'Everyone is going to be a little bit wiser' - Ulster URC pain but Richie Murphy keeping faith in youth for future progress

The 38-20 loss against Munster at Thomond Park on Friday night coupled with results going against the province on Saturday have confirmed Ulster’s status.

It has been difficult full first full season for Murphy in the Kingspan hot-seat.

Ulster are set for their lowest league finish in the domestic league since the competition was expanded to include teams from outside the three Celtic nations (Ireland, Scotland, Wales) in 2010 and now won’t be playing in Europe’s premier tournament for the first time since its inception 31 years ago.

Ulster have lost 10 of their 17 URC games and Munster was the second consecutive game in which the province failed to score over the second half. Six of Ulster’s seven league wins have been by five points or fewer.

Europe wasn’t any better as Ulster lost three of their four pool games, conceding 163 points. That was still good enough to qualify for the knockout stages where their lost 43-31 to Bordeaux in the last 16.

Murphy was in reflective mood after the six-tries-to-two defeat in Limerick which make’s Friday night’s last league game away to Edinburgh a dead-rubber.

"Ultimately over the course of the season, our league position doesn't lie...we haven't quite been good enough,” said Murphy. “We're not happy with the idea of playing in the Challenge Cup but, ultimately, that's where we are and that might be a great something to go after next year. Obviously you want to be playing the best teams in the Champions Cup.

“I suppose from our point of view, it's been a very broken year in relation to the team that we've been able to put out, especially the first part of the year where we were chopping, changing four, five, six, seven players week in, week out, where the last couple of weeks we've had a bit of a closer run of things.”

Despite losing their last four games in all competitions Murphy has vowed to stick to his youth policy.

“We are backing the youth, that's the way we are going,” he said. “We know there is probably a little bit of pain at the moment, but we are willing to keep pushing through because we can see the potential in those players. And I think you guys will have seen that potential too...you can't put 20, 21, 22, 23-year-olds out there and expect them to hit the ground running when they are playing against some serious high-level international players.

"Everyone is going to be a year older. Everyone is going to be a little bit wiser. I think getting into this summer, we'll know exactly where we are, we know exactly what we need to go about.

"There has been massive development in Ulster in relation to a whole new coaching team in the last 12 months, a whole new strength-and-conditioning programme and team in the last six months.

“So those things are bedding in and all of us understanding everything. We have an eye on a number of other players within our academy system that we want to try and get up into our senior team. It's very hard to blood all young players at the same time, so it's just trying to find the right times for those opportunities.

"I think we will be better next year and these experiences will drive these lads on."​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​