Ulster’s interim head-coach Richie Murphy explains that he is having “positive talks” with the club regarding the possibility of extending his temporary contract beyond the end of this season.
The ex-Ireland U20 boss saw his stock rise after Friday’s 38-34 win over Italian side Benetton at Kingspan Stadium, a win that saw Ulster rise to seventh in the United Rugby Championship after 15 rounds of action, with only the top-eight making the end-of-season play-offs.
Player of the match John Cooney was perfect from the tee with six from six, while there were tries for Tom Stewart, Reuben Crothers and Jacob Stockdale; as well as Will Addison and replacement lock Cormac Izuchuckwu to ensure the bonus point for the home side.
Murphy and his coaching staff will be disappointed that their side also shipped five tries and were guilty of a number of unenforced errors as the Italian side left with two bonus points of their own.
However, overall, Murphy was upbeat on the Irish province’s win and the potential of him staying in his post beyond the summer, having taken over in a caretaker role following the axing of Dan McFarland back in February.
But reports this week from Japan suggest the 54-year-old may have competition on his hands for the vacant post, in the form of Kubota Spears coach Frans Ludeke.
“I don’t really pay much attention to what’s going on in the background,” Murphy said.
“I have had conversations with Ulster and they’ve all been positive towards next year, so it’s still at that stage.”
After grabbing his second win in two weeks, the interim boss could be forgiven for thinking about whether he will have a job next season, but for him results are the name of the game as the URC reaches its business end.
“It probably has an effect on other people more so than me,” he said of the speculation.
“I’m quite happy with what I’m doing. I suppose when there’s not certainty, it opens up to speculation. But speculation, I can’t deal with that.” He continued.
“I need to prepare the team on a Monday, a Tuesday and a Thursday to get them ready for Friday. I deal with the team and I’m worrying about how we can be good enough to win on Friday nights.”
Murphy’s son Jack, who started all five of Ireland’s 2024 Under-20s Six Nations games at fly-half, is also talking to the Belfast club in relation to signing a contract for next year, and that may be a deal maker or breaker as to where the family set up home beyond 2024.
“The latest is he’s been talking to Ulster, definitely,” added Murphy.
“He hasn’t signed any contracts or anything like that. He’s looking at college options and we’ll see how that progresses over the next couple of weeks.”
Murphy snr will have some time over the coming days to discuss his future as the URC takes a break next week to allow for the semi-finals of the European competitions, but they return on May 11 when they travel to Wales to play the Scarlets. Murphy hopes to have some of his front-line players back for that game.
“There will be one or two of those players back, it’s really hard to say which ones,” he said.
“They’re working hard with the medical team and they’re doing a great job putting the guys through their paces.
“We’d expect some back but not anywhere near the amount that we have missing.
“The guys (that came in) will learn from these experiences, and it will stand to them over the next number of seasons, but for Ulster Rugby we need to win right now.”