LONG READ Adam Beard: 'It’s a bit clichéd, but you only have one life. You want to experience things.'

The former footballer Paolo Di Canio once recalled how the man who looked after his piranhas had told him he would do away with the fish if the Italian left West Ham for Manchester United. Adam Beard didn’t have anything approaching that level of threat to contend with as he contemplated departing the Ospreys, but, it’s safe to say, many of the region’s supporters will still have been sad to see him go.

After all, homegrown locks who are 6ft 8in and a few chip suppers shy of 19st do not come along often. And the amiable former Ospreys supporters’ player of the season has always played as if appearing for his local team truly meant something, as if he were privileged to be wearing the shirt. “He’s an Ospreys man through and through,” head coach Mark Jones said during the season.

But at 29, Beard is readying himself for something different. Where he is heading hasn’t been officially announced, but there are tribespeople in the depths of the Amazon rainforest who are thought to have heard he’ll be pitching up for Montpellier in the Top 14 next season.

Pretty much all at the Ospreys are wishing him well, though, after more than a decade of service, and the call to leave wasn’t one Beard made without serious thought. “It was the hardest decision I’ve had to make in my life,” he says.

“I grew up watching the Ospreys during the glory years, with all the superstars on board, and I dreamed of playing for them. I used to think how much it would mean to pull on the shirt just once. To do so more than 140 times has been an absolute honour.

“But I felt it was time for a change.

“I looked at the bigger picture and thought: ‘If I was sitting here at the end of my career, without having experienced anything new or different in terms of another environment or league, would I be kicking myself and would I regret it?’

“I probably would regret it, in all honesty. I’m 29 now, and I’ve done a lot of what I wanted to do in the game in Wales. I just felt there was a good opportunity with a great club in a different country. It was now or never.

“It’s a bit clichéd, but you only have one life and you want to experience things. The opportunity that’s come along, I would have been a stupid man to have turned it down. It’s a chance that’s too good to miss.”

I’ve enjoyed pretty much every minute at the Ospreys.  I’ve loved playing for them and representing them. The players and coaches have been class over the years and so have the supporters.

Just to make clear, he says, it was never about wanting to leave the Ospreys: “I’ve enjoyed pretty much every minute there.  I’ve loved playing for them and representing them. The players and coaches have been class over the years and so have the supporters. But it just felt that for me and my family, now was the right time to try something new.”

There are no illusions about the challenge ahead, with the Top 14 season an infamously gruelling affair, spread as it is over close on 10 months, with the toll especially testing for those who ply their trade up front.

The record of some of the big-name Welsh forwards who have tried their luck in French rugby’s elite league is mixed: Gethin Jenkins and Dan Lydiate returned home to Wales early, bemoaning a lack of rugby, while Luke Charteris earned kudos with Perpignan and Racing 92 and the sun was already setting on Alun Wyn Jones’s career when he went out to Toulon, albeit he performed well in his five games for the Cote d’Azur team.

What is Beard expecting? “It’s one of the toughest and most competitive leagues in the world, with pretty much every game of international standard,” he says.

“But I’m looking forward to getting started. I am going out there with the aim of giving it my all. Maybe the move will help make me a better player because I’m heading for an environment I’m not used to and I’m going to have to be on my toes. Hopefully, it will bring out even more in my game and push me on as a player.”

Beard is adamant the move will not weaken his commitment on the international front. Wales may have lost 17 on the bounce (injury has meant the lock has figured in only eight of those games) but finding an excuse to rush for the nearest lifeboat is not the way the tall guy operates.

The competition for a lock place is significant, mind. Ben Carter, Freddie Thomas, James Ratti and Teddy Williams will cover the second row for Wales in Japan this summer, with Daf Jenkins injured and Will Rowlands, like Beard, given a break.  “There are some good second rows in Wales,” says Beard.

“I know from playing at the Ospreys that they have boys pushing through. James Ratti is in the squad but they also have Rhys Davies and James Fender. Rhys has had some bad luck with injuries. If he has a run of games, it won’t be long before he’s wearing the Welsh jersey again.

[Beard is] a worthy heir to Charteris as a top-level disruptor of opposition mauls, he is also a quality lineout option, pushes his weight in the scrums, rarely misses a beat in defence and has vast experience.

“James is only 23, but he has all the attributes to be an international second row. He’s had good exposure over the past couple of years, has taken charge of the set-piece and is learning with every game.”

But it would be a surprise if Beard himself were not one of the favourites for a starting place next term. A worthy heir to Charteris as a top-level disruptor of opposition mauls, he is also a quality lineout option, pushes his weight in the scrums, rarely misses a beat in defence and has vast experience.

It’s a package that doesn’t satisfy all, though, with some wanting Beard to up his game as a carrier. If it is true that he isn’t going to rival the jaw-dropping Leone Nakarawa circa 2015 in the running stakes any time soon, the same goes for 99.9 percent of other second rows.

Maybe it’s time to focus just as sharply on what he brings to the side.

Anyway, those firing poisoned arrows the way of the Grand Slam winner from 2019 might be frustrated to learn that their target doesn’t spend his entire time after matches trawling through social media. “I came off all that a long time ago,” he says.

“Coming through the ranks, I used to read it because I wanted to know what people were thinking. I remember in my early days having a look and you’d have some people thinking you were great and others saying you didn’t deserve to be there. You learn pretty quickly that you’re not going to impress everyone.

“What matters to me is making my family and friends proud – and that I’m getting selected every week, the coaches are pleased with my performances and my team-mates are happy with what I’m giving for the team.

“I’m not going to make everyone like me. Would you want everyone to like you? Of course you would. But I’ve come to the realisation that’s not possible. I’m more than happy with that. If I’m getting picked all the time and the boys are happy with me, I must be doing some things right. I’ve played 141 times for the Ospreys, 58 times for Wales and I’m a Test Lion. I don’t think you can fluke that.

In Wales, supporters are passionate and just want to see people giving their best, getting it right and winning. But they can also let players and coaches know when stuff’s not going right. That’s their right.

“That said, people are entitled to their opinions. It’s professional sport and you have to take the criticism along with the plaudits. In Wales, supporters are passionate and just want to see people giving their best, getting it right and winning. But they can also let players and coaches know when stuff’s not going right. That’s their right.

“I’m not the only one who’s had criticism. At certain points, pretty much everyone who plays at a high level cops it. Maybe we are lucky that we don’t get it as bad as certain footballers.”

No one can doubt Beard’s resilience. Half a decade or so ago he found himself on the outside of the Wales set-up looking in.  Wayne Pivac was taking time to warm to his game and dropped him for the 2020 autumn Tests. But the lock fought his way back for the following Six Nations which saw him play in every game and Wales lift the title.

“It was a bit bumpy at the start with Wayne,” he recalls. “He was saying he saw me as sixth-choice second row, but Toby Booth and all the coaches at the Ospreys were great in getting me back on track. The Six Nations that followed went really well. So it’s mad how things turn. Swings and roundabouts and all that. But those experiences helped mould me as a player and as a person.”

Beard and wife Chelsea are in the process of sorting out visas for themselves and their three children for what lies ahead. It promises to be quite the experience for all concerned, one that is being anticipated with relish. “It’s something new and we’re excited,” says the 58-cap player.

“We are hopeful it will go well. In rugby terms, I want to justify the faith the club have shown in me. At the end of the three years I’ll still only be 32, perhaps with a few years left as a player. I might love life out in France and stay there, or I might want to come back to Wales: you never know. But I think if there were to be an opportunity to finish my career at the Ospreys, whenever that might be, that would be pretty cool.”

A level-headed and affable sort is Adam Beard.

French rugby will like him.