Ulster's Ferris relishes playing against the odds
Sunday October 11 2009
Stephen Ferris claims the bookies that wrote off Ulster as rank outsiders provided the perfect motivation ahead of their stunning 26-12 opening night victory over Bath on Friday.
The Ulstermen stood up to the big Bath pack and smashed them into submission in the second-half, as the English side left Ravenhill with no points and a red card.
But if it was the perfect start to their Pool 4 campaign, Ferris knows his side must back up the victory with another win in Edinburgh next weekend.
"It was a fantastic start for us and we just need to keep the ball rolling now," said Ferris. "Getting the result was the most important thing. We are playing some good stuff and teams are starting to respect us more. I don't think we were the underdogs going into the game. I saw in the paper that the bookies had us at 100/1 to win the Heineken Cup. That really annoyed me.
"We wanted to prove we are a team on the up and I think we did that. One of our goals is to get out of the group this season. We've had a good start but we have to keep our feet on the ground. Edinburgh is a place where we always have a tight game.
"They beat us at Ravenhill earlier in the season and the result there always seems to turn on a bounce of the ball or a kick from Chris Paterson. They are a dangerous side and we will need to close them down and play rugby like we did against Bath."
That was a point that acting skipper Paddy Wallace stressed in his summing up of a victory that built on the demolition of the Scarlets in Belfast the previous weekend.
"We need to win our home games and we have started on the right note," said Wallace.
"Even though they (Edinburgh) beat us at Ravenhill, we can take encouragement from that game because we created a lot of chances. This is a different competition to the Magners League and people up their games for the Heineken Cup."
- ROB COLE
Sunday Independent
