Stephen Ferris was on commentary duty this evening as his old team Ulster recorded a disappointing defeat at home to Connacht. If the former Irish international's thoughts on Dylan Hartley are anything to go by, it's a not a result he's likely to forget anytime soon.
Recalling his final appearance for Ireland in his autobiography Man and Ball, Ferris explained how Hartley had had the audacity to bite his finger at the bottom of a ruck.
In the middle of all the carnage, Dylan Hartley bites my finger. We have a ruck out wide. I tackle him to clear him out. My arm is draped over his shoulder as we hit the ground. He latches onto my finger and sinks his teeth in. I hop up - what the fuck? - and hit him a couple of slaps on the head 'You dirty bastard
He denies it, in his New Zealand accent.
'Yeah, whatever'.
That sums Hartley up. Roger Wilson who played with him, who played with him at Northampton, tells me he is a really good lad. I am sure he is a decent fella, but he is dirty on the pitch.
Asked tonight about the upcoming clash tomorrow night between Hartley's Northampton Saints and the Leicester Tigers, the question about who Ferris would be supporting did come with the provision that he had previous with a key figure involved.
Eh, well I've close contact with Geordon Murphy, and I think he's been catapulted now into looking after everything with Leicester ... and he's a great guy, a brilliant guy, we shared World Cups together and I hope he has a really successful time with Leicester.
You know Dylan Hartley, he didn't come up to me and apologise after that game, so, I'm still holding a little bit of beef.
Maybe it'll come in the future eh?
As was summed up in commentary; 'I'll not hold my breath.'
