HIS OBSESSION with Vikings started in Covid times, when he and his Galway-born wife Sarah – “the lads always say I’m punching above my weight but I beg to differ, I think I bring a lot to the table” – were flicking around for something to watch on television and happened upon the tales of the Norsemen of medieval Scandinavia. Whatever can be said about pharmacist Sarah’s views on it all, Finlay Bealham was hooked.
And he wasn’t the only one. There are three of them in this. Bealham, the Connacht and Ireland tighthead, is Ragnar Lothbok, a feared warrior, ruthless and curious. James Ryan is Björn Ironside (son of Ragnar/Bealham, which is a bit trippy, but let’s go with it…) and, drawing the short straw, Andrew Porter is Ivar the Boneless, born with a defect that has rendered his legs useless, a sadist and narcissist on the outside but also desperately insecure underneath it all.
That’s quite a trio. “It started when we were in Covid and I had a shaved head, which is a bit of a different look to the one I have now,” says Bealham, who started the first three games of Ireland’s Grand Slam campaign before injury took him out of the final weeks.
“My wife and I were looking for a TV show and we found Vikings and it was really enjoyable. I said, ‘I’m going to grow my hair long like Ragnar’ and now I have the long hair and the braids on match days. I get it done on the Wednesday, like I’m charging into battle getting ready to go to Valhalla.”
Denne historien er fra September 2023-utgaven av Rugby World.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra September 2023-utgaven av Rugby World.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
"I stress-test my coaches' ideas but ultimately you have to let the bakers bake"
Northampton Saints' director of rugby explains how to be an effective coach
REMEMBER WHEN...WE HAD A HOTLINE ON RUGBY GOING PRO
RW readers could ring in to have their say on the amateur-pro debate
RUGBY RANT
Editor Joe Robinson on why rugby needs to take kit launches more seriously
WHAT IT'S LIKE TO...BE A SEVENS REFEREE SELECTOR
Irish official David Keane lifts the lid on his role behind the scenes
“You can still be fully professional and enjoy yourself"
The Wales great who also represented the Lions and Scarlets with distinction
CLEVEDON RFC
Giving grass-roots rugby the love that it deserves...
Downtime with... Jacob Umaga - "Best player in my family? I have to say Uncle Tana"
The Benetton fly-half on Italy, basketball and talented kinsmen
SHANE MCDONALD
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
100* Not Out
RW charts a century of Samoa's flagship national team, including its dramatic rebirth in the late 1980s
Chunk
More than a decade since his retirement, we caught up with Allan Jacobsen, the larger-than-life former Scotland prop