Rory Best will play his 100th cap for Ireland later today as he leads his team out against Australia at Aviva stadium in Dublin later this evening.
In the space of a year, Best has emerged from the giant shadow cast by previous captain Paul O'Connell and led Ireland to historic wins against South Africa and New Zealand.
Today. This. 2. #Besty100 #TeamOfUs #shouldertoshoulder pic.twitter.com/X9PBho2EDz
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) November 26, 2016
Ireland go into this evening's game on the brink of beating the three southern hemisphere giants within the space of six months having endured an injury-ravaged 6 Nations earlier in the year.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference Best said: "I think it's probably safe enough to say I didn't ever anticipate this. 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 unbelievably 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," he added.
Enjoy the hundy club bro #tooeasy #💯 pic.twitter.com/yz4246Pj8A
— Nick Williams (@nick8williams) November 26, 2016
Ireland are still sweating on the fitness of Sean O'Brien and Jared Payne with Peter O'Mahony and Rory Scannell currently on stand-by.
The home side go into the game currently occupying 4th place in the world rankings, one spot behind Australia. A win today would further increase Ireland's lead over 5th placed South Africa with the 2019 Rugby World Cup pool draw due to take place next year.
An Englishman says an Irishman is the best man to lead the Lions to NZ next year! #IRLvAUShttps://t.co/mVVV73Y2sj
— RUGBYcomau (@rugbycomau) November 26, 2016
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