Richie Murphy, Ulster’s acting manager, says: “We won’t tolerate low standards here.”
There haven’t been a lot of jokes around Ravenhill in recent months, what with the dreadful Champions Cup exit, the sacking of their head coach and the lack of Ulster representation in the Ireland Six Nations squad.
So it was refreshing that when Richie Murphy sat down for his maiden press conference as interim coach, it was with a razor-sharp, quick-witted remark to kick things off.
“I hope you didn’t take this job thinking it would be sunny all the time,” quipped a reporter after Murphy was finished taking training in the blazing sunshine.
The retort was quick and was accompanied with a cheeky grin: “Is that a metaphor for something else?”
A light-hearted moment to begin what must surely be looked at as a new era for Ulster, whether Murphy is the man to head it up long-term or not. The former Leinster and Ireland assistant coach has the inside track to being Dan McFarland’s long-term successor, but there is a long way to run before then. Murphy joins Ulster from a team that seemingly attracted success at will, his Ireland U-20s charges winning back-to-back Grand Slams in 2022 and 2023 and were unbeaten this season, too, only to lose out by a point to the also unbeaten English. Now he has to work out how to do the exact opposite: drag a province out of the doldrums.
Teams that win, and if you look at most of the top-performing teams out there, they don’t get carried away, they go week by week and they deal with the time they’re in and keep improving,” explained Murphy.
“My role here is to do that, to look hard and not accept the standards that are below what we should set and work with the players and management to deliver a high performance, and hopefully that will seep through into the players on the pitch.” To say Murphy, who will be flanked by Ireland scrum coach John Fogarty, has paid his dues after 20 years of coaching would be an understatement.
He’s worked under three of the best of the business in Michael Cheika, Joe Schmidt and Andy Farrell, across Leinster and Ireland, before striking out on his own with the U-20s in 2021.
But now he takes on his first senior head coach role at Ulster and he believes it is the right time to do so.
“I don’t think it’s long overdue, I had to earn my time,” he adds. “But I’ve had lots of experience, worked with a lot of top coaches. I feel those experiences have prepared me well for something like this.”
Murphy’s only disappointment? His first home game as the manager will not come until April 19.
Following their doubleheader against the Sharks and Stormers in South Africa, they will travel to Montpellier, France, to play in their Challenge Cup last-16 match. Should they advance, they may then go to Clermont for a potential quarterfinal matchup the following week. a fire baptism.
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