Best looking forward to ‘special’ day at Aviva
Canada provided the opposition the first day and a warm and wonderfully-named Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver the location. He doubled up eight days later with another victory, this time against the USA in Santa Clara, California.
There can be no diluting the honour of leading your country onto the field but the fact remains that the cream of the country’s crop was 10,000 miles away, preparing for the British and Irish Lions’ tour opener in South Africa.
None of the XV who took the first whistle in Canada will do likewise this weekend although Tom Court will sit on the bench and Mike Ross, Eoin Reddan, Donncha Ryan and Sean Cronin all appeared off it against the Maple Leafs. The combined attendance in those two American games would fit comfortably inside the RDS. Three times that number will fill Lansdowne Road in two days for a game in the most venerable of all international competitions.
Same sport. Different ball game.
“Listen, it’s a great honour to do it, no matter where you are,” said Best in his first official role as skipper yesterday, “but it was like it is now, in that you have a handful of senior players around you coming from the three [provincial] teams.
“It’s a lot easier because there are some fantastic leaders amongst those. Everyone weighs in behind you. It was a great day that day and I’m sure it will be the same on Saturday, a little extra special because it’s at home.”
In that, he will have one up on big brother Simon, who captained Ireland on the two-match summer tour to Argentina in 2006, while his 58th appearance in green will equal Keith Wood’s record of most caps won by an Irish hooker.
That last stat is fitting.
It was Wood who Best spoke of when asked of predecessors who have served as inspiration. As often as not, ‘Fester’ played through injury but his successor insists he is 100% good to go, despite initial concerns over his well-being after the draw in Paris.
Which is just as well.
Losing two Lions skippers is bad enough but Ireland could ill-afford to lose another player and general of Best’s calibre given it is seven years since they took to the field for a Test against a Tier One nation without either Brian O’Driscoll or Paul O’Connell.
Back then, the armband eventually found its way to Simon Easterby during an autumn window where New Zealand and Australia were the visitors and the hosts fell to two defeats and a combined scoreline of 75-21.
“Leaders have emerged since then,” said Best. “You look at [2005], there were quite a few players who were inexperienced that came in and a lot of pressure was placed upon Simon Easterby’s shoulders. The situation is slightly different now.
“The great advantage of having Paul and Brian captain and around so long is that the senior players underneath have had time to develop with not as much pressure. Jamie captaining Leinster, myself at Ulster, Eoin Reddan, Sean O’Brien and Stevie Ferris have stepped up.”
It’s testament to Best that his assumption of the role as on-field leader was taken as gospel as soon as news of O’Connell’s loss filtered out from Carton House. This, after all, is a player who only started one Six Nations game as recently as 2009.
Still only 29, he likes to slag O’Gara that one of his most vivid memories of attending Dublin internationals as a teenager has the Munster out-half making his debut against the Scots during that famous 44-20 which ushered in a bright new era.
With O’Gara, O’Driscoll and O’Connell absent from the starting XV on Saturday, we are about to be afforded a glimpse at a new dawn that will break some time after the next Lions tour to Australia, which, as it happens, coincides with another Irish tour to the USA and Canada.
As for Best, injuries or a dramatic loss of form aside, he’ll be packing for an Aussie winter and Ireland will be looking to someone else to wear the armband.
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