Best promises ‘more to come’

WILL the real Neil Best please stand up? “I don’t really like fighting, people get injured and lose teeth. My dentist charges enough as it is, I don’t want to give him any more money!” he told RTE, on accepting his man-of-the-match award at the end of a bruising encounter yesterday.

“It was a physical game, you expect that, but it’s unfortunate that kids get to see grown men beating lumps out of each other.”

Half an hour later, the new Irish number six was telling the assembled hacks how much more satisfying this game was than the more open win over South Africa last week. Then, he spoke of his disappointment at not managing to get in any of his trademark big hits — not so yesterday.

“Sometimes you get the opportunity; people run into your channel and it’s nice to meet them. I didn’t have that last week and it was very disappointing. I’m glad I got a few hits in today.”

One of those hits was on the giant Aussie centre Lote Tuqiri. How big was it? “It was a legitimate tackle, I was happy about it, I think he was happy enough about it, I just read it well,” Best explained.

The principal reason Neil was able to display his more physical wares this week was the weather. The driving rain had the demoralised Aussie players looking to the exit long before the final whistle. “What did they expect when they came to Ireland?” asked Best. “It’s a country of bad weather! Last year they beat us here, beat us in Perth, so this is a good victory for us regardless of conditions.”

“My interest level was quite low this morning when I came out and saw the rain and the wind but I’m glad everyone picked up their spirits” he admitted.

Captain Brian O’Driscoll, is full of admiration for Ireland’s new blindside. “I think today’s conditions really suited his style, he’s one seriously tough customer. When you see Tuqiri struggling to get up off the ground you know there’s been some sort of decent impact. He gives you great go-forward, his work-rate is phenomenal and he’s an incredibly fit guy.

“We’re just fortunate that we have himself and Simon (Easterby), amongst others, competing for that number six shirt. Once they keep pushing each other they’re really going to get the best out of one another.”

Best was just one of an utterly dominant Irish back row. Best said: “Denis Leamy is world class, probably the top number eight in Europe, if not the world, David Wallace is a powerful player. It’s nice to play with players of that calibre. We played with each other on tour, did well there, we’re tying to continue that in this series. The more you play with each other, the better it is, you learn each other’s game.”

Is his man-of-the-match award as good as it gets for Neil Best? “I hope not,” he laughed, “I hope I’ve got more to come, I’d like to get better and better each time I play. But I’ve said it before, I think anyone could have won this award. Everyone was working hard for each other, the guys who came in from the bench were awesome as well.”

Progress, for this new-look Ireland side? “Yeah, South Africa last week, Australia this week, the Pacific Islands next week, hopefully it will be three from three.”

Oh, if only the World Cup were starting now, even the 6-Nations! “Yeah, but that’s a long way away, for me anyway, a good number of European matches, Celtic League matches to play first, so I’m not thinking about that.”

No, but the Irish fans are, the growing number of fans with growing optimism.