Tadhg Beirne to continue as Munster captain under new head coach Clayton McMillan

It will be Beirne’s second campaign as skipper having been handed the role last season in succession to Peter O’Mahony, who had led Munster for a decade, captaining them to the 2023 URC title.

Tue, 23 Sep, 2025 - 15:07

Simon Lewis

Tadhg Beirne is set to continue his captaincy of Munster under new head coach Clayton McMillan, the province confirmed on Tuesday.

McMillan announced his decision ahead of his new charge’s season-opening United Rugby Championship trip to Scarlets on Saturday, although Beirne is not set to return to playing duty until next month; the Ireland lock/flanker arrived late to pre-season following his Player of the Series performances for the British & Irish Lions on the series-winning tour of Australia this summer.

It will be Beirne’s second campaign as skipper having been handed the role last season in succession to Peter O’Mahony, who had led Munster for a decade, captaining them to the 2023 URC title.

The incoming head coach spoke of how impressed he had been by Beirne’s ability to combine his leadership role while maintaining a constitently high-level of performance on the field.

“I was delighted for Tadhg to continue as team captain,” McMillan said.

“He is a world-class player and his level of performance never drops, that’s something I’ve been really impressed by.

“Tadhg led the team superbly last year and feels that he learned some really valuable lessons.

“He had the honour of captaining the Lions for their game against the Waratahs in the summer and he’s continuing to grow in confidence as a captain.

“Along with Tadhg, we have lots of leadership throughout the group among the senior players and the emerging young players so he has plenty of support in the leadership group.”

Beirne is one of just eight players to have been named as permanent captain of the Munster Rugby men’s team in the professional era, following in the footsteps of Pat Murray, Mick Galwey, Jim Williams, Anthony Foley, Paul O’Connell, Doug Howlett and O’Mahony, having joined from Scarlets in 2018.

Now 33, the Kildare man has scored 10 tries in 93 appearances for Munster, winning a URC title in 2023, 12 tries in 61 appearances for Ireland and five tries in 12 appearances, four of them Test matches for the British & Irish Lions across 2021 and 2025.