Dec 23,2024
After seeing his team fall to a fifth defeat in a row on Friday night, Ulster coach Richie Murphy cut a frustrated figure as he tried to make sense of their 22-19 loss to Munster.
Having taken the lead on three separate occasions, the last of which was just three minutes from full-time, the province still found a way to lose a game in which they had largely controlled, despite playing 50 minutes of the contest with 14 players following a red card for Tom O'Toole.
Amid all the frustration, Murphy did have reason to perk up when he was asked about the province’s debutant on Friday night.
A hamstring injury to Stuart McCloskey has added to a growing injury headache the Ulster coach is dealing with at the moment, but it did provide the opportunity for Jack Murphy – Richie's son – to come on and make his first appearance for the province.
The 20-year-old out-half was one of the stars of the Ireland U20s that finished second in an unbeaten Six Nations in 2024, as well as reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup.
And after following his father Richie north to Ulster’s academy this summer, the young prospect (below) earned his first appearance for the side on Friday night.
"Jack done well. He's disappointed [with the result] but for myself and Stephanie, from a parent's point of view, we're very proud of him," Richie said, although he wasn't letting his son off the hook for his decision to kick the ball out at half-time rather than attempting a long-range drop-goal
"From a coach's point of view, he should have dropped the goal.
"I think John Cooney told him to get the ball off the park but just drop the goal like!
"I suppose over the last number of weeks – he's spent probably the last five weeks training with us full-time. Within that, he's shown himself to be composed and well able to work with the senior players and communicate them into the position that they need to be in.
"He runs the attack really well, there's a nice flow to his game, his kicking game is second to nobody. His kicking game is spot on."
Already dealing with a lengthy injury list, the majority of whom are first team regulars, that issue grew even larger when McCloskey and Zac Ward both departed yesterday’s game with first half knocks.
"We'd two Academy backs on the bench. Stuart McCloskey, where will he be next week? I'm not sure he'll be playing. He's come off with a hamstring.
"Zac Ward has rolled his ankle. At that point, we don't have any more senior backs.
"We'll see what the return looks like for next week but there's not lads queuing to get back on the pitch, let's put it that way. We'll probably be going into the academy again or into club land.
"We'll have a look later on. I don't even know what position we need to tell you the truth.
"Someone like Wilhelm de Klerk has played well with Queens and he's played well with the 'A’s this afternoon [against Munster ‘A’]. He'd be a guy that I think will be a really good player. Unfortunately, Sam Berman is injured at the moment. We'd have faith in them.
"Lukas Kenny, Ben McFarlane played really well and had another good game today. We'll see where we get to on Monday.
"We don't feel sorry for ourselves, we just get on with it," he added.
After being appointed head coach on a permanent basis ahead of this season, it’s been a difficult couple of months for Murphy (above), who has seen his side’s form dip following a steady start to the campaign.
But as he turns his attention to another Interpro after Christmas against Connacht on 28 December, the former Ireland U20 boss says his first year as head coach in senior rugby has been a joy.
"Love it. I'm having a ball.
"it's tough, we always knew when we were coming in that the way forward was going to be different for Ulster, that we were going to have to bring some young guys through. There's not bucket-loads of money to sign people.
"The guys are responding well, they're working really hard, we just need to be a bit more streetwise in big moments in games.
"Last week, I think if we get one more score, I think Bordeaux might have gone away and we'd have got that little bit of confidence that we needed to get over the line.
"This week, we brought it to the last minute and probably just needed to get the ball off the park."
