To Ireland, via Llandovery
PICTURE: Getty Images

TADHG Beirne’s road to redemption from Leinster reject to Ireland superstar began at a club nicknamed The Drovers in honour of men who took cattle to the slaughterhouses of London long before Henry Ford invented the Model T.
Llandovery, short of a second row one weekend seven seasons ago, asked the Scarlets if they could borrow one of theirs. All their locks were in action except one, ‘an Irish boy’ who had just arrived from Lansdowne in the All-Ireland League. The Drovers could hardly believe their luck. Beirne...