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8th October 2017
05:08pm BST

"It was my first cap for Leinster and I was on the bench against Cardiff. I was obviously quite excited. You're so nervous too and, as you've said, under the gun. You know you need to perform. "It got to the 60-minute mark and I wasn't getting on, and it got to 70 minutes and I still wasn't getting on. I was getting a little deflated as well. You know, your family comes over and you're excited to play and you feel like you're not getting a proper chance to prove yourself. "I came on around the 74th minute and the first thing I did was make a blunder of a mistake. I had Jamie Hagan inside me, who was obviously out on his feet at this stage. I shot out of the line and Cardiff made a line break. "I just felt ever since that game, the coaching staff never really trusted me as they should have because of that mistake. I think that probably hindered my chances at Leinster."Leinster were 16-15 up at the time but rallied, with Beirne's help, to get a penalty try and win by eight points. Six minutes of rugby, on debut, and a rollercoaster experience. Leinster deemed him surplus to requirements but, less than 12 months after being cut loose, Beirne returned to the RDS to help Scarlets defeat his old team in the PRO12 semi-final. A week later, he scored a try as Scarlets won the league title. When Joe Schmidt spoke with Beirne, earlier this year, about a return to Ireland, he zeroed in on a switch to Munster. One feels he still has some stuff to prove to his old club.
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