Kidney’s confidence the key, says Ferris
Blessed with innate man-management skills, Kidney’s influence could be key to an Ireland victory over England in Croke Park tomorrow, and to attaining a first Grand Slam since 1948. Already the former Munster coach has Ireland sitting top of the Six Nations table, but has managed to keep the players’ feet on the ground. Kidney is, after all, an old hand at dampening expectations levels and shielding any hype from his players.
Above all else, Kidney is regarded as possessing the Midas touch with teams ever since he took up coaching at PBC, Cork while a student at UCC, and subsequently worked his way up the various age-grade levels to eventually become national head coach.
Ferris’s ringing endorsement of his coach could explain why Ireland appear a united and contented group in this year’s RBS 6 Nations; they also understand their own functions as individuals, with Ferris saying Kidney’s game-plans help them shut out games that they mightn’t have done before.
“We’re playing good rugby, and everybody is buying into what Declan is putting out on the table,” says Ferris. “There’s a lot of confidence in the squad, and we just need to take that into Saturday.
“We got off to a pretty good start against France, showed a bit of experience to close out a tight game and maybe that’s something we didn’t do in previous years. The momentum is definitely there.
“Everybody is buying into what Declan is doing. We may have endured a rough 60 minutes against Italy, but we broke them down and stuck to our game-plan, and we ended up getting a couple of scores. Everybody is bringing confidence out of these games that lead onto the next one.”
Facing an England team in Croke Park is new territory for Ferris, who watched the corresponding fixture two years ago in a Belfast bar. Now a permanent fixture in Ireland’s back row, he would dearly love if the atmosphere and emotion of 2007 cold be replicated again this weekend in Dublin 3.
“I was out in a local bar (Botanic Inn) with my girlfriend and it seemed the whole country just stopped to watch a game of rugby. It’s absolutely fantastic to get support like that. If we can get that again and give a similar performance, we should be okay.
“There’s just something about the Ireland-England game. But this is my first time playing England at senior level now and really it’s about going out there and getting stuck into these guys because it’s going to be a tough battle.
“The nation is looking on. We need to put out a massive performance.”
Ferris, 23, has never beaten England at any level, suffering “six or eight” successive defeats to the Red Rose, the last occasion coming four years ago when Ireland A were obliterated 28-6 at Donnybrook; Ferris saw yellow and Toby Flood — who starts at flyhalf on Saturday — missed eight of nine kicks.
He jokes that he hopes Flood has the same strike-rate at the weekend but shoots down any perceptions that this is a weak England team.
“Under Martin Johnson, we know they are going to be well-drilled outfit. He was a well-drilled player and they’ll be exactly the same. Under his management, they’ll be dogged and tough to break down.
“They showed in Wales that they can turn it on. They can play good rugby. We just have to go out and put in our best performance of the championship and try and get a win.”
Ferris is enjoying the Croke Park experience, citing the France game as one of the highlights of his career.
“I played in the last international at the old Lansdowne (November 2006 v Pacific Islanders) — it was my first cap and a great occasion. But France in Croke Park a few weeks ago was the loudest I heard a crowd roar in a while. I’m sure it’ll be a bit louder against England and I’ll have to prepare myself for that on Saturday.”
He added: “Declan was saying it’s the last time we’re going to play England in Croke Park. There are a lot of guys who’ve done a lot of things to get Irish rugby into Croke Park. We definitely need to give a performance on Saturday.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
