{"id":293947,"date":"2025-07-26T18:33:18","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T18:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/293947\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T18:33:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T18:33:18","slug":"tom-curry-was-hero-of-hour-but-tadhg-beirnes-legend-will-burn-brightest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/293947\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Curry was hero of hour but Tadhg Beirne\u2019s legend will burn brightest"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was Hugo Keenan\u2019s 80th-minute try that sealed the series but it was Tom Curry\u2019s final play of his day, in the 55th minute, that enabled the British & Irish Lions to stay close enough to a rejuvenated Australia to pinch the second Test. There is so much written and spoken about the Sale Sharks and England flanker that occasionally you wonder if it can all be true.<\/p>\n

Some doubted Curry\u2019s credentials to wear the No7 shirt in this series but he scorched through his Test-match total of 111 minutes from start to finish. Andy Farrell, the head coach, described the English Lion as a machine but that\u2019s not right. Machines don\u2019t possess hearts and Curry has one of the biggest of hearts this game has seen.<\/p>\n

In the vast MCG he looked to be running out of steam, almost paused on the halfway line as the Wallabies launched an attack in the crucial 55th minute. My eyes quickly switched from the lurching Curry to the Australian ball-carriers: the fresh replacement, Langi Gleeson, and Curry\u2019s metronomic opposite number, Fraser McReight.<\/p>\n

McReight was swerving infield, in search of the Wallaby wonder man, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii. The centre had already ignited the match with one of its most memorable moments, leaving Bundee Aki for dead with a step off his left foot \u2014 while Curry was chugging away nearby, hopelessly outpaced \u2014 before delivering a tryscoring pass to the magnificent full back, Tom Wright.<\/p>\n

\"Rugby<\/p>\n

Curry goes into overdrive to topple Suaalii in a match-turning moment<\/p>\n

That was in the 27th minute as Australia were racing into a commanding 18-point lead. Advance the match clock to 55 minutes and the home team were nine points ahead. Suaalii received the pass and straightened up. The Lions had one defender fixed in no man\u2019s land between Suaalii and Tate McDermott \u2014 the bundle of dynamite \u2014 splendidly free on the left wing. The centre had the skills to make the tryscoring pass, McDermott the pace to race in unopposed. The only question was how close he would get to the posts to make it an easier conversion for the courageous Tom Lynagh.<\/p>\n

But Curry sensed the situation. The stooped trot on the halfway line inexorably developed into an ever more committed sprint. You don\u2019t give up a cause, even when everyone else might think it lost. He lunged at the centre from behind, forcing the knock-on before the league convert could pass McDermott over for a try and Australia into a 14 or 16-point lead, dependent upon the kick. Suaalii is simply too classy a rugby player to have wasted the chance.<\/p>\n

What added another edge of significance to the match-turning millisecond was the penalty kicked by Lynagh, Australia\u2019s cool fly half, just one minute earlier. The Lions\u2019 fine fightback in the latter stages of the first half was in danger of being nullified. Australia\u2019s 23-17 lead at half-time had already sneaked up to 26-17 and if Curry could not find that overdrive for the tackle, it was potentially a 16-point margin \u2014 and with it would come Australia\u2019s second wind and another surge of self-belief.<\/p>\n

\"Tom<\/p>\n

Curry celebrates with family and friends at the MCG<\/p>\n

TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER MARC ASPLAND<\/p>\n

Anyone who has played the game will know that these sort of adrenaline bursts carry teams and individuals to places they have never been, where logic rarely trespasses. We\u2019ll never know whether the Wallabies would have withstood the Lions but there\u2019s no doubt they would have found more confidence and belief to go with their unquestionably heroic commitment. As the clock had passed the 79-minute mark when Keenan scrambled his way into Lions folklore, it is fair to suggest the Curry tackle was the difference between 1-1 and a 2-0 Lions series lead.<\/p>\n

The huge-hearted flanker\u2019s timing of interventions was terrific. After Wright had put Joe Schmidt\u2019s team 23-5 ahead, it was Curry in the 34th minute, masquerading as a wing, who took advantage of sharp Lions work on the short side to keep them within range. He scored from the touchline in the first Test but the context of this try, where he neatly sidestepped, Shane Williams-like, inside the cover added an extra layer of importance to this one.<\/p>\n

Curry left an indelible mark on both Melbourne and the series. In the first Test he and Tadhg Beirne combined to clatter the Australian pack from the very first kick. It was the physical statement of intent that sent them surging into a first-half lead that even second-half mediocrity could not throw away. And here he was \u2014 again \u2014 double tag-teaming with the Irish blind-side flanker to force a 36th-minute penalty from Harry Wilson, Australia\u2019s captain and hard-running No8. It was mere minutes after Curry\u2019s try, the Lions roared. The little bits and pieces were beginning to go their way.<\/p>\n

Up stepped Finn Russell to drive a dagger into the heart of the home side with as perfect a penalty kick to within five metres of the tryline as is imaginable. The red shirts camped close to the line until Huw Jones crossed. It was a touch of swaggering genius from the Scot but brains, brawn and sheer will from the two flankers created the opportunity for our hero to take centre stage again.<\/p>\n

\"British<\/p>\n

Five minutes after Curry had left the field, Beirne\u2019s 59th-minute try set up the blockbuster finale<\/p>\n

TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER MARC ASPLAND<\/p>\n

Beirne scored his own try, five minutes after his English mate was replaced, perfectly placed to receive the scoring pass from the powerful yet erratic James Lowe. Curry\u2019s 54 minutes is the deserved stuff of headlines but the Irishman went the entire 160 minutes of two Tests without being replaced. Farrell described him pre-series as a big man for the big occasion. After a slow start to this tour he has proved himself a veritable Titan. Beirne was adjudged the official man of the match last week; he was hugely influential this week. Curry is the hero of the hour, the saviour of the second Test, but Beirne\u2019s legend deserves to burn the brightest of the 2025 vintage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was Hugo Keenan\u2019s 80th-minute try that sealed the series but it was Tom Curry\u2019s final play of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-293947","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114920974234011375","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}