Captaincy carries great responsibility, especially in the knock-out stages of a season, but if Rory Best was feeling pressure ahead of Friday night’s massive play-off with Glasgow Warriors, he wasn’t showing it this week:
“Obviously we are going there as underdogs,” says the Ireland hooker. “Glasgow are a quality side. Scotstoun is a tough place to go and play. Having said that, we have a lot of confidence in this group of players. We know that we can perform in the big games and really Friday night has to be one of those big performances from us.”
Much has been made of last weekend’s game. Ulster had players out injured, while other squad members were rested. The result went Glasgow’s way, but Best believes Friday night will be a different proposition:
“For 60 minutes we played well, he says. “The flip side is that you saw that Glasgow with a bit of momentum and a bit of ball are very, very dangerous. The lesson for us is that we have to keep the ball and own it and when they have the ball we have to stop their momentum.”
He continues: “We were so battered after the Munster game that players couldn’t play the next week. Guys were wither injured or if we could have wheeled them out onto the pitch, they wouldn’t have been able to play this weekend. We took a decision on a couple of players. Ultimately, we will see at half nine on Friday night if that was the right decision. We feel fairly ready for this game. We are under no illusions as to how difficult it is going to be but have a lot of faith when we turn up and when we play and play well that we can beat anyone and that is going to be tested to the limit on Friday night.”
Like all knock out matches there is pressure on both sides. Glasgow are at home and aiming for their first silverware. Ulster know that if they win, they will play a final at Kingspan Stadium. However, Best isn’t looking beyond the next 80 minutes:
He says: “When the final was first announced you allow yourself to imagine what the game would be like and what the atmosphere would be like. As the game has got closer and the games have got bigger, when you come into them and you are already looking ahead, you are going to get beaten and you are going to get beaten well. For us it really is about one game at a time.
“We have to go out and take the win. We can’t wait for Glasgow to hand it to us. They want to be in a final just as much as we do. The fact that it is at Kingspan Stadium, just a week after the game isn’t going to be enough. We have to go out and make sure we perform.”