Captain Best is backing Ireland’s Grand plan

IRELAND’S Grand Slam plan is about to be unveiled — and if it works, Rory Best expects them to be celebrating this evening. They won’t be alone in that case, with Irish people at home and abroad willing on this remarkable group to become just the third Irish team to complete a Grand Slam. The task they face in Twickenham against a wounded but still powerful England is imposing, but Best says if the weeks of hard work devoted to this task come off, then it will be enough to see Ireland to victory. ‘I think what we will go out with is a plan, that we feel if we implement as close to perfectly as we can, then we will win the game,’ he said. ‘That youthful exuberance and energy that we have talked about, they [the young players in the team] haven’t been to places like Twickenham; they haven’t been in games where we have been beaten up in. ‘We cannot go out without respecting the opposition, like we always do, but we have got to make sure we don’t go into our shells, and we use a bit of that fear, and a bit of that “no fear” attitude.’ And Best revealed that the heroes of 2009 have also been weighing in with their support this week. The

captain came on as a replacement in the decisive win against Wales that season, as did his best friend, Denis Leamy. ‘We’ve been getting a few texts. I suppose you know how big the game is whenever somebody like Denis Leamy picks the phone up and tries to put some kind of text together. It’s borderline English!’ laughed Best. ‘But when you get bits and pieces like that and you get guys that you played with, that maybe you haven’t seen or spoken with in a long time, I think everyone knows the magnitude of the game anyway, but it’s good that these guys are willing you on,’ he remarked. Dylan Hartley, Best’s opposite number and back in the English team as captain for today’s Twickenham encounter, insisted his men still believe in their quality after suffering consecutive defeats. ‘Of course we are a good team. We are still a good team,’ said Hartley. ‘Two losses don’t mean we are not a good team. ‘It’s all part of our journey and to end the tournament on a good result for us will be reward for a lot of work that has gone into this campaign,’ he added. ‘The guys owe it to themselves first and foremost, but also to our crowd and our general support. We’re excited and we want to finish the tournament on a good result. ‘We’ve obviously had a bit of learning over the last few weeks but we are hungry, we are hungry to go out and perform, and we’re hungry to get a result.’