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Rory Best breaks silence on rape trial attendance controversy

RoryBest

Irish Captain Rory Best broke his silence regarding his attendance at the trial of Ulster teammates Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding at Laganside Crown Court this week.

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In the build-up to Ireland opening Natwest 6 Nations match with France in Paris, an aggressive online campaign was launched against Best after he and fellow Irish international Iain Henderson were pictured at the rape trial.

Using the hashtag #notmycaptain, the campaign questioned why the 35-year-old was in attendance at the trial of his friend and teammate given the sensitive nature of the charges against the players and the fact that the alleged victim in the case was giving evidence on the day that they attended.

Best broke his silence at the post-France press conference and explained exactly why he was at the trial.

“We sign out on Tuesday night, Wednesday is our day off, so technically we don’t need permission to do stuff on our own time.

“The reason I was there, it’s on the record I’ve been called as a character witness. I was advised it was important to attend, so I got both sides of the story.

“Because it’s an ongoing legal matter, I will make no further comment than that.”

The online ‘outrage’ saw hundreds of social media posts claim they would not be watching Ireland’s match against France as a result of the attendance of the Irish captain at the trial.

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The following tweets give a flavour of the #notmycaptain campaign.

https://twitter.com/RoughanMac/status/959188506064117761

https://twitter.com/modernbanshee/status/959866072307511298

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C
CO 23 minutes ago
Forget Ireland, the All Blacks face the real alpha of Europe next

I cannot believe that you don't think the French rugby team coach and captain are not discussing putting Jalibert on the bench in favour of Duponts club teammate that doesn't even play at 10.


This is a terrible, massive insult to a 10 and I'm sure Dupont would also be very enraged if benched for a player that doesn't even play halfback.


A good captain would've insisted to the coach that it was an idea of madness and either select Jalibert or replace him with another 10 if you want him to be reserve.


Jalibert may not be the world's finest tacklers but that's often not a tens main strength that the loose forwards and second five cover. An intercept pass is never great but they happen.


When any player is playing for his club then it's club first, respect doesn't need to be shown to opposition players simply because they're internationals.


Who exactly are you claiming Jalibert hasn't respected? If it's Toulouse international players then it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this bench demotion out.


The outcome of selecting Jalibert to the bench and he then throwing his croissants out the window of the team bus immediately prior to playing the Allblacks is a disaster that will be team disharmony as any team mates of Jalibert are in a state of anger and revolt so a performance that will be sub optimal against a team that is thirsting for revenge against France.


I don't know about you but the Allblacks are very upset they've lost twice in a row to France and want to put out a statement performance so this preparation by Galthie of creating havoc looks to me like a coach that is clueless.

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