Tall timber, the indigenous variety. Cormac Izuchukwu, Joe Hopes and Jude Postlethwaite climb in and out of cars. The imported kind. Ben Donnell, Irish-qualified, who recently arrived from Cardiff, can play either backrow or secondrow. Watching on, it’s a human version of a furling and unfurling process.
For a fleeting moment the land of Brobdingnag from Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels springs to mind rather than the staff car park at the Affidea Stadium in Belfast. Relating the encounters to Ulster head coach Richie Murphy soon after, a chuckle escapes as he lists the heights and weights of his first-choice backline.
There will be few, if any, bigger/taller/heavier midfields in world rugby than Stuart McCloskey and Postlethwaite, while wings Rob Baloucoune, Jacob Stockdale and Zac Ward are outsize in stature, too. Hulking physiques are not a prerequisite as Jack Murphy and Mikey Lowry are also key constituents.
The snapshot in time offers a reminder of Ulster’s recruitment process during the summer, with an emphasis on bolstering the front five in the pack. Iain Henderson’s ongoing injury woe directed Ulster towards South African Eli Snyman, who has signed from Benetton.
The secondrow is a proven performer in the URC, a lineout technician who can assist in developing tyros Hopes, Charlie Irvine and Harry Sheridan. Tighthead props Argentinian Eduardo Bello and Keynan Knox, once of Munster, and Donnell, explosively quick and who can play across the back five of the pack, are other new faces.
James McNabney, who was due to tour Georgia and Portugal with Ireland last year before tearing his ACL in training, is back, while former Ireland under-20 hooker Henry Walker has been promoted to the senior squad following John Andrew’s departure. Martin Moloney, who spent time at Leinster and more recently Exeter, can cover all three backrow spots.
Scrumhalf Matthew Devine and wing Chay Mullins have joined from Connacht; Irish-qualified Jamie Benson will compete with Jack Murphy for the 10 jersey, even though the ex-Harlequins can play centre and fullback too, while Daniel Hawkshaw, who previously played under-20s for Ulster, has been recruited following Stewart Moore’s ACL tear. Aitzol Arenzana-King has progressed from the academy.
There is a new face in the coaching team: former All Black Clark Dermody takes over the forwards after Jimmy Duffy switched to Munster to be closer to his family in Galway.
“Our coaching team had been very tight and very small. Most of us have worked together with the Irish 20s group,” says Murphy. ”There was an opportunity to bring someone in from outside, hear and see different ways.
“He’s [Dermody] been excellent, fitted in well, a good personality and a lovely person. If he doesn’t like something, everyone will know that he doesn’t agree with it. He’s a nice edge to him, an extremely strong forwards coach, [especially] around the scrum. Again, that’s an area of our game that we need to improve in. He’s been a good asset in that regard.”
Pushing the set-piece discussion of new personnel to one side, does Murphy feel that he’s changed as a coach from the one that presided over the most successful period in the history of the Ireland under-20s? He took the job on an interim basis in February 2024, before being appointed to the position that May.
He managed to work his way through the initial state of chaos, and, while there was some bruising along the way, he’s guided Ulster into a healthier, stronger position, even to the cusp of silverware, only to be denied by Montpellier in last season’s Challenge Cup final.
The team plays a hugely entertaining brand of rugby. “I don’t think I’ve changed a huge amount,” says Murphy. “If you look at the way our coaching team has formed, with Mark [Sexton] as attack coach, Willie [Falloon] as defence coach, Clark [now] looks after our forwards, Dan Soper fills a few holes around different areas as well as being our kicking and skills coach and helps with the transition of young players coming up. We’re very much a coaching team.
“I’m very collaborative in relation to how we do things. I don’t feel that I need to have all the answers. I’ve got experts in the room in their fields and what we do is bounce ideas off each other. That’s the way I did things with the 20s.
“I don’t think I’ve changed much in my personality. When I was with my 20s, I didn’t have to rule with an iron fist. It’s not my way. I think it’s important as a coach that you are who you are, because if you try to be someone different, you’ll get caught out pretty quick.
“It takes a little bit to get me angry, but if I do, I have a side to me that I can use that. We try to hold our players accountable for their performance, and for what they do during the week. Those conversations don’t need to be really harsh. They can be whatever way they need to be. I don’t feel like I’ve changed; what you see is what you get.”
He’s settled nicely in Belfast and recently moved to the Ballyhack area. He and his wife Steph still have a lodger. Murphy smiles: “You mean, Jack,” his son, Ulster’s outhalf. “Jack uses the house. We get a visitor every now and again from Connacht,” he adds, referencing his other son, Ben, capped for Ireland on the summer tour last year and currently contracted with the western province.
Murphy admits the dynamic is “hard for two games a year”, when Ulster player Connacht, “as you’re looking at your son and want him to do well.” But, he adds, “you want to beat the team that he’s playing for; make no bones about it. We talk all the time. Daily, mostly. If he’s having problems or he needs some support, he knows where to come and get some advice.”
Murphy is an inveterate watcher of rugby matches, not all strictly relevant to the job. “Like my poor wife understands, rugby is a huge part of our family. My uncle [Johnny Murphy] played for Ireland. My mum and dad would have followed me in rugby from when I was a kid. That hasn’t changed. Even in our extended family, rugby is a big part of who we are.”
Given a coach’s eye and an encyclopedic knowledge, what rugby trends does he anticipate in the coming season, and how does he want Ulster to evolve? “The game is getting looser, scorelines are getting higher, and I think we’re favouring the attacking team a little bit more.
“International rugby is slightly different from club rugby. The different leagues have different ways of playing. People are trying to make rugby more entertaining for the crowds.
“We want to lean on the game you’ve already seen. We’re not going to change everything. We were quite low in relation to our kicking game in URC. We will try and balance that out, try to become a little bit more unpredictable.
“Everyone talks about do you play through a team? Do you play around a team? Do you play over a team? The more problems you can cause for your opposition, the tougher you will be to stop.”
Murphy is self-deprecating and sees his role as a facilitator to enable the team and the players to be at their best. “I don’t worry about me; I worry about the team. I worry about our team performing at the best level they can. My importance within this organisation is minimal, in my opinion.
“My goal is to make sure that they’re improving and moving in the right direction. We want to be a smart rugby team. We want to play fast. We want to be dynamic. We want to have an air of abrasiveness around how we are in that contact area.
“I remember coming up to Ulster as a player, whether it be at club level or underage. You always felt when you played against an Ulster team that physically they were at it. We want to make sure that we keep that as part of the DNA and build on it.”
The development of young talent within the province is a priority. Murphy prefers players to work hard to filter through the system from provincial talent squads to national talent squads to the academy. It’s the application of pressure, but with support, a process that calcifies the potential.
Down the M1 in Dublin, there are superior numbers and greater depth of quality in that sector. But Ulster must continue to chip away, trying to ensure the best in the province compare favourably with their contemporaries elsewhere in the country. If there is a shortfall, then Murphy will draw from beyond the province.
“It’s important that we get the Ulster ones, but it’s also important that we have a vision that we’re a professional rugby team, one of four professional rugby teams in the country and that an Irish player doesn’t have to be born in Ulster [to play here].
“We have to spread our wings and make sure that we’re picking up the talent that we need in order to supply the senior team with the best players.”
Joe Schmidt will play a part in that process. He’s in week two of three in his block of visits in his role as a coach development advisor. “He’s been getting out into the different schools and looking at the age-grade system, trying to give us some recommendations in relation to what we can do.
“If you think about Joe Schmidt teams, what they tend to have is brilliant basics and there’s no magic pill for developing coaches or developing young players. It’s about doing the basics really well and he will drive that into the directors of rugby, who then will hopefully spread the gospel through the schools.
“Dan Soper is working in that area as well to make sure that the things that we’re talking about are done on a weekly basis. They’ll answer to him in relation to the Ulster way, and how we want to try and drive those schools. There is a decent connection being built. It’s in its infancy, but everyone has to start somewhere.
“Joe’s responsibility within that is to see, report back, come up with a plan about how we help develop those coaches so that you can spread the word a little bit better. Having Joe Schmidt here is also good for us as a coaching team because he’s got a really good, critical eye.”
Given the starting point, Murphy’s tenure has been laudable to this point. He claims it’s still early doors. He is ambitious, but Ulster is his priority and sole focus.
“I know what I want, but I’m very settled here in relation to this project that we’re building. It’s not anywhere near over; if anything, it’s only starting. Trying to drive this forward is my immediate and most important thing.
“My ambitions for where I want to get after that sit in the background. But I am ambitious; I want to be the best coach I can be.”
He’s honouring that commitment.