The news this week that Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding have been questioned by the PSNI in relation to alleged sex offences will hardly have contributed to the Ireland team's preparation for their match against the All Blacks in Chicago.
Both Jackson, who is Johnny Sexton’s understudy at outhalf, and his Ulster colleague Olding have denied the allegations, but the way in which the news is processed by the Ireland players – and especially the four from Ulster – could have a bearing on the outcome in Soldier Field.
Still, as Stephen Ferris points out, professional players are normally well focused and greedily self-interested.
Joe Schmidt will have opened the book with regard to how the news may have affected his squad.
But having opened it, the coach will have firmly closed it too.
“For me, if I was in the Ireland team across there, you’d be fully focused on the match,” says former Ulster and Ireland flanker Ferris.
“I’d say the issue has been fully addressed by Joe and the management over there and there has been a line drawn under it.
“Yes, they [the players] are friendly with Paddy and that is it . . . I’d be focused on the game solely.”
Distractions
In 2012 Ferris had his own off-pitch distractions when he was bound over for a year after an altercation in which his older brother, who was ordered to do community service, was also involved.
As a high-profile player, Ferris had to deal with distraction and prevent it from affecting his performance.
Ulster, who meet Edinburgh in the Pro12 this weekend, are, because of the tightly knit nature of club rugby, likely to be more profoundly sucked into the controversy.
“Yeah, obviously there have been a few distractions off the pitch but Ulster just got to do all of their talking on the pitch this weekend,” says Ferris.
“Edinburgh got beaten at home by Zebre. They will be a bit of a wounded animal this weekend and its going to be a big task for Ulster to go over there and get a result.
“There’s a few external circumstances that I will not go into detail about but they got to deal with it and they have got to move on, and the best way they can deal with that is by putting in a good performance.
"I think Les Kiss has alluded to it in his media interviews all week. They have released a statement and they are not going to comment any further. For me, I'm not involved in Ulster. But at the end of the day Paddy is a friend of mine.
“I played with him for a number of years. So to see his name in the headlines this week, it affected me as well. I’m not going to comment on anything he may or may not have done in the past. I just hope he can use rugby as a distraction over the next week and hopefully get back into the team within the next couple of weeks and play like I know he can.”
Not optimistic
The Ireland and Lions flanker is not optimistic about Ireland’s chances of winning against the best team in the world. Circumstances dictate there is already a mismatch but ultimately if Ireland do well the fixture will be seen as useful, especially with part two coming up in Dublin. But in the event of a rout, questions could be asked about the value of the exercise.
“Ach, I think it’s good for rugby in general,” says Ferris. “There’s obviously a massive Irish contingent over there in Chicago and it’ll be a great spectacle. The game of rugby in America is evolving massively.
Massive value
“Is there value in the game? Yeah, of course there is, because if Ireland go over there and turn them over, then there’s massive value in it.
“But if they go over there and get beaten by 50 points then everybody will be asking the question, ‘we shouldn’t really have taken that game on’.”
“What is it 18 [All Black wins] on the bounce?” he adds. “Do I think it’s going to be 19? Yes I do.”
And he’s not alone in that.
