Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
SILVERWARE AHOY
He joined a ‘sinking ship’ but Murphy’s determined to stay on course for glory
WHEN Jordi Murphy arrived in Belfast in 2018, Ulster were wrestling with the repercussions of a high-profile court case and in turmoil on and off the pitch.
Brian O’driscoll infamously branded the club a “basket case” – a jibe he later retracted – while many cruelly joked that Murphy was boarding a “sinking ship”.
Fast forward and the sea change in narrative, driven by astute head coach Dan Mcfarland (inset) who also docked at the Kingspan Stadium three years ago, is marked.
Beat Leicester in the Challenge
Cup semis tomorrow and Ulster will set sail for a first European final since their 2012 Champions Cup defeat to Leinster at Twickenham.
Better still, they would be one step closer to ending a long 15-year wait for silverware, their last glory day coming in the old Celtic League in 2006.
“It’d be one of my biggest accomplishments,” said Murphy, when asked what it would mean to win honours with Ulster after lifting numerous titles with former club Leinster.
“When I came here, I suppose Ulster weren’t in a great place. There’d been a lot of turmoil. People were kind of saying, ‘You seem to be the only one jumping on this sinking ship’. But as soon as I was in the door, I realised the potential this squad and coaching staff had.
This is only a semi-final and we’re not at the final stage yet. We’ve got to win it before we even get there but this would be really, really big for me. The way this group has taken me in over the last three years, the friendships I’ve made and how far we’ve come, it would be a really special one.
“Unfortunately, it maybe adds to it that Ulster haven’t won anything for the last 15 years, so the time is due for us to win something. It would be great.”
Murphy accepts Ulster will need all hands on deck if they are to overcome Leicester and progress to the final with Bath or Montpellier.
“It’s about an 80-minute performance,” he said. “Games go in waves and teams have purple patches but it’s how you weather those and how you react.
“We’re going to have to put in an 80-minute performance and we probably haven’t quite done that in the last while but it’s a good opportunity to do it this weekend.”
In keeping with his personality, Murphy enjoyed a “chilled” 30th birthday last Thursday.
“It was a milestone one,” he chuckled. “I think it was about 13C and the sun was out so I got the BBQ out – as you do in Ireland. I had a big fitness session the following day so I stuck to two beers, so pretty quiet.”