Rory Best has earned his place in elite group of NI sporting greats

Banbridge Rugby Club’s spokesman said yesterday that we will not see the like of Rory Best again in ‘two or three lifetimes’.

David Dodds said of the departing Ulster and Ireland player: “It is all down to how he has looked after himself.

“When will we ever have an Irish captain and British and Irish Lion again at our club?”

It is not unusual for fulsome tributes to be paid when a successful sportsman or woman’s professional career comes to an end.

But in the case of Best, his record is every bit as remarkable as the praise suggests.

With 219 caps, he is Ulster’s most capped player.

He has also notched up an impressive 117 caps for Ireland, including 10 tries.

One of his most notable achievements was steering Ireland to two victories against traditionally the best national rugby team of them all, the mighty All Blacks — New Zealand.

And he has somehow managed to play to the grand old sporting age of 36, which is near the end of the cycle for even the fittest full-time competitive athletes, let alone for a front row rugby player, with all the strains that that role entails.

We read on page three today of the fundraising and mentoring and supportive voluntary input that Best has given to younger rugby players, in the 20+ years since his own huge talents became apparent.

All the while, he has helped run one of the biggest farms in Northern Ireland.

The Province has a long list of sporting greats, from people of Pat Jennings’ and Dame Mary Peters’ generation, to that of Carl Frampton and Rory McIlroy.

Rory Best’s rugby record puts him right up there in such internationally respected company.

He hasn’t said what he is doing next but it is a safe bet that he will do it well.