“IT IS WHAT it is.” Says Ulster hooker Rory Best of the imperfect task of taking on Leinster on their home patch, despite the northern province having earned a ‘home final’.
The five word answer could have also been tagged to the absence of his name from Warren Gatland’s Lions tour.
But this week, Best is a man with blinkers on. It’s win or bust.
Last season, Ulster fielded an under-strength side at home to Leinster with a view to putting all of their eggs in the Heineken Cup semi-final basket. It worked, but when they arrived in front of Leinster in the European final in Twickenham they were overwhelmed.
This season, Mark Anscombe has come in with a mission statement saying that success can only be measured by the medals you accrue. He built on the solid foundations laid by Brian McLaughlin and set a blistering pace, winning his first 13 games before falling to Northampton at home.
To set the record straight, Best and his pack were sent out to lay down a marker against Leinster the following week.
“We talked about doing things this year that Ulster haven’t done,” Best says forthrightly in an interview with IrishRugby.ie.“We went to France and won, we went down to Dublin and won for the first time in 13 years. It’s been a good season, but it’s all for nothing if we don’t lift the trophy on Saturday.”
That inter-pro clash was also a week out from a crucial Heineken Cup knock-out game, and drawing another line in the sand with the landmark win may well have harmed their chances of overcoming the uber-physical Saracens. Still, Best counts the win in Dublin as his favourite league game of the season.
“Yeah, I think it was. When you go down to a quality side like Leinster and you produce a performance and get a win – it was a performance where 50 or 60 minutes we played very well, but also for 20 minutes we showed a lot of desire and hunger in defence.
‘We can beat anyone’
“They’re a quality side and we were able to hold them out.”
One win away to Leinster in 13 years, so what chance a second time in eight weeks, a third time this season?
“We believe we can. It’s going to be a slightly different atmosphere. We’re going to have a lot more supporters there than we had back in March. We’re very confident with the team we put out, that if we turn up and perform then we can beat anyone.
“It’ll be a tough ask, but at the end of the day; we’ve had a lot of tough asks this season and we’ve stepped up and produced.”
