Richie Murphy hopeful emotional win in Galway will kickstart Ulster's season
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Ulster coach Richie Murphy is hopeful that their deserved 17-7 win in Galway can turn their season around as they head into 2025 after ending a five-match losing run.
Murphy and Ulster will now turn their attention to their Champions Cup, away to Leicester Tigers in two weeks and home to Exeter Chiefs the following weekend with a lot of ground to make up after opening rounds losses to Toulouse and Bordeaux-Bègles.
It was an emotional night for Murphy whose son Jack started his first game for Ulster and did well at out-half, while older son Ben came off the bench at scrum-half for Connacht. Murphy’s wife Stephanie was the neutral figure in the stand having travelled from the family home in Bray.
“We’re incredibly proud of the two boys,” said Richie Murphy. “It certainly made for an interesting Christmas Day but Stephanie has had to deal with most of that.”
He was particularly pleased with the way the younger players stood up to the challenge against an almost full-strength Connacht side, and also the way the squad dealt with set-backs in the build-up.
“Travelling up during the week we lost a few boys. Even in the warm-up there we lost Rob Herring. So, we were missing a lot of experience out there on the pitch,” added Murphy.
“For those guys to come in and do as well as they have done, and for those young backs to stand-up against the likes of Bundee Aki and Mack Hansen is massively satisfying for us.”
Murphy was particularly pleased with the way they dealt with anything Connacht threw at them and said the hard work of defence coach Jonny Bell was key to the success as they bounced back from a disappointing home defeat to Munster when they had 70% possession.
“We didn’t give them a minute on the ball. Defensively, we put a lot of pressure on them and a lot of that credit has to go to Jonny Bell.
“You always think you are going to have to do a little bit more and you know from an attack point of view obviously the two tries we got came on the back of good forward carries.
“Dominating a little bit around the gain line as we said earlier, that young backline, it’s going to take a little bit of time to get used to the speed of the game and how they sort of bring others into the game.”
But Murphy knows the key now will be to build on this win and while Champions Cup duty is next up, he will be aware that they still have a lot to do to make the top half of the URC and reach the knockout stages.
"I think there’s way more in us than that. What I loved was the commitment to the jersey, the commitment to each other, the hard work that the lads put in, they never took a backwards stop.
"I’m really happy with that. Especially on the attack side I think there’s way more in us. We’ll have a mini break and get ready for Leicester.
“Every game is worth the same amount of points, so it is literally just another win. But on the back of five losses, on the back of the players that were missing, that was a huge moment in the careers of some of the younger guys and the challenge for them is to become more comfortable at this level.
“And again, going back to the competition in the squad is what we need in order to get everyone better and that’s the challenge for now on.”