'My career has always been about making the most of what I have - there has been a lot of overcoming adversity'
Rory Best has admitted he will jet out to Japan on Wednesday buoyed by the endorsement of his under-fire captaincy from Saturday’s raucous standing ovation at the Aviva Stadium. Best signed off in Dublin in style by helping steer Ireland to No1 in the world rankings with a 19-10 victory over Wales in his final Test match on home soil.
The 37-year-old will hang up his boots after the World Cup, and he and departing head coach Joe Schmidt were afforded heroes’ acclaim at the weekend’s final whistle. Best considered resigning the captaincy after public criticism for attending the rape trial of Ulster and Ireland team-mates Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding in early 2018.
Jackson and Olding were acquitted of all charges but sacked by Ulster, while Best and Ireland produced a Six Nations Grand Slam triumph in what proved a stunning 2018 on the field. The evergreen hooker’s stewardship came under scrutiny again after Ireland’s record 57-15 loss to England at Twickenham in last month’s World Cup warm-up clash.
After mixing turbulence with glory in three years as skipper, Best conceded that Saturday’s rapturous reception has added a fresh spring to his step. “Whenever you play the sport and you have the highs alongside the lows, you do know what a great reaction or reception is like,” he said. “And you always want to try to leave or walk out on your own terms.
“A lot of good friends of mine I played with at the top level never got the opportunity to walk off the pitch at home under their own terms and get that kind of reception. I’ve been able to do that now with Ulster at the Kingspan against Connacht, and now with Ireland at the Aviva.
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“In the last year or so it’s become quite important to me that I make sure I go out at the top and go out with people remembering me as a quality player and person and not somebody that hung on a year or two too long. That is the kind of gamble you run when you get a little bit older. So I’m very happy for that to have come off the way it did. That reception, ultimately, that’s as good an endorsement of what you’ve done over a number of years as anything.”
Best assumed the captaincy in 2016 after Paul O’Connell’s injury-enforced retirement. The farmer’s son from Banbridge has steered Ireland to their maiden two wins over New Zealand to sit alongside the 2018 Grand Slam, and now that first-ever status as the world’s No1 ranked Test team.
Ireland will now bid to move past the quarter-finals for the first time at a World Cup, with Best insisting leadership pushes him to new heights – both on and off the pitch. “My career has always been about trying to make the most of what I have, and there’s been a lot of overcoming adversity,” said Best, speaking as a Specsavers Hearing ambassador.
‘I remember as a kid having vague recollections of police checks and border controls, so the thought of going back there feels as though it's such a step back in time’
– @BrianODriscoll talks to @heagneyl about Brexit, @IrishRugby and @rugbyworldcuphttps://t.co/jHOw9x5HfE— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 1, 2019
“There have been some very, very tricky times along the way, but the way I’ve responded to that, I’d like to think that says a lot about me as a person not just as a rugby player. In my time as captain, I would like to think the greatest emphasis has been on the team, and that has been important to me right from the start.
“It’s about making sure that the people around you can feel comfortable enough to produce their best. It’s also something I like doing, and I feel it brings the best out of me, captaining the side. Once we fly out we’ll finally be able to focus solely on Scotland.
“It was important we got a few things together in the last couple of games. But we’re still nowhere near where we feel we need to be. We’ve still got a lot of work to do, but it’s nice getting on the plane with a bit of confidence back. Part of that is improved performances but another part of that is we know how much more we still have.”
– Press Association
WATCH: The RugbyPass stadium guide to Yokohama where Ireland will open their World Cup campaign against Scotland on September 22
Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments