ferris: stay or not to stay

defadman

irish and ulster flanker steven ferris is an unbelivable talnet and is one of the best flankers in the world. already he has had great success with ireland but not so much with ulster.For ferris to advance and succeed more, should he move? and if so would you rather see him go to an irish, french or other side

Stev_o

No he shouldn't. He's a key player to Ulster who have high aspirations of getting some silverware and he needs to be with them for them to achieve that.

Jedwardian

He should stay with Ulster and get the captaincy when Johann Muller moves on. Ulster can build a strong team around players like Stephen Ferris.

thomond2006

Stay. Stay. Stay.

Did I say stay?

danthefan

He's contracted at Ulster until 2013.

defadman

being realistic ulster will not win silverware in the near future though

thomond2006

defadman wrote: »

being realistic ulster will not win silverware in the near future though

Why not? I think they are developing into a very strong team. They also have a new found depth in the squad, in almost every position.

They should make the ML playoffs this year and will at least make the Amlin quarters this season too.

defadman

ulster do not have the same strength and depth as munster,leinster and french clubs have

borna7

Ferris only signed a new contract earlier thhis season. Personally I think Ulster are making progress and arent too far off competing for silverware. Personally I don't see a big difference at present between the Munster and Ulster sides in terms of quality and Ulsters squad is a lot younger.

borna7

Also Ferris has proven that he will pick up injuries. While he remains in Ireland the no. of games he plays is managed and he wont be risked if carrying an injury as was the case this weekend. If hes on a big contract in France he won't get that protection

Not a chance imo.

Ferris IS Ulster.
BOD is Leinster, ROG is Munster etc.

Some players just would never look right in another Jersey, there's the "home factor" etc that happens.

I also am a firm believer that Ferris will win medals with Ulster.

slingerz

For Irish rugby Ferris needs to stay with Ulster.

Similarly to Connacht, Ulster needs to be improved as a rugby side with them having Irish players playing in order to improve the options available to the Irish side. For instance Humphries looked impressive yesterday for Ulster at 10. Ireland needs more of these options.

There is talk in other threads of fringe Munster/Leinster players moving to various sides. IMO those fringe players should be moved to Connacht/Ulster in order to make the provinces better and give more game time to these guys. Bringing the likes of Tommy Bowe back would also be a help to Irish rugby

JustinDee

defadman wrote: »

being realistic ulster will not win silverware in the near future though

That's not being realistic. Its being baselessly presumptuous.
Ulster have been building quite well and their last two performances for example, have been excellent.
Stephen Ferris recently signed a new contract with the IRFU, by the way.

Badgermonkey

Stephen should, of course, stay.

I often think it may be a smart investment to let some players get a taste of Super 15 for a season and if the logistics could be agreed he's one who'd benefit hugely from it.

There's alot of improvement to come from him and his link play, handling and decision making have room for improvement.

jolley123

Badgermonkey wrote: »

Stephen should, of course, stay.

I often think it may be a smart investment to let some players get a taste of Super 15 for a season and if the logistics could be agreed he's one who'd benefit hugely from it.

There's alot of improvement to come from him and his link play, handling and decision making have room for improvement.

I often wonder why we don't see a lot of northern players go south. Probably to do with money and that the southern teams don't go looking up north. It would definitely improve their game. I can't imagine how good SOB or Ferris would be if they played in the super 15.

ambid

I think this is a great question.

I guess it depends on whether he wants to be the leader of a young side, or whether he wants to play for a side with established stars.

Ulster look exciting to me, but they've had exciting young players for a while now. Cave, Whitten, Spence, Darcy, Smith, McAlister, Faloon and lots more, but Matt Williams has been complaining that they don't really seem to have improved very much this year and that's a fair criticism. Maybe they need someone to come in and set new standards - like Keith Wood did in Munster. They still seem inconsistent at half back too.

I hope Ferris stays beyond 2013, but Ulster need to improve (hopefully after they play Leinster on Dec 28th!). Maybe good H-cup and Magners campaigns will start them moving. They have been average for too long.

CatFromHue

i could be walking into a political minefield here, i hope not though, but i used to work and live in belfast and i found without sounding silly that it really was another country. it felt like ireland due to the countryside but everything else reminded me of england.

that could be a reason why they head to england, also when you think about it some some of their players wouldnt have got a look in with the other provinces at the time they were leaving. bowe was out of the loop ireland wise and has become a different player since his move. wilson i dont think was ever really in the loop ireland wise and considering the competition in the back row prob never would have.

there does seem to have been something funny going on in ulster though. ferris said he had to think strongly about staying, and that the signing of the souths africans helped him make his decision.

wilson was in the sunday times today saying how different and from the vibe i got better organised it was over in northampton. neil best has said that before too.

i really do hope ulster beat biarritz, frankly ireland needs ulster to be finishing closer to the top 4 in the magners and start getting out of their group in the heineken.

its_phil

Ferris should stay,Ulster are remarkably improved this year and will be challenging for the play-off's at the end of the season and if they dont get out of the HC group,will be strong challengers for the ACC.

If he wants a new challenge,like Bowe,fair enough but he's at the most improved side in Europe imo.

Quint2010

thomond2006 wrote: »

Why not? I think they are developing into a very strong team. They also have a new found depth in the squad, in almost every position.

They should make the ML playoffs this year and will at least make the Amlin quarters this season too.

Don't you mean The HC quarters?

He's a good player-can see him going to Franace when his contract is up-along with Heaslip who has said he can see himself playing in France.

jolley123

Quint2010 wrote: »

Don't you mean The HC quarters?

He's a good player-can see him going to Franace when his contract is up-along with Heaslip who has said he can see himself playing in France.

The teams who just miss out on the HC QF, play in the Amlin QF. Presumeably that's what he meant.

Luckycharm

CatFromHue wrote: »

i could be walking into a political minefield here, i hope not though, but i used to work and live in belfast and i found without sounding silly that it really was another country. it felt like ireland due to the countryside but everything else reminded me of england.

that could be a reason why they head to england, also when you think about it some some of their players wouldnt have got a look in with the other provinces at the time they were leaving. bowe was out of the loop ireland wise and has become a different player since his move. wilson i dont think was ever really in the loop ireland wise and considering the competition in the back row prob never would have.
there does seem to have been something funny going on in ulster though. ferris said he had to think strongly about staying, and that the signing of the souths africans helped him make his decision.

wilson was in the sunday times today saying how different and from the vibe i got better organised it was over in northampton. neil best has said that before too.

i really do hope ulster beat biarritz, frankly ireland needs ulster to be finishing closer to the top 4 in the magners and start getting out of their group in the heineken.

Unlike the other provinces Ulster players cannot avail of the huge tax breaks that the ROI players can avail of if they finish their pro career in Ireland. I think it is that if you play 10 years rugby here and finish your career here you can claim the tax back that you paid (open to correction here). This can be worth a couple of hundred of thousand Euros to a top player like ROG, BOD etc Shane Byrne for example came back from England to play club rugby for Blackrock to avail of his tax refund. I don't see Ferris going anywhere though.

Ulster are improving slowly but they need to find a consistent outhalf as Hump Og is too flakey as is NOC- hopefully Jackson comes through and young gilroy looks good. They have some good potential coming through still think they are a good bit behind Munster and Leinster currently.

[Jackass]

Ferris should stay.

Ulster are shaping up to be some team at the moment, so many quality young players.

It's a massive blow that Bowe committed to the Ospreys and didn't come home. With him, they would literally be twice the team they are now, which is very good.

I can see Ulster become a genuine force in Europe over the next few seasons. They look like they'll make it out of the group this season, and, I'm delighted to say, in the extremely competetive Magners League, which is a major piece of silverware now, not like before, all the best teams (Munster, Leinster, Cardif, Ospreys) are gunning hard for the play-offs, and Ulster are right there with them, along with the other rejuvinated young side who look like they could have some very bright years ahead of them, after such a bleak spell, Scarlets, who also look like they could make it out of a very tough group containing Leicester and Perpingan.

Ulster are becoming a great side, and Ferris is the leader in that side. Just wish they got
Bowe back.

CatFromHue

i wouldnt be calling ulster a great side just yet. remember they beat bath home and away last year and still finished in the bottom of the magners league.

they do have some good young players but the game against biarritz will show where they really stand.

i really do hope they win that one.

its much better for irish rugby for them to get back to that level. from all reports that ive read they did very well in the first half away to biarritz.

that game is now in effect a knock out match! if they lose, they're out.

hopefully it goes the way of their last knock out matchs against frnech opposition in ravenhill i.e against stade and toulouse in 99