KINGSPAN STADIUM MURPHY’S RAW

Jordi predicting a ‘venomous’ battle against Munster this evening

ULSTER flanker Jordi Murphy believes tonight’s derby with Munster will carry the same “venom” as a crunch European Champions Cup tie.

Dan Mcfarland’s men are bracing themselves for the first stanza of an interpro trilogy when they welcome their southern rivals to the Kingspan Stadium.

They also face Connacht at the Sportsground next Friday before going toe-to-toe with Leinster at the RDS on January 5.

Murphy, who joined Ulster from Leinster in May, said: “Munster at home is an exciting prospect and you don’t get much bigger. These boys are on the same island. They’re only down the road, so there’s definitely that little bit extra in the back of your mind when it’s an interpro game.

“There’s an incredible physicality and venom in these games. They’re attritional games until the final whistle.”

Asked if interprovincial clashes boast the same stature as Euro dates, Murphy replied: “If you come down on Friday night you’ll see that the crowd definitely feels that way.

“It’s definitely up there with Champions Cup games. You’re also playing boys competing for your position in the Irish set-up, so you’d be foolish to think it isn’t a shop window.”

While Ulster are bidding to build on impressive back-toback bonus point wins over Scarlets in Europe, an early season Munster rout is also fresh in the memory.

The Limerick men ran in NINE tries in a 64-7 thumping as a below strength Ulster fell to the club’s heaviest ever Pro14 defeat.

“It’s in the back of our minds that we took a bit of a beating down there, so we want to do ourselves justice,” said Murphy.

“We have come off the back of a couple of good wins, but we need to be backing that up against Munster.”

Murphy believes Ulster’s back row options – he has impressed alongside Marcell Coetzee and Sean Reidy in recent weeks – are a plus heading into a defining period of the season.

He said: “It’s fantastic to see Marcell in such good form. His work-rate is relentless and you can tell how much he’s loving being out there.

“Sean has also been brilliant. And then you have someone with the quality of Nick Timoney coming off the bench lifting the standards again when he gets the opportunity.

“There’s good cohesion and we’re all driving each other a lot.”

On-loan Leinster lock Ian Nagle makes his first Ulster start in the absence of Iain Henderson, who underwent thumb surgery on Monday.

Robert Baloucoune replaces Jacob Stockdale on the wing, while Rob Herring comes in for Rory Best, who is on the bench.

JO FOR THE JUGGLER Munster coach van Graan MUNSTER head coach Johann van Graan says it’s crucial he juggles his troops correctly over the festive period.The Reds go to Kingspan Stadium tonight before hosting Leinster on December 29 and making the trip to Connacht seven days later.Van Graan’s side are off the back of two tough Champions Cup ties against Castres and he has made 13 changes for tonight’s game.Mike Haley andSam Arnold(right) are the pair who retain their places following last weekend’s 13-12 defeat in France.“Ulster is a team that’s playing really good rugby at this stage. We knew from the start in this ten-week block that we’re just going to play quality opposition so it’s Ulster up now,” said van Graan.“They’re playing quality rugby. They’re playing really well at home, they’ve thumped quite a few teams up there over the last two weeks. It will be a big challenge for us.“The intensity certainly is not going to drop. The challenge will be the block of two European games, the three interprovincial derbies and then two European games again – how you manage that to make sure that once you get to Gloucester and Exeter, you have enough legs in your squad to come through those games.“On the other side, these derbies are pretty important. This year we’ve got two away and only Leinster at home – having the European champions coming on the 29th is a pretty special occasion as well.” REVENGE MISSION Jordi Murphy says Ulster are eager to do themselves justice against Munster this time