Connacht’s Tom McCartney aiming to emulate the Best

Connacht hooker Tom McCartney has come up against some of the world’s top front rows in his seven years playing Super rugby Down Under, but it is Ireland’s Rory Best who he is now trying to emulate.

As Connacht face one of their most daunting challenges against Pro12 leaders Glasgow on Saturday, McCartney, now one of the province’s senior players, says he’s been studying the Ireland and Ulster hooker to try to improve his own game.

The 28-year old’s accurate darts have been a feature of Connacht’s line-out since his arrival, but it is Best’s work at the breakdown McCartney has been examining ahead of the visit of Gregor Townsend’s league pacesetters. “The set-piece has been going really well and that, with the scrum, is the foundation of a front-rower’s game,” he says. “But you don’t play rugby just to throw in the line-out and be done with it. Getting out there and having as much of an impact on the game is what it is all about — disrupting at the breakdown, moving bodies, and being physical around the field. That’s why you spend time in the gym. You don’t just want to look good on the beach, you want to put it out there,” the former Auckland Blues man says.