Playmaker Jack Murphy holds key to unlocking Racing 92's defence in opening European Challenge Cup clash at Ravenhill
Jack Murphy has made the Ulster No.10 shirt his own after developing into the side’s playmaker.
Despite only being 21-years-old, Murphy has already made 18 appearances for the province, including starting all five matches this season.
Ulster begin their European quest in the Challenge Cup on Friday night against Racing 92 at Ravenhill and Murphy will be the key to unlocking the Parisians defence – a responsibility that despite his age, Murphy realises and acknowledges comes with being an out-half.
“I guess I cope quite easily because I think that's just the nature of my position, I kind of have to [fulfil] that role,” he said. “I have to be stepping into that role, I think the lads, that's what they want.
“They don't want somebody to not kind of take it by the reins and stuff, I've got a lot of experience around me as well and they don't lead me too far astray in terms of advice that I go to them for.
"I think it's just something that I've always been, through my twenties and even younger than that, I've always tried to be a driver of the attack for instance.
“Like as a 10, obviously you've got to get your voice out there and get your point across quite well to get that respect off your teammates.
“I think we're all very much on the same page this year, so nobody's ever leading too far astray in terms of advice or in terms of what we should be doing.
“I think it just makes everybody else's job a lot easier when we're all on the same page.”
Ulster are the top try scorers in the URC and having been coached by Mark Sexton at Ireland U20 level, Murphy is enjoying being reunited with the province’s new attack coach.
“I think Mark's just tidied up some of our attack principles and stuff like that,” he added. “For me personally working with him, I think he's definitely added a lot to my game knowledge, just knowledge of the overall attack.
“I just think everybody's a little bit more clued in and focused on what we're trying to do, if that makes sense, in certain areas of the field.
“So he's been great to us and I think everybody's bought into it, like as you can see, the rugby over the last few weeks has been quite good upon that.
“We're just a lot cleaner this year and I think we're seeing that. Just trying to get our big ball carriers over the game line, it just helps us so much more to play on top than play on the back foot all the time.”
After playing in three of Ulster’s Champions Cup games last season, Murphy is looking forward going back into European competition.
“There is a different buzz, and nice to be able to park the URC after getting a good few wins there, and the confidence is kind of flowing through the group,” he said. “There's a good vibe in the camp as well, so ready to crack on now for Racing.
“The French teams are quite difficult to kind of gauge on what they're going to do because they've just got so much talent across the pitch.
"They've got a lot of French internationals and then also a rake of overseas players that they have as well. We're expecting a lot of power from them and a lot of pace as well, but I think we're kind of more self-focused on what we're trying to do and there's a couple of areas that we've been looking at that we can go after, so I'm just going to focus on that.”
With a second row injury crisis, Queen’s captain Charlie Irvine makes his first start while club colleague Joe Hopes is on the bench.
Ulster: 15. Jacob Stockdale, 14. Robert Baloucoune, 13. James Hume, 12. Jude Postlethwaite, 11. Zac Ward, 10. Jack Murphy, 9. Nathan Doak, 1. Sam Crean, 2. Rob Herring, 3. Tom O'Toole, 4. Harry Sheridan, 5. Charlie Irvine, 6. Dave McCann, 7. Nick Timoney, 8. Juarno Augustus
Replacements: 16. Tom Stewart, 17. Angus Bell, 18. Scott Wilson, 19. Joe Hopes, 20. Bryn Ward, 21. Conor McKee, 22. Jake Flannery, 23. Stewart Moore