Guinness November Series: Ireland v Australia (today, 5.30pm, Aviva Stadium, live on RTÉ2 & Sky Sports 2)
WHEN Rory Best first entered the Lansdowne Road arena, it was to a muted, despondent crowd.
The extension of Doug Howlett’s right arm had just earned him a second try of the day and pushed New Zealand into a 45-0 lead when the future Ulster and Ireland captain was brought in to replace Shane Byrne for the final four minutes.
A late Marcus Horan try avoided a whitewash for the Irish. Little did it appear that any stars had been born that afternoon.
Eleven years and two weeks on, his Ulster team-mate Tommy Bowe and Sale’s 38-year-old scrum-half Peter Stringer are the only others still playing professional rugby.
This evening, on the same patch of ground but in very different circumstances and surroundings, Rory Best will become Ireland’s fifth centurion.
The quietly-spoken Poyntzpass hooker, a man of farming stock and rugby blood, will join the famous company of Brian O’Driscoll, Paul O’Connell, Ronan O’Gara and John Hayes in reaching the 100 cap threshold.
He played under the reputed captaincies of O’Driscoll and O’Connell, taking over from the latter after the 2015 World Cup, and has long been a leader by example in the number two shirt.
"I think it's probably safe enough to say I didn't ever anticipate this," he told the press after yesterday’s captain’s run.
"When you get your first cap for Ireland it's like a dream come true and all you want to do is get the next one.
"After that every time you get picked you feel incredibly lucky.
"Then you tick quite close to 50 and you think 'imagine getting to 50'.
"But now to be on the verge of 100 caps, it's quite difficult to believe.
"I think it will probably be more important whenever I eventually do retire, which will hopefully be a while, and you sit back and look at everything you've achieved.
"But when I do look back this will rank up there as one of, if not the best achievements I've had in the game.
"I feel I'm playing well. There's a lot made of turning 30, everyone then says you're done. But for me age is just a number.
"When you've never been overly fast and you lose a little bit of pace as you get older, hopefully it doesn't matter. Hopefully you make it up in your head.
"I don't see that I'm playing any worse than I ever did, so I feel fit, happy with my game and the big thing for me is I'm really enjoying it at the minute."
In his tenure as captain, Ireland have won in South Africa and broken their 111-year duck against New Zealand. And, in what will be just his 11th cap as captain, he stands on the verge of making more history.
Martin Johnson captained England to World Cup wins over South Africa and Australia in 2003, having earlier guided them to victory over the All Blacks in Wellington. They were the last team from the northern hemisphere to beat the big three from the southern hemisphere in a calendar year.
That summer win in Cape Town and the victory in Chicago will be go down in folklore. It would be nice to complete the set on home turf in front of what will be an expectant home crowd.
There was nothing muted about the Aviva last Saturday as Ireland looked to complete back-to-back wins over New Zealand, but ultimately injuries cost them as the All Blacks were able to blunt them in a fairly ruthless fashion.
The physical toll of that afternoon may not yet be fully established. When Joe Schmidt named his team on Thursday it didn’t seem as heavy as it might have done, but the need for late fitness tests on Sean O’Brien and Jared Payne underline the struggle to repair the bodies.
But if the performance last week proved anything, it’s that Ireland have begun to the win the battle of the mind.
The natural, national mentality to be happy playing the plucky underdog would almost certainly have undermined hopes of reproducing such a display against the All Blacks as they did in Dublin.
Things went against them in the sense of injuries to key players early in the game. Having Paddy Jackson and Garry Ringrose trying to join up in a game of such magnitude with so little experience was hardly ideal.
That they’ve had a full week together now running the lines will help immeasurably. Even if Payne fails his fitness test and Stuart Olding comes into the side, at least it will be an Ulster team-mate by Jackson’s side.
There is pressure on Jackson to perform. Johnny Sexton is 31 now and his growing susceptibility to injury means that there will be more and more game time for the second-choice ten.
Jackson has had to be more than patient with Ian Madigan’s more regular appearance in matchday 23s in recent seasons, and he will not want to relinquish what is a big opportunity. And lest we forget, he was the form Irish fly-half last season.
It’s also a big afternoon for Iain Henderson, who makes his first start of the November Series.
Australia come to Dublin looking to complete an unbeaten Autumn. They’ve been in recovery since the morale-draining World Cup final loss to New Zealand led to a run of six straight defeats, including a whitewash at the hands of England in the summer series.
Another heavy defeat at the hands of their trans Tasman rivals in the Bledisloe Cup blunted a bit of momentum. Their characteristic destruction of Wales was followed by narrow wins over Scotland and France, with the Stretch Armstrong right paw of Tevita Kuridrani sealing both of those victories.
Former Leinster coach Michael Cheika does not have a side brimming with confidence, but they retain the ability to cut loose on their day.
Nine changes in all he makes from the France game, with Michael Hooper and Israel Folau reintroduced. David Pocock is well through the process of feeling his way back into international rugby and he shifts to number eight.
Ireland may have proven something to themselves with the manner of their display last Saturday, but replicating that on a truly consistent basis will be the only thing that gives ground to genuine hopes as they work towards 2019.
Any step backwards and the Wallabies will punish. But on the most special of occasions for their popular leader, it’s hard to imagine the Irish players letting Rory Best down.
Ireland: R Kearney; A Trimble, J Payne, G Ringrose, K Earls; P Jackson, C Murray; J McGrath, R Best, T Furlong; I Henderson, D Toner; CJ Stander, S O’Brien, J Heaslip
Replacements: S Cronin, C Healy, F Bealham, U Dillane, J van der Flier, K Marmion, J Carbery, S Zebo
Australia: I Folau; D Haylett-Petty, T Kuridrani, R Hodge, H Speight; B Foley, W Genia; S Sio, S Moore, S Kepu; R Arnold, R Simmons; D Mumm, M Hooper, D Pocock
Replacements: T Latu, J Slipper, A Alaalatoa, K Douglas, L Timani, S McMahon, N Phipps, Q Cooper, S Naivalu
