Rory demands Best possible outcome from back-to-back Aironi clashes
The Ulstermen aresitting in third place in Pool 4 after two rounds, having beaten ClermontAuvergne at Ravenhill but losing at Leicester Tigers.
Best, one of the stars of Ireland’s run to the World Cup last eight in September and October, believes his province will have to repeat last season’s group-stage double over Aironi to have a hope of making similar progress.
Speaking ahead of Friday’s Heineken Cup round three fixture at Ravenhill in his role as part of the “Bushmills Brothers” campaign, the hooker told the Irish Examiner his team’s failure to come away from Welford Road last month with a bonus point piled on the pressure.
“When the draw comes out and you see the fixtures and plot your way through it, you say, ‘we have to win our home games and we have to get 10 points against Aironi’,” Best said.
“If we’d have got a point against Leicester that would have really put us in the driving seat with Leicester failing to get five points away [against Aironi]. So it really puts pressure on us now over December that realistically if we don’t get the 10 points against Aironi we’re really, really on the back foot to get out of this group.”
Best added that a painful lesson had been learned in seeing Leicester run away to a 20-9 when victory had been within Ulster’s grasp heading into the final quarter.
“It was one that got away against Leicester,” he said. “We battled hard, we got ourselves in position with 15 or 20 minutes to go, to not only get a point but to win the game. So to come away with neither was really disappointing.
“When it was a three-point game we had a kick to go back level and we could have really kicked on from there but unfortunately it wasn’t to be.
“The really successful teams in Europe, year in, year out, they’ll stay in a game and stay in and it might be 10 minutes to go before they take the lead in a match but that’s the most important time.”
Best is happy with his form having returned to full fitness following a shoulder injury against Italy in the final group game of the World Cup. He played through the pain in Ireland’s quarter-final loss but has strung together four games during November before being rested for last weekend’s RaboDirect Pro12 home win over Scarlets.
“I’m playing well. Now the World Cup’s all over it’s nice to be home to a bit of normality and back with Ulster.
“The shoulder is settling well. Unfortunately, especially at the higher end, you don’t really get to play at full speed without having some bumps or niggles. This one’s just a niggle. It’s not restricting me playing, just a wee bit sore after the matches. But it settles down well and hasn’t stopped me training yet. I’ve been very well looked after by the Ulster medical staff.”
Ulster panel (v Aironi). Forwards: P McAllister, C Black, T Court, A Macklin, J Afoa, D Fitzpatrick, J Cronin, A Kyriacou, N Brady, R Best, L Stevenson, J Muller (capt), D Tuohy, T Barker, N McComb, S Ferris, M McComish, P Wannenburg, W Faloon, C Henry, R Diack
Backs: P Marshall, I Porter, I Humphreys, P Jackson, N Spence, L Marshall, I Whitten, D Cave, C Gilroy, S Danielli, A Trimble, A D’Arcy, S Terblanche.
