Conan: Tadhg Beirne's Croke Park tour de force gives lie to talk of post-Lions slumps

Fifteen of Andy Farrell's touring Ireland squad featured in the recent Lions expedition Down Under. 

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Jamison Gibson-Park, Jack Conan and James Lowe departing for Chicago this week. Pic: INPHO/Morgan Treacy

Jack Conan has singled out Tadhg Beirne’s performance in Croke Park last weekend as reason to dismiss any fears of a post-tour hangover among Ireland’s record haul of British and Irish Lions tourists in Australia over the summer.

Fifteen of the Ireland squad that has already arrived in Chicago for the meeting with New Zealand on Saturday week featured in that recent Lions expedition, and that has led to fears that some could struggle to rediscover those heights in the months to come.

But Beirne’s extraordinary effort for Munster against Leinster, in what was his first game back, and following on from elbow surgery and a disrupted pre-season, stood in sharp contrast to the listlessness of Leinster’s contributors Down Under.

“I don’t think it’s a thing myself. I was very conscious after the season last year that I'd obviously been on the go for a long time. Including rehab and whatever else, I was on the go 14 months in a row so I was conscious of taking enough time to get my body right and switch off and recover and mentally give yourself a bit of space before getting back at it.

“I don't think anyone has said that Tadhg Beirne had a Lions malaise, if that’s how you put it,” said Conan. “Looking at him over the weekend, he was fantastic. Obviously things didn't go right for the Leinster lads against Munster the other day, but there were still some good performances in there and it's not something that's on anyone's mind.” 

The Leinster back row has yet to play this season having damaged his knee at home before the Croke Park game. Not ideal but no biggie, he said. Had the game been a day or two later he would have made it.

“Mentally I feel great,” he added.

New Zealand have had their own issues with former Munster player and coach Jason Holland due to step down as attack guru after this November window but Ireland have to be rusty as they build up to another meeting in Soldier Field.

None of their Lions have played more than twice. The Kiwis have played nine times since July.

Conan agreed that there were lessons to be taken from Leinster’s flat effort at GAA HQ in the sense that a team has to make something happen on each day, to be in the right head space, both physically and mentally, regardless of the preparations.

“It's unacceptable in this environment to have any excuse to not perform well. We've had success before… You think of November 2021 where I know we played Japan the week before, but that was our first game together and then we played them the week after that and we had success that day [against New Zealand]. No excuses.” 

The squad’s early arrival in the Windy City has been designed to ensure that Andy Farrell’s team is in prime condition come kick-off and the extended stay is even lending itself to some talk of an evening or two at some Blackhawks and Bulls games.

Only a handful of players survive from that seminal Chicago game in 2016 when Ireland beat the men in black for the first time. Conan watched that one on a teammate’s phone in Parma airport having featured for Leinster in a win over Zebre earlier that day.

Two years later and he was one of the eight players in the current squad who featured against Italy in a comfortable and seminal win in Chicago that changed the relationship between the two teams from master and servant to something approaching equals.

The sides have shared the spoils equally across their last 10 meetings but New Zealand are chasing a three-in-a-row having edged that epic World Cup quarter-final and beaten an insipid Irish team comprehensively in Dublin 12 months ago.

Avoiding the sluggishness of that Aviva encounter will be uppermost in minds given the false start so many suffered with Leinster last weekend, but that agonising loss in Paris in 2023 must still cast a shadow, even on the far side of the Atlantic.

“Yeah, well, look, as a collective it's not something we've spoken about. It's not something I've thought of until you mentioned it there. It's kind of still in the back of the head, obviously, you know?

“That's one of those moments you never really get over, but it's not something we'll be lingering on. Maybe it'll come up over the next few days. I'm not too sure, but it's a new task and a new day, and the teams have changed a bit since then.”