IT WAS A busy day at Aviva Stadium on Thursday as the ground opened its doors to thousands of supporters eager to catch a glimpse of their rugby heroes.
With another Grand Slam firmly in their sights, Andy Farrell’s Ireland squad ran through their afternoon’s work as part of an open training session which also saw them train against the Ireland U20s.
In the stands, Bundee Aki appeared to be the man of the moment and there was plenty of love for James Lowe and Andrew Porter too, while Andy Farrell received an enthusiastic reception when introduced to the crowd.
The pitch was buzzing with activity throughout, yet at the far end it was easy to miss the work being done by the U20s as they completed their own session, all of which was overseen by Richie Murphy. The Ireland U20s head coach is well used to operating just under the radar, but will be stepping into centre stage once the U20s Six Nations wraps up later this month as he takes on the role of Ulster head coach on an interim basis.
By that point Murphy will hope to be celebrating a third Six Nations title win during his time in charge of the U20s, and a third Grand Slam.
It’s an impressive run of success for a coach who has been working closely with some of Ireland’s top rugby talent for over a decade, and will soon take on one of the biggest jobs on the IRFU’s books
A talented out-half who lined out for Greystones, Old Belvedere and Clontarf, Murphy represented Leinster at European Cup level before moving into the world of professional coaching in 2009, joining Michael Cheika’s Leinster as attack/backs coach.
Over the next few years Murphy was part of a golden Leinster era that landed Heineken Cup titles in 2009, 2011 and 2012, along with back-to-back league successes in 2013 and 2014 and a Challenge Cup win in 2013.
After making a strong impression through his work at Leinster, Joe Schmidt brought Murphy with him after the New Zealander left the province to take on the top job with Ireland in 2013.
For the next five years, Murphy worked as a kicking and skills coach with the Irish team, during which time Schmidt’s team won three Six Nations titles, one Grand Slam, and enjoyed historic wins against South Africa and New Zealand. For much of that run, Murphy’s role on matchday was to watch the action from the sideline, acting as Schmidt’s eyes and ears on ground level.
When Schmidt left after the 2019 World Cup Murphy moved into a new position, taking on the job of coaching the Ireland U20s in 2021. Murphy’s U20s sides won back-to-back Grand Slams in 2022 and 2023 while also reaching the final of the U20 World Championships last summer. Three rounds into the current U20s Six Nations championship, Ireland remain unbeaten as they chase a third successive Grand Slam.
Across every step of that coaching journey, the reviews of Murphy’s work have been glowing.
Jimmy Duffy first worked with Murphy almost two decades ago when the pair coached the Ireland U18s. They then went on separate paths before Duffy joined Murphy’s U20s set-up for the 2022 season, working as forwards coach with a squad who stormed to Grand Slam success with a points differential of +145.
“He’s always been a very smart tactical and technical coach, and then has a really, really good way with players,” says Duffy, who now works with Super Rugby side Western Force.
“A great strength of his is he allows people to be themselves. He builds a great rapport with people and he gets people early, which allows them to flourish. If anything, he’s just got better at that over the years.
“He’s a quality operator – brilliant with people, brilliant on the field, he knows exactly how he wants to play the game, and probably capitalise on the strengths of the group as well then, so he can bring the best out of people.
That’s his ace card. He’s a brilliant man manager, absolutely brilliant.”
Murphy’s appointment is an exciting one on the back of a difficult period for Ulster supporters.
The province have a crop of promising young talent on their books – with the likes of Nathan Doak, Tom Stewart, Jude Postlethwaite, Rueben Crothers and Ben Moxham all playing U20s rugby under Murphy in recent seasons – while they also possess a backline with plenty of attacking talent.
Murphy’s U20s sides have been known for their exciting brand of attacking rugby but Duffy says the Bray native will be pragmatic in his approach up north.
“I think the big thing is that behind the attacking side of the games is a real appreciation of where and how it should be played from the kicking game perspective and the defensive perspective,” Duffy says.
“With the Irish U20s everything got equal attention, genuinely. The attack was successful because he gave attention to the set-piece, to the defense, to the kicking game.
“It’s lovely to score tries, we all want to watch that, but he has a really, really well-rounded knowledge of all aspects of the game, and I think that’s probably something that makes him very, very confident as a coach – that he understands the game intricately and the importance of each aspect.
He’s probably the most rounded coach I’ve worked with in many years. He just gets it. He gets people, he gets the game.”
Murphy will hope his work with Ulster over the remainder of the season will be enough to land him the job on a permanent basis.
The province – who last lifted silverware 18 years ago – jumped to fifth in the URC table after yesterday’s seven-try win against the Dragons but failed to make the knock-out rounds of the Champions Cup after a miserable run of form.
Sitting as low as 10th before yesterday’s game in Belfast, Murphy’s task will be to keep the province in the right part of the URC table and secure European qualification for next season.
“He’ll get buy-in because the rugby knowledge there is top class and with how he is as a person, how he allows people be, it’s probably an ideal scenario for a player – he’s someone that gives you the tools to be as good as you can be and genuinely wants you to succeed.
“I think they’re lucky. They’re lucky in the guy they’re getting in terms of the rugby knowledge but also the people skills as well. I think it’ll be a good match.
“There’s no doubt there’s work to do in the province but I think they’ve definitely got the right guy.”
