Rory Best: Ireland skipper aims to sign off with Six Nations and World Cup success

Best’s contract with the IRFU will end after the Rugby World Cup in November and it now seems inevitable that – injury permitting – the hooker will bring the curtain down on his international career at the same time as Schmidt steps down from his role.

But the Ulster captain has yet to decide whether or not to continue playing with his province, where he has achieved a talismanic status.

“Every now and again I think right I can make a decision something happens – you get 10 points against Scarlets in December – and I’m loving playing for Ulster at the minute,” Best explains.

“Then you go out and its lashing rain and it feels more like snow than rain and its windy and you are looking at yourself thinking ‘why am I still doing this?’.

“Ulster haven’t pushed me to do anything and the IRFU haven’t pushed me towards anything but I will make a decision sooner rather than later.

“At the minute I’m just in a rare position where I can just see what happens as I go along.”

But before that decision day arrives, there is still unfinished business before he contemplates retiring to the farm: “The last two things would be to captain Ireland at a World Cup and then to win a quarter-final, they are the two big things that I have never done before.

“To go to a fourth World Cup would be unbelievable. The fact that they are four years apart and I would have been able to go to four of them means you have obviously stood the test of time.

“So to be able to captain them and win a quarter-final, that would mean I could eventually retire from the game and sort of be happy with my contribution not just to Ulster rugby but to Irish rugby on a world stage.”

Rory Best: A Life in Rugby – BBC One NI on Wednesday, 30 January at 22:40 GMT