The Ireland versus England match on ITV wrapped up this years Six Nations coverage – but some casual fans were left asking ‘who is Rory Best?’

Well here’s a little bit about the former Ulster, Ireland and British & Irish Lions hooker, who captained the Irish to a Six Nations Grand Slam in 2018.

Best hung up his boots in 2019, with 129 Test caps to his name. He started a whopping 102 of those Tests, scoring 12 tries in the process.

He captain Ireland for 38 Tests, his last time doing so at the Rugby World Cup in Japan, when Ireland lost to New Zealand 46-14 in Tokyo.

A stalwart for them, and Ulster he was also a Lions tourist in 2013 and in 2017 – and he has been praised for how his approach to tours evolved.

Best playing golf (Getty Images)

Joe Marler has sung the praises of Best as a tourist in the past, saying of hooker’s brilliance as a team man on a Lions tour: “I remember sitting down talking to Rory Best on that tour. He said he regretted the way he’d approached 2013 and the memories he had of it.

“It was pretty obvious from the start that he wasn’t going to make the Test team and he let those feelings become bitter and cloud his enjoyment of the whole experience.

“(Best) wanted to make sure that in 2017, the mid-weekers didn’t make the same mistake that he did. And there was part of that for me in 2017.”

After his last match in 2019, All Blacks boss Steve Hansen said: “I’d like to publicly acknowledge Rory & Joe Schmidt.

“Both of them have been instrumental in changing Ireland into a team that, earlier in the year, were No 1 in the world. A big congratulations to them on their careers. I know they’re both finishing up. Probably not the way they wanted to do it but unfortunately, sport is not fair. I’d just really like to say well done to them. They’ve done a marvellous job for Ireland.”

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