'I didn't enjoy the game': Ferris' advice to this Ulster generation

Ulster will be hunting for their first trophy in 20 years tomorrow night in Bilbao, since they were crowned Celtic League champions, with Montpellier standing in their way.

Stephen Ferris was part of Mark McCall’s squad that pipped Leinster to the title by a point, and six years later, he suffered the heartache when the Dubliners got their revenge in the 2012 Heineken Cup final, winning 42-14 at Twickenham.

Now, 14 years later, Richie Murphy and his side get their chance to write their names in the history books. Ferris admits that he would love to rewind to May 19 2012 and replay the game.

“I’m still hurting from that one. It’s a game that I’d love to go back and replay, but in fairness, we lost a bit of momentum in the semi-final, didn’t particularly play that well against Edinburgh.

“Maybe thought we were going to give Leinster a better game than obviously we did. Our big game players didn’t turn up. Johann Muller, John Afoa, myself, Pedrie Wannenburg, and Rory Best, like all our big-game players, didn’t have good games that day.

Fixture

Challenge Cup

Montpellier

59 - 26

Full-time

Ulster

All Stats and Data

“Whereas you look at the Leinster lads like Sean O’Brien, man of the match, Brian O’Driscoll could have been man of the match. Gordon D’Arcy, unbelievable, Isa Nacewa, unbelievable, Brad Thorn, unbelievable. Leo Cullen, unbelievable. Stan Wright, unbelievable. Cian Healy, unbelievable.

“They were very, very good that day, arguably Leinster’s best-ever 15 players, or 13 or 14 players, anyway, who played that day.

“It was one we just had to sort of take on the chin, and unfortunately, we were just maybe 10 or 15 per cent off it, and Leinster were absolutely flying, and yeah, I didn’t enjoy the occasion,” he tells RugbyPass exactly 14 years later.

And the advice to Murphy’s side from Ferris, 40, who was forced to retire through injury 12 years ago, is very simple: enjoy everything from the build-up to the game and be yourselves.

“Enjoy the week. Enjoy the buildup, enjoy the atmosphere, and try to enjoy the game, because I didn’t enjoy the game. I put far too much stress on myself to perform. In 2012, I was nominated for the European Player of the Year award.

“It was between Rob Kearney and me. Whoever won that game would have won the European Player of the Year award. I’d probably put a bit too much pressure on myself there.

“So just treat it like every other week, and hopefully you can come together and get a performance. I think I wasn’t the only player in the same boat. It’s weird because back in my day, every meeting was intense.

“Every lineout session, whether it was just a walk-through in the corridor, was intense. You couldn’t get one wrong without somebody jumping down your throat for making a mistake.

“Nowadays it’s like, they’re sitting having fun and laughing and telling jokes and being themselves. Always be yourself. Don’t change. If you are a joker or a messer, that’s almost appreciated in a team environment now.

“When I was playing, if you were making jokes and flicking somebody in the ear, like I was like, it was: ‘Come on, Stevie, wise up,’ you know, we need to be switched on here. We need to concentrate.

“Now it’s changed an awful lot for the better, of course, for the better massively. When you’re in a healthy state of mind, that’s when you usually play your best sport,” he adds.

Stephen Ferris will be part of an all-star Premier Sports TV team bringing an hour of build-up, full analysis and live match coverage across the UK and Ireland of the EPCR Challenge Cup Final as Ulster take on Montpellier in Bilbao (live on Friday night on Premier Sports 1 from 7pm) plus Saturday afternoon’s Investec Champions Cup Final between Bordeaux-Bègles and Leinster Rugby (live on Premier Sports 1 from 1.45pm). To join in visit www.premiersports.com @PremSportsTV for more than 400 top flight club rugby fixtures every season across EPCR, URC, Top 14, MLR in the USA and Japan League One.