Ulster focusing on 'getting the basics right', says Richie Murphy ahead of Scarlets test

Richie Murphy’s side face a must win game against the Scarlets at Kingspan Stadium on Saturday evening, whilst in the midst of a crippling injury list which includes skipper Iain Henderson and Rob Baloucoune.

However, Ulster coach Murphy is confident that with seven league games left, his side can still turn the season around.

“It is another one of those weeks where we need a really big performance,” he said. “We have been under pressure for most of the year really so going into the Scarlets with Jared (Payne) and Peely (Dwayne Peel) coming back, they will want to make it as difficult as possible for us.

“They will probably be smelling blood seeing our injury list and where we are in the league, so we have a lot to play for this week and it is really important we just focus in on getting the basics right, improving our discipline and making sure we have a set-piece to play off and players sticking to the team system.”

A bonus point win on Saturday could put Ulster back into the play-off places.

Murphy added: “At this moment in time that is all in the background now, we have a game this weekend which we feel is a must win game and that is what our concentration is going into.

“On the back of a few good results things could change very quickly because on the back of a few bad results that is what has happened to us.

“Our job is to make sure we are not listening to the noise that is happening outside and very much on what makes us a good rugby team and try to deliver that at the weekend.”

Murphy is hoping he team can learn and grow from the results against the two Italian teams.

“Getting beaten by Zebre here certainly wasn’t part of the plan, Benetton is a difficult place to go these days, they were obviously missing some players with Italy, but their squad is quite deep and strong,” he reflected.

“We went over with a plan and we were just inaccurate in what we were doing, our discipline wasn’t good enough, 17 penalties to seven makes it very difficult to win a game.

“We came under pressure in the second half, you can win a game with a yellow card but we had three yellow cards which makes it very difficult.

“We found it hard to launch because we were missing a couple of bodies then the game just spiralled out of control.

“We had a really good look at that and put in a couple of things in relation to what we do when things go against us but also a lot of work on our discipline and trying to keep that penalty count down.”

With props Andy Warwick and Eric O’Sullivan both set for spells on the sidelines, Ulster have agreed a short-term deal for Irish-qualified loosehead prop, Sam Crean, who joined up with the squad on Monday from Saracens and could make his debut against the Scarlets.