CONNACHT PROP FINLAY Bealham has signed a contract extension that will keep him at the Sportsground until at least 2019.
The 24-year-old prop, who made his international debut during this year’s Six Nations, was the only Connacht player to feature for Connacht in all 31 games of this year’s Guinness PRO12 and European Challenge Cup games.
Head coach Pat Lam said :”From day one, I’ve been impressed with Finlay’s attitude and desire to continuously learn on and off the pitch. He is a real team man and extremely popular among our squad”.
As part of the Connacht team last year, Bealham was a constant feature in the province’s first ever trophy win, the Guinness PRO12, last year.
“This place has become home for me over the last five years and I’m loving my rugby here. It’s been a great few years, with last season an obvious stand out. Pulling on the Ireland jersey in the same season as winning the Guinness PRO12 with my team mates will live long in the memory”, he said.
Bealham is Australian-born, although his grandmother came from Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh.
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Delighted that Finlay is staying on. Great player and prop. He has a great future.
All 31 games, what a monster!!
They are a tight knit young group of players. Hopefully this might encourage one or two more to sign contract extensions, which could ripple through the team
One thing for sure the westies are going about their business in a very professional manner.
They seem to be focused both on the present and the future without doing any harm to either.
Best of luck to to them.
Great news, very young and has potential to improve even further, hopefully a sign of things to come regarding players signing new contracts
Excellent news, very good Tight Head who’s key to Connacht’s success in the years to come.
It’ll also be an interesting competition between himself and Furlong over the coming years for Ireland.
I knew a relative of Finlay’s in Enniskillen. Gordon Ferris was a British heavyweight boxing champion in the 70s. There are some youtube clips of him boxing. Gordon’s father and Finlay’s granny were brother and sister.