5 days ago
'We'd to say to Finlay, mate, you're allowed to be a kid. He was so driven'
IT WAS A cold, wet, windy night at Ravenhill in December 2005.
The Australian Schoolboys were in Belfast for a clash with the Ireland U19s. A try from Quade Cooper and a conversion by Kurtley Beale helped the Aussies to a win over an Irish team that included Keith Earls and Cian Healy.
The visitors' coach, Pat Langtry, was in the changing room afterwards when a security guard came in to tell him there was someone outside who wanted a word.
Langtry went out to find an Australian couple with their kids. They introduced themselves as Andrea and Roy Bealham and said they were in Ireland to visit family in Enniskillen.
'Andrea said to me that the boys, Finlay and Sean, were mesmerised by two of our players, Jack Lam in particular, but also David Pocock,' says Langtry. 'So she asks, could they meet them?'
So it was that 14-year-old Finlay came into the changing room and met the players before the Bealhams headed merrily on their way.
It was around a year later when Langtry bumped into them again, this time back at St Edmund's College in Canberra, the school where he was head of rugby.
The Bealhams were in for an interview because their sons were enrolling.
'Do you remember us?' said Roy.
And so it was that Langtry got his hands on Finlay Bealham as a 15-year-old. The young Canberra man wanted to kick his rugby development on by joining 'Eddies,' which is renowned for producing professional players.
Yet little could anyone have known then that Finlay would one day return to Canberra as a British and Irish Lion.
Quade Cooper tackles Tommy O'Donnell in Belfast in 2005. Lorraine O'Sullivan / INPHO Lorraine O'Sullivan / INPHO / INPHO
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Bealham's family are key to his rugby story.
He had huge support from his parents, who ferried Finlay to and from whatever training sessions he needed to be at as a teenager. Bealham made the ACT schoolboys team and played for the Australia Schools A team.
Andrea and Roy were there every step of the way.
'He was just a really good kid, as was his younger brother,' says Langtry. 'He had a really supportive family and they're often the forgotten backbone.'
If it wasn't for Sadie Ferris, his maternal grandmother, Bealham wouldn't have ended up playing for Ireland. She was a native of Enniskillen in County Fermanagh and came from good sporting stock. The famous boxer Gordon Ferris was her nephew.
Sadie married a man called Harry Gill, and Andrea was their daughter. They lived in England for some time, but Andrea moved to Australia in the 1970s. When Harry passed away, Sadie returned to Enniskillen.
Over in Canberra, Andrea married Roy Bealham and they had their two boys and a girl, Skye.
One of the Bealham lads was named after a famous rugby player.
Scotland back row Finlay Calder was the captain of the Lions' tour to Australia in 1989. Calder was brilliant as the tourists won the series 2-1. That left an impression and when they had their first son in 1991, the Bealhams decided to call him Finlay.
That, surely, is a good omen for this Lions tour.
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The Bealhams loved trips back to Enniskillen to see Sadie. Finlay was especially close to his grandmother, and she has been a big inspiration in his career since passing away in 2012. Representing Sadie is a huge point of pride for Bealham.
And so is representing his own little family. Bealham's wife, Galway native Sarah, and their one-year-old son, Galway native Jaoquin, are in Australia to support him on this Lions tour.
Finlay with his parents after not seeing each other for two-and-a-half years during Covid. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
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Langtry, who remains involved with St Edmund's rugby and spent 20 years working with the Australian Schools set-up, knew pretty quickly that Bealham had something about him.
'He was a big, strong boy,' says Langtry, who also spent three years in Ireland coaching the senior team in Christian Brothers College, Cork.
Bealham had been playing lots of rugby league with the Queanbeyan Blues up until his switch to St Edmund's. When it came to union, Bealham had been moving between the back row and front row, but they soon got him to focus solely on propping.
Bealham was good enough at league to play for the Canberra Raiders U16s but by the end of Year 10, the equivalent to fourth year in Ireland, he had to make a decision. Training for both union and league involved too much contact every week. Union won out.
Langtry coached Bealham with the U16 team in Eddies and then his development was helped by the First XV head coach Neil Roberts, a forwards specialist.
As everyone in Irish rugby knows, Bealham is a quirky character. That was the case in school too.
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'I do remember he was mad on that WW whatever it is, the wrestling,' says Langtry with a laugh. 'He was always showing blokes at school the latest wrestling hold and watching it on YouTube. He'd have kids in the break room, practising wrestling holds on them.'
Bealham's bushy, wild hair was eye-catching and his teachers often told him to tidy it up, but he wasn't listening. Langtry isn't a bit surprised to see Bealham rocking corn rows these days.
What stood out most to Langtry, though, was Bealham's determination and work ethic. Indeed, they often had to tell him not to do as much gym work and extra training, or to chill out with his strict diet.
'He was always looking for feedback and he could take good, hard coaching,' says Langtry. 'He was just a doer.
'A lot of times we had to say to him, mate, you're allowed to be a kid. But he was so driven. He didn't have to be pushed into it or anything like that. He was just one of those kids who had goals in his head. And look where he is now.'
The gym in St Edmund's College. The 42 The 42
One of the things that has been prominent in Bealham's game with Connacht and Ireland has been his handling skills.
Langtry reckons Bealham's rugby league background helped in making him comfortable at offloading, while the programme in St Edmund's involves a major focus on catch-pass skills at every level.
The young prop was also an avid student of the game, watching lots of footage, meaning he could read play well. That wasn't always the case with young front rows. Langtry says Bealham is a 'very deep thinker' on the game.
His group in Eddies also included Colby Fainga'a, who was in the year ahead of him and later ended up being Bealham's Connacht team-mate. Fainga'a was a similarly hard trainer and had big aspirations.
St Edmund's College is a powerhouse. The likes of George Gregan, Matt Giteau, the three other Fainga'a brothers – Saia, Vili, and Anthony – and Robbie Coleman are among the pro union players to have come through the school. Current Canberra Raiders head coach and all-round rugby league legend Ricky Stuart is another Eddies old boy.
The First XV changing room at St Edmund's College.
They can field up to 25 teams per season, meaning their biggest game days kick off at 8.30am. Their 'Heritage Round' meetings with Marist College Canberra are akin to a rugby festival.
It's a fee-paying school, although the rugby facilities aren't fancy. They have strong links with the Brumbies and Raiders. St Edmund's are good at other sports too, with students able to study 'sports development' as an actual school subject. That brings an academic element to their sporting pursuit as they learn about nutrition, S&C, and more during classroom hours. It's not a bad start for an aspiring pro athlete.
And Langtry explains that Bealham epitomise a quality that St Edmund's is all about.
'Grit,' says Langtry. 'He just worked hard.'
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Grit was a quality Bealham needed when he left school. He was loosely part of the Brumbies' pathway, but his next step was to join the Canberra Vikings club.
Wallabies such as Joe Roff, Christian Lealiifano, Justin Harrison, Radike Samo, Noah Lolesio, Ben Mowen, Scott Sio, Tom Hooper, Manny Edmonds, Len Ikitau, Darcy Swain, and Joe Powell, as well as the All Blacks tighthead Tyrel Lomax, have played for the Vikings.
'The Zoo' players' bar at Canberra Vikings.
Ex-Leinster wing Darragh Fanning also played for the club across two stints when they were still called the Tuggeranong Vikings.
Bealham started with the Colts, the U20 side, but moved up into the adult sides too.
'He had that strength and he had that physical development as well,' says Langtry.
Despite impressing people in the club, Bealham didn't get a call from the Australia U20s and there was no academy place with the Brumbies, who weren't convinced he was big enough to be a pro player.
So having always felt a strong connection with Ireland, Bealham and his dad sent video clips of him in action to the IRFU's Allen Clarke and Irish U20s boss Mike Ruddock. Finlay was invited over to Ireland in 2010.
At first he was with Ulster, but they decided not to sign him. Yet another rejection. Bealham considered moving back home, but he played for the Ireland U20s in 2011 and Connacht's Nigel Carolan saw something in him.
So it was that Connacht offered Bealham a new home with an academy deal. His senior Connacht debut came in 2014, then a first Ireland cap in 2016, and now he's on the Lions tour.
The main stand at Viking Park.
'That was tough for him. For a young kid to move to the other side of the world, take up residency in Ireland and Galway and and write his own story on the back of his work ethic, we're so proud,' says Langtry.
While the hope was that Bealham would play for the Lions in his native Canberra today against the Brumbies, those who know him were just happy to have him back in town.
Bealham hasn't forgotten his roots. Two years ago, he sent an Ireland jersey back to Langtry in St Edmund's as a token of appreciation.
'I was so, so grateful for that and we'll get that put up in the school,' he says. 'That meant a lot to me.'
Now, they're hoping to see Bealham play a big role for the Lions in the coming weeks as this tour heats up.
'The greatest thing for me is to see a young kid like Finlay, standing there in the freezing cold in a raincoat at Ravenhill in December in 2005, and then, you know, he's playing for the British and Irish Lions,' says Langtry.
'He's played at the World Cup, and it's all on the back end of his work ethic. Maybe St Edmund's played a small part in that, I don't know, but he gets everything he deserves.
'He's a great kid, great family and, mate, we're so proud of him.'
Pat Langtry at St Edmund's College. The 42 The 42
