Ulster Rugby v Scarlets
Tonight, Rory Best will become Ulster's most-capped player in the Heineken Champions Cup when he leads the team out against Scarlets. RORY LEADI THE WAY
into the knockouts, and it would be Best at the forefront again when they made their spectacular run to the final in 2012. Who could forget that superb 41-7 home win over Leicester where, although the backs scored all the points, it was a dominant forwards display that set the tone and effectively sealed Ulster's place in the last eight. The biggest game of that run, however, was the memorable quarter-final win over Munster in Thomond Park, with Best among those to put in a lung-busting 80-minute performance in an infamous 22-16 victory that will live long in the memory of all Ulster fans. Best also started the semi-final win over Edinburgh and was leading from the front in the biggest European game of his Ulster career when they took on Leinster at Twickenham in a valiant performance that saw them come up short. While the games since then perhaps haven't been of the same magnitude, Best has had several big results in Europe for Ulster as his number of appearances has grown. A first win in France came in January 2013 when a dogged performance saw Ulster
Making his 72nd appearance in European club rugby's most prestigious tournament, Best will overtake the previous marker set by Andrew Trimble, which he equaled last week in Llanelli. The captain made his debut in the tournament all the way back in January 2005 when he started at Ravenhill against Gloucester, playing 56 minutes in a 14-12 win. While that campaign may not be quite so fondly remembered, given Ulster finished third in their pool and failed to reach the quarter-finals, Best has been involved in many high-profile and top quality games in Europe. After several lean years for Ulster in European competition, which always ended in an early January elimination, the Province finally reached the quarter-finals for the first time since their 1999 win in 2011. One of the biggest wins in that campaign was at home to Biarritz, with Best captaining the side to arguably Ulster's biggest European win since that victory over Colomiers when Ian Humphreys' late penalty defeated the French side 9-6 at Ravenhill. Although that year Ulster would lose in the quarter-finals, they'd finally broken
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