'There aren't many better places to play in world rugby'
Rory Best is relishing the chance to sign off from the Six Nations with a crunch clash against Wales in Cardiff next week.
The Ireland captain scored a try in Sunday's bonus-point 26-14 win over France, which kept alive their hopes of retaining the championship.
Best revealed earlier in the week that he would almost certainly call it quits after the Rugby World Cup in Japan, bringing to an end a professional career that started in 2004.
But first he wants to help guide his country to what could be a title-clinching win over table-topping Wales, who beat Scotland 18-11 on Saturday.
"To go to Murrayfield and play like that shows where Wales are at the minute and Cardiff is a tough place to go, so we'll dust ourselves down and prepare well," Best told ITV.
"It's a great place to finish off my Six Nations career. There aren't many better places to play in world rugby and it will be a fantastic occasion to sign off."
Reflecting on the victory in Dublin, where Ireland eased off to allow France two late tries, Best conceded the hosts had failed to make their dominance show in the final scoreline.
"I think we had chances with a series of scrums on their line and we just let ourselves down a little bit, but we are happy with the way we controlled the game," said the 36-year-old.
"We had chances in the first half and maybe we could have put more away, but you cannot underestimate how physical that French side is.
"We weren't expecting to get as many line-outs as we did and a few things came off and a few didn't.
"We know going to Cardiff next week we will have to be a lot better and the exciting thing is how we get our teeth into that."
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Luke Cowan-Dickie i'd assume
Go to commentswe need a damaging 12 that takes 2 men to tackle that will take pressure off the 10 while also creating space for the 10 and 13 . Leicester is the only guy that fits the mould . The next thing is " will he be able to develop a good offload " ? .
for 13 Joey manu has more x factor then reiko and jordie put togeather . he's got one season in japan before he looks to come home . he's a dark horse but his skill set is something the All Blacks don't have . if he comes home and lights up the npc in a game or 2 , id love to see him fast tracked and come off the bench for the All Blacks and thrown into the deep end to see if he can swim . Just to see if he's worth the time and effort to develop further . We all saw how good sualii did for the wallabies and joey manu is just as good as sualii . He's safe under the high ball , a solid defender , has a master offload , and he's fast and strong .
he fits the mould for razor's offload tactics .
Plus reiko and jordie have had the 12 & 13 for how long and I haven't seen anything special from either of them .
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