FINLAY BEALHAM HADN’T just been filling a gap for Ireland in this Six Nations. The Connacht man had been excelling. Indeed, such was the 31-year-old’s form, the absence of Tadhg Furlong wasn’t really discussed much once the rugby got underway.
While Furlong is clearly still Ireland’s first-choice tighthead prop, Bealham’s three starts in this championship have surely silenced the last of his doubters.
Unfortunately, Bealham won’t be able to finish out Ireland’s bid for a Grand Slam, with confirmation coming yesterday that his Six Nations is over due to the knee injury he suffered in the first half against Italy last weekend.
Ireland didn’t provide detail on the timeframe for his recovery but Connacht may do so today. The western province’s fans will be praying for decent news given just how totemic Bealham is for them.
Despite the bad luck, Bealham’s efforts in this Six Nations have shown he can cut it at the top level. Now capped 30 times by Ireland, he was arguably the best tighthead in the championship so far.
Meanwhile, Ulster’s Tom O’Toole has gained valuable experience off the bench. A 55-minute outing last weekend was great for him, with his work helping Ireland to two scrum penalties supplemented by some solid carrying and tackling.
O’Toole’s power was even more evident off the bench against France in round two, when he was part of an important collective impact by the Irish replacements. The 24-year-old will continue to have a role to play in the last two Six Nations games against Scotland and England.
He and the returning Furlong are the only two tighthead props in the 27-man Ireland squad that will come together tomorrow to start training for that visit to Scotland in two weekends’ time. The fit-again loosehead Cian Healy has covered tighthead for Leinster intermittently, but not for Ireland.
Seven-times capped O’Toole’s only other Test start has come on debut against the USA in the summer of 2021 so it would be a big leap to have him in the number three jersey against the Scots. Of course, Andy Farrell hasn’t been afraid to back his squad and the results have been impressive.
At the same time, Farrell has also been confident in bringing players short of game time straight back in to start Tests. Indeed, Furlong did it in November as he started all three games despite having played just 40 minutes for Leinster.
Furlong hasn’t played any rugby since 3 December but Farrell highlighted last week that Ireland back their ability to get players ready.
“How many times have we done this now?” said Farrell. “We’ve done it time and time again in regards to not being ideal, I suppose, game time, etc.
“We pride ourselves on making sure that our training gets people up to speed.”
So don’t be surprised to see Furlong starting against the Scots.
Captain Johnny Sexton and outside centre Garry Ringrose are also set to come straight back into the starting XV after sitting out the Italy game. It barely needs repeating that they are pivotal players for Ireland, with Ringrose badly missed in Rome.
Farrell is also boosted by the return of first-choice scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park. He made his first appearance of the entire season for Ireland in November, having been sidelined for Leinster up that point. After coming off the bench against South Africa, he started versus Fiji and Australia.
Gibson-Park played three games for Leinster in January before suffering a hamstring injury the day before the Six Nations opener against Wales, so it’s not like he has been sidelined for several months.
The comfort for Farrell in this position has been Conor Murray’s form. The Munster man was excellent against Wales and France, then made an important impact off the bench for Craig Casey against the Italians. Farrell might be tempted to use Gibson-Park as his impact player in Edinburgh but he won’t have forgotten just how influential the Leinster man has been in green in the recent past.
And it will be intriguing to see how he deploys Robbie Henshaw, with the Leinster man fit again having been sidelined since wrist surgery in November. He was also hampered by a hamstring injury that month, meaning he only played five minutes in the campaign.
Again, Farrell has good options at number 12. Ringrose is nailed-on as Ireland’s 13 and Henshaw is probably the next-best option there.
At inside centre, Stuart McCloskey has been in excellent form for Ireland and has done nothing to be left out, while Bundee Aki has made an impact off the bench in that position against Wales and France, as well as having proven himself there many times before.
Aki was understandably less comfortable at 13 following a late shift there last week and it’s obvious that his best position is inside centre.
It’s also the position where Henshaw has played the majority of his 61 Test caps and proven himself over and over again. He hasn’t played since November but he’s another man who is totally familiar with the demands of Test rugby.
So with Henshaw back, Farrell has three top-class options for the number 12 shirt and it’s a delightful headache to have, as is the case in a few other positions.
After getting through what was essentially an injury crisis in the opening rounds, Farrell can now enjoy the luxury of difficult selection decisions as Ireland welcome back the big guns in their bid to close out the Slam.
Originally published at 06.30
