Richie Murphy relishing Ulster home comfort for Connacht challenge in URC

Ulster are third in the table after Friday night’s away win in Edinburgh and Murphy’s side sit unbeaten this season at home.

“I suppose with the break and then obviously a couple of away games, it's nice to finally come back home and I suppose over the next couple of weeks, knowing that we have a couple of home games, is something to look forward to,” said Murphy. “Our record here has been very good, it's really important that we work really hard this week and make sure we get ourselves right so that we can put in a really strong performance against Connacht.

“For us it means a lot to us to play here in front of our home crowd, over the course of the season, the support has been brilliant, getting behind the lads.

“The lads have played some really good rugby as well, so it sort of works hand-in-hand, but it's really important that we keep working hard to keep that home record intact.

“The comfort of being at home, the fact that you know the pitch, the fact that you have a feeling for the wind, the fact that you have hopefully 15,000, 16,000 supporters out there screaming you on, that makes a massive difference, when it comes down to little decisions, 50-50 ones, sometimes they go with the home team.”

Connacht moved to the cusp of the play-offs with their bonus point win over the Scarlets at the weekend and Murphy is expecting a typical feisty Irish derby.

“Connacht have gone well the last few weeks, pretty direct in the way they've been playing, but some big ball-carrying forwards getting themselves over the game line and then trying to play on the back of that,” he said. “It causes a fair amount of stress for us, but at the moment, we're in a decent place, it's really important that we play our own game.”

Tom Stewart, Tom O’Toole, Nathan Doak and Jacob Stockdale have all returned from Ireland to bolster Ulster. Dave Shanahan, Comac Izuchukwu and James Hume will all have to follow return-to-play protocols after picking up head knocks, while Jude Postlewaite has a suspected broken hand.

Despite the injuries, Murphy stands glad internationals are over and he has full access to his squad for the rest of the season.

“It's massive, the lads coming back from camp...most of them come back with a real spring in their step,” said Murphy. “Obviously, they've done very well for the guys who actually played down there and have all done pretty well.

“They're coming back with a little bit of extra confidence, I think that win at the weekend sets us up in a really nice position within the league and I suppose the guys that have been here and not in Irish camp, they feel like they're contributing as well to our goals.

"All-in-all, it sets us up really well for the run-in.”