More misery for Ulster as leg injury rules Ferris out of ‘enormous’ game
Compounding that problem, the Ulster squad had to take to the road after abandoning any hopes of flying out from Belfast when their charter plane, due to fly in to Plymouth, was unable to land at the International Airport due to heavy snow.
The squad travelled to Dublin by bus and flew out last night for the game which will go ahead as planned at the Recreation Ground — which has been cleared of snow and covered.
This replicates the problems last season when Ulster had to divert their travel plans from Paris to Brussels when the Stade Francais pitch was deemed unplayable following a blizzard.
But the absence of Ferris will have a major bearing on the result. He was being treated for a calf strain following his man-of-the-match performance in last week’s victory over the West Countrymen at Ravenhill. However, he exacerbated the problem in training and coach Brian McLaughlin had no option but to recall Robbie Diack to number 8, Pedrie Wannenburg taking over at blindside and Willie Faloon replacing Chris Henry at open.
The re-jigging of the back-row is the only change to the starting line-up that turned around a 10-3 deficit to eke out a 22-18 victory last week. The loss of Ferris will be seen as a big boost to Bath, who have old warhorse Danny Grewcock playing his 200th game for the club and Springbok Butch James back at fly-half for his first game since September after damaging a shoulder during the Tri-Nations campaign.
That makes his former international colleague Johann Muller a bit wary.
Ulster’s stand-in skipper says Bath showed enough firepower in the final stages of the 22-18 win to ring the warning bells.
“If last week’s game was big, this one today is enormous, and Bath know that as much as we do,” said Muller. “Last week they started to throw the ball around in the last 15 minutes and had us stretched in defence. I expect them to do that from the word go today and, with Butch back in the side, they will be really up for it. But we are ready for this game.
“Obviously it puts more pressure on us, but that is not a bad thing. All the players are excited about the challenge. Every match from now on in the pool is a must-win game and it starts now.
“There was a lot of sore bodies after last week’s game and there is no way we want that to go to waste. There were no celebrations after the game as we knew there was still a job to do,” said Muller, who reckons the game at Ravenhill is what the European Cup is all about.
“The victory was one of the most enjoyable games I’ve played. Although it was very physical and quick, it was great fun. It was marvellous the way the players fought back. They could so easily have thrown in the towel.
“But they showed up when the chips were down, everyone stood up to be counted and to get that win was very satisfactory.
“It’s going to need the same mental attitude to win again. The team knows how to succeed here as they showed last year, but that is now history, slate clean.”
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