The big man likes to toss himself into the fray when the ball is in play but often demurs at confrontation once the ball is dead.
Midway through the first half of Munster’s 36-22 win over Gloucester, Tadhg Beirne got amongst it again.
At first, he was a hair’s breadth from stealing the Gloucester lineout. He swatted a paw and missed, but that was only the start. His mind remained active and he engaged with the catcher the moment he landed.
The likes of Ben Morgan, Ed Slater and Jake Polledri all tangled with Beirne as a driving maul attempt stalled. Beirne – arms gangling all over the place – came at the ball from three different angles until he clamped on. Once he gets his mitts on the ball, few can dislodge him.
The whistle blew. Turnover number three in the space of 25 minutes.
But there were afters. The usually placid Beirne was involved in some shoving and jersey-grabbing. A Gloucester player had poked the bear. Beirne yelled at the offending player then addressed the referee:
“You’re a scumbag, man… He’s breaking my fingers.”
The former Scarlets and Leinster lock is now a marked man – such is his prowess – but teams still struggle to keep him at bay.
Tadhg Beirne 👏👏👏#ChampionsCup #VMSport pic.twitter.com/Kc8EvgjeRk
— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) October 20, 2018
It took all of 80 seconds for Beirne to effect his first turnover. Munster had carelessly allowed Danny Cipriani’s kick-off to bounce inside their 22 and were immediately on the back foot. Gloucester pressed for an early score but Beirne had other ideas and made a grab for the ball as he stopped his man. It came loose and was pounced upon.
His second turnover arrived with Munster under the pump again. The hosts had been unusually sloppy in the opening stages and were again soaking tackles until Beirne chose his moment and clamped on again at the breakdown. His ability to turn over opposition ball inside his own 22 is akin to David Pocock, and I can’t think of a higher compliment than that.
In the second half, with Gloucester battling gamely despite now being down to 14 men, Beirne had a chance to open his legs up on an attacking bent.
Fullback Mike Haley, who had a fine game, looked to be meandering laterally until he burst forward and broke the Gloucester line. Kevin O’Byrne was in support and he offloaded to the Beirne.
The lock showed an impressive turn of pace and, confronted with Gloucester fullback Jason Woodward, unfurled a nice chip for Andrew Conway. The Premiership side survived that one and, in fairness to them, battled gamely right until the end.
So did Beirne, who was still digging in and tackling, and frustrating right until the very end. His final figures read – 8 carries for 25 metres gained, one line break, one defender beaten, 13 tackles, 3 turnovers. Post-match, Munster captain Peter O’Mahony marvelled:
“Yeah, you take them any day of the week. It’s a massive pressure release for us. He has an incredible ability to stay in a fight and even be in an awkward position and keep his body weight under control.
“Very impressive and you can see the performances he had the last few weeks, he’s been great for us.”
Beirne put in another 80+ minute shift. Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt was at Thomond Park for the game and, with five minutes to play, he left his seat. He had seen enough.
Gloucester had seen enough of Beirne too.
Iain Henderson and Devin Toner have had decent starts to the season, too, but we are already getting excited of seeing an Ireland second row of Beirne and Leinster’s James Ryan, in November, already.
