Ulster head coach Richie Murphy preparing for Stormers URC clash without nine players called into Ireland squad
Ulster head coach Richie Murphy admitted he has had plenty time to prepare for the Stormers knowing he would be without his Irish squad players.
After the defeat to the Bulls on Saturday the Irish contingent of nine players flew to Dublin to hook up with Andy Farrell’s squad for the autumn series but Ulster have flown seven players out to Cape Town as they look to record a first URC win of the season this weekend.
Murphy said: “It hasn't been that difficult because we've known about the Irish guys. What we didn't know is who was going, we didn't know the amount of players we were going to lose and nine is probably more than we were expecting.
“At the same time, we're delighted for those players to get the opportunity to go and represent Ireland.
"In relation to preparing for Stormers, even since last week, things have fallen into place.
“The seven players, they were told last Wednesday that they'd be flying out on Friday, landed in Cape Town on Saturday, and we obviously joined up with them [on Sunday].
“Is it ideal to throw players straight back in – someone like James Hume or Rob Herring? Well, it's not that they're not ready to play, it’s just that they haven't been with us as much as we would like.
"But again, looking at it, you would say that their experience at playing at this level is what will get them through that.”
A surprise call-up among the seven players is Jed Finlay. The Queen’s full-back has only played three games for his club since arriving from Exeter, but Murphy is confident he can do a job if called upon.
“Jed Finlay has done really well since coming over and joining the academy,” he said. “He's trained with us all through the summer and has been excellent.
“We've a bit of a back crisis at the moment in relation to player availability in our backs and that's been the way all the way since the start of pre-season.
“Most parts of pre-season we couldn’t train with 14 backs because we didn't have them available to us, so Jed has done the full pre-season and we felt that it was a good opportunity to get him out and get him into the squad and give him an experience with the team.
"Whether he plays this week or not, we'll have to wait and see later on in the week.
“Even just being in and around the likes of James Hume, the likes of Mikey Lowry, the likes of Ethan (McIlroy), picking up little bits and pieces here and there, you know, should stand to him for the long run.
“He’s been very good in the training situations that we've had, he's been excellent and he's working hard. There's different parts of his game that we're trying to improve, but he's definitely one to keep an eye on.”
Two of the big work-ons from the Bulls defeat were the breakdown and penalties conceded.
Murphy added: “If you look at it from a turnover rate teams are trying to stop us. How do you stop us playing? You go after us at the breakdown – that’s something that is cropping up week in, week out.
“There is improvements being made in that area. It's just that we've got to just keep fighting through it and I suppose, you know, when you're coming towards the back end of the game with two or three crucial turnovers that just takes opportunities away from you.
“The discipline side of it, we want to try and create more pressure at the breakdown. While you're creating more pressure at the breakdown, you've just got to be really clear, make sure you're getting out of the back of the tackle.
“We got caught three times in the back of the tackle, where the decisions are marginal.”