AS SOON AS RICHIE Murphy named his Ulster team for last weekend’s Champions Cup opener against Toulouse, he ratcheted up the pressure for their round two home game against Bordeaux-Begles.
By naming Rob Herring, Tom O’Toole, Iain Henderson, Cormac Izuchukwu and Nick Timoney on the bench in France, Ulster were clearly targeting this weekend’s home fixture as the more winnable of the two games. It’s sound enough logic, even if Bordeaux are now among Europe’s elite sides.
Yet what happened in Toulouse was a harrowing experience. Nine tries conceded, with Toulouse taking less than 30 minutes to sew up the bonus point. Toulouse’s stars were humming at the Stade Ernest-Wallon but Ulster’s error-ridden display was utterly deflating. A losing bonus point would have taken some of the sting out of the defeat, but when you ship 61 points, you can’t go searching in the debris for positives.
Post-game, Murphy admitted the performance wasn’t good enough for the Ulster jersey. He was particularly disappointed with how Ulster were repeatedly exposed in the wide channels – an issue that needs a quick fix before Bordeaux speedster Louis Bielle-Biarrey comes to town.
They will welcome back some frontliners for Bordeaux and need to turn in a much better outing in order to avoid another difficult day in Europe, but any expectations around Ulster’s potential in the Champions Cup this season need to be dampened.
Saturday’s clash in Belfast brings together two sides who have been on opposite trajectories in recent years.
Bordeaux are a coming force and have a taste for this competition. Last season they were one of the stories of the year – playing an irresistibly entertaining brand of rugby on their way to the Champions Cup quarter-finals (losing a 42-41 thriller at home to Harlequins) and reaching the Top 14 final (where they were thumped 59-3 by Toulouse).
Ulster have been trending in the opposite direction. The 2023/24 campaign was a challenging one at Ravenhill, with Dan McFarland departing mid-season and Murphy coming in to try steady the ship.
There is a rebuilding job happening and the squad is not what it once was. With Iain Henderson moving off his IRFU contract, as it stands the province will have no centrally-contracted players at the end of the season. Instead Murphy is largely dealing with a promising crop of young players whose best years are ahead of them.
A project like that takes time to come to fruition, and Murphy is trying pull it all together while managing a challenging injury list.
Ben Moxham is the latest to suffer a setback, and is facing nine months out with an ACL injury. John Cooney could come back into the selection mix this week, but Robert Baloucoune, Jacob Stockdale, Jake Flannery, Ethan McIlroy, Sean Reffell, James Hume, Callum Reid and Tom Stewart are all sidelined. Baloucoune, Flannery and Hume are all yet to feature this season. A handful of those players walk straight back into the matchday 23.
With games against Leicester Tigers (away) and Exeter Chiefs (home) still to come, Ulster face a difficult task to emerge from the bloated Champions Cup pool stages.
Stockdale was in fine form before suffering an injury on Ireland duty last month. Bryan Keane / INPHO
Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO
Yet given the complexion of their squad, a run in the Challenge Cup might be no bad thing, even if isn’t where the province want to be in the long run.
Ulster have a proud history in Europe but have been a level off the competition’s top sides for some time now. The road back to the top is a long one.
Heineken Cup winners in 1999 and runners-up in 2012, their best recent runs in the competition came in back-to-back quarter-final appearances in 2019 and 2020. Ulster didn’t make it past the pool stages in last year’s tournament – dropping into the Challenge Cup after winning just one of their four Champions Cup pool games. They subsequently beat Montpellier 40-17 in the Challenge Cup round of 16 before exiting in the quarter-finals at the hands of Clermont (53-14).
Ulster went as far as the Champions Cup round of 16 in the previous two seasons, comfortably beaten by Leinster (30-15) in 2022/23 and falling short over two legs against Toulouse (2021/22).
At this juncture, a similar run is hard to envision. The primary objective for Murphy’s first full season in charge has to be securing their place in the URC playoffs.
At the moment they sit 10th in the league, having won three of their opening seven games. Last season 11 wins was enough to leave them sixth, four points clear of the cut-off. Every point is vital and Ulster may not be able to place the same focus on their European campaign. This young squad would be doing extremely well to fight on two fronts.
There will be the usual excitement on Saturday as Champions Cup rugby returns to Belfast, and Murphy’s men might even pull off an upset. Yet everyone in attendance knows this is an Ulster squad in transition, and it may be some time before the province are in a position to have a proper crack in Europe again.
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Ulster seek response against Bordeaux but face struggle to compete in Europe this season
AS SOON AS RICHIE Murphy named his Ulster team for last weekend’s Champions Cup opener against Toulouse, he ratcheted up the pressure for their round two home game against Bordeaux-Begles.
By naming Rob Herring, Tom O’Toole, Iain Henderson, Cormac Izuchukwu and Nick Timoney on the bench in France, Ulster were clearly targeting this weekend’s home fixture as the more winnable of the two games. It’s sound enough logic, even if Bordeaux are now among Europe’s elite sides.
Yet what happened in Toulouse was a harrowing experience. Nine tries conceded, with Toulouse taking less than 30 minutes to sew up the bonus point. Toulouse’s stars were humming at the Stade Ernest-Wallon but Ulster’s error-ridden display was utterly deflating. A losing bonus point would have taken some of the sting out of the defeat, but when you ship 61 points, you can’t go searching in the debris for positives.
Post-game, Murphy admitted the performance wasn’t good enough for the Ulster jersey. He was particularly disappointed with how Ulster were repeatedly exposed in the wide channels – an issue that needs a quick fix before Bordeaux speedster Louis Bielle-Biarrey comes to town.
They will welcome back some frontliners for Bordeaux and need to turn in a much better outing in order to avoid another difficult day in Europe, but any expectations around Ulster’s potential in the Champions Cup this season need to be dampened.
Saturday’s clash in Belfast brings together two sides who have been on opposite trajectories in recent years.
Bordeaux are a coming force and have a taste for this competition. Last season they were one of the stories of the year – playing an irresistibly entertaining brand of rugby on their way to the Champions Cup quarter-finals (losing a 42-41 thriller at home to Harlequins) and reaching the Top 14 final (where they were thumped 59-3 by Toulouse).
Ulster have been trending in the opposite direction. The 2023/24 campaign was a challenging one at Ravenhill, with Dan McFarland departing mid-season and Murphy coming in to try steady the ship.
There is a rebuilding job happening and the squad is not what it once was. With Iain Henderson moving off his IRFU contract, as it stands the province will have no centrally-contracted players at the end of the season. Instead Murphy is largely dealing with a promising crop of young players whose best years are ahead of them.
A project like that takes time to come to fruition, and Murphy is trying pull it all together while managing a challenging injury list.
Ben Moxham is the latest to suffer a setback, and is facing nine months out with an ACL injury. John Cooney could come back into the selection mix this week, but Robert Baloucoune, Jacob Stockdale, Jake Flannery, Ethan McIlroy, Sean Reffell, James Hume, Callum Reid and Tom Stewart are all sidelined. Baloucoune, Flannery and Hume are all yet to feature this season. A handful of those players walk straight back into the matchday 23.
With games against Leicester Tigers (away) and Exeter Chiefs (home) still to come, Ulster face a difficult task to emerge from the bloated Champions Cup pool stages.
Yet given the complexion of their squad, a run in the Challenge Cup might be no bad thing, even if isn’t where the province want to be in the long run.
Ulster have a proud history in Europe but have been a level off the competition’s top sides for some time now. The road back to the top is a long one.
Heineken Cup winners in 1999 and runners-up in 2012, their best recent runs in the competition came in back-to-back quarter-final appearances in 2019 and 2020. Ulster didn’t make it past the pool stages in last year’s tournament – dropping into the Challenge Cup after winning just one of their four Champions Cup pool games. They subsequently beat Montpellier 40-17 in the Challenge Cup round of 16 before exiting in the quarter-finals at the hands of Clermont (53-14).
Ulster went as far as the Champions Cup round of 16 in the previous two seasons, comfortably beaten by Leinster (30-15) in 2022/23 and falling short over two legs against Toulouse (2021/22).
At this juncture, a similar run is hard to envision. The primary objective for Murphy’s first full season in charge has to be securing their place in the URC playoffs.
At the moment they sit 10th in the league, having won three of their opening seven games. Last season 11 wins was enough to leave them sixth, four points clear of the cut-off. Every point is vital and Ulster may not be able to place the same focus on their European campaign. This young squad would be doing extremely well to fight on two fronts.
There will be the usual excitement on Saturday as Champions Cup rugby returns to Belfast, and Murphy’s men might even pull off an upset. Yet everyone in attendance knows this is an Ulster squad in transition, and it may be some time before the province are in a position to have a proper crack in Europe again.
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