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Ulster head coach Richie Murphy believes that Friday’s clash with Munster in the United Rugby Championship has the potential to be “pretty special” as his side look to push on from their recent triumph over Connacht.
Munster have gained the upper hand against Ulster in their last three meetings, although they come into the game having suffered a 13-8 defeat at the hands of Leinster last Saturday evening.
Munster were 18-points better off in the most recent encounter between the sides, winning 38-20 and will hope to earn a fourth consecutive victory over Ulster for the first time in almost a decade.
Murphy is under no illusions of the task that his side face. “It doesn’t get much bigger than Munster at home in front of a full house, which will be pretty special.
“I think the Munster squad is deep. You look across their first team, second team, third team, they’ve got players two and three deep in every position.
“There’s talk that some internationals might not be here at the weekend but the one thing that they have is that they’re probably a little bit ahead of us in relation to the development of the squad in behind their starting 15 and that’ll make it very tough.
“You look at how they’ve played throughout the season, very consistent in their strong kicking game, their phase attack has actually been decent at times and their defence is very strong so it’ll be tough to break them down.”
Home advantage could be key for Ulster as they have won their last four games at the Affidea Stadium. Murphy says his players are “chomping at the bit” and he will rotate his squad for the encounter.
Juarno Augustus will be sidelined for a few weeks following an ankle injury picked up last week but Eric O’Sullivan, Matthew Dalton, Iain Henderson and Rob Herring could all be in contention for a spot on the team.
“We’re at home at the Affidea, we’ve played some of our best rugby here this year and we feel very positive going into the game,” Murphy continued.
“We’re at home, we have a full house coming, it’s really important that we keep going, try to be a little more consistent, but playing the rugby that we’ve shown.
“We started the season positively and the confidence within the group is growing every week. It’ll be a natural rotation of the team in order to make sure that we’re using our squad to the best of its ability.
“Everybody that is coming in is chomping at the bit and waiting for their opportunity so in that regard, this weekend, we deal in the weeks that we’re in, this weekend is a massively important game to try and get everything we can from it.
“Munster at home is unbelievably difficult. Even when they do rotate their team a bit, sometimes they get stronger because everyone in their squad is fighting for places as well.”
On their most recent outing, that 29-24 victory over Connaught at Dexcom Stadium, Galway, Murphy added, “I think we have to be really positive about the rugby that we played in that middle period where we scored 26 unanswered points.
“Yes, there’s things we can do better at the backend of the game, a couple of lapses of concentration allowed Connacht back into the game. In relation to some of the rugby that we’re playing, we’re really positive about where we’re at.”
