Tadhg Beirne

Tadhg Beirne is the best example in Irish rugby of a career rescued by leaving. Leinster could not find him a path, so he went to Scarlets in 2016, and in two seasons in Wales turned himself into the most prolific turnover forward in the league.

The jackal is the signature. He arrives at the breakdown low, gets his hands on the ball before the support does, and is disciplined enough that referees rarely penalise him for it — which is the hard part, and the reason imitators concede penalties where he wins possession.

Munster brought him home in 2018 and he has been a fixture since, playing lock and blindside interchangeably. That flexibility is the reason he keeps starting: he gives a coach a second-row option who can cover the back row without weakening either.

He is also a genuinely good lineout operator, both as a target and as a spoiler, which is easy to overlook next to the turnover count.

Now into his mid-thirties, the question is how long the body sustains a game built almost entirely on getting to the floor first. On current evidence, longer than most expected.