JOHN O'SULLIVANtalks to Stephen Ferris who outlines why Ulster are in such good shape

ONE SUSPECTS that Stephen Ferris made for a fidgety spectator at Ravenhill last Saturday night lamenting an injury that precluded him from assisting Ulster to victory over Leinster. It was his kind of sporting dispute, a turf war measured in inches before an adoring Belfast crowd. Sheeting rain and a gale merely amplified the premium placed on winning the collisions.

He’d have been in the thick of it, lining up thunderous hits and first in line to try and breach the blue wall. An ankle injury sustained in the opening minutes of the Heineken Cup defeat against Edinburgh in Murrayfield denied him the opportunity.

He should have come off straightaway but typically played on for the duration. There’s a fine line between bravery and recklessness.

It cost him one match but he’s happily recovered and looking forward to a trip to Thomond Park. His suggestion that he might not get his place back given the way his team-mates played the last day is definitely tongue-in-cheek. Ulster need Ferris if they are to repeat last season’s victory at the Limerick venue.

Sitting atop the Magners League table, Saturday’s visitors to Thomond Park will draw confidence from the defiant manner in which they stared down Leinster and won. Ferris admitted: “It’s good now. There’s a lot of confidence up north. Everybody’s running about with smiles on their faces and I think that’s very important.

“(There’s) new coaching staff in but you can’t take anything away from the players, they’ve worked really hard in the off-season.

“Things are starting to click for us and hopefully we’ll keep the ball rolling for this weekend.”

The Lions and Ireland flanker acknowledged an improved backroom structure where individuals have a clearly delineated remits.

Brian McLaughlin is allowed to focus primarily on coaching and marshalling his assistants. Ferris observed: “I think David Humphreys is at the helm, running operations. Brian (McLaughlin) is looking after everything on the pitch and David is at the meetings down in Dublin, doing all that.

“It takes a lot of pressure off Brian when he’s got somebody like that to help him out. Then you’ve got Jeremy (Davidson) there, who’s through and through Ulster man. He’s working very hard with the forwards. Everything seems to be clicking at the minute and we’ll try and keep it going.”

The identity of the team, the history and the responsibility that comes with wearing the Ulster jersey was discussed in the pre-season. Ferris explained: “Some of the foreign players maybe didn’t understand what Ulster was all about, what the Red Hand meant, what everything meant all those years ago. There was a chat about everything like that in the off-season. They (the non Irish players) know what Ulster is all about it and it has made a difference.”

There is a suggestion that candour has been an integral characteristic of the new regime. In a newspaper interview at the weekend outhalf Ian Humphreys spoke about being criticised by Ferris in relation to place-kicking. There was no animosity but it was designed to elicit a response in deed rather than word.

Ferris acknowledged: “Ian has been going well for us. I criticised him a bit early on in the season with missing kicks and stuff like that. I gave him a good kick up the arse and he’s been out practising like a mad man. Fair play to the guy he’s stepped up to the mark and he might see himself in the next (international) squad at some stage.

“He’s been running the game well for us at Ulster. It’s great to have someone like that. He’s starting to remind me a bit of his older brother. His game management has been a lot better. He’s pinning teams back in the corners and when the opportunities come to kick three points, he’s doing it. For a pack it’s great to see that.

“The boys, Paddy (Wallace) and Cavey (Darren Cave) are enjoying playing outside him and when you’ve a winger like Timoci Nagusa, who’s causing devastation and scoring tries every week, it’s fantastic for us.”

Munster’s recent travails don’t fool Ferris, who anticipates another Herculean tussle at the weekend. “I don’t think it’s ever a great time to play Munster. Every time we’ve played them it’s been a fight, it really is tough work. They’re a tremendous outfit. They haven’t won two Heineken Cups in the last few years for no reason. They’ll be a tough team to beat, especially at home, but we done it last year so we’ll just have to do it again this year.”

He’s not given to empty rhetoric.