BEST INJURY NOT AS BAD AS FIRST THOUGHT

Best went for an x-ray on Saturday morning and the pictures indicated there was no damage to the bone, just ligament and muscle trauma.

Speaking this morning Coach Brian McLaughlin said, "We got good news about Rory this morning, the injury to his ankle was not as serious as first thought. He had an x-ray which showed no damage to the bone, although he has suffered ligament and muscle injury and these will be assessed later in the week."

Ulster Physio Gareth Robinson will see Rory later in the week to assess the damage, and implement the appropriate recovery and rehab plan.

Earlier in the week Best said both Ulster and Ireland must learn from their mistakes after both sides had disappointing campaigns.

Best, from Acton, was speaking as he was the special guest at the Banbridge District Junior Sports Awards last Wednesday night.

Ulster just about spared themselves from missing out on qualification for next season's Heineken Cup after beating Edinburgh last weekend at Murryfield and secured their European place with Friday's win.

"It has been a difficult season," he said. "Ever since we played Bath in January we went on a bit of a losing run but thankfully we got the win when it counted against Edinburgh.

"I don't think that we were playing particularly badly - we just had no luck and couldn't get the bonus points we needed.

"Over the last couple of years we have taken steps forward as a season and as a team it is important that we get momentum and learn from the last season."

Of Ireland he said, "I think the amount of rugby some of the guys had played, particularly those who were with the Lions, caught up with us.

"The French were simply unstoppable and we had no answers to any of the questions they asked of us.

"We got two great wins against England and Scotland but against Scotland I think we ended up thinking we just had to turn up and ended up with egg on our faces.

"It's all about looking to the Summer internationals now, starting with the Barbarians in June and building towards the World Cup in 2011. It's vital we go to New Zealand knowing we can get results."

Rory has his own special match coming up with his wife Jody that could impact on his summer campaign.

"We are expecting our first child on June 24 and we play Australia on the 26th," he said.

"Declan Kidney has been very good about the whole thing though and said that if anything happens he'll make sure I'm on the first flight home."

- FOR more from the Junior Sports Awards see pages 42-43.