Rory Best delivers lung-busting response to everyone that doubted he could still cut it

Patrick McCarry

England 57, Ireland 15 at Twickenham on August 24th 2019. Four weeks ago but it feels like a life-time ago.

Ireland left London, that night, feeling physically and mentally sore. There were some hard words in the Monday morning review and then Ireland moved on. Rory Best came remember how it stung. It still stings.

Since then, they have won three games in a row and played well in all three.

That World No.1 crown sits a little easier after two well deserved victories over Wales and a comprehensive beating of Scotland in their World Cup opener.

And Rory Best, their captain, has also answered a fair few of the doubters. In fairness, when looking at potential weaknesses, many teams, pundits and fans would be forgiven for focusing on a 37-year-old hooker in the final two months of his career and who had been struggling to find his lineout jumpers.

Best, famously, holds a stoic look when the anthems are being belted out but, knowing this is the beginning of the end, he betrayed some emotion as Ireland’s Call wound to a bombastic conclusion at Yokohama International Stadium:

Rory Best is PUMPED pic.twitter.com/uv22LLofCd

— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) September 22, 2019

And Best was there from the start until the very end as he showed the return to form against Wales, two weeks ago, was no fluke.

There were nine tackles stuck, the Irish front row had the edge at scrum-time, Best made five carries and scored his 11th Test try when he was the finisher in the midst of a punishing, rolling maul.

And then there were the lineouts. 12 throws, 12 takes for Ireland and a strong platform to attack from, either with those mauls or setting the ball amongst the backline. He got fortunate with a throw in each half but this was Best’s throwing return of the year.

It was fitting that it was Best and two of his packmates – James Ryan and Tadhg Furlong – that scored the tries that effectively broken the Scot’s will.

“It was a good start for us,” Best told reporters after the game. “Look, I think when you start the tournament against a team like Scotland, you have a lot of nerves, you know you have to play well, you know you have to start well.

“For us to get a couple of tries, from the forwards’ point of view, in the tight is pleasing. But I think we know it’s just the start and we need to get better. It’s great to have played in four World Cups now but, ultimately, from a personal point of view, that means nothing. That goes to the side.

“It’s about making sure that we get better as a collective as we go along.”

Best outlasted many of the other senior stars in the Ireland starting XV, even when the bonus point was secured. It was as if he was showing the world – on the same day that the Scots looked out on their feet – that he could go all day.

It ended up that he, indeed, had to go all day as replacement hooker Niall Scannell came on in place of flanker Josh van der Flier. 80+ was required and with 14-men for the closing stages, as Tadhg Beirne was sin-binned. Scannell and centre Chris Farrell were the emergency flankers, with CJ Stander bumped to the second row.

Chris Farrell ending his day in the back-row

What a cameo from the Tyrone man pic.twitter.com/1RhG8w8KXg

— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) September 22, 2019

That was the task, and Rory Best took to it.

The Ireland captain said, post-match, that there had been some stern words within the camp after that 42-point loss to England.

“There were questions externally and it’s hard to get away from it. You talk about being in the bubble but probably the biggest frustration within was that we knew we had a lot more to give. We just weren’t getting it, for whatever reason.

“We were happy with our preparation in a lot of those games and [we] just didn’t execute. Maybe we just didn’t, as players, put enough pressure on ourselves to execute the plan we were given. Sometimes you need to draw a line in the sand.

“We were more disappointed than anyone in Ireland or the world with that England performance. We just said, ‘Look, we need to be a lot better than that, and we are a lot better than that’. Our potential is a lot better than that.

“It think it was pleasing, the way we played in the next two Wales games and into today. There’s always going to be critics and I think the constructive criticism we get from Joe and the rest of the coaches is probably tougher than anything. And that’s how you learn and get better.”

Those final comments drew a smile from Schmidt but the Kiwi will have enjoyed Best’s performance even more.

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