Neil Best aiming to land new knockout blow

Neil Best fends off Mils Muliaina. Sandra Mu / Getty Images

Irish flanker Neil Best struck at least one bell-ringing blow in his first start against the All Blacks.

Listen to Best's version and it was an accidental collision - while his victim, halfback Byron Kelleher was not so sure about a "clumsy" tackle where Best used no arms and led in with his head.

"I am not going to get bitter and twisted about it, though," Kelleher said, accepting the citing commissioner at Hamilton had looked at the incident.

Kelleher hated to leave the field but knew he was not fit enough to continue. He was not about to repeat his mistake of last season when he stayed on after being badly concussed by Springbok lock Victor Matfield.

Kelleher felt dizzy after last Saturday's hit, his peripheral vision had disappeared and it took him about 20 minutes on the bench to clear his head.

The 27-year-old Best agreed the clash of heads had been an unfair contest.

"It would have been embarrassing if their scrumhalf had knocked me out in a similar situation," he said.

"I saw him down and I was a bit groggy myself. Then he got up and I thought I better play on - there was no way I was going to get any sympathy.

"I have not seen the incident again but it was accidental. I was not trying to do anything illegal but I was late to the breakdown and I thought he was going to snipe around the side, so I thought I would get him. It didn't work out right, but I did clobber him."

Best has a reputation as a tough customer - the only Ulsterman in an all-Munster pack and a late starter in international rugby.

He played soccer at school and combined rugby and rowing at university where he described himself as "70kg and fit as a fiddle".

Since those days Best has slapped on another 30kg, made his test debut as a substitute for nine minutes last season against the All Blacks before pushing into the all-Munster pack last Saturday.

"I am a late starter, but I have done four years on the bounce for my province and got a lot of experience there," he said.

Best, David Wallace and Denis Leamy were an Irish loose trio who guarded their possession so well that the All Blacks gained precious few turnovers in Hamilton.

"Maybe they got a few from our mistakes, I'm not sure," said Best, "but we knew how dangerous they are from turnovers and counter-attack and Eddie [O'Sullivan] had spoken to us about how important the breakldown area was with them having McCaw and Holah there.

"Certainly our focus was to secure our first phase, get to the breakdown first and not let them slow our ball down and probably, for the majority of the game, that is the way it happened."

Best did not take much notice of the All Blacks loose forward experiment, he acknowledged they were all world-class players.

"They can all switch and adjust, I don't think there is a massive amount of difference with any of those guys."

Best plays either side of the scrum for Ulster or his Belfast Harlequins club, he has little preference as long as it leads to his continued international selection.

"I am an intruder there though," he joked. "They all go off in a little huddle and I am left on me own before I think I better join in. There is a lot of good friendly banter, I've known the boys for years and it is nice to be involved."

There had not been any dramas fitting into the patterns the Munster pack knew so well. "It has not transpired. I have not found myself in positions I shouldn't be or maybe it is just I have not realised I am in the wrong place," Best joked.

But he was not laughing last weekend after the 34-23 defeat, a game he felt got away from the Irish.

"Usually I come off the pitch with a smile on my face but I was pissed off although I didn't want anybody to see that," he said. "It was an opportunity we missed.

"This week will be about giving it a really big go.

"The All Blacks are flesh and bone like us but the difference is that they eliminate their errors. We make a mistake and they score, they make you pay."

Best said he loved everything about Waikato Stadium - the noise, the haka, the atmosphere. It had been a privilege, but a step better at Eden Park would be out of this world.