Neil best

astonaidan

Anyone else up for getting a collection to get Neil Best to Connacht, Just Imagine it smashes Jamie Heaslip on the try line who knocks on the ball, Then gets up and fixes his hair, Christ itd be awesome:D

GerM

GerM wrote: »

The Hollywood plays like big carries and smashing people are all well and good but core duties are more important. It's that sort of thing that's the reason Simon Easterby has captained his country, has 59 international starts, 2 world cups and 2 test starts for the Lions and Neil Best has 9 international caps and a flat in Worcester.

Just reminded me of this gem of a post....

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=70959111&postcount=73

astonaidan

Thought Best had more than 9 caps, Saying that He was always more appreciated in the SH than NH and christ I hated Easterby, Happiest day off my life when he retired tbh

padraig.od

Bit of a nutter by all accounts. Where is he now?

Benny Cake

Heard a great (quite possibly false) story regarding his reaction to not being selected for an Irish squad having performed well in the Churchill Cup. Lets just say he left no doubt in Kidneys mind as to his feelings on his omission

padraig.od

Benny Cake wrote: »

Heard a great (quite possibly false) story regarding his reaction to not being selected for an Irish squad having performed well in the Churchill Cup. Lets just say he left no doubt in Kidneys mind as to his feelings on his omission

Yep nutter just ask Paddy Wallace... Kidney gave him a chance (he captained the Churchill Cup squad two years ago IIRC) and I remember him being selected for an A game v England in November 09? (the one that was abandoned due to frozen pitch at Donnybrook). We have better options now to be honest.

My favourite Best memory is him coming off the bench v France in the first Croke Park match and winning the penalty that *should* have won us that game.

irishbucsfan

Possibly the most overrated Irish player of the last few decades. I really really dislike Neil Best. It's a disgrace that he even managed 9 caps. Apart from the fact he's an absolute cancer, he's just not very good.

There's a very good reason he's playing at the level he is.

astonaidan

padraig.od wrote: »

Yep nutter just ask Paddy Wallace... Kidney gave him a chance (he captained the Churchill Cup squad two years ago IIRC) and I remember him being selected for an A game v England in November 09? (the one that was abandoned due to frozen pitch at Donnybrook). We have better options now to be honest.

My favourite Best memory is him coming off the bench v France in the first Croke Park match and winning the penalty that *should* have won us that game.

Best running over Wilkinson shouldnt be far behind:D

Higher

From what I hear he hates Kidney with a passion. I'm pretty sure hes lashed out at Kidney in public before. He received a lot of criticism for that and it soured his reputation in many peoples eyes but the criticism of Kidney by players is nothing new. Neil Best, Dennis Hickie, Donnacha O'Callaghan, Jamie Heaslip have all criticised Kidney. DOC basically said ROG rolls his eyes to heaven whenever Kidney is giving a pre match speech.

Hes meant to be a mad man and not one for holding back. Probably causes too much friction amongst squads.

GerM

A drunken voicemail to DK ended his international hopes. The fact that he publicly repeated the story for the media says everything we need to know about the brain power of the man.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Currently in Worchester he might be a decent replacement for Ofisa (assuming that I am right and he leaves at the end of the season) but with age profile I would rather Grace gets more game time and one of the young backrowers step up.

flyswatter

Have to say had almost completely forgotten about this guy! Vaguely remember him being highly rated a few seasons ago.

shuffol

Was a real fan favourite back in 07, I remember that in the infamous French game when he bulldozed his way through a French ruck winning possession, great moment

siltirocker

A certain Connacht player told me he was despised on that Churchill Cup campaign. Was reprimanded for lifting the cup when he was 3rd choice captain. (Captain & vice captain were on the bench as they had 80 mins in the other games).

This was reinforced later by a Munster back 3 player who was on the tour.

Iphonehelp

siltirocker wrote: »

A certain Connacht player told me he was despised on that Churchill Cup campaign. Was reprimanded for lifting the cup when he was 3rd choice captain. (Captain & vice captain were on the bench as they had 80 mins in the other games).

This was reinforced later by a Munster back 3 player who was on the tour.

The only Munster back 3 player on that tour was Niall Ronan whom I am related to and can assure you did not do anything of the sort. I think you might want to check the truth of your 'rugby friends' statements in the future.

Hagz

Iphonehelp wrote: »

The only Munster back 3 player on that tour was Niall Ronan whom I am related to and can assure you did not do anything of the sort. I think you might want to check the truth of your 'rugby friends' statements in the future.

Niall Ronan is a back three player?? Whatabout Felix Jones, Johne Murphy and Denis Hurley

siltirocker

Thank you Hagz.

I got in a lot of trouble for mentioning a certain Connacht SH by name before on here so obviously I am not going to just fire specific names out.

PhatPiggins

My favourite memory of him is him stampeding over then team mate Steven Myler in said Churchill Cup.

Easily better then any of Connachts current backrow options but far to much the villian to be acknowledged as a good player

PhatPiggins

My favourite memory of him is him stampeding over then team mate Steven Myler in said Churchill Cup.

Easily better then any of Connachts current backrow options but far too much the villian to be acknowledged as a good player

porterbelly

PhatPiggins wrote: »

My favourite memory of him is him stampeding over then team mate Steven Myler in said Churchill Cup.

Easily better then any of Connachts current backrow options but far too much the villian to be acknowledged as a good player

Johnny O Connor and Muldoon are better players than him.

Best is immature and braindead

PhatPiggins

PhatPiggins wrote: »

My favourite memory of him is him stampeding over then team mate Steven Myler in said Churchill Cup.

Easily better then any of Connachts current backrow options but far too much the villian to be acknowledged as a good player

Jesus, O'Connor is a god of the game compared to Best

totallegend

astonaidan wrote: »

Thought Best had more than 9 caps, Saying that He was always more appreciated in the SH than NH and christ I hated Easterby, Happiest day off my life when he retired tbh

Seriously???? I don't know if anyone in the SH is even aware of Neil Best, and Easterby was one of our best players over a long period of time. Bizarre comment on all levels, I can only hope it's tongue in cheek.

irishbucsfan

PhatPiggins wrote: »

Easily better then any of Connachts current backrow options but far too much the villian to be acknowledged as a good player

O'Connor, Muldoon, Ofisa, Naoupu. All a lot better than Best, who isn't exactly tearing up trees at Worcester, and didn't last season in the Championship either.

PhatPiggins

porterbelly wrote: »

Johnny O Connor and Muldoon are better players than him.

Best is immature and braindead

O Connor lots of heart, little brain and good for endangering himself with his face tackling
Muldoon lots of heart, under sized but dogged
Ofisa, speed bump
Naopou yet to prove he was more then a one season wonder

Just because you like 4 guys as people doesn't make them better players then a 'villain'

CIARAN_BOYLE

irishbucsfan wrote: »

O'Connor, Muldoon, Ofisa, Naoupu. All a lot better than Best, who isn't exactly tearing up trees at Worcester, and didn't last season in the Championship either.

Muldoon yes, JOC yes but injury prone so I wouldn't trust him to be fit, Ofisa is a lot worse than he was last season, Naoupu often plays second row cause he put on weight when injured in Japan and isn't as mobile as he was when with Connacht before.

irishbucsfan

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

Muldoon yes, JOC yes but injury prone so I wouldn't trust him to be fit, Ofisa is a lot worse than he was last season, Naoupu often plays second row cause he put on weight when injured in Japan and isn't as mobile as he was when with Connacht before.

Don't think Ofisa is worse. He's struggled with his vertigo, but when fit he has been excellent imo, I suppose thats subjective though so fair enough.

Naoupu didn't play all year in Japan, hence him being unfit, but he seems lately to be back on the way to his best and that best is certainly better than Neil Best.


Problems with Neil Best. 1. He gives away more penalties than Denis Leamy on an off day. 2. He misses more open field tackles than any other back row I've ever seen (seriously, watch the 2009 Churchill Cup or any other more recent performance of his, he's awful in defense. Even in the final he gave up a ridiculously soft try) 3. He's clearly some form of moron and is seemingly disliked by a lot of people in the Irish setup. He's a good ball carrier, and that's about as far as I would give him credit. But because ball carriers are easy to spot, people think he's a lot better than he is.

If John Muldoon was the captain of the Churchill Cup team in 2009 (I think he was, not 100%) then moving Neil Best to Connacht isn't an option anyway.

porterbelly

PhatPiggins wrote: »

O Connor lots of heart, little brain and good for endangering himself with his face tackling
Muldoon lots of heart, under sized but dogged
Ofisa, speed bump
Naopou yet to prove he was more then a one season wonder

Just because you like 4 guys as people doesn't make them better players then a 'villain'

O Connor when fit is a savage operator. Players player of the year in Connacht last year, has been overlooked for years for Ireland, but continuously puts his body on the line for his province. Lunatic yes, and suffers because of it but when fit is a thorn for the opposition and a serious asset to Connacht.

Muldoon is not under sized. He is a hugely physical player, but he lacks pace and because of the fetish in Ireland for ball carrying back rowers he has seen his stock fall. Loyal beyond words.

Ofisa has been carrying injuries and suffering from vertigo, but he put in great service over the years, ferocious tackler, and will go down as one of our best NIQ signings.

Naoupu as has been said, was out for a year with injury and is slowly returning to his best form. Anyone who saw him during his 1st spell here will agree that he's a very good player

Deliverance XXV

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXbPq1zkiQo

astonaidan

totallegend wrote: »

Seriously???? I don't know if anyone in the SH is even aware of Neil Best, and Easterby was one of our best players over a long period of time. Bizarre comment on all levels, I can only hope it's tongue in cheek.

Nope was talking about irish rugby to an aussie and new zealander at work and they were the ones who brought him up, They were wondering why he never played for us anymore

phog

Deliverance XXV wrote: »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXbPq1zkiQo

Pretty impressive stuff there.

bamboozle

porterbelly wrote: »

Johnny O Connor and Muldoon are better players than him.

Best is immature and braindead

i'd have to agree with this, have heard nothing but bad about this guy. him + booze = tsunami.

Junior

It's amazing how ye've all heard about his boozing antics but haven't heard he got banned from driving and had to go thru a rehab course. It maybe to late for him to have another chance here in Ireland, but I'm surprised that in professional setups someone like that was allowed slip thru the cracks and fall to this level.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/rugby/mature-best-now-looks-to-the-future-with-warriors-177181.html#ixzz1gUqKlvRz

PhatPiggins

Junior wrote: »

It's amazing how ye've all heard about his boozing antics but haven't heard he got banned from driving and had to go thru a rehab course. It maybe to late for him to have another chance here in Ireland, but I'm surprised that in professional setups someone like that was allowed slip thru the cracks and fall to this level.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/rugby/mature-best-now-looks-to-the-future-with-warriors-177181.html#ixzz1gUqKlvRz

Its amazing how you can read the monday morning paper before everybody else !

durkadurka

That was published in december.