LOTS TO LOSE
Ferris fears for Ulster as stop-start season threatens to derail a year full of promise
“It’s difficult to expect Leinster to be back at their old level”
WHILE many fear the possibility of Leinster’s all-conquering season being scrapped, Ulster have every right to feel worse about such a dire scenario.
For Leinster, losing the opportunity to go undefeated for an entire season would be a body blow, especially given Leo Cullen’s penchant for the big prizes in recent years — yet for Ulster, the undoing of their achievements in 2019/20 could be harder to take.
As it stands, things are looking promising. The campaign is set to resume with August’s interprovincial series while the Champions Cup is being touted for completion, even if there is no venue set for the final.
This is good news for Ulster coach Dan McFarland who has transformed his side into the second best team in Ireland, a mantle cemented by their pre-lockdown demolition of Munster.
With a Champions Cup quarterfinal against Toulouse on the cards, fans would be correct in thinking they have a lot to lose. And former backrow Stephen Ferris is one who fears the unforeseen off-season could cost Ulster their fluency.
‘You have to look at some of the players who were in form at the time. The likes of Ulster were playing really good rugby,’ said Ferris, speaking at the launch of Heineken’s #SocialiseResponsibly campaign.
‘Are they able to flick it back on again when things return? Hopefully they can.
‘The likes of Billy Burns was playing well and as an individual some lads flick a switch and get back to where they were but it’s hard to do that as a team.
‘It is hard for the likes of Ulster who were playing so well but the message from Dan McFarland
Guarded: Stephen Ferris has high hopes for Ulster’s season will be to get back to that level.’
Ferris believes Leinster will also feel the effects of the mid-season break but expects them to return to the dominance demonstrated during the ‘invincibles’ bid that was cruelly interrupted.
‘It’s difficult to expect Leinster to be where they were when they finished off unbeaten — smashing teams by 40 or 50 points every week,’ he said.
‘It wouldn’t be a surprise for them to get back to that (eventually) but it would surprise me if they got back to that level so quickly.’
Both sides will rely on their star wingers — James Lowe and Jacob Stockdale — to come good. The pair are set to do battle against one another for the first time at Aviva Stadium.
Lowe, who has been a major hit for the Blues since his switch from New Zealand, is now a contender for the green of Ireland having become eligible under the residency rule.
Ferris, who was crucial to Irish Grand Slam glory in 2009, believes Lowe will give Stockdale something to worry about when Test rugby returns.
‘He (Lowe) is a big threat. He seems a quality player.
‘He’s a bit of a maverick but he has got a few small, bad habits out of his system since that red card at Munster 18 months ago. ‘He seems to bring other players around him into the game. He’s not just a winger that stands out wide and waits for the ball and is just an outand-out finisher.
‘What an attribute to have an international level. It’s a step up. Can he make that jump up?
‘That is where the other lads have proved themselves. Andrew Conway before lockdown was playing the rugby of his life, he was the best winger in Ireland.
‘James Lowe was superb for Leinster and Jacob, despite getting on the scoresheet before lockdown, seemed to be struggling a bit.
‘Not just Stockdale but all the wingers will be wary of James Lowe because he is a class act.’
While Leinster are already stacked in the back-row, the return of Dan Leavy will be a welcome boost for the squad.
Leavy, like Ferris almost a decade before him, was emphatic at openside flanker enroute to 2018 Grand Slam success before suffering a severe injury.
Ferris, too, sees similarities between himself and the 26-yearold. ‘I’d love to see him hit the ground running. It was a real career-threatening injury. Nobody wants to see someone go down like that and his knee was pretty mangled,’ he said.
‘He seems to have had a good pre-season and return and looks in great shape. Will he come back the same player? Time will tell.
‘He’s of the same mould as myself where he is a hundred miles an hour or nothing. It doesn’t matter if it is against Treviso on a Friday night or a Grand Slam game against England — he plays 100 miles an hour.
‘I like that about him. He’s a physical man. Ireland missed him during the World Cup. He doesn’t get enough credit for his ball-carrying ability.
‘He’s a really good groundhog and has that edge the likes of Sean O’Brien had.
‘I wish him the best on his return because he deserves a bit of luck. He’s only young. He has plenty of rugby in the tank.’
Leavy’s return could spell bad news for young Leinster No7 Will Connors who has been impressive in the shadows of tyros Caelan Doris and Max Deegan.
Ferris believes the Kildare man may be best served to look for minutes elsewhere if Cullen doesn’t select him in the big games throughout the next year.
‘I’m sure Will Connors has aspirations to play international rugby consistently and if he is not playing for Leinster in the big games then the likelihood of that happening at international level is pretty slim.
‘He’d back himself to push on at Leinster and give himself the chance to be the new Josh van der Flier or Sean O’Brien and put a stamp on the team.’
Ferris believes the competition for places at Leinster is the runaway Pro14 leaders’ greatest asset.
‘But there’s so many guys breathing down each other’s necks,’ he said.
‘That competitive edge seems to be there every day and Leo Cullen will be loving that. But maybe some of the player’s aren’t loving it as much because everyone is playing well and getting a chance.
‘It is a tough one for Connors. If I was him I’d back myself to get in ahead of Josh van der Flier and the other lads.
‘But if that doesn’t happen in 12 months then maybe it is time to think about moving somewhere else to get more game time and recognition.‘