Ferris linked to Japan as Ulster coach braced for ‘great loss’

Stephen Ferris may have played his last game for Ulster.

The Ireland flanker has been linked with a move to Japan after rejecting a pay-as-you-play deal with the IRFU and yesterday, when asked if he believed Ferris would leave, Ulster coach Mark Anscombe said: “Yeah, most probably at this stage — he is a great loss.”

Ferris has played just four games this season due to an ankle injury and his contract with the IRFU expires on June 30.

“I don’t know if it is signed or sealed at this stage — that’s for Stephen and his support team to make those decisions,” Anscombe said.

“We haven’t had a lot of him this season because of injury, but he is a world-class player.”

Meanwhile, Ulster hope to bounce back from the disappointment of their Heineken Cup quarter-final defeat against Saracens at Twickenham with a RaboDirect Pro12 victory at home to Dragons tomorrow night.

Anscombe must plan without Johann Muller, Chris Henry, John Afoa, Luke Marshall, Paddy Jackson and Andrew Trimble, but is hopeful his squad can put last week’s loss to the back of their minds.

Anscombe said: “Sometimes it can be very hard to bring the players back up again. But it will be a test of our character. We spoke about it in the shed after the game, a few of the senior players spoke about it; that’s our challenge. We’ve played 19 games, if we then don’t move forward, they become a wasted 19 games. We have to bounce on from here.

“It happens, a dip in fortunes happens to all teams, but it is how you respond [that] is important.”

ULSTER SQUAD (v Dragons) — (Forwards): M McComish, C Black, R Best, R Diack, D Tuohy, L Stevenson, D Fitzpatrick, N WIlliams, R Herring, A Birch, R Lutton, T Court, I Henderson, N McComb. (Backs): R Pienaar, J Payne, C GIlroy, P Marshall, P Nelson, T Bowe, N O’Connor, M Allen, A D’Arcy, S Olding, D Cave.