‘This is about making sure we’re properly prepared,’ says Rory Best

Rory Best

blinked, smiled, and leaned back in the chair before an involuntary chuckle escaped, one that could almost be construed as an expression of relief to have survived the process.

The source of his amusement was a question about what it's like to face Ireland coach Joe Schmidt having received a yellow card in a test match, a fate that befell the Ulster captain recently in the match against France.

Schmidt’s post game debriefing process is caricatured with some humour as a Torquemada-like inquisition; ghost stories to scare the curious. The New Zealander is, though, a stickler for discipline and not just during a match, as Best confirmed: “Occasionally you would get sent on a lap of the pitch for a yellow card [offence] at training; it just depends what mood he is in I think.

“When I picked up the yellow against France [I was] dreading the review post-match. I think when you get the yellow card, because we put such an emphasis on discipline, you do sort of feel that you’ve let people down a little bit.

“A lot of the discipline is just being prepared. There are going to be a few penalties because you’re playing quite close to the edge, but I think some of them, or a lot of them, are very avoidable. If you can be the team that doesn’t give away a lot of penalties, and the ref isn’t giving three, four, five penalties in a row against your team, then you’re less likely to get the yellow cards.

“We put a lot of emphasis on making sure we train as close to match intensity as we can get and if you’re used to working in that then your decisions become a bit more automated. And if you can make the right decision automated then when the pressure comes on in a game, you’re less likely to infringe.”

Quality referee

On that particular issue Saturday’s match will be refereed by England’s

Wayne Barnes

, appointed following the withdrawal of

Steve Walsh

, the original choice. Barnes has brandished his fair share of cards to Irish players in the past but Best is supportive of the way that the Englishman tries to officiate.

“He is a quality referee. If you infringe consistently he is not afraid to go to his pocket [but] if you get on the right side of him and [TRY AND BE]pro-active, go and play rugby, he will reward you. He wants the game to flow as much as the rest of us and when it doesn’t happen, sometimes you want to get down to the players who want to play rugby, and if that means yellow cards, that means yellow cards.”

Best, highly regarded as a leader and a player, and outstanding against England the last day, is perfectly placed as a senior member of the squad to offer a little insight into Paul O’Connell, the man, the player, the captain and someone who on Saturday will win his 100th cap for Ireland. His team-mates are keen to ensure that he celebrates the landmark with a victory.

Fantastic ambassador

“He is a fantastic leader. He probably works harder than any other player not just on the pitch but off the pitch. I think that shows in the teams he has played on, how he is perceived within those teams and the accolades he has won. He really is a fantastic ambassador for Irish rugby I think we are very lucky as a country to have him as our captain.”

The Ulster and Ireland hooker paused briefly during his eulogy to add mischievously, when asked how O’Connell has changed over the years: “Well, he’s obviously lost a bit of hair; he’s a bit like myself in that he’s aged quite quickly.

“I don’t think [he has changed]. He still expects his body and mind to take him to places that he went to when he was 23, 24 and just starting out with Ireland. That’s the nature of the man; he doesn’t expect you to take a backward step because he won’t take one. In terms of all of that he hasn’t changed an awful lot. He still expects unbelievably high standards.”

Best knows what awaits Ireland on Saturday in Cardiff. “They’re a passionate, knowledgeable crowd. The Welsh [team] will probably see it as a chance to right a few wrongs, if you hear some of the stories coming out of their camp last year, but also to put themselves in a very strong position to win the championship.

"For us, it's about making sure we're properly prepared because ultimately everything is a sideshow (a reference to England's stand-off in the tunnel, refusing to emerge until Wales were ready to run out); it's 15 v 15. The crowd can give them momentum, can get on your back and make you do things you don't want to if you're not fully prepared."