ULSTER ARE INTENT on opening the New Year on the right note when facing Munster at a sold-out Affidea Stadium, the northern province’s first home fixture after three games on the road.
Following last weekend’s win at Connacht, victory over Munster would also give Richie Murphy’s squad some ideal momentum as they prepare to return to the European Challenge Cup for two more rounds of matches.
“We’re at home, we have a full house coming and it’s really important that we keep going,” said Murphy whose side have lost twice in in their seven rounds of URC action.
“(We must) try and be a little bit more consistent (in the games), but keep playing the rugby that we’ve shown,” the Ulster head coach added referring to their scoring prowess which has seen them secure six try bonus points and rack up more of them than anyone else in the URC with 33 touchdowns.
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“We started the season positively and the confidence within the group is growing every week.”
With Munster believed to be resting their Ireland players for this interprovincial, Murphy also pointed out that Ulster will also be potentially dabbling in some alterations.
“There will be natural rotation of the team to make sure that we’re using our squad to the best of its ability and everybody that’s coming in is chomping at the bit, waiting for their opportunity.
“In that regard, it means this weekend is a massively important game to try and get everything we can from it.
“Even when they (Munster) do rotate their team a bit, sometimes they get stronger because everyone in their squad is fighting for places as well.
“I think the Munster squad is deep. They’ve got players two and three deep in every position. There’s talk that some internationals mightn’t be here at the weekend, but they’re probably a little bit ahead of us in relation to the development of the squad in behind their starting 15.
“So, that’ll make it very tough. (But) We’re home in the Affidea, we’ve played some of our best rugby here this year and we feel very positive going into the game.”
Though Juarno Augustus is out with ankle ligament damage, and Ethan McIlroy misses this game too, it is possible that some combination of Iain Henderson, Rob Herring, Eric O’Sullivan and Matthew Dalton might be back from their respective injuries.
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'This weekend is massively important' - Ulster aim to start new year with win over Munster
ULSTER ARE INTENT on opening the New Year on the right note when facing Munster at a sold-out Affidea Stadium, the northern province’s first home fixture after three games on the road.
Following last weekend’s win at Connacht, victory over Munster would also give Richie Murphy’s squad some ideal momentum as they prepare to return to the European Challenge Cup for two more rounds of matches.
“We’re at home, we have a full house coming and it’s really important that we keep going,” said Murphy whose side have lost twice in in their seven rounds of URC action.
“(We must) try and be a little bit more consistent (in the games), but keep playing the rugby that we’ve shown,” the Ulster head coach added referring to their scoring prowess which has seen them secure six try bonus points and rack up more of them than anyone else in the URC with 33 touchdowns.
“We started the season positively and the confidence within the group is growing every week.”
With Munster believed to be resting their Ireland players for this interprovincial, Murphy also pointed out that Ulster will also be potentially dabbling in some alterations.
“There will be natural rotation of the team to make sure that we’re using our squad to the best of its ability and everybody that’s coming in is chomping at the bit, waiting for their opportunity.
“In that regard, it means this weekend is a massively important game to try and get everything we can from it.
“Even when they (Munster) do rotate their team a bit, sometimes they get stronger because everyone in their squad is fighting for places as well.
“I think the Munster squad is deep. They’ve got players two and three deep in every position. There’s talk that some internationals mightn’t be here at the weekend, but they’re probably a little bit ahead of us in relation to the development of the squad in behind their starting 15.
“So, that’ll make it very tough. (But) We’re home in the Affidea, we’ve played some of our best rugby here this year and we feel very positive going into the game.”
Though Juarno Augustus is out with ankle ligament damage, and Ethan McIlroy misses this game too, it is possible that some combination of Iain Henderson, Rob Herring, Eric O’Sullivan and Matthew Dalton might be back from their respective injuries.
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