Neil Best

Neil Best (born 3 April 1979 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a former rugby union player, who played for Ulster, Northampton Saints, Worcester Warriors, London Scottish, and the Irish national team. He played as a flanker.

He attended Wellington College Belfast and played his school rugby there until he left in 1997 after upper sixth. He started his club career with Malone RFC. 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 debut for Ireland as a replacement v New Zealand in November 2005. Also in November 2005, he scored his 1st Test try for v Romania.

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 at Lansdowne Road. He now coaches Singapore Irish.