‘Italy are going to come at us,” warns Rory Best, his sonorous Ulster accent rising and falling like a seesaw. “We know it’s going to be physical. And if we don’t prepare ourselves for that, they’ll steamroller us. This is not just one step up, it’s three or four steps up from what we’ve faced so far at the World Cup.”
All front-rowers know what awaits against Italy on Sunday. Few, though, can explain it quite as eloquently as Ireland’s hooker, who will be winning his 86th cap against the Azzurri. “When you set up a maul they hit probably harder than anyone else,” says Best, clasping his thick farmers’ hands together. “They have probably a bit less regard for their own body whenever they are hitting. And they will scrum for 10 or 15 seconds, whereas with other teams it’s maybe five, six, seven, eight seconds. When you are in a scrum for that length of time and you get up and try and run again it really takes it out of you. You feel battered.
“Then there’s their line speed. If you don’t run good lines, and you don’t get any pace in the ball, they will hit you very hard because they are big, physical, men.”
So far the Italians have offered little else but brash physicality. A 22-point opening weekend defeat to France was followed by a lengthy struggle to quell Canada’s exuberance, and their 23-18 victory hardly suggested a team capable of beating Ireland. Best, though, is not taking anything for granted, especially given the return from injury of Italy’s captain, Sergio Parisse.
“In 2011, I hurt my shoulder playing against Italy in our World Cup game in Dunedin,” he says. “The ball broke loose and I scooped it up, but as I did so Parisse absolutely smashed me. That would be typical of their commitment. When that ball was breaking it probably should have been mine, but Parisse got it close enough to 50-50 that he was able to wallop into me.”
Ireland have enjoyed a smooth passage, beating Canada and Romania by a combined margin of 77 points and avoiding serious injuries to their squad, so, like everyone else, Best is allowing himself to glimpse at the path ahead. Victory against Italy at the Olympic Stadium and France next Sunday would lead to a probable quarter-final against Argentina at the Millennium Stadium. After that, all roads lead to Twickenham.
“Certainly in my time with Ireland it’s as good a bunch of guys as I’ve played alongside,” says Best, who made his debut against the All Blacks in November 2005. “Even when we make changes within the team, the level of consistency is still there. But as well as that, there’s just good craic and it doesn’t matter who you get stuck with. At dinner, everyone mixes in and gets on and there’s nobody that doesn’t get on and that’s a good place to be.”
The journalists embedded at Ireland’s training camp in Guildford confirm the mood is relaxed but focused, with the squad balancing rigorous training sessions with days out to see One Direction and drive around Mercedes-Benz World in nearby Weybridge. “We thought we were going fast but when the instructors took us for a lap afterwards, we were only tiddling along by comparison,” says Best, who sheepishly admits that there has been a more limited take up to the farming trip he has planned for this week.
“But it’s important that you get downtime away from rugby,” he says. “It’s a very intense tournament and you only get a crack at it every four years. There’s a lot of heat about it. At the same time, you have to get away. In 2007, when you look back, we didn’t have enough craic off the pitch. Four years ago, we got it right for a bit and then it swung too much towards the craic and not enough work, so it’s important that we get that balance right. With Joe Schmidt, it’s very much a case of when we’re in, we work hard, but when we get a break, we take it.”
Best has nothing but praise for Schmidt, the New Zealand-born coach who has taken Ireland to successive Six Nations titles. But he knows that Schmidt has little time for sentimentality, or anyone who switches off. “If you don’t know your role or you don’t execute a play as accurately as Joe wants, he brings someone else in,” says Best. “He has shown that, has proven that and done that in training. It brings a bit of an edge. You make sure you have done your homework so that you are ready to go.”
Sometimes Schmidt will write plays on the board and then scrub them off, having expected his team to have learned them. “If he gives you 30 seconds to learn a play he is not the sort of coach to give you leeway,” says Best. “It will be like 30 seconds isn’t enough for him, so let’s see if 30 seconds is enough for the next guy. That is what you are dealing with. Once you get your head around that, it’s great that you are challenged every day, and every day he tries to put you under pressure and he tries to rattle you. Because ultimately Italy aren’t going to give you 30 seconds to learn something. They are going to give you a split second to get something right.”
Best’s countenance suggests that he, along with the rest of Ireland’s squad, are revelling in Schmidt’s challenges – and those that await at this World Cup.
