If anyone ever doubted Rory Best’s commitment to Ulster Rugby, they need only to have watched the Cardiff game two weeks ago. Having won the 6 Nations Championship with Ireland on the Saturday before, the Ulster captain had been given the week off. However, instead of taking a well-earned holiday, or even watching the match from home, Rory travelled to Belfast, donned the team tracksuit and ran messages on the side of the pitch. The role is usually reserved for a junior member of the squad, but such is Best’s commitment to the side and his desire to see his province be successful in this season’s PRO12, that he asked to do it:
If anyone ever doubted Rory Best’s commitment to Ulster Rugby, they need only to have watched the Cardiff game two weeks ago. Having won the 6 Nations Championship with Ireland on the Saturday before, the Ulster captain had been given the week off. However, instead of taking a well-earned holiday, or even watching the match from home, Rory travelled to Belfast, donned the team tracksuit and ran messages on the side of the pitch. The role is usually reserved for a junior member of the squad, but such is Best’s commitment to the side and his desire to see his province be successful in this season’s PRO12, that he asked to do it:
“It’s always good to have a senior player on the side of the pitch,” says Rory. “You have the earpiece in and you have to pass on messages. Obviously I have experience and I know what people want to hear and what people don’t want to hear coming on. If I could help and impart a bit of knowledge in that role then hopefully it helped in a small way. It was good to be back involved. For the guys to win and to win with a bonus point was fantastic.”
Running messages on the sidelines at Kingspan Stadium couldn’t contrast more with the previous weekend when Best claimed his third 6 Nations title. The victory and the manner of the way Ireland claimed the Championship will live long in the memory of everyone who represented Ireland that day – Best included:
He says: “We had a target in our heads where we wanted to get to. Leaving the hotel it was 13-12 to Wales against Italy, but when we came out to warm up and saw that Wales had put 62 points on Italy, it changed things a bit! Joe was quick to bring us in and say our target has changed – we now need this, but our processes remain the same. I’m not saying that we were deflated, but walking down that tunnel at Murrayfield, there was a TV and everyone took a double-take at it on the way out to the pitch. No-one expected Wales to put that many points on, especially given the half time score. It was good in a way because we had to raise the bar again from where we thought it was going to be. It was a fairly interesting day of rugby!”
Best now has three 6 Nations Championship winners medals and only he and Rob Kearney played in all 15 games. So how does 2015 compare with 2009 and 2014?
“I said last year, winning the Championship was probably even more special to me than winning the Grand Slam, because I started every game. However, to have come back the way we did after the Wales match and to have turned it around in a week was fantastic. I have been to Murrayfield many times with Ireland and Ulster and you don’t win there very often. When you do it’s always by a couple of points. To have gone there, when they were trying to avoid a whitewash and to put 40 points on them was a special performance from us.”
For Best as well as Tommy Bowe, Jared Payne and Iain Henderson the focus now switches back to the Guinness PRO12. The Ulster captain believes that with the final being staged at Kingspan Stadium, there is huge incentive for the Ulster team over the final four rounds of the regular campaign:
“You want to get to this stage of the season with your destiny in your hands. With the final coming here it’s really important to finish in the top two. It’s not like previous years where you had to finish top to get a home play off and a home final. We know that the final is going to be here regardless. We are sitting second at the minute with a decent points difference. It’s a tough run in for us but big games will focus the team.
Back in January when Ulster were knocked out of the Champions Cup, Rory encouraged critics of the team to judge Ulster in May with injured players back and when the team would be challenging for a PRO12 title.
“I do make the odd bold statement,” says Rory. “It would be nice if one of them was proven to be true! In that Champions Cup game around that match with Scarlets we said that we would see at the end of a long hard season where we would be sitting in the league. We are second – we have an opportunity. It’s a tough opportunity but a great one. Our first target has to be top four and with that we want to be in the top two to guarantee a home play off. This stadium has been built for occasions like that. There is a bit of pressure on us but the onus is on us to do well in this run in and make sure that we are in the top four.”
With the captain’s example of commitment, they stand every chance.
If anyone ever doubted Rory Best’s commitment to Ulster Rugby, they need only to have watched the Cardiff game two weeks ago. Having won the 6 Nations Championship with Ireland on the Saturday before, the Ulster captain had been given the week off. However, instead of taking a well-earned holiday, or even watching the match from home, Rory travelled to Belfast, donned the team tracksuit and ran messages on the side of the pitch. The role is usually reserved for a junior member of the squad, but such is Best’s commitment to the side and his desire to see his province be successful in this season’s PRO12, that he asked to do it:
“It’s always good to have a senior player on the side of the pitch,” says Rory. “You have the earpiece in and you have to pass on messages. Obviously I have experience and I know what people want to hear and what people don’t want to hear coming on. If I could help and impart a bit of knowledge in that role then hopefully it helped in a small way. It was good to be back involved. For the guys to win and to win with a bonus point was fantastic.”
Running messages on the sidelines at Kingspan Stadium couldn’t contrast more with the previous weekend when Best claimed his third 6 Nations title. The victory and the manner of the way Ireland claimed the Championship will live long in the memory of everyone who represented Ireland that day – Best included:
He says: “We had a target in our heads where we wanted to get to. Leaving the hotel it was 13-12 to Wales against Italy, but when we came out to warm up and saw that Wales had put 62 points on Italy, it changed things a bit! Joe was quick to bring us in and say our target has changed – we now need this, but our processes remain the same. I’m not saying that we were deflated, but walking down that tunnel at Murrayfield, there was a TV and everyone took a double-take at it on the way out to the pitch. No-one expected Wales to put that many points on, especially given the half time score. It was good in a way because we had to raise the bar again from where we thought it was going to be. It was a fairly interesting day of rugby!”
Best now has three 6 Nations Championship winners medals and only he and Rob Kearney played in all 15 games. So how does 2015 compare with 2009 and 2014?
“I said last year, winning the Championship was probably even more special to me than winning the Grand Slam, because I started every game. However, to have come back the way we did after the Wales match and to have turned it around in a week was fantastic. I have been to Murrayfield many times with Ireland and Ulster and you don’t win there very often. When you do it’s always by a couple of points. To have gone there, when they were trying to avoid a whitewash and to put 40 points on them was a special performance from us.”
For Best as well as Tommy Bowe, Jared Payne and Iain Henderson the focus now switches back to the Guinness PRO12. The Ulster captain believes that with the final being staged at Kingspan Stadium, there is huge incentive for the Ulster team over the final four rounds of the regular campaign:
“You want to get to this stage of the season with your destiny in your hands. With the final coming here it’s really important to finish in the top two. It’s not like previous years where you had to finish top to get a home play off and a home final. We know that the final is going to be here regardless. We are sitting second at the minute with a decent points difference. It’s a tough run in for us but big games will focus the team.
Back in January when Ulster were knocked out of the Champions Cup, Rory encouraged critics of the team to judge Ulster in May with injured players back and when the team would be challenging for a PRO12 title.
“I do make the odd bold statement,” says Rory. “It would be nice if one of them was proven to be true! In that Champions Cup game around that match with Scarlets we said that we would see at the end of a long hard season where we would be sitting in the league. We are second – we have an opportunity. It’s a tough opportunity but a great one. Our first target has to be top four and with that we want to be in the top two to guarantee a home play off. This stadium has been built for occasions like that. There is a bit of pressure on us but the onus is on us to do well in this run in and make sure that we are in the top four.”
With the captain’s example of commitment, they stand every chance.