Recalled Finlay will Beal great
FINLAY BEALHAM has been backed by his scrum and contact coach in Connacht to make an impact with Ireland after being called back into the international camp.
The 32-year old, who was dropped from the matchday squad for the win over Wales after Munster’s recent signing Oli Jager got the nod, was summoned back to the Irish camp just as he was about to begin a scrummaging session in Galway.
“I’m not sure why he has been recalled, you can only speculate,” said Connacht coach Colm Tucker (inset).
“They might have got a knock or a bang. They obviously need six or seven props in camp if they want to scrum themselves so maybe one of them picked up a niggle in the game at the weekend.
“I’m not sure of the reason but there certainly would be a valid reason because I know they were keen for Finlay to get minutes this weekend and I think he was released to play 100 per cent, so something must have happened.”
But Tucker says Bealham will rise to the challenge.
“He was obviously disappointed but such is life as a professional. You are in one minute, then you are not in. Obviously, they wanted to see how Oli
Jager went, he has went well for Munster, so Finlay was unfortunately dropped out,” he said.
“But you have to look back against France, he came on and he impacted very positively at set-piece, against Italy he impacted very positively at set-piece as well, won penalties and was dominant and he has to be able to fall back on that.
“He was excited because of the person he is to come back and perform for us this weekend and that was his attitude from Sunday when I spoke to him right through to until he goes back into camp now.”