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As Tadhg Beirne prepares to captain Ireland at home for the first time, the versatile forward is looking no further than the visit of Fiji to Dublin on Saturday as he bids to make it two wins from two as stand-in skipper.
Building an Impressive Career
Since missing the final three games of the Six Nations Grand Slam campaign in 2023 with an ankle injury, Beirne has missed just three Ireland Tests, being rested against Italy in 2024 and missing summer meetings with Georgia and Portugal while on British and Irish Lions duty. He won the United Rugby Championship with Munster following his previous league title with Scarlets in 2017 and was appointed the province’s captain, replacing Peter O’Mahony.
A five-Test Lion, his performances in the back row for the tourists in Australia last year—playing every minute across the Test series win over the Wallabies—earned him the player of the series accolade. A three-time member of World Rugby’s men’s 15s dream team of the year, Beirne was handed the Ireland captaincy for the first time in July’s Nations Championship win over Japan, leading them to a 36-20 victory.
Leading the Team at Aviva Stadium
Deputising for the injured Caelan Doris and Dan Sheehan, Beirne expressed excitement about leading the team out at home. “It’s particularly special doing it at the Aviva, at home,” Beirne said, as reported by BBC Sport. “I did have family over in Australia during the summer, but I’ll have my family here, extended family and especially with this group, getting to lead those boys out is very cool and very special.”
He noted that his wife, daughter, mother, father, and sister will all be in attendance. “That’s the nice part, leading up to the game, but I have a job to do and the folks will go through that, for sure. I’m really looking forward to it, it’s a massive week for me and I am thoroughly enjoying it so far,” he added.
Focus on Performance Against Fiji
Beirne played all 80 minutes of Ireland’s commanding 42-12 win over Argentina in Dublin, where Ireland built a 21-5 half-time lead. In his post-match remarks, Beirne admitted they could have gotten a lot more out of their autumn opener. With another week of training completed, Beirne stated that Ireland are determined to lay down another marker before facing world champions South Africa.
“The big focus for us is to continue building on our performance, particularly from last week,” Beirne explained to BBC Sport. “We laid down a foundation of how we want to play, but we’re certainly not satisfied with that. Tomorrow is all about ourselves and making sure that we can play the way we want to play and put in a better performance over a longer period as well.”
Team Changes and Match Details
Beirne leads a side featuring seven personnel changes and two positional switches from the Argentina match. Ronan Kelleher, James Ryan, and Josh van der Flier return to the forward pack, while Jamison Gibson-Park, Bundee Aki, Jamie Osborne, and Tommy O’Brien enter the backline. Nick Timoney and Mack Hansen shift to number eight and full-back respectively, with Beirne partnering Ryan in the second row.
Ireland sit third in the Nations Championship northern hemisphere table and have never lost a Test match against Fiji, winning 52-17 when the teams last met in Dublin in 2024. Fiji are now coached by Jake White, who led South Africa to World Cup success in 2007, and enter the fixture following a 54-17 defeat against France in Lyon, having lost all four of their matches.
The Nations Championship fixture takes place on Saturday, 14 November at 20:10 GMT at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, with live commentary available on BBC Radio Ulster, the BBC Sport website, and the BBC Sport app.
