Mike Lowry backing interim boss Richie Murphy to turn Ulster's fortunes around

Murphy will be in charge of Ulster for the first time at home this evening as they face Cardiff in a must-win game.

Two defeats for the interim coach in South Africa saw Ulster slip to eighth in the URC table while they crashed out of Europe last weekend after a defeat in Clermont at the quarter-final stage of the Challenge Cup.

Despite only one win in four games, Lowry is confident Ulster will make the domestic play-offs.

“Richie has come in with a lot on his plate and a four-week period to do anything is not a very long period of time at all,” he said. “For us as players we take responsibility for that, but ultimately it can take time to really to get to where we want to be and buy into what he wants.

“I definitely think our attack shape is looking better – even things we’re picking up in training, not going into detail of it, but the attacking shape is getting there.

“I talked about the basics of our breakdown...if we can get that miles better these things will start to show – even more so our attacking shape, speed of ball and speed of play.

“That’s the real challenge of how quickly can we learn, how quickly can we get on board with what Richie wants and how quickly can we improve those little things.

“It is quite tough to improve those things as a whole. We’ve got to take player responsibility and work really hard individually to do that and if everyone buys in I think we’ll be in a really good spot because those things are improving on the training pitch – we just haven’t really been able to show it yet in games.

“We’re looking back on that Clermont game and yes the scoreline doesn’t look great, but we’re looking at that and being like “if we just took a step deeper, a step tighter”, there are loads of details we’ve gone through.

“We’ve gone into these big games quite fresh to what Richie is trying to bring in but seeing the opportunities already that he has created.”

Lowry has spent most of his time in an Ulster shirt at full-back, but four of his last five starts have been on the wing.

“I just enjoy being out on the pitch whether that’s on the wing, full-back in at 10 or whatever,” he added. “Just being out on the pitch is where I want to be.

“I’ve had a few injuries throughout the season so far and it’s just great to be back out there enjoying my rugby.

“Full-back and wing are similar and they’re not similar – one you’re defending the front line a lot of the time which I really enjoy...despite the size of me I really enjoy tackling.

“The thing with the back-three is that we all work together and sometimes I’ll end up at full-back anyway.

“Rugby now is not like you just stand on the wing – you get yourself in at first or second receiver and that’s the way I want to play, but it’s very interchanging wherever you play now and you can find centres on the wing at stages now. It's all completely different in the last couple of years I’ve been playing.”