Matthew Devine thanks ‘massive influence’ as key to Ulster summer switch
Reuniting with Richie Murphy and Mark Sexton proved too big a prize to turn down for Matthew Devine after he left Connacht in the summer to join Ulster.
The scrum half was coached by Murphy and Sexton at Ireland U20 level and also worked with the latter at Connacht.
The 24-year-old pivot will make his second start for Ulster this weekend in the URC clash with the Stormers in Cape Town and revealed that it was a telephone chat with Murphy that persuaded him to sign on the dotted line to come to Ravenhill.
“The biggest thing that attracted me to going up was when Richie was on the phone to me and he said he thinks there's a lot more in me and that was the most exciting thing for me,” said Devine. “That was something I kind of sort of clung to and I said I want to play for him, I've had success under Richie before with the under 20s.
“Mark has been a massive influence in my career, I had him at Connacht in the academy, I had him at the Irish 20s, I had him in the Connacht senior team.
"So they both had a massive influence on my career already and, hopefully, that continues to do so.”
Sexton has developed Devine’s game.
“When he came in, I was maybe 18, 19...I had a bit of mobility but I was pretty raw so he would have polished things like my passing and my kicking and my game management and my game understanding,” said Devine. “He wouldn't accept a bad pass or a bad kick.
"And when you're held to that standard when you're 19, 20, 21 and you sort of embrace that yourself and take it on and it becomes part of your own personality...it's a massive influence really.”
Devine is enjoying the fight for the Ulster No9 shirt.
“It's part of sports...we're all competing for the same jersey, we all want minutes,” said Devine. “But we have great relationships.
"The three of us...myself, Conor (McKee) and Nathan (Doak).
"So when we're preparing for teams or after training or whatever...if we're doing extras together we'll always help each other.
“If we're preparing for teams we'll share ideas, obviously you’re competing and you want to play every week but it's a ‘team first’ sort of focus you know.
“We're not scrapping in training, we'll put it that way.”
While it was Murphy and Sexton who have shaped the scrum half’s representative rugby, his dad was his first big influence.
“It's a sporty kind of family, so we were always sort of pushed in that direction but there was no doubt left,” said Devine. “He pushed us towards the rugby more than anything else.
"Myself and John, especially.
"He's been massive for me, he was my coach pretty much since I was, I want to say, six years old in Ballinasloe all the way through until I was 18.
“He was my coach in Garbally, my senior club team in school...he's had the biggest impact on me of anybody.
"He's still somebody I talk to every day about how I'm going, he keeps me grounded, he keeps me focused on what's ahead...he's been massive for me the whole way up.”