New Irish Lowe and Bealham ready to rock at Rugby World Cup

It's almost hard to believe that James Lowe and Finlay Bealham are about to appear in their first World Cup for Ireland.

Leinster wing Lowe, born and bred in New Zealand, arrived on these shores in 2017 and became Ireland-qualified in 2020.

At that stage Lowe had been knocking it out of the park at Leinster for three years, helping Leo Cullen’s side to URC titles in each season.

The 31-year-old was central to Ireland’s Grand Slam in the spring and while he may have grown up with Haka hopes – he played six times for the Maori All Blacks, including against the Lions in 2017 – Lowe is incredibly proud to pull on the green shirt in France.

"So I decided to move, I would have been 24," said the former Chiefs man, who has scored 10 tries in 21 international appearances.

"The opportunity to test myself in a new environment and a new country away from the safety net of family and friends.

"I didn’t know whether or not I was really capable of it but with my wife and now, with our child, we’ve managed to move over here and really put our roots in the ground.

"I don’t see us leaving any time soon, that’s for sure, and in terms of the rugby I was fortunate enough to land on my feet at Leinster.

"I think we can all agree that for close to probably a decade now they’ve been very, very good thanks to the success of Stuart Lancaster [former Leinster senior coach] obviously and now we’re in that sort of transition period moving into a new coach and environment, challenging ourselves again.

"But from where I was when I first came to where I am now, I’m very happy with how that transition has gone and ready to take this Rugby World Cup on.

"If you’d had said that to me 10 years ago at the start of my career that I would be an international rugby