Ferris: Croker hype affected the players

STEPHEN FERRIS believes the pre-match hype got to Ireland as they attempted to win the Triple Crown in their last game at Croke Park.

While the defeat was a disappointing way to end their three-year stay at the headquarters of the GAA, the Lions and Ulster flanker insists the squad can learn from the defeat.

He said: “There was a lot of hype coming into this game. It was a massive day for us and the whole of Ireland but perhaps sometimes you need to distance yourselves from that.

“For me personally there was so much hype about Scotland being the last game at Croke Park that you can try too hard and sometimes that isn’t the best thing to do.

“When you’re on the pitch it’s all guns blazing like every Test match, but before the game we were thinking about the occasion a bit more than we usually would. That’s the way it was for me and it might be the same for a few of the other players. But that’s experience and it’s in the bank now.”

The loss was Ireland’s second defeat of the tournament, after Kidney’s side also came unstuck in France.

“Obviously we can’t view this Six Nations as being successful because we haven’t won anything,” added Ferris.

“This is a team that can win trophies and should win trophies.

“Everybody’s building towards a big World Cup but we wanted to win this Triple Crown. We’ve only lost two games out of the last 15 so we’re not used to losing.

“It’s a knock back when you are beaten by anybody, especially at home.

“But we’ll take a lot out of these two defeats in this Six Nations and the younger lads will learn from them. We believe we’re still on the right road, despite what’s happened.”

While Ferris believed the Irish had made too many mistakes on Saturday, he praised the Scots tenacity

The flanker said: “We made too many mistakes on the day. It was tit for tat the whole game.

“By the third quarter we hit a purple patch and we thought we’d kick on but every time we got back into the game they kept hunting us down.

“When they have a kicker like Dan Parks who slots them over from everywhere, it’s very difficult.”

Meanwhile, David Wallace paid tribute to Scotland’s Killer Bs, the all-Glasgow Warriors back row for the role they played in dismantling Ireland’s challenge. Battered and bruised, Kelly Brown combined brilliantly with John Barclay and Scottish try scorer Johnnie Beattie to keep Ireland under the cosh at the breakdown.

“They were very competitive, very strong, and I suppose the fact they’re all playing with the same club helped; they put us under pressure, made us give away penalties and that was where the game was won,” he said.

“Scotland took their chances, took the points and kept the pressure on us. We turned over a lot of ball at key times and we disrupted our own flow, so we’re very disappointed.”