Brothers in arms battling for supremacy

With their differing views on tidiness, the merits of Home and Away and other issues crucial to modern life, Denis Leamy and Rory Best may seem like the archetypal Odd Couple. Yet there are bonds between the players that run much deeper than any room-sharing squabbles or, for that matter, interprovincial bragging rights, writes Simon Lewis

MUNSTER square up to Ulster in Belfast this evening for another round of RaboDirect Pro12 rivalry but even as the two tribes go toe to toe at a sold-out Ravenhill, there will be some strong friendships bridging the two camps.

Leamy and Best may come from opposite ends of the island but after almost a dozen years on international teams together and more than a decade as room-mates there is enough of a connection between the rival forwards that a drinks company brought them together recently to play a part in its “Bushmills Brothers” campaign.