Ulster Rugby vs Edinburgh

RUAIDHRI MURPHY: AT HOME IN ULSTER

Ask Ruaidhri Murphy where home is and he might give you two different answers.

emphasis has certainly changed from what I am used to, in Australia the game revolves around post-set piece but here it is much more focused on the scrum, lineout and maul – they are the absolute number one priority, which has been a big change. “I have had to change my mind-set - the number one role that will affect me getting picked now is being able to scrum well, lineout and set piece from there. The flow on from that is just a bonus whereas in Australia the onus lay

He was born and bred in Ireland, but he lived in Australia for 14 years. He was part of the Leinster Academy, but made his name playing for the Canberra-based Brumbies. He has represented Ireland at under age level, but he once had aspirations of pulling on the green and gold of Australia. He might have strong associations with Australia and Ireland, but home for the 26 year-old now however, is very much Belfast and Ulster Rugby. “It’s been a pretty smooth transition back from Australia,” says the loosehead prop. “There are a lot of parallels between rugby organisations so it has been easy. The professionalism here matched with the facilities, the attention to detail and how we prepare each week is something similar to the set up at the Brumbies so I have found it easy to settle in.” Having spent two months in the set up, Murphy has also been impressed with the passion and commitment of his team-mates: “You can see how much it means to the guys week in and week out no matter what competition we are playing in, everyone expects big things and that is really exciting. The weather has been fantastic and generally life here is great and we are settling in well. I like to immerse myself in the local culture and I am keen to check out all the local spots, so if anyone has any good suggestions let me know! “St George’s Market on a Sunday is good, my girlfriend enjoys the museums and the history side of the city, so we are taking a black cab tour this week. 5A café has to be my favourite spot so far, down in Stranmillis.” Having left one of the top rugby franchises in the southern hemisphere to join one of the best in Europe, Murphy believes that there are similarities and differences between Australian and Irish rugby: “No matter where in the world that I have played, the same trends pop up in terms of training so as a forward, we prepare as a unit, we go through the week with training, analysis, reviewing the weekend. “I don’t think I have been here long enough to necessarily learn something new but the

RUAIDHRI MURPHY

heavily on the post-set piece. So that has

been the biggest learning curve for me so far. “I just want to play as much as possible, keep my head down, train hard and continue to work with Clarkey (Allen Clarke) at set piece and make sure

I am ticking that box. Like everyone I aspire to play in the European Cup games but firstly just play as much rugby as possible and see what happens.” Like every player in the squad he has big ambitions for the season ahead: “Every time we play at Kingspan Stadium I am surprised by the intensity of the crowd. There are so many clubs around the world that would kill for a set up like this and to have so many people cheering you on. “I recently met the supporters club and it was great to see how informed they are, how passionate they are. They wanted to know what type of people we were and what we would do to be a part of this community they have created and they told us about the history of the club and the city and they were just so proud. I thought that was incredible, so it’s fantastic to be back playing at home in front of those guys.”

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