RUGBY:STEPHEN FERRIS has been ruled out of Ulster's Magners League festive programme, against Leinster next Monday and the New Year's Day meeting with Munster at Thomond Park, due to a leg injury sustained in training last week.
The latest in a long line of injuries picked up by the highly attritional blindside flanker has not been specifically defined by the Ulster management but it is believed Ferris will be sidelined for several weeks. Having already missed last Saturday’s away victory in Bath, he appears to be in a race against time to be fit for round five of the Heineken Cup at home to Biarritz on the weekend of January 14th-16th.
Meanwhile, the Ulster Branch are confident the interprovincial against Leinster at Ravenhill on December 27th will go ahead as scheduled despite constant snow fall in Belfast since Friday.
Ulster invested €23,600 in heaters to ensure their pitch was playable for the home game against Bath on December 11th but the main concern appears to be the car park and roads approaching Ravenhill.
“We have machinery in to scrape the ice off the car park,” said an Ulster spokesperson yesterday. “There is six inches of snow on it, but the pitch is good. The snow is doing a job of keeping the frost off it but there is not much else we can do at the moment.
“There is a thaw coming, hopefully, so we are assessing it day by day. When necessary we will begin the huge manual job of lifting the snow off the pitch.
“The financial implications for this game not going ahead would be fairly severe but it would also hinder team momentum after the last fortnight as well.”
The disappointing 8,247 crowd at Ravenhill for the Bath match was as much down to a presumption by the public that the fixture would not go ahead because of travel constraints. But this problem is not expected to arise for the visit of Leinster as it is approaching a sell-out.
“We have traditionally sold out this fixture, and not just corporate tickets, this is a family day out for Ulster supporters with many people travelling up from Dublin as well.”
Weekend fixtures
Friday: Magners League: Treviso v Aironi, Stadio di Monigo, 1.30.
Sunday: Magners League: Connacht v Munster, Sportsground, 5pm, Live TG4; Ospreys v Scarlets, Liberty Stadium, 4.10.
Monday: Magners League: Ulster v Leinster, Ravenhill, 4pm, Live RTÉ and BBC; Warriors v Edinburgh, Firhill, 5.35; Dragons v Blues, Rodney Parade, 3.20.
