Family reunion left Ireland prop Finlay Bealham 'really emotional'
Try-scorer Finlay Bealham admits Ireland’s win over England was an emotional occasion his family will never forget after being reunited with his parents for the first time in more than two years.
Australia-born prop Bealham came on for the final seven minutes of Saturday’s epic Guinness Six Nations clash and capped his cameo outing with a crucial score which secured his title-chasing side a bonus point.
Coronavirus restrictions have prevented the 30-year-old Connacht player returning to his homeland since the pandemic took hold.
His father was pictured in tears as the family embraced following the 32-15 Twickenham victory.
“It was brilliant to get on and unreal to score a try as well thanks to James Lowe’s really good carry,” said Bealham.
“It put me in a nice position to get over the line and it was a lovely try. It was just nice for me to be out there.
“I had my parents there, who I haven’t seen for the past two and a half years with Covid, so it was a really special day for the team and a really special day for me personally as well.
“I got to see them after the game in the crowd and it was a really emotional moment for us.
“Certainly this is a day that the Bealham family won’t forget.”
Ireland benefited from England lock Charlie Ewels being dismissed inside 82 seconds for a dangerous challenge on James Ryan.
But Andy Farrell’s men were pushed all the way by the depleted hosts before late scores from Jack Conan and Bealham broke the resistance, adding to first-half tries from Lowe and Hugo Keenan.
Ireland have collected bonus points in each of their four championship fixtures to keep themselves within touching distance of table-topping France.
They conclude the tournament against Scotland in Dublin, while Les Bleus host England, with Bealham predicting “fireworks” in Paris.
“That game’s going to be massive next weekend,” he said.
“We’ll be solely focused on our game and do everything we can to put out a really good performance and let the chips fall where they may.
“England are a quality team and France are a top-quality team, so there’s going to be fireworks in that game.
“Thankfully, throughout this tournament we’ve racked up a couple of bonus-point wins and then the losing bonus point and they’re very critical; going into the last game of the Six Nations those extra points add up.”
Ireland’s performance in south-west London was undermined by repeated struggles at the scrum.
England, who had wing Jack Nowell packing down at flanker following Ewels’ red card, dominated that department all afternoon.
“We take really big pride in our scrum and to give away four or five penalties at this level made it tough on the team,” said Bealham.
“We’ll have to analyse that especially well because Scotland have a really well-drilled scrum.
“We won’t have much time but we’ll have to make adjustments accordingly.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Beautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to comments