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26th September 2015
05:13pm BST
In his recently released autobiography, Man and Ball, Ferris recounts his experiences of that game, and the tournament as a whole.
In one of the more enlightening passages of the book, the former Ulster flanker describes a night out in New Plymouth, six days before that famous win.
Ferris hit the town with Sean O'Brien and, by his account, a fun night was had by all.
I bump into a lad who is dressed in an all-in-one spandex bodysuit. The green part of the tricolour; his two mates are the white and orange. He lets out a roar and peels back the hood. ‘Jesus hell John, what about ya?’ It is John Kerins, a lad from Cork that I had played with for Ireland Youths. I catch up with John and his mates and end up chatting with a group of girls, a couple of whom are Americans. New Plymouth is not the type of place where you can walk out and get a taxi; they are in short supply. When Sean and I go to leave, with the American girls for company, we have no luck getting one. We have only had a few beers and have our wits about us. We have a massive game against Australia the following week. We eventually flag a taxi and go back to the [hotel]. I send a text to my room-mate. ‘ROG, I’ve got a girl back. Any chance of you fucking off?’ He texts back, ‘No worries mate.’ He gets his bags and moves out of there pretty quickly. He texts Drico: ‘Big man’s got a girl back, any chance I can bunk in with you?’ He does the right thing. Next day, I buy him lunch. Myself and Seanie are back on the mission to ensure we play well against Australia.
*Man and Ball: My Autobiography is available and in stores nowExplore more on these topics:
