Ireland rugby captain Rory Best has addressed his attendance at the rape trial of Ulster teammates Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding earlier this week.

After his side's 15-13 Six Nations victory over France, the Ulster hooker spoke at the post-match press conference, answering questions regarding his attendance at the trial, and whether the IRFU had given him permission to go.

"We sign out on a Tuesday night and Wednesday is our day off, so technically we don't need permission to do stuff in our own time. The reason I was there, obviously it's on the record that I was called as a character witness and I was advised that it was important that I got both sides of the story so I could make an informed decision about that, and because it's an ongoing legal matter I'll not make any comment further than that".