Murphy's Ulster head into Munster clash with confidence after bonus point win over Connacht

Murphy's side will head home after two away derby interpros.

Mon, 29 Dec, 2025 - 06:53

John Fallon

Ulster head coach Richie Murphy will head into his third festive derby against Munster on Friday night on the back of a loss in a good display against Leinster and a win from an indifferent performance against Connacht.

Having picked up a total of six points from those two away inter-pros, Murphy is hoping that home advantage in Belfast will also count when they host Clayton McMillan’s side.

His men recovered from a slow start in Galway on Saturday night but with Connacht managing just ten points in a half hour of dominance, Ulster reeled them in and carved out a 29-24 bonus point win with a brace of tries from Zac Ward, a fine effort from the impressive Werner Kok and a penalty try.

They then withstood a late Connacht rally to carve out their fifth win and will be fifth in the table when they host a Munster side three points above them on the log.

"It was a little disappointing conceding two late tries but you're always aware that Connacht are never going to give up without a fight," said Murphy.

"A lot of credit has to go to them for how they finished the game and at the end we're hanging on there.

"We'll look at how we get better in those final 20 minutes and really we just have to keep doing the things we were doing earlier in the half. We just kind of went into our shell a little bit. It's really important we keep going after the game."

He was pleased with the way they absorbed sustained pressure from Connacht in the opening half and then played their way into the game with some strong running despite problems in the set-piece.

The introduction of props Angus Bell and Tom O’Toole sorted their scrum issues and they bossed matters for most of the second half having come from ten adrift to lead 12-10 at the break despite less possession.

"I thought we played some really good rugby in the second period of that first half when we started moving the ball and bringing some of our big outside backs into the game and they're a handful for any team.

"We started to move the ball into space and we were much more effective with ball in hand. We brought on two international standard props at half-time. That's what we were thinking about, getting them involved early, try to sort out the scrum a little bit and also give us a little bit of carry power.

"Both of them were pretty effective and did quite well for us in that second half,” added Murphy, who said that an ankle injury which saw No.8 Juarno Augustus stretchered off was not as serious as initially feared.