Advantage Australia: Lions sweat on Wallabies rejects

Perth Now

16 hours ago

And just like that, there are more Australian players in the British & Irish Lions squad than Welshmen.
Canberra born-and-raised prop Finlay Bealham, now plying his trade in Ireland, has been drafted into Andy Farrell's touring squad for the upcoming showpiece series in Australia following the withdrawal of Scotland front-rower Zander Fagerson with a calf injury.
Hailing from the same esteemed ACT high school as former Wallabies Matt Giteau and twins Anthony and Saia Faingaa, among others, Bealham has made 51 Test appearances for Ireland after leaving Australia searching for opportunities as a teenager some 15 years ago.
Despite being selected for the national schoolboys' team and representing Australia A side, Bealham was not offered a place in the Brumbies academy and instead ventured to Ireland to start his professional career.
However the 33-year-old is now viewed by the Brumbies, Bealham is certainly well respected by Wallabies mentor Joe Schmidt, who presented the tighthead his first Test cap as Ireland coach in 2016.
"It's tough on Zander to miss out so close to the tour," Farrell said.
"But now Finlay gets an opportunity to come in and add to the group.
"This is unfortunately part and parcel of the game so we always have to be prepared for that."
The veteran's call-up, and Fagerson's scratching, not only adds to the growing concerns about the Lions' tighthead-prop situation, but will also increase the angst among fans not happy about the increasing number of non-British and Irish born players in Farrell's squad.
The ginger-bearded Bealham is the eighth southern hemisphere-born player in the 38-man group, joining fellow Australians Mack Hansen and Sione Tuipulotu, Kiwis Bundee Aki, Jamison Gibson-Park and James Lowe and South Africans, Pierre Schoeman and Duhan van der Merwe, who all qualify on residency grounds.
And less than two years after the Red Dragon sent Eddie Jones' Wallabies packing from the 2023 World Cup with a record 40-6 group-stage mauling, the ledger now stands at Australian players three, Wales two in the Lions squad.
Skipper Jac Morgan and scrumhalf Tomos Williams are the only two Welshmen among the Lions - their lowest representation in a British & Irish Lions squad in the post-war era.
The so-called "foreign invasion" has apparently not gone down well in the northern hemisphere, with the likes of legendary five-times Lions tourist John McBride among those said to be "bothered".
But of greater concern for the Lions, perhaps, should be the diminishing front-row stocks.
Fellow Irish prop Tadhg Furlong is also nursing a calf injury, while England's Will Stuart will only link up with the squad on Saturday after playing for Bath in the English Premiership final.
The rest of the players in the Lions squad who are not still involved in clubduties have assembled in Dublin and were to travel to Portugal on Tuesday for a six-day training camp.