My Rugby World Cup hero: Rory Best

Adam Kyriacou

During the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, we dig through the archives to highlight a hero from a previous tournament. Next up, Rory Best.

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Rory David Best OBE made his Ulster debut in 2005 against Munster before going on to play a further 217 times for the Northern Irish outfit. Best quickly became a local favourite at Ravenhill and was made captain ahead of the 2006/07 season, but his playing career hit a stumbling block a year later when a neck injury put his future in the game in doubt. Once that issue was rectified he went from strength to strength, helping Ulster to reach the Heineken Cup final against Leinster in 2012. Best announced his retirement at the end of the 2018/19 campaign.

On the international front his debut arrived when he came on as a replacement against New Zealand in 2005, the first of 124 caps that saw him play in four World Cups that unfortunately didn’t progress past the quarter-finals.

The hard-working Best would also feature on the British & Irish Lions tours of Australia (2013) and New Zealand (2017) in what has been an impressive career that included Six Nations Championships, Grand Slams and rare wins over New Zealand, in Chicago (2016) and Dublin (2018). He bowed out against New Zealand last weekend.

His Rugby World Cup moment

If we were forced to pick a particular Rugby World Cup fixture then Ireland’s pool victory over Australia in 2011 would be top of the list, when front-row trio Best, Cian Healy and Mike Ross dominated the Wallabies up front. That day at Eden Park saw Ireland win and deny Australia a losing bonus-point, which all but wrapped up Pool C for Declan Kidney’s charges as their set-piece, led by Best, ground down the Wallabies in what was a shock win.

However, Best was never one for amazing individual performances. It was his consistency and steadiness on the rugby field which earned him the respect of his team-mates and also the opposition, with the Ireland captaincy handed to him in 2016 after Paul O’Connell’s retirement. He was the natural successor to the Munster forward.

Indeed, his longevity on the international stage and Rugby World Cups is quite staggering and it was noticeable that even in the winter of his Test career he was still considered the outright first-choice hooker for his country.

The Irish now need a replacement to carry on the hooking mantle moving forward, a duty Best staggeringly held with distinction for close to 15 years. Over to Niall Scannell and Sean Cronin to battle it out for that privilege.

This series is open to all our readers so if you have a World Cup hero – for whatever reason or from whichever country – then get on your computer and pay tribute to them in the above format. We will strive to publish as many as possible before and during the tournament. Email your piece to planetrugbyeditor@planetsport.com