Rob Kearney considers captain Rory Greatest is the”glue” that holds Ireland collectively but a farewell for him personally and head coach Joe Schmidt isn’t essential against Wales on Saturday.
Greatest, 37, will play his final home game at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday against Wales and will retire from Football following the World Cup in Japan.
Schmidt will resign following the tournament after six successful years at the helm, where he has overseen three Six Nations names.
But, Kearney played down the importance of a send-off for the set.
“Obviously it is very important but it’s not at the forefront of our heads,” he said.
“Performance is huge for us and even in the event that you scale back the operation, it’s putting it into cubes; the first 10 seconds, the next 10 minutes, and so on.
“We actually should ensure we are firing whatsoever cylinders for this first week, [of the championship ] so this weekend is a very significant thing for us.
“And you get to love and feel proud of committing Joe and Rory the big send-off.”
Best, who played his match for Ulster at May, will receive his 120th cap – earning him the third-highest restricted player in Ireland’s history – supporting Ronan O’Gara and Brian O’Driscoll.
“It is huge, is not it? And sometimes I think it will get a little helpless,” Kearney said on Best’s leadership before Ireland’s final World Cup warm-up game.
“A number of those momentous victories we have had as a group have been under Rory. He is a leader that is brilliant, he’s the glue that brings the group together a great deal.
“Again, he’s a man who’s training really well and I am sure he is quite excited to get out there and also show that he’s still hugely effective at producing big performances, even at his old age”
Ireland returned to winning ways last weekend after they have been comprehensively beaten by England 57-15 at Twickenham, edging out Wales 22-17 in Cardiff on Saturday.
Schmidt’s unwanted face Scotland in their first World Cup group stage match on September 22, before enjoying hosts Japan six days.
Read more here: http://www.fortoli.cn/?p=20846