Stephen Ferris

No. 8 Stephen Ferris, who plays his club rugby with Dungannon, is another graduate from the Ulster Academy, joining Ulster Rugby at the start of the 2005-06 season on a development contract.
After making his Ulster debut against the Borders in October 2005, Stephen became a regular in the Ulster 22 and moved to a full contract ahead of the 2006-07 season.

Stephen was a member of the Ireland U21 squad that participated in the World Cup in Argentina in 2005 and despite being tipped for an Ireland A spot for the 2006 Churchill Cup competition, Stephen, who was still eligible for the 2005 Ireland U21 RWC side participating in the tournament in France, remained at home in the summer of 2006 to have a small operation on his ankle.

Stephen continued to impress throughout the 2006/07 season winning 20 Ulster caps and catching the eye of Eddie O’Sullivan who included him in Autumn International squad in 2006 where Stephen won his first Irish international start against Pacific Islands. He was later selected for Ireland for the Argentina tour in June 2007.

Stephen is one of 4 Ulster Rugby players included in PWC’s high performance select group and having signed a new 2 year contract will remain at Ravenhill until the end of the 2008/09 season.