Connacht star Finlay Bealham: ‘Fatherhood’s been class – I want to be the rock for my son that my dad was for me’
Becoming a father just before the start of this year’s Six Nations has given rugby star Finlay Bealham a new drive — and a new reason for his Australian family to visit
Finlay Bealham and his baby son, Joaquin. Photo: Julia Dunin
Finlay Bealham was in Dublin, in the middle of preparation for Ireland’s Six Nations game against Italy earlier this year, when the call came. It was his mother-in-law saying he needed to return to Galway because the birth of his first child seemed imminent.
“We had a training camp in Portugal the last weekend of January, and then we had the first game against France at the start of February. We were kinda hoping that the baby didn’t come too early,” he says, the gentle lilt of an Australian accent still obvious. Bealham (32) moved here in his late teens from Canberra.
