Boks the top priority for Best

RORY BEST has been wrapped in cotton wool for his own good this week, but that won’t make missing tonight’s Magners League clash with Munster at Ravenhill any easier to bear.

Having made his representative debut against Munster in 2005 and seen the fixture grow in status, it’s a game he just does not like having to skip.

But national commitments — Best is currently number one Irish hooker — and a niggling injury put paid to any slight hope that he might be allowed back to Belfast to play in this top four clash.

Games between the Irish provinces don’t come much tougher than Munster/Ulster confrontations.

Best said: “This fixture goes back such a long time and it’s one always treated with great respect by the players. There is a huge intensity in these games and for us playing against Munster is like an opportunity to test ourselves against what is arguably the best team in Europe over the last six to eight years.

“We would like to think we have started to close the gap a bit and we’ve had a couple of results as well, so this is probably the first year in a long time that we really feel we could win. It should be a ding dong battle.”

Although he would love to be in the midst of it, Best is astute enough to know that was probably never going to happen given the situation in camp Ireland right now.

With Jerry Flannery sidelined, the Ulster man is now in pole position to take the number two starting jersey against South Africa a week tomorrow, and he is confident of shrugging off a minor head injury.

With injuries and provincial Magners League commitments all to be taken into account, Declan Kidney’s Irish squad has been cut to the bone this week and Best conceded he didn’t envy the management having to conduct a delicate balancing act between province and country.

“Obviously, some people needed game time and were therefore released, while others probably had enough and would have benefited more from being in camp. Yeah, it’s a tough balancing act and whether it goes the right way or not will be told on Saturday (week) night.’’

Best is one of those happiest playing: “That’s what I’m involved in the game for, but there are maybe 40 odd games in a season and we have to recognise it’s impossible to feature in every one. You listen to the experts and I suppose you have to take heed of your body too.”

He knows well about potential career-ending injuries and feels for arch-rival Flannery, whose troublesome calf muscle injury just about rules him out of contention of the autumn series.

“It’s very annoying when you’re injured and you would have to feel sorry for Jerry; it must be very frustrating for him.”

But having Flannery off the radar doesn’t mean things will get easier for Best in terms of competition; not with Sean Cronin and Damien Varley lurking in the background.

“They’re two quality players, good in all aspects of the game, fast, committed and very competitive,” he suggested.

But if he has had to give Ravenhill a miss, Best certainly hopes to feature strongly at the Aviva Stadium next week, seeing it as a milestone in Irish rugby.

Coming off the back of recent defeats, he sees now as the time to swing Ireland’s results back into the black and can’t think of any reason why they can’t start with a victory over Victor Matfield’s Springboks.

Although New Zealand, Samoa and Argentina follow quickly, he is trying not to look beyond tomorrow week.

“It is going to be a great rugby occasion, one of those that don’t come around so often; for us it’s the opening of the stadium, it gives us the opportunity to play the world champions at home and that type of game doesn’t come around very often.

“Over the coming month it’s obviously something to look forward to — it’s an opportunity to match ourselves against three of the best teams in the world and against another decent team that is amongst the most physical — but we must firstly concentrate on South Africa alone.”