Ireland's Tadhg Beirne believes he will have to improve greatly if he is to return to his best at this year's Rugby World Cup.
Ireland beat Romania 82-8 in the opening game of the tournament, with Beirne scoring a brace in a different position than he usually plays for Munster and Ireland.
The Munster star started the game in Bordeaux as a blindside flanker but is usually selected as a second row. Beirne believes that even though he isn't aware of what his 'best' is, he has a long way to go to achieve the high standards he sets for himself in an Ireland jersey.
“I’ve been lucky enough, I played all three of the warm-up games and it definitely helped in terms of my game,” said Beirne on Thursday.
“I probably wasn’t anywhere near where I wanted to be for the first warm-up game [against Italy], and I’ve certainly felt like I’ve been building, but I still feel like I’ve a way to go to get to my best.
“I suppose I don’t really know what my best is, but I’m certainly trying to improve all the time. I want to improve on last week if I do play this week.”
Tadhg Beirne says Ireland's lineout mishaps are not a concern to the team and is confident that they can be ironed out against Tonga.https://t.co/Ppri6hX7Mt
— RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) September 14, 2023
Ireland's line-out in the Romania game came under fire from pundits for the number of line-outs lost in the game. Andy Farrell's Ireland team lost four out of 12 throws in the win. They also lost five out of 21 throws in the Samoa game.
Despite the numbers mentioned and the concern around the issue, Beirne believes that the problem will be quickly resolved ahead of the Tonga game this weekend.
“It’s definitely not a concern for us,” says the 31-year-old. “The Samoa game, the weather was particularly bad. Unless you were there, you probably didn’t see how hard it was.
“Defensively, we’ve been really good in the lineout. We have probably just made a few unforced errors that are unlike us in terms of the lineout. To me, they’re probably easy fixes, and hopefully you’ll be able to see those improvements this weekend.”
Ireland's game against Tonga will kick off at 8:00pm (9:00pm local time) Saturday night. The game can be watched live on ITV (UK) and RTÉ (ROI)."
