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Rory Best: Perceived bias shouldn't be used as 'an easy out' by Ulster players

By Ian Cameron

Recently retired Ireland captain Rory Best says that the perception that Ireland coach’s down the years harbour a bias against the north shouldn’t be used as ‘an easy out’ for overlooked Ulster players.

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Best was speaking to RugbyPass’ Jim Hamilton on The Lockdown via video link from his farm in Northern Ireland.

Capped 124 times by Ireland, Best is getting to grips with retirement and spending a lot more time in his own company. While Best ultimately went on to captain Ireland 38-times, the early part of his career he spent plenty of time on the Irish replacement bench.

He doesn’t believe a north versus south divide exists when it comes to selection.

“I think with the media, they’re all very parochial. The Ulster journalists obviously write a little more about the Ulster players, as do the Leinster, Munster and Connacht ones. That’s just the way it is. Their readership is going to be based in their province.

“Sometimes we think the journalists in your own province are the harshest on you. I’m not sure whether that’s right or wrong.

“As to the sectarian side of it. There’s always been a lot coming through the years from Ulster fans, the Ulster public and some of the Ulster players, where they feel they’ve been hard done by. ‘If they weren’t from Ulster, they’d be getting picked’. For me it was that we never performed consistently or as well as we should.

“You look at the Ulster teams we’ve had over the years, when we actually had quality teams, in 2010, 11, 12 and 13, we had some really, really strong sides and we actually had decent representation from our team in the Irish squad.

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“When you’re struggling it’s hard to argue you should get in. It’s easy to point at ‘Oh, you are from Ulster. If you were from Leinster, Munster, you’d be getting picked.’ I was from Ulster and was getting picked for 14 years, sometimes on the bench, sometimes starting.

“It was really frustrating for me, this was just an ‘easy out’.

“I benched a lot for my early career and I could have just gone ‘Uh, if I wasn’t from Ulster I’d be starting’. I like to think I went: you know what, I need to be better. This is where I need to be better and if that makes a difference and I’m doing absolutely everything I can, and I’m still not getting picked when I’m clearly better, then there’s something wrong somewhere.

“I never found that to be the case.

“Once I got myself into the position where I generally wanted to be, I generally got picked.

“I think a coach would be mad not to pick his best players. Sometimes it’s an easy out to say, well, it’s because I’m from Ulster.”

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Best says, like all players, he tended to dwell on negative press and social media posts, sectarian or otherwise.

“Any of the sectarian stuff is so minute. I referenced one guy [in his autobiography) when I was captain at the time that Drico was injured.”

“Thankfully he couldn’t spell. So it actually gave me a bit of a laugh. That’s the sad bit. There was nearly a thousand positive tweets and I couldn’t tell you any of them word for word. This [the sectarian tweet] was almost word for word.

“That is really rare. You get the odd one after the games.”

While the vast majority of Ireland fans rightly regard the Craigavon born hooker as one of the most successful and decorated captains of the professional era, a very small minority of fans have taken exception to his background over the course of his career, and his none singing either the national or the rugby anthem has been a sore point for trolls.

“The national anthem seemed to spark this real divide. The Irish public, the minority who want to bash you on social media [react to it].

“We [Northern Irish players] are in a unique situation. We’re in the UK jurisdiction in terms of this coronavirus, in everything, in tax laws; believe you me now that I’m retired I’d love to be in the Irish tax system and get their tax back. We’re in a different system, that’s where I was born, I’m very proud to be from Northern Ireland, very proud to be from Ulster, three counties which are in the Republic of Ireland.

“But I’m also very proud to represent Ireland.

“There’s a very small minority who don’t take a second to take that on board. Which is sad from our point of view, as we’re representing the only country we ever wanted to represent.”

WATCH: Ireland captain Rory Best’s pre-match press conference ahead of the Guinness Six Nations game between Wales and Ireland in Cardiff on Saturday.

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Jon 3 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 6 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

28 Go to comments
A
Adrian 8 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

28 Go to comments
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Trevor 11 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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