Bringing something else to the party

RUGBY SIX NATIONS - RORY BEST INTERVIEW: JOHNNY WATTERSONtalks to the hooker as he gets his chance to remind everyone that he is capable of holding down a place in the team

IF YOU happened to be in the press area or higher at Croke Park for Ireland’s last Six Nations match against England, you could hardly have judged how Jerry Flannery performed as hooker, or, how well Rory Best did when he came in 11 minutes from the end.

Unless blessed with the bifocal power of a Peregrine, the match against England up in the thin air of hospitality and beyond was largely a series of intertwined bodies involved in trench warfare. Flannery was there somewhere but . . .

Apart from illustrating that the seats in the crow’s nest were not bolted down with rugby in mind, many people’s opinions regarding the Irish hooker issue is gleaned from rugby opinion makers and those views are pretty straightforward.

Flannery is the lineout thrower, ball carrier, the teak tough hooker, who cried when the national anthem was played two season’s ago in the first match against England in GAA HQ.

But in the set-pieces the more powerfully-framed Rory Best is more stable if less able to cover the ground that Flannery ably can. His throwing is also less consistent.

Prop John Hayes has been laughing in his hotel suite since he turned 30 as the naysayers formed a disorderly queue to empirically prove that he was a finished tighthead prop.

The moral of the story is that critics are often wrong and Declan Kidney picks his side on not who is the best player but what set of skills is most able to carry out a certain function. Best is this week’s pick. His challenge is to play more like Flannery around the paddock as well as holding on to his own strengths.

“The four boys who aren’t starting this week have all played very well and I know that because Declan made it very clear to us that they were all very tight calls,” says Best leaving few in doubt about what is expected.

“I suppose there is that extra little bit of pressure that you put on yourself to perform because the team needs it.

“We’ve been going well and you need to get to the levels of performance that everyone else is at and then bring something else to the team as well. That’s why the changes are made – to try and bring something else.

“I know Declan is fond of saying that you treat it as though it’s your last and I think whenever you come from the bench, you have to take that mentality that it is your last because you’ve been on the other side and you know you are lucky to get a start and you just have to do everything you can to perform and do the jersey justice.”

Since Keith Wood left the shirt in good fettle six years ago to Shane Byrne and Frankie Sheahan came in for a spell, with Bernard Jackman stepping in too, there has been no dominant force in the middle of the front row.

Just one cap separates the two incumbents, with Best on 30 caps and Flannery 29. Younger by more than three years, Best spent his early seasons moving between prop and hooker until finally settling snug at international level between Hayes and Marcus Horan.

“I’ve tried to work hard on my throwing. I’ve tried to work hard on getting around the pitch a bit more. It is probably something with which I did struggle a wee bit at the start, when I first came in,” he says.

“It’s something that every time I go out I try to add little bits and pieces, while still trying to work on the bits that have always worked for me.

“From four seasons ago, I probably trimmed down a couple of kilos. I worked very hard with the fitness team both here and in Ulster as well as a lot of handling stuff with Neil Doak and when Matt Williams came in he was very much . . . I don’t know if it’s an Australian thing but they love people to be very comfortable with the ball in their hands.

“We’re doing a lot more handling up in Ulster and I feel a lot more comfortable with the ball in my hand in and around the pitch. I suppose the name of the game is to better yourself every time.”

Flannery will be a willing bench man in Murrayfield tomorrow and Best an eager hooker to chase around and punch holes.

Like at scrumhalf with Peter Stringer and Tomás O’Leary, Kidney has players in the frontrow, who through their different strengths change the way the position is played.

Flannery and the man from Poyntzpass complement the team ethic.

As to who is the best player and the right man to play Irish hooker, maybe there is no answer.