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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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Trevor 24 minutes 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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Bull Shark 4 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

Of the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.

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