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'It is with mixed feelings that I announce my retirement from Ulster'

Rory Best leads Ulster on a lap of honour after the Champions Cup win over Racing 92 in January (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

Ulster and Ireland captain Rory Best has confirmed that he will retire from professional rugby when his current contract expires after the Rugby World Cup in Japan.

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“It is with mixed feelings that I announce my retirement from Ulster Rugby as of the end of this season,” said Best. “This feels like the right time for me to go out on my terms, a luxury for which I feel very privileged.

“I am very excited for the end of the season with Ulster Rugby and for the upcoming World Cup with Ireland, both of which I hope to finish with a massive high, playing at the top of my game.

“In my 15 years at this brilliant club, I have been lucky to have met, played alongside, been coached by and supported by many great people, and I would like to thank every individual for the time they have invested in me since 2004.

“I grew up supporting Ulster Rugby, have been fortunate to play and captain Ulster Rugby, and now look forward to supporting Ulster Rugby in the future with my family.”

Best will bow out with a hugely impressive list of honours, having spent 15 seasons at the top level. He began his rugby development at Banbridge, with whom he is still involved, while he also played at Portadown College and Belfast Harlequins on route to the professional game.

He made his competitive debut for Ulster in 2004 and has amassed 219 appearances to date, scoring 23 tries. He was a key member of the squad which won the Celtic League title in 2005/06.

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Best is Ulster’s most-capped international with 116 appearances (10 tries) and has helped Ireland win the Six Nations Championship on four occasions, including two Grand Slam successes (one as captain). He captained Ireland to its first ever win against New Zealand in 2016 and has steered the country to second in the world rankings.

He was a member of the British & Irish Lions squad for the 2013 and 2017 tours to Australia and New Zealand respectively, and was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to rugby.

Paying tribute to Best, Ulster’s operations director Bryn Cunningham said: “No player representing Ulster Rugby has had a more profound impact in the professional era than Rory.

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“When Rory enters the room, everyone waits for his words. On the training pitch, he demands high standards at all times. During a match, players turn to Rory for leadership and direction. He has been our all-encompassing talismanic figure for more than a decade.

“Rory’s ability to not only stay at the top, but also fight his way through adversity, shows the strength of character he possesses.

“The ever-present support of the Best family on the side-lines, in particular Jodie, Ben, Penny and Richie, encapsulates Rory as the ultimate family man. We know that they will continue to follow Ulster Rugby for many years to come.

“Rory will justifiably go down as one of the greatest legends of Ulster and Irish Rugby.”

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GrahamVF 16 minutes ago
How law changes are speeding up the game - but the scrum lags behind

So does mauling Nick. My understanding of the game is that the essence is a fair physical competition for the ball. So is it not fair that if one of the elements of the game is better suited to a particular physical characteristic of an individual or a team, that individual or team should be able to use that to his/their advantage? If the opposition get tired because of that is it unfair. For me a fair physical competition means that each side has an equal opportunity to do to the other side what is being done to them. When you start to say no you can't do this or that because it will slow the game down or make the other side tired you are on a long slippery slope to uncontested scrums and rucks.

From the time the rules changed from having to let the ball go if the knee touched the ground to being able to pass or place it the game swung towards league which clearly was the objective. And just a question. Does the ruck and maul count as ball in play? Are we counting the seconds it takes to clear a ruck as ball in play? (Perhaps we should introduce a rule that says that if after five phases the side hasn't progressed say 20m then the ball goes to the other side.) Or how long the ball is mauled? Refs don't all call the "use it" uniformly. I also think we should reexamine the refereeing protocol at scrum time. Half of the time is taken up by the three phase protocol and I'm not sure it did anything to improve the scrum. Get the two rows to face each other and get on with it. Scrummie puts the ball in when his team call for it - end of story. If you look at the scrums before the ref started calling the phases they were much quicker. I have been watching some of the internationals in the 60's and I'd love to do an analysis of ball in play then. Yes there were more scrums but far fewer rucks and far more opportunities for the backs to have a go one on one. We won't go back to the old playing the ball on the ground law but we don't need to move further and further towards league. American football is the most stop start of just about any team game and it is anything but boring, and if the Americans didn't believe that the world series was played between US teams, American football might well have become a very popular global sport.

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