Ferris Cleared

Ferris, pictured in action against the All Blacks, is available to play France on Saturday. (c) Martin Dobey.

Stephen Ferris has been cleared of dangerous play by an Independent Six Nations Disciplinary Committee at a hearing in London today. The Ireland flanker was cited following his yellow card in Sunday’s loss to Wales.  Meanwhile, Wales second-row Bradley Davies has been banned for seven weeks for his off-the-ball spear tackle on Donnacha Ryan in the same game. If you missed either incident, you can check them out here.

Ferris took to Twitter to express his relief at the ruling. The Ulster back-row tweeted, “Thank goodness that is all over. Happy man.” He followed that up by saying he wants to move on from the episode: “Thanks for all the MSG of support from all my followers. It’s in the past, now let’s look to what lies ahead. #6Nations”.

Ireland name their squad to play France tomorrow, and Ferris will expect to be part of the starting fifteen. France have already named their squad, making four changes up front. Tomorrow on The Touchline we’ll have a Scout’s Report on France, where we look at the strengths and weaknesses of Philippe Saint-Andre’s team.

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Photo courtesy: Martin Dobey.

Ferris Cited

Ferris, pictured lining up France's Imanol Harindordoquy in 2009, may miss the game in Paris on Saturday. (c) Liam Coughlan.

Ireland’s Stephen Ferris has been cited, along with Wales’ Bradley Davies, following the yellow cards received by the pair in Sunday’s game. Both players have been cited for foul play under IRB law 10.4(j). This law states:

“Lifting a player from the ground and dropping or driving that player into the ground whilst that player’s feet are still off the ground such that the player’s head and/or upper body come into contact with the ground is dangerous play”.

The hearing will be held tomorrow, Wednesday 8th of February, in London and heard by an Independent Six Nations Disciplinary Committee. Obviously it’s hard to be impartial in a case like this, but watching the video, it’s clear that Davies’ tip-tackle is in a different league to Ferris’ hit. Davies lifts and then drops Donnacha Ryan on to his neck.

If that Davies incident hadn’t taken place, it’s quite likely that Ferris’ tackle would have gone completely unpunished. Watching the Scotland vs. England game, there were a couple of challenges almost identical to Ferris’ tackle that didn’t even warrant notice from referee George Clancy. The Ireland flanker shouldn’t be too worried about the hearing tomorrow. Here’s the video of both incidents which have been cited:

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Photo courtesy:  Liam Coughlan.