Best wounded by Ireland flop

Rory Best admits Ireland’s pride has been hurt by the agonising conclusion to their RBS 6 Nations.

The Irish, who were succeeded as Grand Slam champions by France, failed to fulfil their ambition of winning the Triple Crown after crashing to 23-20 defeat by Scotland yesterday.

It was a frustrating way to end four memorable years at Croke Park and Best refused to make excuses for failing to deliver when the pressure was on.

“We wanted to finish off our time at Croke Park with a big result and big performance, winning a Triple Crown,” said the Ulster hooker.

“We obviously fell short and we’re very, very disappointed.

“Any time there’s a match to be won, especially at home when there’s silverware on the line, we want to win it.

“We want to win every game. Afterwards in the changing room there were 22 bitterly disappointed men.

“We’re very competitive and pride ourselves on winning things and performing when it counts. Against Scotland we didn’t do that.”

Key to Ireland’s downfall was their disastrous afternoon at the lineout which saw them lose seven out of 17 on their own throw.

The set-piece is usually one of their strengths but Best admits his wayward delivery contributed to the malfunction and is willing to take responsibility.

“Sometimes you have to hold your hand up and say it was a poor day. I didn’t throw particularly well,” he said.

“Things have gone well in the last two or three game and we’ve had plaudits. Now it’s time to take the criticism.

“I’ll have to take it on the chin and live with it. A lot of the blame will fall on me and that’s something I’ll have to deal with.

“Scotland are a fantastic team and they played very well, putting a lot of pressure on us.

“At the same time we pride ourselves on our lineout and against them it fell well short of the standards we have set.”

Best believes the competitiveness of the Six Nations makes it ideal preparation for next year’s World Cup in New Zealand.

“This Six Nations has been all about fine lines,” he said.

“If you look at Scotland, they were so close against Wales and a penalty away from beating England, so they could have been going for their own Triple Crown.

“In that regard it’s a very tight competition so it’s great preparation for the World Cup.

“You need the sort of tournament where if you’re not on your game you’ll get beaten.”