Bealham: 'Getting 50 is something that I'm truly honoured to do'

Connacht prop is happy for O'Mahony, Murray and Healy to take the limelight this weekend as he shares a milestone of his own with Caelan Doris and Jack Conan.

CAP NUMBER FIFTY: Finlay Bealham will earn his 50th cap for Ireland alongside Caelan Doris and Jack Conan against France this weekend. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Every journey is different. Caelan Doris, Jack Conan and Finlay Bealham will all earn their 50th Test caps against France this Saturday. How they all made it to that common point on the very same afternoon could have hardly been more different.

Doris’s route, even with his origins in rural Mayo, has been the straightest. When the captain sat out the Six Nations tie away to Wales in Cardiff’s Principality Stadium two weekends ago it brought to an end a run of 42 consecutive games in green.

His debut is only five years in the background. Conan’s came in August of 2015 since then he has had to stew over a number of injuries that have stalled his progress and ambitions with Leinster and with Ireland.

Bealham’s story is the most unlikely of them all. Born in Canberra, he moved to Ireland when still in his late-teens to further his career. He hits the half-ton mark this weekend as a starter having earned so many of his caps down the years as a replacement.

It’s not a milestone he takes lightly.

“I was thinking about this recently. There was probably a time where I was thinking, 'Jeez, I may only get ten caps’. You get to ten and then you're like, 'I'll just try get to 20', and then fast forward, on the verge of getting 50.

“Like I said [before], it's really special to see the calibre of players that have gone and got 50 themselves. To have myself getting 50 is something that I'm truly honoured to do and something I value very much.” 

It’s a marker that demanded a visit down Memory Lane for the 33-year old. He spoke again about the difficulties he had in his first six months here with Belfast Harlequins having been told that he needed to get games under his belt before the Ireland U20s kicked off.

Bealham couldn’t play with the firsts for some reason that escapes him now, so he found himself playing with the second string in places like Ophir RFC in Newtownabbey. He was too busy trying to find his feet to take note of every place this road took him.

His mum Andrea and dad Roy will be up from Australia and in the Aviva at the weekend to mark the occasions. His wife Sarah, son Joaquin and that side of the family will take it in too, even if the focus in terms of individuals will be elsewhere.

This will be the last time Conor Murray, Cian Healy and Peter O’Mahony play for Ireland on home soil and Bealham has no issue with the spotlight shining on that trio as Simon Easterby’s squad goes about its business.

“We'll be looking to give them the send-off they deserve. I think Jack Conan is annoyed he doesn't get all of the limelight, but myself and Caelan are a bit happier that there's not as much attention on us, thankfully.” 

It’s hard to overstate Bealham’s importance to Ireland in a tighthead position that is always a concern in terms of strength in depth, especially on the back of a five-month spell where Tadhg Furlong has been unavailable through injury. Only five of his first 27 caps were earned in the starting XV and all of those were against so-called tier two opposition. It was only the 2023 Six Nations, when he started against Wales and France in a seven-day spell, that this changed.

If there was a turning point for him mentally then it was the back end of the Championship the previous year when he scored a try with the five minutes earned against England in Twickenham and the subsequent successful tour to New Zealand.

“I don't know if I've ever felt 100% comfortable, if that's the word, but I felt from that moment on like a real part of the group. I knew what was expected of me, what I expect of myself and how I fit into what we're trying to do.” 

If there was any one moment that crystallised his integration into the Ireland team and what it was trying to do then it was that start against France two years ago when he played a sublime inside pass that allowed Hugo Keenan break the line and score a superb try.

Bealham knows only too well that a prop’s core job is to meet the French behemoths head-on in the tight on days like this, but his soft hands for that crucial score in Ballsbridge can’t help but elicit a chuckle all the same.

“I had a nice moment in that game, but what you didn't see was the training before it and how many times I screwed it up, even in the captain's run the day before. But thankfully when it mattered we got it right.” 

Truth be told, he’s loving every minute of it right now. Furlong’s calf and hamstring problems have allowed him this expanded opportunity and he recognises how unfortunate that is for his teammate while being thankful for the chance to help “drive the bus” for a bit.

If his road to this 50th cap has been more circuitous and, at times, challenging than most who make it this far then that, and the fact that he believes this is the best rugby of his career, should only make it all that much sweeter.