Finlay Bealham Urges Ireland to Overcome Defeat After Ending Unbeaten Home Run

On Friday night, Ireland experienced a home defeat for the first time in three and a half years. Following their 23-13 loss to New Zealand, Ireland prop Finlay Bealham emphasized that the team must avoid “sulking.” The All Blacks’ victory concluded Ireland’s 19-game unbeaten streak on home soil, with Will Jordan scoring the sole try in the second half of the match. Ireland is scheduled to play additional matches this November against Argentina, Fiji, and Australia. Finlay Bealham, representing Connacht, acknowledged the team’s sentiment, stating, “Everyone is obviously bitterly disappointed,” He continued, “Look, there’s still three games to go in this series, and we’ll dust ourselves off.” Bealham added, “We’re not feeling sorry for ourselves, we’ll analyse it properly and we’ve another big Test next week. Back on the horse.” Head coach Andy Farrell noted that the Ireland players were “sombre” directly after the defeat. However, with an upcoming match against Argentina in Dublin next weekend, Bealham indicated that the team’s focus rapidly transitioned to enhancing their performance, which he described as “error strewn.” He further commented, “”It was a disappointing dressing room,” adding, “It’s always tough to lose at home. We got into a huddle and just said ‘no sulking’.” Bealham concluded, “We’ll get on with it and learn from the mistakes we made. We have an incredibly tough test match next Friday and we’ll look to fix the stuff we can be better at.”