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'It has been in the back of my mind this will be my last home Six Nations game'
Ireland captain Rory Best has admitted he expects to retire after the
2019 Rugby World Cup.
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Best will win his 116th cap in Sunday’s Guinness Six Nations clash
against France in Dublin, but now intends to bring down the curtain on
an international career dating back to 2005 before this calendar year is out.
The evergreen 36-year-old now hopes his Test swansong could be leading
Ireland to a first-ever World Cup semi-final, and maybe even beyond,
come the autumn tournament in Japan.
Best will captain Ireland for the 31st time at the Aviva Stadium on
Sunday in what should now become his last home match in the Six Nations.
“I think it’s fairly certain that the World Cup will be the end for me,” said Best. “I think that I feel really good, I don’t feel I’m playing any worse. I’m really enjoying rugby and part of that might be because I haven’t 100 per cent made the decision.
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“But I’m fairly sure it will be, and part of the reason I’m enjoying rugby so much – and I hope playing well – is because there’s that weight lifted off.
“When you’re playing, you start to get fixated with what’s coming, or if you’re playing well in this Six Nations you put yourself in the window for the World Cup.
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“And if you play well in the World Cup there’s two more Six Nations and you’re in the window to the Lions tour. And you start to get bogged down with things that don’t really matter.”
Watch: @RoryBest2 At Captain's Run – the camaraderie in camp, pulling on the green jersey and France.#TeamOfUs #ShoulderToShoulder #IREvFRA https://t.co/wVQPh7KmOM pic.twitter.com/gBl13n2jcZ
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) March 9, 2019
Ulster and British and Irish Lions hooker Best sits third on Ireland’s
all-time appearance list, behind Ronan O’Gara with 128 caps and and
Brian O’Driscoll with 133.
Best made his Test debut in a 45-7 home defeat to New Zealand in Dublin on November 12, 2005. The uncompromising front-rower spent the first half of his Test career battling with Munster’s Jerry Flannery for the number two shirt.
But as time passed Best forced his claims and eventually overtook the
decorated Flannery, and the Ulsterman then moved on to be named captain in 2016.
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Best has led Ireland to their maiden two victories over New Zealand and to the 2018 Six Nations Grand Slam, just the nation’s third clean sweep in history.
With head coach Joe Schmidt also stepping down after the World Cup, the Ireland set-up will be all change come 2020. “I’m feeling very relaxed now that the body feels that it’s happy to go on,” said Best. “And at the minute, mentally I’m really enjoying the rugby.
“But I’m in a really lucky position at the minute that the way I’m feeling, I can go to the World Cup and be at the top of my game. And for me, the way I’m thinking at the minute, that will be a really good time for me. Plus, Joe (Schmidt) said he didn’t want me to keep going without him!”
Best will make his 64th Six Nations appearance against the French, and
admitted it is starting to sink in that this will be his final turn in the tournament in Dublin.
“I suppose in the early part of my career, I thought that every home
game was going to be my last home Six Nations game,” joked Best. “It has been in the back of my mind that this will be my last home Six Nations game.
“I hope that my last game for Ireland isn’t going to be until the very start of November. Now that we’re upon this, the captain’s run, it just reminded me how special this championship has been, for me personally, but also to be able to do captain’s runs, play out there, pull on that jersey in the Six Nations.
“It’s been incredibly special for me and it’s very hard to believe that in just over 24 hours, you’ll potentially not get that opportunity again to play in a Six Nations here.
“It’s a little bit sad but you also have to understand how incredibly lucky and special it’s been and how lucky I’ve been to play for Ireland in so many Six Nations games.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Does a blitz defence not have a weekness against a well-placed grubber kick, perhaps angled cleverly. All the defence is up and the full-back can only cover so much ground. Thoughts?
28 Go to commentsWhile Iose is destructive in the Canes set-up, he is not big for an international 8 and could struggle against the top teams. With his speed, he could be developed into a seven but, as Ben points out, he doesn’t show a scavenging game with the Canes or make dominating tackles. Sotutu has shown a step up this year and attitude plus motivation seems to be the big areas of growth. Deserves another AB shot imo.
3 Go to commentsNaholo is my only question mark for this side. He wasn’t the only one who had a forgettable game against the Brumbies but he was passive, defensively poor and generally lacked energy. Needs to get a whole lot busier for me. I would have liked to see Sullivan on that wing with Higgins on the bench (if staying with a 6-2 as BeegMike points out on here!)
3 Go to commentsWell, I am sure that Eben said exactly what he meant to say, exactly how he meant to say it. Does he strike you as a man that doesn't know arrogance when he sees it. He should know it because he has shaken the arrogance out of many foes before.
128 Go to commentsPls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
128 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
4 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
128 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
5 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to commentsJordie knows that he has to earn the right to put on the jersey, whatever that jersey might be.
5 Go to commentsThe best outside centre in the world at one point. He will be greatly missed.
3 Go to commentsYip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to commentsOne that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
4 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
128 Go to commentsFoxy has been a wonderful player for the Scarlets and Wales.
3 Go to commentsNika the Georgian is the best referee in the world at the moment. Luckily we will be spared the shite SH refs and Barnes will hopefully remain retired given how shite and embarrassing he was at the RWC.
4 Go to commentsThis is the most exciting game of the summer imo, as we really won’t know in advance how both teams are going to play. - Will Robertson just reproduce his Crusaders tactics from last year, or will there be a conscious effort to borrow from the Hurricanes and Blues, and from the aspects of the ABs world cup strategy that worked well? - England under Borthwick have put in some good performances playing attacking rugby, and some good performances playing kick-oriented defensive rugby. Will Borthwick try to merge them together into a single all-court game, or will he continue switching between different approaches depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition?
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
9 Go to comments