Heineken Cup
Ferris fit to face Tigers
ESPNscrum Staff
November 15, 2011

Ulster have declared Stephen Ferris fit for their clash with Leicester at Welford Road on Saturday.

The Irish flanker sustained a knock to his right leg during their 16-11 win over Clermont Auvergne at Ravenhill on Saturday and limped off with five minutes left. But Ulster have said that their star back-row will be 'fine' to face the Tigers. They will be without former All Blacks prop John Afoa for the clash and following his late cameo Adam D'Arcy will hope he has stated his claim for a starting spot.

And the Tigers will come up against a familiar face in the Ulster team with Ian Humphreys set to start at fly-half. Humphreys currently has 177 points in 18 European matches to his name while in an Ulster shirt but it was back in the 2007-08 season when he took his European bow - for the Tigers.

"It was four years ago that I was at Leicester and a lot's happened since then," he said. "Most of the boys I was really friendly with have moved on. It is not something that's in the back of mind and I am just enjoying playing here. I had a great time at Leicester but I just want to get over there and get the win. Because we feel that, even when we go away from home, we've got the quality to beat teams.

We'll be travelling to Welford Road full of confidence and thinking that we can win that game. Winning away in Europe is about breaking down mental barriers and I think we have done that. We've beaten teams like Worcester Warriors and Harlequins in pre-season friendlies and beaten Bath in the Heineken Cup.

"We got to the quarter-finals last year and pushed Northampton Saints hard away from home. But for a few mistakes, we could have won that game. It is now a matter of us believing it. That's the great thing about boys like Johann Muller coming in - we know we can be as good as anybody else and we don't go across fearing anybody anymore.

"The game against Clermont just proved how good our forwards are. The whole squad fronted up. We knew it was going to be a big, physical battle but I don't think we took a backward step anywhere on the field. That win will give us confidence going forward."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

Live Sports

Communication error please reload the page.