The rise and fall of Neil Best
In November 2006, Ulster sat pretty atop the Magners League table with 29 points – the same number, for those interested, that we accumulated throughout the entirety of last season. We’d watched the men in white embarrass an Ospreys team filled with internationals and, after running up 30 points in a magnificent first half against Toulouse, saw one overzealous pundit proclaim Ulster’s back row as the best in the tournament. With Ulster’s form peaking, it came as little surprise when 6 Ulster players were named in the 22 to face South Africa in the first of the Autumn Internationals at Lansdowne Road.
Of those six players, it would be Neil Best who would make the biggest splash in this Autumn. A man of the match performance against Australia followed an aggressive and disruptive game against the Springboks. And while his Autumn may well be remembered for those massive hits on George Smith and Loti Tuqiri, these were performances of distinction and nigh-perfection from Best around the park, completed with an overwhelming presence at the breakdown and an exemplary performance in the lineout.
Make no mistakes about it – in November 2006, Ulster were the form team in the Magners League and Neil Best was the form blindside in the world.
And then…
It all started with an embarrassing 29 – 13 bonus point defeat to London Irish, a team considered by many to represent Ulster’s best chance of claiming a first competitive win on English soil. The hangover from this result didn’t kick in straight away but Ulster went on to lose eight of fourteen remaining games in all competitions, including an embarrassing home defeat to a second string Munster side.
Perhaps no player singularly represented this dip in form more than Neil Best. From atop the heap in the Autumn, he’d lost his Ireland starting jersey to Simon Easterby by the time the Six Nations came around and cut an often forlorn figure around the Ravenhill pitch. Accusations flew about a player obsessed only with the big hitting reputation he’d created in the Autumn but that was never a satisfactory conclusion. The return of Ulster’s internationals from a triumphant Autumn campaign coincided with a loss of the team ethic around Ravenhill, and more so than any other player, Neil Best seemed to lose sight of the nature of rugby union.
His one consummate counter-rucking became an act of frustration and where once rib-breaking tackles were found, we could only see Best flying out of the defensive line with few results. It seemed, more than anything else, that Neil Best was dissatisfied with the efforts of those around him. It seemed that he felt he could do better as an individual than as a member of the team, and while he wasn’t the only player within the Ulster ranks to do so, it was he who fell furthest in the winter and spring of 2007.
A new season brought little joy for the Ulster faithful and perhaps even less for Neil Best; the once famed rib crunchers had almost become a thing of the past and his performances with ball in hand deteriorated considerably. As the hangover of the dreadful world cup campaign wore off, Ulster found themselves drifting inexorably towards a total collapse. The final semblances of teamwork had long since packed their bags and fled for the hills and as Ulster floated up the creek, rudderless and as yet without new coach Matt Williams in place, it came as little surprise when the much-rumoured departure of Neil Best to Northampton was announced in February.
Since the Autumn of 2006, it had become apparent to me that Neil Best was no longer a part of the team at Ulster and in rugby union, the most team-based of team sports, that is not something that ever bodes well. No player can ever succeed in this sport as an individual and the fact that Neil Best now finds himself behind Shane Jennings, Alan Quinlan and Stephen Ferris for a spot on the Ireland bench stands as a glaring testament to this.
While it is always sad to see one of our own sons, especially one so popular around the terraces of Ravenhill, departing for foreign shores, this move came at the right time for Neil Best. Seemingly incapable of recapturing his team spirit at Ulster, this change can hopefully see him refind solidarity with his teammates and recapture the form of that famous Autumn.
It is also a move that comes at the right time for Ulster Rugby. While Neil Best is an undoubted talent, there can be no place for those going against the grain as Matt Williams rebuilds both the personnel of the Ulster team and their unity as a group. It seems to have been clear that in the last 18 months, Neil Best was no longer a part of the team at Ulster. With that in mind, his decision to move one is the right one and came at the right time for both himself and for Ulster.
