Tadhg Beirne: 'I felt the pressure. I’m not going to lie. A lot of people calling for my head out there'

The Munster man opened up on the pressures of selection for a Lions test match: 'I know my performances to this date weren’t up to par by my standards. I had to put in a performance. All of us did'embargoed to 8pm Sunday

BEIRNEING IT UP: British and Irish Lions' Tadhg Beirne wins the lineout and feeds Hugo Keenan despite pressure from Australia's Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. Pic: David Gray, Getty Images

WHEN the talking stopped, and the debates around selection gave way to the noise of a Test match build-up inside Suncorp Stadium, Andy Farrell knew the players those outside the British & Irish Lions camp may have doubted would perform they way he believed they would.

It was not perfect in any shape or form but the way the Lions dominated Australia during Saturday’s first half in Brisbane on their way to a 27-19 victory was confirmation enough that Farrell had got his combinations right.