Europe is front and centre for the leading lights in Irish rugby this weekend, but Ireland captain Rory Best is only too well aware of the bigger picture.
Dan McFarland’s first taste of the Heineken Champions Cup as head coach got off to a flying start as his team saw off the challenge of Leicester Tigers 24-10 in the Pool 4 opener in Belfast.
This weekend they travel to the French capital to take on a Racing 92 side buoyed by a slender one-point victory over Scarlets last time out.
"We are going to have to play better. Last Saturday against Leicester gave us a good, firm footing to try and take a big step forward," was the captain’s viewpoint when asked to reflect on the win at Kingspan Ravenhill.
Of course with the spectre of the November internationals looming on the horizon, this weekend marks another big opportunity to impress Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt ahead of a busy schedule.
The Grand Slam winners open their account in Chicago at Soldier Field against Italy, and conclude the Autumn Series against a USA side ranked 15th in the world.
Sandwiched in between lie arguably sterner tests of Ireland’s World Cup credentials. The visit of the all-conquering All Blacks on 17 November is the standout fixture, while the week before will see an ever-improving Argentina visit these shores.
Los Pumas joined Australia in claiming two victories in this year’s Rugby Championship, defeating the Springboks in Mendoza and leaving the Gold Coast with a first victory over the Wallabies since 1983.
There’s little doubt Argentina are a far more attack-minded than previous Argentina sides. Only Kiwi pair Beauden Barrett and Rieko Ioane, along with South Africa’s Aphiwe Dyantyi, crossed the whitewash more often than Nicolas Sanchez, Emiliano Boffeilli and winger Bautista Delguy who all scored four tries. Sanchez was the highest scorer in the competition and the South Americans scored four tries in their two defeats to the All Blacks.
Little wonder that Best has one eye on matters in the green jersey.
"To play four games in November is exciting. Argentina have shown over the last four-six weeks what they are capable of and how dangerous they are home and away," he said.
"To play the number one team in the world [New Zealand] is a massive opportunity for us. It’s sort of short-sighted to look at that, but it is obviously in the back of your mind that everyone wants to play in those games.
"The Autumns are special because there is a such a feel-good factor around the internationals. We’ll hope to put in a really strong performance this weekend to put a marker down that you are in good form and condition to play in those games."
Back to local matters and Best was naturally pleased to open the European account with a win. From a personal point of view, it was a positive simply getting back onto the pitch.
Prior to the 74 minutes against the Tigers, his only other appearance was in the interprovincial defeat to Connacht.
A hamstring injury has curtailed his start to the 2018/19 season, and with the hooker having turned 36 this year, admits that any setback at this juncture in his career is something has people asking questions over his future. The player himself included.
"No matter what stage of your career you are at, when you get injuries and you re-injure, and you re-injure again, you start to think, ‘is this the body telling you?’
"I’ll be a long time looking out at this field wishing I was still playing"
"When you are a bit older, people ask those questions, but I always felt it was just a niggly little thing. Given the time, I feel in a good spot now.
"I’ll be a long time looking out at this field wishing I was still playing."
