Ireland face Australia and South Africa in the coming weeks as well as having to defend their Grand Slam crown next year in the RBS 6 Nations.

And Ferris, who was on the British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa, is adamant the current Ireland side has more than enough talent to emulate the form they showed last year.

“With the home grown talent we have it’s amazing,” he told Irish Rugby. “All the young guys coming through means there is the talent to go on push on through the autumn internationals and do the same again next year in the Six Nations, there is no doubt about that.

“Everything is there and we just need to keep that ball rolling. We need to keep working hard and we can’t slack off just because we are Grand Slam champions. We need to keep improving.”