Neil Best (born 3 April 1979 in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

) is a former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

footballer, who attended

Wellington College Belfast Wellington College Belfast (better known as Wellington College or WCB) is a co-educational, grammar school located in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The most recent principal is David Castles. The school was formed when, in 1989, the all-boys' Anna ...

and played his school rugby there until he left in 1997 after upper sixth. The last professional team he played for was London Scottish and previously played on the Irish national team. He played as a flanker. Best was a relative late comer to rugby, starting his career with

Malone RFC Malone RFC (Malone Rugby Football Club) is a rugby union club based in Belfast, in Northern Ireland playing in the Division 2B of the All-Ireland League. The club is affiliated with the Ulster Branch, itself part of the Irish Rugby Football ...

.Irish Rugby Football Union �
Neil Best Profile
, retrieved 2 September 2010 He has a BSc in chemical engineering and Msc in polymer engineering. He scored 7 tries for Ulster in 2006 – three in the Heineken Cup and four in the Celtic League. The Times newspaper reported that at the start of 2005 that he was arrested and later cautioned for a drunken assault on a club mate, which almost ended his career, however later in the year he made his Senior international début for Ireland as a replacement v

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in November 2005. Also in November 2005, he scored his 1st Test try for v

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. His form for Ulster and during the summer tour to Australia and New Zealand saw Best included in the Ireland squad for the 2006 Autumn Internationals. He was named man of the match in Ireland's 21–6 victory against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium (, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for the Aviva Stadium on ...

. It was announced in February 2008 that Best would join English side

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. The club plays in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby union. It was formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. ...

at the end of the 2007/2008 season. At the end of 2008, Best was banned from playing rugby for 18 weeks for reckless contact with

James Haskell James Andrew Welbon Haskell (born 2 April 1985) is an English former rugby union player who played chiefly as a flanker for Wasps RFC and Northampton Saints in the Aviva Premiership, and internationally for England. In August 2019 he announc ...

Best played in the Ireland A squad in the

2008 Churchill Cup The 2008 Churchill Cup took place between 7 June and 21 June 2008 in what was the sixth year of the Churchill Cup. Six rugby union teams took part: , England Saxons, Ireland A, Scotland A, the , and an Argentinian XV. Participation The entry o ...

, and also played an integral part in the Ireland A team that won the

2009 Churchill Cup The 2009 Churchill Cup took place between June 6 and June 21, 2009, marking the seventh year of the Churchill Cup. For the first time in the tournament's history, all rounds were held in the United States. This was done in an effort to reduce the ...

. In 2010, Neil joined

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors are a professional rugby union club based in Worcester, England. They most recently played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby union, before being suspended by the Rugby Football Union, RFU in September 2 ...

, before retiring in 2015. In 2010 he also had to spend time on a drink driver's rehabilitation course after having been found to be almost twice the legal limit when breathalysed by police after he crashed his Audi A3 on the A512 at Thringstone, in Leicestershire. Best was banned from driving for 17 months and fined £1250. He now coaches Singapore Irish.

References

External links

Northampton Saints profileUlster profileIreland profile
1979 births Irish rugby union players Ireland international rugby union players Ulster Rugby players Belfast Harlequins rugby union players Malone RFC players Northampton Saints players Living people Rugby union flankers Rugby union players from Belfast Ireland Wolfhounds international rugby union players People educated at Wellington College Belfast 2007 Rugby World Cup players {{Ireland-rugbyunion-bio-stub