On the front foot in the back row

OF ALL the rugby mementos Stephen Ferris picks up over the course of his career – and all indications are, on the evidence of the past month, there will be a fair few – nothing is likely to mean less to him than the Rugby World Cup cap that he was presented with at the outset of the tournament in Bordeaux in 2007.

A member of Eddie O’Sullivan’s 30-man squad back then, Ferris was one of three players from the original party unable to convince the coach that he was worth even a few seconds of playing time, despite the paucity of his teammates’ efforts, collectively as well as individually, from the start to the truncated finish of a truly miserable tournament in France.

How times have changed.