It has taken Irish rugby some time to fully appreciate what Tadhg Beirne has to offer, but it looks like Warren Gatland is aware of what the Munster forward is about.
t was on the Kiwi’s watch that the versatile Kildare man was offered a new Scarlets contract that would see him declare for Wales.
Had he chosen to stay instead of taking up Munster’s offer, he may well have played a role in Gatland’s side’s march to the 2019 World Cup semi-final.
So it should be no surprise that the wily New Zealander is looking at the 29-year-old as a key part of his plans to deal with South Africa’s combination of big men.
Beirne need only ask Peter O’Mahony what it’s like to be up against the tour captain for a spot in the team, but considering the way Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber deploy their second-row forwards, there is plenty of scope for the Lions’ locks to get into the Test shake-up.
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Already, Beirne is being viewed as a No 6 by Gatland who also has Maro Itoje, Courtney Lawes and, at a stretch, Iain Henderson, available for that slot as he looks to match up to what the Boks will bring.
Gatland could look to match-up to the ‘Bomb-squad’, which would see him picking a hybrid lock-back-row like Beirne on the blindside and six forwards, including two second-rows, on the bench.
Although Tom Curry and Jack Conan have worn the No 6 jersey for their countries, there is no recognised traditional blindside in the squad. All indications are that the likes of Beirne will be asked to add height to the side of the scrum.
The world champions play their first match since securing that crown in Yokohama next Friday against Georgia and it would be a major surprise to see them veer away from the template that saw them power to the Webb Ellis trophy in 2019.
In particular, the size of their back-five and calibre of forwards on their ‘bomb squad’ bench will be key to their plan of outmuscling the tourists like they did England in that final.
Key to that is unleashing 2019 World Player of the Year Pieter-Steph du Toit on the blindside of the scrum where he can mix his lineout prowess with his destructive carrying and tackling game.
In most other countries Du Toit would be a lock, but given the array of brilliant second-rows in the Rainbow Nation, Nienaber and Erasmus can deploy him on the flank.
Then, they started the powerful Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager in the second-row and replaced them with Franco Mostert and RG Snyman to keep the power game going from minute one to 80.
Matching that is likely to keep captain Alun Wyn Jones, Itoje, Henderson and Lawes occupied, but Beirne gives Gatland a point of difference.
He’s not exactly a like-for-like player to go toe-to-toe with Du Toit, yet his height and lineout work is comfortably at international standard and will allow the Lions to match up to the Boks out of touch.
Where Beirne comes into his own is at the breakdown.
He may look like a second-row, but he has a unique ability to get his 6ft, 6in frame down into those awkward positions and cause havoc at the ruck.
Lawes, Itoje and Henderson tick some of the boxes, but none of them bring Beirne’s point of difference in that key department.
No one came close to his 10 turnovers at the Six Nations, a competition in which he switched seamlessly from the second-row to the back-row and back again depending on Andy Farrell’s need.
“We are looking for players to think about what their point of difference is. For Tadhg, that definitely is a big part of his game – the amount of turnovers he is able to create,” Gatland said after confirming he sees Beirne as a blindside for the tour.
“Those sorts of things can change a game and you need players like that to be able to have an impact in a match. He is able to do that and hopefully on the weekend he gets a chance to demonstrate some of those abilities that he has.”
Saturday’s game against Japan will be a very different test to what the Lions will face in South Africa.
The Brave Blossoms play a high-pace, high-intensity passing and running game and they’ll ask very different questions of the tourists than the world champions.
It is at once an opportunity and a match laden with risk for the 23 players selected. A clash of Test-match quality for a team that’s been together for less than two weeks.
Although Munster’s season didn’t lead to any glory, Beirne has kept his standards high and he arrives into the camp in strong form.
A good game in the opener would set him up well ahead of the squad’s departure for South Africa, where he’s on track to play a big role.