Rory Best praises Paul O’Connell and Ronan O’Gara’s coaching progress

Best has landed a role with Seattle Seawolves in Major League Rugby

Rory Best at the Specsavers Healthy Hearing Campaign launch. Pic: Inpho

The accents don’t exactly match but Paul O’Connell’s voice isn’t long in springing to mind when Rory Best starts to discuss his first tentative steps down a coaching pathway which he had declared out of bounds in last year’s autobiography.

O’Connell’s playing career ended with injury at the 2015 Rugby World Cup but it wasn’t until this January that he finally found a niche for himself as the man entrusted with the Ireland senior team’s pack.