“Don’t mess with psycho.”
Ahead of Sunday’s tilt between Ireland and France, former Irish flanker Stephen Ferris has recalled some bad blood that once existed between the sides.
Ireland’s penultimate World Cup warm-up, in 2011, was notable for the injury that cost Felix Jones a certain place in the tournament.
However, a tunnel bust-up was kept under wraps. Until now.
In Man and Ball: My Autobiography, Ferris gives some background on the incident.
In December 2009, Ferris was eye-gouged twice – by Davide Atttoub and Julien Dupuy – during Ulster’s Heineken Cup win over Stade Francais.
Dupuy was found to have ‘made contact’ with the eyes of Ferris [receiving a lesser ban] but Attoub was banned from rugby for a year.
In an interview with SportsJOE, Ferris notes that he had several run-ins, over the course of the next three years, with Dimitri Szarzewski and Pascal Papé, who were international teammates of the duo.
Following France’s 26-22 victory over Declan Kidney’s Ireland, tension boiled over in the tunnel until O’Connell intervened.
Ferris says, “Szarzewski came up to me and called me something so I shoved him in the chest and told him to f*** off.
“Paul O’Connell was right behind me, ‘Psycho’ you know. Szarzewski went for me but Paulie [intervened] and shove him out of the road a bit.”
Ferris is now retired and Szarzewski did not make the matchday 23 for Sunday’s Pool D clash but O’Connell and Papé start in respective second rows for their country.
Their’s will be a battle that will have a crucial bearing on the outcome of the match.
*Man and Ball: My Autobiography is available and in stores now
