Best is out to add to his list of happy memories of Paris

IT’S a statement that applied to so few of his predecessors in the role of Ireland captain but Rory Best has fond recent memories of Paris. Touching down in the French capital yesterday for this evening’s Champions Cup clash with Racing 92 (5.30pm kickoff), he was returning to the scene of his second Six Nations title, coming in 2014 after Brian O’Driscoll’s final game in green.

His first game as Ireland’s permanent skipper came in Paris too, although ending in defeat, and of course, who can forget last season and Johnny Sexton’s famous drop goal?

And while Ulster’s own away form in this competition has been far from great, the days of French trips feeling a wholly futile exercise are a thing of the past too.

“Ultimately, we will gladly take 40-odd phases 85 minutes in and hit a drop-kick to win the game in Paris again,” Best chuckled.

“We will take whatever we can get to win this game, whether it is up front, out wide or through the middle.

“I think there is a different approach to away games for us and we have tried to bring it in this season. I think it is something we did lose a little bit and tried to bring in last year and the year before.

“It didn’t matter where we went, we felt we could win and I think there is that belief back again.

“It doesn’t always correspond with results but I think if you have that belief, you can always set foot on the pitch on an even footing.”

Best is likely aware that few neutrals will see it that way, with last season’s beaten finalists the overwhelming favourites on their own patch.

Bankrolled by Jacky Lorenzetti, and determined to win European rugby’s biggest prize no matter how many euros it takes, it is perhaps the Parisians’ depth that is most striking.

“Look, they have world-class players all across,” Best said.

“It is not like playing a lot of the other teams, you cannot guess their team because they have so many to pick from.

“We were doing a bit of stuff on the scrum and really which of their international props are they going to pick? It’s almost to throw a dart at a dartboard and see. We will have to do a little bit of research later.

“We do our homework on them all, but we fine-tune that after the teams are named and that goes right across the board for them, so many talented players, so many threats right across the board that we are going to have to be good.

“But that’s European rugby and that’s the challenge, and whenever you go away to the number one seeds in your pool, that’s the challenge you have to face.

“I think they will look at us and hopefully see a collective. With Donnacha Ryan, Simon Zebo and Finn Russell, to a slightly lesser extent they are going to know a little bit about us and we hope that they will be expecting a bit of a physical battle.

“When you have that much talent, you probably spend a lot of time looking at yourselves and we understand that. We are going there as massive underdogs and have to use as many of those little edges to our advantage.”

If Ulster are to have any success, it is likely they will need their leader to the fore, just as he was in last week’s win over Leicester Tigers, a performance highlighted by the unlikely twin sights of the 36-year old charging down a George Ford drop goal and nudging a grubber into the opposition 22.

Even as his career nears its conclusion, Best says he is still striving to add more strings to his bow.

“You try to work at training THE loss of John Cooney

for the game is a blow that Dan McFarland could have done without, but he can still take heart from his side’s performance last week. Still, one only has to look at the team sheet handed in by their Parisian hosts to know that this will be a different kettle of fish entirely. The sort of game where bringing any sort of consolation back to Belfast would feel like a victory.