‘I spent a fair bit of time at Coppers! I loved Lansdowne’ – 1v1 Video Chat & LIve Streaming & Influencer Subscription

League of Ireland

Horse Racing

TV Listings

GAA Fixtures
The Video Review

Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture

Rugby Weekly Extra

Dive into all the news and analysis 3 times a week

The Football Family

Weekly insights from the week’s big talking points

More Stories

Waratahs captain Hugh Sinclair.Alamy Stock Photo

FreeMemories

‘I spent a fair bit of time at Coppers! I loved Lansdowne’

Waratahs skipper Hugh Sinclair spent the 2013/14 season with Lansdowne.

3.07pm, 5 Jul 2025

Share options

Murray Kinsella

Reports from Allianz Stadium

AFTER DOING BATTLE, the two skippers and Lansdowne men swapped jerseys.

Waratahs captain Hugh Sinclair spent the 2013/14 season playing for the Dublin club, enjoying a stint in Ireland when he was in his early 20s.

Beirne, the Lions’ skipper for today’s game in Sydney, played for the All-Ireland League club after school. He remains a Lansdowne man to this day, the Dublin club listed alongside his name in Ireland squads.

So this was a happy moment for all in Lansdowne.

Sinclair was wearing Beirne’s Lions jersey when he came into the post-match press conference and he was happy to recall his year with Lansdowne.

“It was awesome,” said Sinclair.

“They are some great humans over there, some great memories. To be fair, I spent a fair bit of time at Coppers during the week! Footy was sort of the back-up. But no, it was good fun. They’re just great humans. I loved it.

“I swapped jerseys with Tadhg. I had a yarn to him, mutual friends and whatnot. Some really good memories.”

Beirne and Sinclair before tonight’s game.Dan Sheridan / INPHO

Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO

Waratahs head coach Dan McKellar, who played with and coached Wicklow in the early 2000s, was sitting alongside Sinclair and was asked if he ever made it into Coppers.

“No, Phil Healy’s at Wicklow, I certainly experienced a number of Guinness there but I didn’t get to Coppers,” said McKellar.

For Beirne, it was an evening of mixed emotions.

He got the chance to captain the Lions but was one of many players who made errors in a poor collective performance.

“It’s a massive honour to captain for sure but so many errors and that,” said Beirne.

“It was quite frustrating that we couldn’t get a hold of the game the way we would have liked to. I had a few drop balls myself and just individual errors that probably cost us just a bit of continuity in terms of our attack. That’s probably the frustrating thing.

“I don’t know how many entries we had inside the 22, but we kept coming up short. That’s obviously something that we’re definitely going to have to look at and figure out how to improve it so it doesn’t happen again.

Sinclair was proud of his Waratahs’ team after their 21-10 defeat to the Lions.

Sinclair and Beirne lead their teams out.Alamy Stock Photo

Alamy Stock Photo

There were fears that the Lions could run up a big scoreline if they clicked at Allianz Stadium but Dan McKellar’s team proved such predictions wrong.

Sinclair says the Waratahs were motivated by some of the media build-up.

“Yeah, there’s been a fair bit of media coverage about the Lions winning by 50 every week,” said Sinclair.

“I saw something about it’s going to be worse than the Tahs losing 96-19 to Crusaders. It gets you fired up. It would be nice to get a bit of positivity about Aussie rugby and I know we’ve been struggling a bit but we had a crack tonight.

“They’re just 23 blokes so why can’t we put pressure on and make a game of it. Hopefully, the Test series is a cracker.”

Murray Kinsella

Send Tip or Correction

Embed this post

To embed this post, copy the code below on your site

Email “’I spent a fair bit of time at Coppers! I loved Lansdowne’”.

Recipient’s Email

Feedback on “’I spent a fair bit of time at Coppers! I loved Lansdowne’”.

Your Feedback

Your Email (optional)

Report a Comment

Please select the reason for reporting this comment.

Please give full details of the problem with the comment…

Hugh sinclair

Tadhg Beirne

News in 60 seconds

Freeblow out
Alex Dunne slips to fourth place in F2 standings after Silverstone puncture

19 mins ago

pecking order
The few Lions players who improved their Test chances in an untidy win over Waratahs

Gavan Casey

43 mins ago

FreeWatergate
Farrell says Waratahs watered the pitch. Waratahs say they didn’t

FreePodcastRugby Weekly Extra
Waratahs 10-21 Lions: The tourists get punched in the face

underwhelming
Sloppy, error-strewn Lions overcome Waratahs in Sydney

Murray Kinsella

Reports from Allianz Stadium

FreePortugal
Diogo Jota’s Liverpool teammates gather for footballer’s funeral

FreeTransfer News
Kyle Walker swaps Man City for Burnley, United make second summer signing

FreeAs it happened
New South Wales Waratahs v British & Irish Lions, Australia Tour 2025

Irish athlete Ciara Mageean diagnosed with cancer

Late heartbreak as Ireland fall short to Italy at World Rugby U20 Championship

all-time low
Wales lose 18th consecutive Test after late capitulation against Eddie Jones’ Japan