Best takes loss on the chin but backs Ireland to respond against Scots
RORY BEST has backed his Ireland team to bounce back from last night’s humbling loss at the hands of a rampant England outfit.
Ireland suffered their first home defeat in the Six Nations under Joe Schmidt as England stormed to a 32-20 win in Dublin, with their allLions front five of Mako Vunipola, Jamie George, Kyle Sinckler, Maro Itoje and George Kruis laying the foundations for victory.
With their dream of back-to-back Grand Slams now in tatters, Ireland must pick themselves up and get ready for next Saturday’s meeting with Scotland at Murrayfield, the scene of another opening day defeat in the 2017 edition of the championship.
‘I think we’ve talked a lot about the character of the squad and the sort of character that comes on the back of putting wins together,’ he said.
‘I’ve no doubt that we’ll respond. We’ll have to just take this on the chin. We were bettered by England in probably all the facets of the game.
‘We’ll get some harsh feedback, some constructive feedback from the coaches and we will build into next week and we know that we’re going to have to better, better physically and just right across the board. It’s going to be a tough test.
‘Murrayfield is a really, really hard place to go and win, but it will be a huge test for us.
‘I think it’s important that you spend this little bit of time reflecting on an uncharacteristic performance from us, and you’ve got to digest that and you’ve got to use that in the right way.’
Joe Schmidt admitted that this four-try hammering would serve as a ‘wake up call’ to the squad
ahead of the World Cup in Japan. This is third Six Nations in succession when Ireland have struggled to hid the ground running.
It is an alarming trend, but Best was refusing to press the panic button.
‘I don’t necessarily think it’s a wake up call,’ added Best. ‘We always talk about trying to continually improve and we were under no illusions as to how good England were.
‘The disappointing thing for us is the way we started. When you play internationals, away from home especially, you want to get a foothold in the game early. We let England get that and we didn’t ever get back onto the front foot.
‘Whenever that happens to you it’s really difficult. I don’t think we need wake up calls to want to improve. We’ll look at the ways we can get better. We prepared well and we’re prepared to go out and win a game.
‘We’ll have to work hard this week to make sure that whatever happened in the preparation that we just didn’t get the physical edge that we’re used to getting.’