BERNARD JACKMAN AND Murray Kinsella believe Ulster should hire interim head coach Richie Murphy on a full-time basis and allow him to put his stamp on the province.

Former Ireland hooker Jackman believes Murphy will eventually be made permanent head coach but suggested that Ulster confirm his appointment as soon as possible to aid with recruitment and contract renewals.

The 42 journalist Kinsella, meanwhile, called for the IRFU to back its coaching pathway and sign off on Murphy, an Irish-reared coach who has proved his credentials at virtually every level of the game.

Jackman and Kinsella joined Gavan Casey on Monday’s Rugby Weekly Extra podcast, with the host pointing towards the proactive performance of Robert Baloucoune in Saturday’s victory over Benetton as further evidence that Murphy’s personal coaching style was beginning to bear fruit.

“I think that’s probably part of the reason why he was given the job,” Jackman replied. “When you speak with anyone who’s worked with him in the last few years at U20s level, he has created a really good environment, he’s given players the confidence to play.

“To be fair, Ulster have looked shy of that. And they didn’t get that immediate bounce that you sometimes get [under a new coach]. They obviously were low on self-belief.

“Even though Saturday was far from perfect, they got a win and there were elements to it that were different.

I think one of the big things with Richie is that he knows those youngsters. He knows pretty much every good 20-23-year-old player in Ireland. And I think if Richie Murphy rings one of those players that he’s worked with, they’re going to believe that he’ll help them to continue their career.

“I do think he should get the job,” Jackman added. “Certainly, the rumour is that he’s very much in line to get it; they’re just figuring out how they’re going to support him around that in terms of coaching. All the talk in Wales is that Jared Payne is coming back to Ulster.

“Frans Ludeke was being mentioned in the press but my understanding is that that’s not the case. He has two more years in Kubota. Frans is a friend of mine, he’s more of a DOR. He doesn’t really coach at the moment at Kubota. I don’t see why you’d need someone like him if Bryn Cunningham was going to do the recruitment and you already have a coach like Richie.

“Even for their end-of-season push, and even for recruitment and retention, it’d be probably good for Ulster to know who’s going to be coaching next season. You would like to think that’ll be Richie.

Kinsella added: “Murphy just feels like a good fit as well. He’s probably the kind of coach that the players wanted. My sense of this Ulster group is that a lot of them need an arm around the shoulder, that they respond to positive reinforcement and really individualised feedback.

“That’s not to say Richie Murphy hasn’t got a hard edge. I think everything he’s said since he’s taken over shows why Ulster haven’t been at the level they want to be at. He has a really good grasp of what’s deficient in their game or not of sufficient standard.

“I just think it’d be a really good appointment if he got the job on a decent-length contract, give him a chance to make it his own.

If he doesn’t get this job now, I struggle to understand what he needed to do. He’s already been an assistant coach in Leinster for a successful period. He’s already been an assistant coach for Ireland over a long period, involved in lots of success, gaining massive experience at the top level of the game. He’s done the head-coaching role and had lots of success with the 20s and shown he can develop players. For me, he’s ticked every single box.

“If you want to show faith in your coaching pathway, now is the time to do it. I think it would be brilliant not just for Richie Murphy but for other coaches to see this come to fruition.”

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