breakdown and the quality of his 13 tackles against Scotland as well as his ability over the ball in winning a key turnover penalty.
“Such is life,” he said after Sunday’s 32-18 win over Scotland when reflecting on the IRFU’s 150th anniversary match against Australia to end the Autumn Series.
“I definitely didn’t have my best day at the office. I got in my own way and made some mistakes. I obviously don’t want to make mistakes but I made a lot of mistakes. I suppose coming into this campaign, I knew Tadhg was out, and it was another big opportunity for me and I tried to take the pressure off myself and really trust what I’d done, and all the work we’d done as a team. And coming into the games now I feel really good, I feel really fresh. I’m just going to stay out of my own way.”
Born and reared in Canberra, the long-serving 33-year-old prop attributed his off-colour display against the country of his birth to a variety of factors.
“I just think it was a number of things. I don’t think I put my best foot forward in the Autumn Series and I reflected on that, tried to move on and leave that there and take the learnings from it. Like anything, you just roll with the punches and move on.”
One of the jokers in the Irish pack, often on the microphone at the front of the bus, Bealham had been on the receiving end from his team-mates after the loud scream he made when his ankle was caught awkwardly under an English player, a misfortune that put him in doubt for last Sunday’s game in Edinburgh.
“It was actually grand. The lads are calling me Lazarus, I was getting a bit of a slagging but I’d happily enough take the slagging so I’d be able to play. I broke my ankle five years ago and I think all the hardware in there saved me from any significant damage so, like I said, I took the slagging, more attention for me which is brilliant and, yeah, I cracked on.”
Bealham’s performances have also quietened any doubts about his Test credentials that might have resurfaced last November.
When Furlong was sidelined for the first three rounds of the 2023 Six Nations, Bealham had still to prove himself an able deputy for the two-time Lions Test tighthead. All that changed when Bealham put together a run of three strong starts in the wins over France, Wales and Italy.
Although he had made his Irish debut against Italy off the bench in the 2016 Six Nations, Bealham had only started four of his 25 Tests before that 2023 Championship, and they were against Canada, the USA, Georgia and Japan. What’s more, the Georgian game was in an ill-fitting loosehead role in an empty Aviva Stadium.
But Bealham dispelled any doubts with the quality of his performances in those first three legs of that Grand Slam before being cruelly sidelined himself after sustaining a knee injury in the win over Italy in Rome.
So, this campaign offers redemption on a number of levels, with the prize of taking part in a historic third successive title.
“I suppose it’s there in the background but I suppose we just stay pretty consistent in our process, take it day by day. We’ve three more games and it would be silly to look too far in the future.”
That’s even more true now that Wales have undergone a change of head coach, with Matt Sherratt taking temporary charge in place of Warren Gatland.
“It’s another away game in a really prestigious stadium. I think it’s Wales’s first game at home as well so they’ll be well up for it, backs against the wall, and I’ve no doubt they’ll be coming out firing so we’ll go in with the utmost respect and do our thing.”
