Declan Kidney doesn’t do surprises. Especially not when he has settled on a team he likes. That’s why there were no great gasps from the fourth estate when he named his team to meet France yesterday.

Wayne Barnes should not have awarded a penalty against Stephen Ferris — let alone followed it up with a yellow card — for the tackle on Ian Evans which allowed Wales to snatch victory at Lansdowne Road last weekend.

The Ireland team management reacted with predictable surprise to news of Stephen Ferris’ citing yesterday but have expressed their confidence that the flanker will still be available to face France in Paris on Saturday.

Wales lock Bradley Davies and Ireland flanker Stephen Ferris have both been cited for foul play during Sunday’s RBS 6 Nations game between the countries in Dublin.

THE Irish back-row, in the hot kitchen, with a mish-mash: this game of Cleudo carried no mysteries for Inspector Hook.

NOT many people speak fondly of Milton Keynes with its endless array of identical roads and roundabouts.

Ulster 24 Scarlets 17

JAMIE HEASLIP looks set to start for Ireland in Sunday's crucial RBS Six Nations game against France at The Aviva Stadium after he came through training yesterday.

TOMMY BOWE’S persistent knee injury has forced him out of Ireland’s plans for Sunday’s Six Nations tie against France at the Aviva Stadium.

Stephen Ferris has expressed his dismay that New Zealand escaped punishment for their cynical play at the breakdown in yesterday’s 38-18 victory over Ireland.

Ireland 18 New Zealand 38

BIARRITZ maintained their unbeaten start in Pool Four of the Heineken Cup with an emphatic bonus-point home victory over Ulster.

Biarritz 35 Ulster 15

HERE’S no need to delve into the DVD collection to sum up what makes Stephen Ferris the player he is. Proof of the Ulster man’s DNA surfaced in what should have been a routine training session in Durban last summer.

Recent events suggest Stephen Ferris has become a marked man, but the Ireland flanker insists he has never gone looking for trouble.

Bath lock Danny Grewcock has been suspended for seven weeks after being found guilty of stamping on Ulster flanker Stephen Ferris in last weekend’s Heineken Cup game, the ERC have announced.

Ulster 13 Edinburgh 16

Wales captain Ryan Jones will fly to Cape Town tonight after being summoned as a replacement for the second successive British and Irish Lions tour.

IAN MCGEECHAN might well have good cause to thank his Springbok rival Peter de Villiers for leaving out the Cheetahs’ back row man Heinrick Brussow from his 28-man squad to face the British & Irish Lions this month.

Cheetahs 24 British & Irish Lions 26

Cheetahs 14 British and Irish Lions 23

Cheetahs 0 Lions 17

STEPHEN FERRIS is looking forward to some international game time at Ravenhill for the first time on Friday night.

SOME players will quickly tell you that their World Cup preparations began in the regimental environs of Spala, Poland eight weeks ago, but in glorious sunshine at University of Limerick yesterday, Brian O’Driscoll led 47 Irish hopefuls onto the training ground for the official run-in to France 2007.

Fran Ferris has missed the deadline to appeal against the decision of the Horseracing Regulatory Authority to suspend him from racing for two years.

FOR Luke Fitzgerald and Stephen Ferris, it has been a dizzyingly rapid ascent. But having reached the pinnacle of Irish rugby with their international debuts at the weekend, both have their feet firmly back on the ground.

Ireland Under-21 6 England Under-21 28