Best if forever the surprise package

Neil Best is hoping to play a part in beating the French when they least expect it. Johnny Wattersonreports

There is a defence mechanism that clicks in for professional players when a microphone is thrust in front of them. They don't want to disrespect team-mates, coaches, the IRFU, sponsors or the opposition; they don't want to say something that may return and bite them.

A few players can be depended on to depart from the script and talk unguardedly. The Munster outhalf Ronan O'Gara is one; the Ulster flanker Neil Best is another.

It is not Best's forensic analysis of the opposition that offers grist to the journalist but his willingness to throw into the public domain whatever is on his mind.

That honesty runs through his play. He's the one you look for to set the tone on the pitch, as he did in earning the "man of the match" award against Italy in Ravenhill.

Typically, Best himself wryly plays down that accolade.

"My agent (Ryan Constable) was commentating and he picked the man of the match . . . he's obviously trying to secure another few years from me and he's done it . . . a bottle of champagne for my services for the next four years - pretty cheap."

Best is a late developer as a player. He is also the man who one Friday night last year ago phoned the Ulster Branch asking if a parcel had been left for him and adding it was important the package get to him that night. When pressed by branch officials as to the urgency, Best admitted to having bought a pair of praying mantids on the internet. He was concerned they might be hungry over the weekend. Hotel boredom? Animal hugger?

The qualified organic chemist's thoughts on France are just as individualistic. The World Cup starts this weekend but Best shows no signs of fraying nerves with worry about selection or performance.

"I like France," he says cheerily. "Hopefully, the weather's good. I like the coffee, like to walk about. Good hotel, good food and hope we play well. Yeah, I also like the French style of rugby. I like the contrast between the physical forwards and the flashy backs.

"I watched a wee bit of it (the last French warm-up match). But I was at a barbecue that day and was trying not to be rude, having conversation with people."

Not wanting to look too far ahead, Best nonetheless sees the game against France in Paris as a revenge mission for Ireland. He views the meeting, not in an 'oh-dear-me-not-in-their-back-garden' way but in an 'oh-great-another-crack-at-les-Bleus' way.

The pessimists outside the Ireland camp may see the battle with France as a perennial curse. Best sees it as a blessing.

But he concedes that Ireland are also under significant pressure, and not because of poor recent performances but because of the good ones.

"Yes (pressure), because of the Six Nations and the thought of getting some revenge on France," he says. "That and after that the autumn internationals last year - the expectations of everybody are high, from the players, from yourselves, from the public.

"And rightly so. I think we've got a good squad, a good team and probably the best chance Ireland have had in years in a major competition.

"They (France) have left out some good-quality players - (Dimitri) Yachvili, (Clement) Poitrenaud . . . it's good for them to be able to do that but they are under a lot of pressure as well. It remains to be seen how they react to that. They will probably show what their intentions are this week."

So may Ireland. But against Namibia and Georgia that will be difficult. How much can you learn from those games - or indeed from the warm-ups with Scotland and Italy - about the team in the context of France and Argentina?

"The Scottish game - that was a weakened side with Paul O'Connell and Drico in it," Best reminds us. "The team that played against Argentina in the summer tour was - and this is what you were telling me - a B side.

"The Bayonne match wasn't much of a rugby game. The Italian match - we started off badly and there was no chance to show yourselves and the public that we can play well. That was a crap game as well."

He may have tempered his physical approach to the game in terms of dicing less with the yellow cards. His opinions, though, still bounce even with microphones around.