Rory Best’s warning to Wales

Mar 2 2008 by Our Correspondent, Wales On Sunday

RORY BEST has stoked the flames ahead of Saturday’s Triple Crown clash with Wales and declared: ‘You haven’t been tested yet’.

Former Ireland coach and now Wales boss Warren Gatland returns to Dublin following successive Six Nations wins over England, Scotland and Italy.

But the Ireland and Ulster hooker believes Gatland’s side have got off lightly in the competition so far.

And Best insists Eddie O’Sullivan’s side will start their preparation for the Croke Park clash by targeting Wales’ suspect line-out.

Best said: “We feel they’ve not been pressurised yet. England put a bit of pressure on them at Twickenham but let them off the hook in the last 10-15 minutes. We want to start well and then continue to do that for the full 80 minutes.

“We will sit down tomorrow and do our homework on them. We’ll take their line-out apart and see how we can benefit from it.

“I don’t have any preference who plays. That will be Warren Gatland’s choice and we will look more at ourselves and how we can break them down.

“Wales are playing really good rugby, they’ve got their tails up and will be a difficult side to stop.

“But Croke Park has been a happy hunting ground for us. We want that to continue.

“We’ve been going well recently and we’re confident. We will do everything we can to keep that record going.”

Best skippered lowly Ulster to a well-deserved 20-8 victory over Magners League title contenders Llanelli Scarlets at Ravenhill on Friday night.