Former Ulster and Ireland backrow Stephen Ferris was renowned as a hard-nosed, no-nonsense enforcer for both his province and country during his playing days.
Never taking a backwards step, Ferris was one of the Irish packs true enforcers between 2006 – 2012 before injury cut short his career at just 28-years-old.
During his time in the green shirt, Ferris played in the historic 2009 Grand Slam winning team and was a member of Ulster’s Celtic League winning team in the 20025-06 season.
Now a renowned pundit in Irish Rugby, Ferris was talking at a BKT United Rugby Championship round table discussion today.
Discussing a wide range of topics, Ferris was asked about a recent twitter spat he had with current Ulster and Ireland centre Stuart McCloskey.
This is honestly something a 12 year old would do @StephenFerris6 , helps absolutely no one https://t.co/UPisXl7pFK
— stuart mccloskey (@Stuart_Mc12) April 13, 2024
When asked if he was surprised that he got a reaction from McCloskey for his tweet, Ferris said, “Listen, it’s not the first time Stu has; you’ll probably remember the Bundee Aki thing during the COVID time.” referencing a tweet in which Ferris said that Aki would be looking to go after McCloskey.
“He sort of denied that (previous tweet), but when we bumped into each other, you know, we laughed so straight away it was put behind us, and there were no grudges held whatsoever.
“I would like to think it would be something similar, to be honest.”
Delving into the most recent tweet, which sparked McCloskey’s response, Ferris said, “I just think it was taken absolutely the wrong way, and the reason for that is they just got pumped by 50.
“Maybe the timing on my behalf to put that out was maybe a day too early.
“I had put out a previous tweet about the second-half performance, so I didn’t feel like my tweet was personal towards Stuart. Of course, it wasn’t, but Stuart’s tweet was obviously very personal towards me.
“But when you work in the media like Victor, Adam, and anyone knows, you’ve got to have a pretty thick skin,” Ferris said with a chuckle.
“So it’s like water off a duck’s back to me and despite the people who go onto social media and criticise and everything else. You can easily look at all of the negative comments but that’s one thing as a former player I didn’t do and I know a lot of the guys don’t do.
“I have never had guys coming onto me blowing about how good they are and that they should be offered more money on their contracts and Stuart McCloskey was obviously trying to get out of his contract to go to Bayonne.
“I was saying to the media every week that Ulster need to try and hold onto him. Not once would I be sent a message or a tweet saying thanks very much for the support, but I get that, and everybody always focuses on the negative.
“Everybody focuses on the negative and its just part and parcel of life, you just tend to go that route.”
Ending his answer, Ferris said, “Stuart McCloskey can absolutely call me a 12-year-old all he wants; I absolutely won’t hold a grudge against him whatsoever; next time I see him, I will shake his hand and hopefully have a laugh about it and move on.”
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