Rory Best from
PoyntzpassPoyntzpass is a village on the border between County Armagh and County Down in Northern Ireland. It is within the Armagh City and District Council area. In the 2001 census it had a population of 1987 people....
is an
IrishThe Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship and every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions The Ireland national rugby union...
rugby unionRugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
footballer. He plays at the position of Hooker for
UlsterUlster Rugby, usually referred to simply as Ulster, is an Irish professional rugby union team based in Belfast, representing the Irish province of Ulster, that competes in the RaboDirect Pro12 and also competes in the Heineken Cup...
and is registered for
Banbridge RFCBanbridge RFC is a rugby union club based in Banbridge, County Down, in the province of Ulster. It currently plays in Division 2B of the Ulster Bank All Ireland League. In addition to the senior team, the club fields another four adult junior-standard teams, and youth U19, U17, U15 and U13 teams,...
.
Club/Provincial
Best was educated at
Portadown CollegePortadown College is an academic selective grammar school in Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, founded in 1924 and as of 2009, is the number one controlled grammar school in Northern Ireland. The school was established initially in Bann House on the banks of the River Bann, adjacent to...
and studied Agriculture at Newcastle University where he played with the
Newcastle FalconsThe Newcastle Falcons is an English rugby union team currently playing in the Aviva Premiership. The club was established in 1877 and played under the name of Gosforth Football Club until 1990. The name was then changed to Newcastle Gosforth and the club began to play at Kingston Park stadium in...
academy. He returned home to join Belfast Harlequins in 2002 where he captained the team and gained his first Ulster contract in 2004. He made his debut for Ulster as a replacement at home to
MunsterMunster Rugby is an Irish professional rugby union team based in Munster, that competes in the RaboDirect Pro12 and Heineken Cup.The team represents the Irish Rugby Football Union Munster Branch which is one of four primary branches of the IRFU, and is responsible for rugby union in the Irish...
in the 2005
Celtic LeagueThe Celtic League is an annual rugby union competition involving professional sides from Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....
. He made his Ireland debut against the All-Blacks at
Lansdowne RoadLansdowne Road was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union that has been the location of a number of sports stadiums. It was used primarily for rugby union and for association football matches as well as some music concerts...
in November 2005. He replaced his brother Simon as captain of Ulster for the 2007/08 season and continues to hold the position. He is renowned for his abilities as a scrummager. Best missed the entire 2009/10 season due to surgery on a chronic disc problem.
International
Best made his international debut for Ireland as a replacement against the
All BlacksThe New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....
in November 2005 and made his first start against The Springboks in 2006. He has been involved with the national team ever since, sharing the number 2 shirt with
Jerry FlanneryJeremiah Paul "Jerry" Flannery is an Irish rugby union player who plays at Hooker for Munster and Ireland.-Early career:...
. He was a member of the Irish teams that won the 2007
Triple CrownIn rugby union, the Triple Crown is an honour contested annually by the four national teams of the British Isles who compete within the larger Six Nations Championship: England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. If any one team manages to win all their games against the other three they win the...
and was in the Irish Squad for the 2007 Rugby World Cup as well as the 2009 Six Nations championship which completed the
Grand SlamIn rugby union, a Grand Slam occurs when one team in the Six Nations Championship manages to beat all the others during one year's competition...
. He captained the Ireland team that toured North America in
2009The 2009 mid-year rugby Test series refers to the rugby union Internationals played from 23 May to 4 July 2009, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere....
, while most of the country's top stars were on the
British and Irish LionsThe British and Irish Lions is a rugby union team made up of players from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales...
team that began their
tour of South AfricaThe 2009 British and Irish Lions Tour to South Africa was an international rugby union tour which took place in South Africa from May to July 2009....
at the same time.
Personal life
Best was raised on the family farm near
PoyntzpassPoyntzpass is a village on the border between County Armagh and County Down in Northern Ireland. It is within the Armagh City and District Council area. In the 2001 census it had a population of 1987 people....
,
County Armagh-History:Ancient Armagh was the territory of the Ulaid before the fourth century AD. It was ruled by the Red Branch, whose capital was Emain Macha near Armagh. The site, and subsequently the city, were named after the goddess Macha...
. He got married in the summer of 2009, to a teacher at the Armstrong Primary School, of hockey and a primary seven class, name Jodie Bell, now Jodie Best. His brother is retired Ireland and Ulster prop
Simon BestSimon Best is a former Irish rugby union footballer. He played for Ulster and was club captain in Ulster's 2005/06 Magners League winning season...
. His first child, Ben, was born on 23 June 2010.
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