IF anyone thought that a family Christmas would take Richie Murphy’s mind off Ulster’s recent run of losses, well they obviously don’t know the Murphy family.
With Ulster currently on a five-game losing streak, Murphy takes his side to Galway on Saturday for a seasonal inter-pro with Connacht.
With a son in each camp, it’s sure to make for an interesting family gathering at his parent’s home in Bray over Christmas Day and St Stephen’s Day respectively.
After coming up through the ranks at Leinster, out-half Jack moved up north to join his father during the summer while at the same time, scrum-half Ben left D4 to sign on the dotted line with Connacht.
Indeed, Ben has already left his mark on Ulster this season when he scored a stunning individual try when the sides met in October.
On that occasion, it was Dad and brother Jack who claimed the bragging rights as Ulster claimed a 32-27 win.
But as Dad Richie prepares for another inter-pro, spare a thought for his poor wife Stephanie.
“It’s more of a sideshow for my wife,” joked Muphy.
“She’s the one that has to deal with all three of us. I definitely don’t envy her position at the moment.”
Being an inter-pro, the stakes are already high, but with both teams locked on 18-points and just outside the play-off spots, the pressure is further cranked up.
But Murphy is feeling confident that Ulster’s winless streak is just a bounce of a ball away from ending and that sooner rather than later, his side will be back in the hunt for a play-off berth.
“Everyone feels, there’s no doubt. You know there’s plenty of sleepless nights and there’s plenty of getting up early to try and work things out.
“You know when I came in last year, I always felt that we got lucky with a couple of wins that you know, where a bounce of the ball either way and we kind of got lucky with that. We kind of feel that we are on the other side of that now.
“I kind feel that things will settle down. If you look at the direction we’re going and where we want to be, when we get a number of players back into our squad, that will create more competition and it will give us more experience.”
It’s been well documented that Ulster are working with a much younger squad than they have done in previous years, but the flip side is the amount of big-game experience these young players have gained as Murphy breaks down.
“Jude (Postlethwaite) has now played a number of games, 22 years of age. Ben Carson has a number of games this year, 22 years of age. Jack (Murphy) 20.
“Nathan Doak has 78 caps and has just turned 23. Like you know what I mean. We have a lot of young guys. Scotty Wilson came on and had an impact on the game (against Munster), 22 years of age.
“So, we’re going through a tough time. We’re playing against some highly rated teams in European rugby and you know, we’re not a million miles away.
“You know against Munster last Friday night, for 14 men, for 50 minutes I think we were the better side. But we lost and ultimately, we have to get over the line and win those ones.”
For Saturday, Murphy will be able to call on the services of Cormac Izuchukwu and Nathan Doak, but the coach confirmed that Stuart McCloskey has a significant hamstring injury and is facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
