Tales from the Members' Bar

Volume 2 No 2  Neil Best

The Background

I have been a fan of Neil Best since Ireland's unfortunate first match at Croke Park. You will remember how Vincent Clerc stole the game for France. That day, coming on from the bench, Besty single-handedly drove two Frenchmen from a ruck to overturn possession. No flopping, no hands just strong straightforward rucking. Given the new protocol (you know: old laws will be refereed properly) he has already shown himself more than capable of staying on his feet at the breakdown to terrific effect.

All this admiration aside, I have to confess to a certain amount of trepidation in sitting down with a man of whom Keith Wood once said, "[He] looks, well, he looks slightly mad really." As though Uncle Fester was the model of calm on the rugby field. For his part, Neil is happy to know that Keith Wood knew what he looked like.

"A shame he is not an IRFU selector," was met with a wry smile. The highlight of his international career to date was a man-of-the-match display against Australia in November 2006. Ireland's record against Australia is not burdened with a great deal of success. So to outplay the Aussies at a wet and windy Lansdowne Road was a fine achievement. "They didn't like the conditions at all. We played really well; let them have nothing and sealed it with a really good try from Geordan Murphy."

Having played for Ulster since 2002, Neil has a Celtic League championship medal for 2005-06 and was voted the Ulster Player of the Year for the following season. Last year everything went a bit downhill. Winning the Celtic League is one thing but to break through in the Heineken Cup is the goal to which all the teams in the Magners League aspire. It is all some of the teams target.

With a certain amount of frustration and disappointment with Ulster's failure in this regard, he was pleased to draw a line under that stage in his career when the Saints came to call.

Northampton's New Saint

It has been laid out before all of the new players. They were brought in to do a job, a job that perhaps could not be done by last year's squad. No pressure then. All professional sportsmen have a burning desire to do well. They should be committed. You just cannot get away with any less, certainly not with a passionate crowd of 13,500 shouting and cheering you on. Having played in front of big crowds at Ravenhill, he reckons it is different here. Definitely no pressure there, we are all pussy cats.

Life is good at the moment. Neil has bought a house and is about to say goodbye to his house-mate, Roger Wilson, to set up home with his girlfriend. It sounded as though she could arrive with a car-load of goods and chattels any day. It has been a good pre-season working really hard and getting to know the rest of Saints' cosmopolitan squad. It is quite a bit different from being in the Ulster training camp where most of the squad is from the province. That said, he saw an Ulster game on television recently and did not recognise half the players. The new Ulster coach is making changes.

Talking of the pre-season, it seems that the old adage of what does not kill you makes you stronger holds true under the conditioning regime of Nick Johnston. The first two weeks were really hard, really painful. It became easier after that if only because everyone knew what to expect. The result is that Neil believes he is in the best shape of his life. After his energetic and committed display on Sunday, few would challenge that opinion. The knock he took in the build-up to Jon Clarke's try was nothing more than a winding. It knocked the stuffing out of him and he found breathing a problem but his replacement was just a precaution. Neil is definitely available for selection this week.

When I told him that people around these parts thought they knew a bit about the game and knew, in particular, about back-row forwards, he looked a bit nonplussed. A crowd that has been witness to the play of Buck Shelford, Tim Rodber, Budge Pountney, Andrew Blowers and Corne Krige likes to think it knows a thing or two. Seeing last week's back row romping around the pitch meant that they were being compared with them. "Ah, well - I do not really know those players. I have not played with or against them. I am just trying to do the best job I can for Jim and Northampton Saints."

That will do for me, Neil.

And Finally...

With the Communications Manager hovering to tell me that I had had my allotted time and more besides, I discovered that Neil has never tasted Marmite and therefore has no views in the love-hate debate.

His favourite biscuit is a Marks and Spencer's Double Chocolate Cookie - or it would be if he were not in training.

The bite-sized coaching tip: accelerate into the tackle.

arw

11.9.2008

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