When Andrew Porter moved across the scrum just over two years ago, there was a real degree of uncertainty around Ireland's depth at tighthead prop.
While Tadhg Furlong was the undisputed holder of the number 3 jersey, there was a regular spot in the matchday squad up for grabs.
When the Autumn Nations Series rolled around in 2021 it was Finlay Bealham who got the nod ahead of Ulster's Tom O'Toole and Munster's John Ryan.
The Connacht prop had been playing Test rugby for five years by that point, but a sporadic 14 caps across that period meant he was still inexperienced at this level.
The 31-year-old has now won more caps in the last two years than he did in those previous five, and has established himself as a key member of the matchday squad.
When Furlong had to sit out the opening games of the Six Nations, Bealham stepped up seamlessly and was named in the official Team of the Championship, despite a knee injury limiting him to just two and a half games.
In Ireland's 13-8 win against South Africa last week, he was brought in on 64 minutes with Ireland's scrum creaking under the weight of Ox Nche, and not only did he shore up the Irish set-piece, but contributed with an impressive six tackles in just over a quarter of an hour.
"When you come on, you obviously want to make an impact," he says.
The Connacht prop (above) is now consistently having a positive impact on games, and while he would love to be in a starting role, he says the quality of his minutes are more important than the quantity of them.
"There's smarts in there, in that you’re trying to make an impact through our shape and structure, that allows you to bring those moments and understand how to do it. From a mindset point of view, when I’m on the bench I don’t care how many minutes I play, it’s 'make the minutes count.’ I try my best to do that.
"It was good to come on, it was extremely physical even though I was on for 17 minutes or whatever it was.
"It was still incredibly physical and incredibly tough. It was good to see some impact from the bench, especially Hendy [Iain Henderson], Mur [Conor Murray], and all the other boys who came on were unbelievable."
Since making his Ireland debut in 2016, the Australian native has always boasted an impressive skillset, but has developed into a top quality scrummager in recent seasons. The secret? More time in the saddle.
"I was scrummaging against Ox Nche and I've scrummaged against him for years now. He was playing with the Cheetahs and now with the Sharks and obviously at Test level, so we’ve scrummaged against each other for a long time.
"He’s crazy strong. If you get it any way wrong, you’re getting lifted out the top of the scrum so you have to be properly on it in terms of your height and all the technicalities within that. To come on and get a couple of penalties at the end, it was pretty good.
"Personally, it was a frustrating start to the campaign but some of that stuff was out of my control and all I could control was the moment in front of my face. When I got my chance on the weekend, I just tried to come on and make a positive impact.
"It was incredible to get that experience. The Irish fans were unbelievable, they came out in spades, so to be out there in all that was class," he added.
If there is an advantage to playing from the bench, Bealham says, it's that you have the opportunity to analyse the scrums as they're happening, and come into the game with a feel for how it's going to play out.
"You watch it through the naked eye in real time and then if there's something you want to see there’s a laptop there. You have all the different angles you can have a look at and then Fogs [scrum coach John Fogarty] is down there as well, and you can have a little chat with him, the reserve hooker or the reserve loosehead, and maybe talk about what we’re going to do to combat what’s going on or what we feel at the time.
"So, I suppose that’s one positive thing from being on the bench, you can kind of get a gauge of where things are at and maybe areas you can capitalise on."
On Saturday, he'll be locking horns with one of Pierre Schoeman, Rory Sutherland or Jamie Bhatti, three players he come up against on a regular basis in the United Rugby Championship, and he knows the Irish front row will have to be on their game.
"You’re playing against these lads at club level. I’ve scrummed against [Rory] Sutherland when he played for UIster and I scrummaged against 'Schoey’ [Pierre Schoeman] as well when he played for Edinburgh, to get that experience at club level.
"They’re both fantastic operators and Scotland have an extremely well-drilled scrum, so we’ll have to make sure we’re on it for next week."
Listen to live commentary of Ireland v Scotland on Saturday on RTÉ Radio 1, of follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie and the RTÉ News app.
