Ferris says he is not distracted by court case

RUGBY:IRISH FLANKER Stephen Ferris will not be distracted from his World Cup preparations by a court case scheduled for November. Ferris and his older brother David recently appeared in Belfast Crown Court, with the Irish player denying assaulting two men in September 2009.

Currently making his way back from a knee injury, the British and Irish Lion says he is focused on little other than impressing coach Declan Kidney and winning his place back on the Ireland team.

“No, not really,” he said on being asked if the court case was a distraction. “That happened in 2009 and I’ve played some good rugby since then. So at the minute, no.”

When asked if his focus might suffer, the Ulster player said: “No, not at all, not at all. I think it will be cleared up fairly quickly. You just want it over with. I suppose it’s being hanging over myself and my brother.

“It was difficult but for Ulster and Ireland my focus has been good and they have supported me 100 per cent. Hopefully it will be sorted out before that, really, but we’ll see, we’ll see.”

Ferris has played in the Irish backrow at six and seven but has yet to demonstrate the cartilage injury has healed. Back in camp he has yet to take contact.

“There are still questions to be answered, obviously,” he said. “I haven’t been involved in team plays and stuff like that yet. I’ve just been training on my own a good bit and with other injured guys who are coming back. So it has been a lot of straight line running and a lot of conditioning that way.

“It hasn’t been game-related yet. We’ll just tick every box as it comes along, keep making progress. At the minute it is going really well, I have just got to keep positive and keep hoping it improves. I can run pain free at the minute, whereas 12 weeks before the operation I was running up and down the pitch in agony, so mentally and physically it’s an improvement on that.”

Scrumhalf Tomás O’Leary, also returning from injury, has more mileage in the tank than Ferris following a freak eye injury. Ruled out of this year’s Six Nations match against England, O’Leary suffered the injury during a fitness session with the Ireland squad.

He had missed Ireland’s previous two games with a back injury but was undergoing speed training with a sledge when one of the straps failed, recoiled and struck him in the left eye.

“I’ve got three weeks under my belt now in pre-season and I’m feeling good and feeling fresh,” said O’Leary. “The injury is behind me, so just really enjoying training properly. Looking forward to the summer series of games now as well. I played a game against Connacht in the Magners.

“The previous game I played was in the Six Nations against France, so obviously I didn’t finish the season in a great manner and I feel good now and I’m just excited about this season.”