Ulster boss Richie Murphy confident 'positive' recruitment over summer will help province challenge on two fronts

The province missed out on a top-eight finish in the United Rugby Championship and were between by Montpellier in the final of the European Challenge Cup last season, but with a strengthening of the squad – especially in the pack – there is renewed optimism ahead of the league opener against Edinburgh on Friday night.

Murphy said: “When you look at what we lost, we lost 11 players, we've brought in nine players... the impact those nine players have had coming into the building has been really good, really positive. It's strengthened our tight-five with four signings in there.

“We've moved things around, like Marty (Moloney) coming into the back row has given us more competition, and then the likes of Aitzol (King) stepping up from the academy and Chay Mullins coming in give us cover from where Werner (Kok) sort of left, so in relation to our recruitment over the summer, I think it's been really positive.

“All those guys have added [to the squad depth] and obviously Matty Devine and Jamie Benson coming in around half-back and inside-back, it's all been very positive in relation to their contribution to the squad over the pre-season, so looking forward to seeing them out on the pitch when it counts.

“We've learned loads from last year, we've learned that after a good pre-season, getting a good start is important,” he added.

“We're in a slightly different situation this year with player availability and an injury list that's pretty long, but after a really good pre-season with the players that we had on the pitch, I think you can see in the way we've built through those two pre-season performances that we're in a good place getting started.”

Murphy has hailed the versatility of former Harlequin Benson – primarily an out-half – who has already played in three positions across the backline in pre-season.

“He's very versatile, fit, fast, strong as well with ball in hand and defensively, you know, his versatility is what every team needs,” he said.

"But [for] himself, it's probably a little bit of a curse because it can cause you getting moved around, but yeah, he's been a good signing for us.”

Ulster beat Edinburgh three weeks ago 28-26 in a pre-season clash but Murphy is expecting a different challenge on Friday night.

“There's obviously a lot of chat around who they're missing,” he said. “They brought back a number of internationals last week for their friendly against Harlequins.

“I think they'll be a lot stronger than people are giving them credit for at the moment; new coaching team, you can see elements of their game that have changed from last year over their two pre-season games. I think everything is geared up for Friday night.

“We're excited, we're delighted to be at home, we're a little bit nervous, but we're really pleased with the pre-season that we've had. We would have liked to have had more players available this week, but it is what it is.”

Centre James Hume picked up a hamstring injury in training this week and will be unavailable for selection.

Scrum-half Matthew Devine, prop Keynan Knox and No.8 Juarno Augustus have all returned to training.