Ireland hero Tadhg Beirne: 'Doc asked with five minutes left how I was trucking. I said I'm empty but I'll keep going'

CLASS APART: Ireland’s Tadhg Beirne and Johnny Sexton celebrate at the end of the game. 

On a night of extraordinary performances in an Irish jersey at Sky Stadium on Saturday, Tadhg Beirne’s rose to the top of the list, just when they needed him most.

It was the lock’s defensive masterclass that helped turn the tide back in Ireland’s favour as New Zealand threatened the mother of all turnarounds in the series-deciding third Test after a chaotic opening to the second half.

In more than 600 Test matches, no All Blacks side had trailed by so many points at the halfway mark than the 19 they fell behind to Beirne and company in a blistering first 40 minutes by the tourists as they took a 22-3 lead. Yet when the fightback came, it sent the Irish back on their heels and three tries in 16 minutes brought the home side to within three points of the visitors.

In times past an Ireland side may have crumbled under the relentless tide of pressure they were facing, and against a side that always seemed to have their number. But these are different times, the All Black aura that came with 111 years of defeats has been fading since that historic first victory in 2016 and Beirne snuffed it out completely with his second-half heroics as Ireland not just hung on but regained control to claim the 32-22 victory and historic first series win in New Zealand.

This was the player whose rampaging breaks had split open the All Blacks defence to get Ireland on the front foot in the second-Test win in Dunedin seven days earlier. This time, Beirne’s best work was without the ball.

Whether it was the defensive read on 47 minutes to turnover All Blacks ball with an intercept or the penalty he won eight minutes later as he stooped over home ruck ball, he was pure menace.

Yet it was the final 10 minutes, after Rob Herring had peeled away from another dominant Irish lineout maul to score the try that put daylight between the two sides once more, that Beirne’s work shone even brighter.

Like the turnover he effected when Sam Whitelock’s desperate attempt to dislodge the Irish second row from the ball he had clamped onto ended with an illegal neck roll on 71 minutes, just after the All Blacks had seen a scrum in front of the opposition posts disrupted. Or the stolen ball he won a minute later as he doubled up with Conor Murray in a tackle on Will Jordan and again after 75 minutes when Beirne put in a monstrous cleanout on Dane Coles that also took out Folau Fakatava and allowed Cian Healy to gather the loose ball.

All were inside the Irish 22 as New Zealand threatened once again to get back on terms and each time Beirne was the unmovable obstacle in their path.

“I got one or two in the second half,” he said afterwards with just a hint of understatement. It is just a part of my game that I need to bring to the team.

“The most satisfying moment for me was inside the 22 and I made a tackle with Murr and I got back up and I managed to turn it over and that was huge for us. That was just on a personal level. I was happy with that one.

“The defensive effort by everyone there in the last 10 minutes was incredible. The doc came up to me with five minutes to go and asked me how I was trucking and, to be honest, I said I was empty, but I would keep going. Realistically with Treads (Kieran Treadwell, his replacement on 76 minutes) there, fresh legs would make all the difference. He came on and put in a massive hit in their 22 and it gave everyone a lift. I can’t put into words how proud I am of my team-mates. Everything the lads did in those last 50 minutes was incredible.” 

Beirne credited head coach Andy Farrell the praise for that collective commitment to their side and described a meeting before Ireland departed for New Zealand as sowing the self-belief which came to be the hallmark of this tour.

“It was the Monday of the first day we were all in, we were in a room, we sat around and I think he put the challenge in front of us, he said we can make history by becoming the first team to win away in New Zealand. We won’t be satisfied with just that; we want to win the series. He put the question, did we believe? Everyone was pretty sure we did believe.

“It was something within the room. A lot of the time you can just feel it. You just know everyone is on the same page.” 

That spirit of togetherness had helped Ireland rebound from losing the first Test 42-19 at Auckland’s Eden Park, a point at which many a touring team to New Zealand might have thrown in the towel.

“It didn’t happen because it was a weird feeling after the (first) game. We lost, yes and we were disappointed we lost but everyone in that dressing room knew there were moments, little snippets when we got things right, and we felt coming out of the game, that on any other day we would have beaten them.

“We just had to get our own stuff right. Then this week was just about taking another step and in that first half, we probably showed that. We said at half time they were going to come out and were going to come for us and they did. They upped it. They put us under serious pressure at times and they got themselves back into the game from a scoreline that other teams wouldn’t have got back into.

“It is a credit to them and that is what we knew was coming. We said they would have a purple patch and we said we would have to get through that and come out the other side and we did that. We went down to 14 for a while, we conceded too. But the way we came out the other end of that was pretty positive.

“We went two scores ahead and then we just defended for our lives for a while. That shows the character of the team. We judge ourselves in defence as well. The last 10 to 15 minutes showed the spirit of this team, the character of us.”