ULSTER AND IRELAND centre Stuart McCloskey believes that Ulster are now moving forward, helped by the arrival of Richie Murphy.
Murphy was appointed head coach earlier this week after two months in an interim role.
“We needed a fresh face,” McCloskey said ahead of tonight’s interpro with Leinster at the Kingspan Stadium, “and he’s come in and made a good impression on everybody.”
“The thing he (Murphy) wants from me is work rate to make sure I’m involved as much as I possibly can be,” said the 31-year-old who earlier this season was linked with a move to France.
“I know myself that if I get my hands on the ball as much as I can good things can happen, so I’ve done that the last couple of weeks especially.
“I probably didn’t, coming back from the Six Nations, do it so well and probably felt a bit drained from everything, travel, coming back and there were a few things going on behind the scenes here that probably didn’t go how I liked.
“So, I think I’m back in my stride now and moving in the right direction,” added the 17-times capped Ireland player who lines out tonight as the hosts bid to achieve a double success over Leo Cullen’s side in this campaign.
In terms of having been linked with a switch to France with a year still left on his Ulster deal, he points out a certain unhappiness over the issue but without being specific on that.
“It wasn’t overly wrong all that stuff,” he stated over the rumoured move.
“It is honestly hard to comment on it, but I wasn’t too pleased with the way the whole thing was handled if I’m being honest and that’s probably the way I’ll leave it.”
His recent Twitter spat with Stephen Ferris when the former player compared the current side with that of a decade ago was also addressed.
This is honestly something a 12 year old would do @StephenFerris6 , helps absolutely no one https://t.co/UPisXl7pFK
— stuart mccloskey (@Stuart_Mc12) April 13, 2024
“I probably overreacted and didn’t take it as a personal shot against me, it was just I saw it 30 minutes after we got absolutely thumped by Clermont away and we weren’t going well.
“I didn’t think it was probably the time or the place and felt like if anybody’s going to say [it] I’m going to say it.
“I’ve absolutely nothing against Stevie and I don’t think there’s any malice in what he said.”
McCloskey is also aiming to help copper-fasten a URC play-off spot with a win required against Leinster this evening.
“We’ve put ourselves in a pretty good spot now we’ll see if we can deliver at home.”