After weeks of trial by media, Munster's Tadhg Beirne has finally had his say on the infamous incident that marred Munster's quarter-final win in the Champions Cup.
Despite the win against Edinburgh, the second-row found himself making headlines for all the wrong reasons after video footage appeared to show the Irish international diving, before being awarded a crucial penalty.
The incident drew plenty of criticism from fans and pundits, with Brian O'Driscoll just one name having a say on the incident when he said he "doesn't think it's a good look for the game."
Now, in an interview in today's Irish Independent, Beirne has responded to the accusations.
He said:
Look, it's a bit frustrating. I can see where everyone is coming from when I look at it, it doesn't look particularly good. It looks a bit flamboyant.
But from my perspective it was essentially being blindsided by a bloke who is essentially 20kg heavier than me. I was off balance and I was going down, then Jez (Jeremy Loughman) catches me from behind and I landed awkwardly and that's why I ended up staying down.
Belter of a day here in the Ricoh Arena. Cracking conditions for a great game of rugby. #SARvMUN #BOIBegin pic.twitter.com/JNa5jwWwcW
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) April 20, 2019
Since arriving at the province before the start of the season, Beirne has been a revelation for the side and has gradually become one of the province's most important players.
In fact, on this weekend's World In Union podcast, the lads discussed the importance of Beirne and how much of an influential role he could have in today's semi-final at the Ricoh Arena.
Previewing today's clash with Saracens, Maurice said:
If you wanted a team that are well-matched to expose Saracens it would be Munster. Something really simple - Munster are brilliant in the line-out. They took three off Cardiff; they took another two off Treviso at the weekend. And the line-out is a massive, massive platform for so much of what Saracens do because they've got so many phenomenal jumpers....
You know this old thing about you hunt the wolf pack, you hunt the hunted or hammer the hammer...Munster are very well-placed to do that. They've a big guys like [Tadhg] Beirne or [Peter] O'Mahony who can really identify those type of players and can really get in and around them.
As expected, Beirne has been named to start in the second-row for Munster alongside Jean Kleyn. Johann van Graan's side, however, will be without Keith Earls and Joey Carbery for what is the biggest game of their season to date.
