He ended it wondering if he'd make it through the night alive.

Talk about having your life turned upside down in one day ... and Simon Best is about to.

It's now almost three weeks since that fateful day in France when Ulster rugby ace Best - a fit as a fiddle, strong as an ox prop forward on World Cup duty with Ireland, fell seriously ill while strolling along a street in Bordeaux.

He could hardly speak, suffered a loss of sensation down his right side, and his head was throbbing.

Worryingly, he had no idea what was happening to him.

Frighteningly, for a long time, neither did the French doctors at the hospital he was rushed to.

When the specialists finally did arrive at a diagnosis, it certainly wasn't what the former Ulster captain wanted to hear.

He had an irregular heartbeat. He knew his World Cup was over. And he is still waiting to find out if his career is about to end as well.

"I started feeling pins and needles, almost a numbness in my right leg," recalled the 29-year- old Co Armagh man.

"It moved up to my thigh and I thought it was a muscle spasm from training. Then, the numbness moved into my forearm and my hand. Suddenly, I lost control and I dropped my mobile phone. But I thought I was fine. It was only when I realised I couldn't speak that I began to worry."

It has only been 13 days since Best arrived back in Belfast, having spent six days holed up in two different French hospitals.

Ironically, the incident - which prompted a series of MRI scans, angiograms, ultra sound tests and a CT - happened on a day when the Irish squad was given time off to escape the stresses of what was becoming a rather dismal World Cup campaign.

Prior to the attack, he had been with fellow Ulster player Paddy Wallace. Within the hour he was surrounded by doctors in casualty at Bordeaux's Pellegrin Hospital.

"I remember thinking that it was like having a stroke," revealed Simon. "I didn't really believe I was, but I imagine the symptoms would be similar. I certainly didn't feel a heart problem.

"The inability to speak was definitely the most disturbing thing about it. I remember walking along the road with Paddy, trying to say something, but I wasn't able to get the words out.

"It took a lot of concentration to say anything. The pain was coming and going and when we went back to the hotel, our team doctor Gary O'Driscoll took me to hospital (he ended up spending 26 hours with Best). I thought it wasn't that major, probably just fatigue.

"Then I had a panic attack inside the MRI scanner. When I came out my speech was gone. I couldn't say what I wanted to say. I tried to ask for a glass of water, but something else came out. Nobody could understand me."

He added: "It was very worrying, very frustrating, not knowing what was up and if the speech would come back. The doctors were being very comforting but I wasn't really aware of what was going on and I couldn't ask them what was happening."

The next morning, Best's speech returned, but when his heart rate became irregular, he was promptly transferred to Haut Leveque - one of France's leading cardiology hospitals.

All told, it took almost three days for his condition to stabilise. His wife Katy (29) - who immediately jumped on a plane after hearing the news - remained by his side throughout those dark hours. His parents, John and Pat, also flew over.

Yet despite endless tests, expert examinations and meetings with various specialists, there remains no exact diagnosis of the problem.

But Best, a strong sportsman and grounded optimist, is not prepared to crumble under the cloud over his future.

"I still don't know what is really wrong with me," he admitted. " It's still undiagnosed. I have to see the specialist again in Dublin in two weeks, but it could be months before we know.

"Not playing again has crossed my mind, but I'm not dwelling on it."

He added: "This is so unexpected. It was a real eye-opener for me. Normally, I have a plan and then, suddenly, I was in hospital, not knowing what was going on."

Despite being hospitalised, at the time Best still felt the incident was a minor blip in his preparations for the crucial encounter against the Argentines.

"I was convinced it wouldn't affect the game on Saturday," he said. "I wasn't panicked. I felt that I had been fit a couple of hours beforehand, so why would that change? I thought it had to be something simple.

"The Welsh captain, Gareth Thomas, once burst a blood vessel in his neck when he was under stress in an interview, so I thought it might have been something like that, although I didn't feel particularly stressed."

He added though: "It did cross my mind what had happened to young John McCall, the Armagh schools rugby captain, who suddenly died on the pitch a couple of years ago."

From farming stock, Best studied agriculture at university in Newcastle, before turning professional when he graduated in 1999.

Captaining Ulster and Ireland are among his sporting highlights to date, but apart from rugby, Best's endeavours have extended to setting up a paintball company, Acton Adventures, near his hometown, Pontyzpass.

"I don't like golf, so the company has given me an interest outside rugby and it's going really well," he admitted.

But the man has other ambitions.

After proposing to Katy, a business development manager at Belfast City Airport, on bended knee, the couple married earlier this year, in June - just five days after he returned from tour in South America, during which he had the honour of captaining Ireland.

After breaking his ring finger, he had an operation just three days before the wedding - although it sounds like his rugby-loving better half knows only too well the perils of his passion.

"We went on honeymoon to Tanzania, but only for eight days because the World Cup was coming up," he revealed. "Katy comes to every game and she's a great support."

He added: "We hope to have a family in future. I hope to have a son who plays for Ireland."

Best played down the rumours about some Irish players, including Ronan O'Gara, during the tournament, after the French media exercised a mud slinging campaign.

Certainly, they did little to boost morale as the squad's lacklustre performances inevitably sealed their rapid departure after crushing defeats against France and Argentina.

In the end, Best flew home on the same day as his fully fit but rather shamed team-mates.

"There was a lot of expectation on us and justifiably so," he admitted. "It's very hard to put my finger on what went wrong.

"The rumours really annoyed me. It was a form of psychological warfare, but as professional sportsmen we have to accept that. We're all pretty close. I think Ronan coped really well."

Best's youngest brother Rory (25) also plays for Ireland - "It's always a special feeling, knowing that your brother is beside you. We are a very close family." The soft spoken front row man often enjoys matches with brother Mark (27), his dad (no mean player himself in days gone by) and his mates.

"Rugby is very important to me," he said. "It has been my job. It's more than a job. It has been a passion of mine since I was six years old.

"I was brought up on a farm and I have always expected to go back. I have always wanted to go back and settle there. Rugby has meant I haven't had to go back too soon, but ultimately I will go back."

And, what if that turns out to be sooner rather than later?

"It would be a massive shock if it happened right now," he admitted. "I always intended to play for another few years. I feel that I still have a lot to offer and there are things I still want to achieve.

"It would be hard to imagine - professionally aside - if I can't play in future. I wouldn't imagine my rugby finishing after my professional career."

He added: "It's a rest of my life thing. I'm only back from France, so it probably hasn't had time to hit home yet. It's early days. Tough times never last, tough people do."