Ulster coach Richie Murphy says he's looking forward to the "unique situation" of coaching against his son Ben, when his side host Connacht in the BKT United Rugby Championship on Saturday.
Murphy senior was appointed head coach on a permanent basis last summer after impressing while in interim charge, and has since brought his younger son Jack to Kingspan Stadium, with the 20-year-old impressing while on duty for Emerging Ireland this week.
The older of the Murphy sons, Ben, was also on the move this summer, with the 23-year-old departing Leinster for Connacht, where he has made an instant impression.
The former Ireland U20 international has started ahead of Caolin Blade for the opening three games of the season, and has fitted seamlessly into Pete Wilkins’ backline, scoring two tries on debut against Munster before also crossing the line in last Friday’s win away to the Scarlets.
Both provinces will announce their teams on Friday afternoon ahead of Saturday’s derby, but it seems likely the scrum-half will be involved against his father’s side, which Richie admits has made for a strange week.
"He's not giving much away," the Ulster coach said, when asked if he had been in touch with Ben (above) this week.
"It's a very unique situation.
"I don't actually know if he's playing at the weekend or not, he won't tell me even though other people are feeding back information.
"We'll wait and see. He's had a really good start to the season. Obviously he moved down to Galway in the summer and has fitted in really well.
"Like every young player when they make these moves, if they get the opportunity, it gives them the opportunity to take it and that's what he's done. It's great to see him doing so well, but not this week."
Murphy played nine times for Leinster last season, including appearances in the Champions Cup, but with Luke McGrath, Cormac Foley and now Fintan Gunne also jostling for position behind Jamison Gibson-Park at the province, the Bray native moved west to join Connacht where he has already looked at home.
"On what he’d shown for Leinster, the layman wouldn't have expected this match to be such a good fit. They obviously had clarity around how they wanted to play, I thought Blade had to play too much last year and it affected his form a bit.
"They needed somebody, but the right person and the right fit.
"Ben got in early, had a brilliant pre-season, showed what he was about, blew them away with his athleticism and fitness and got his start and took his chance."
The two sides come into this weekend’s game in contrasting form. Connacht bounced back from their opening defeat to Munster with back-to-back wins against the Sharks and Scarlets, while Ulster have lost two in a row since their win on the opening night against Glasgow.
The northern province have been hit by several key players being unavailable; Hookers Rob Herring and Tom Stewart picked up injuries in pre-season, while Ireland international Stuart McCloskey is also ruled out this weekend with an injury.
Additionally, Cormac Izuchukwu, Harry Sheridan, Scott Wilson, Jack Murphy, Zac Ward and Jude Postlethwaite have missed the last two games due to their involvement with Emerging Ireland, although Postlethwaite has been made available for this weekend’s Interpro.
In spite of those consecutive defeats, the Ulster coach is staying positive ahead of Saturday’s derby.
"We're coming home to the Kingspan where all the lads really love playing. It's a big day and they know that. Connacht are riding high. Although they lost their first game, they got a lot of confidence out of that.
"They still managed to give Munster the opportunity to win the game, which they did, they went away and beat Sharks at home and beat Scarlets away, played really well although they did give Scarlets a chance to win that game.
"They're confident, we can see that with the way they're speaking. We're concentrating on ourselves and trying to look after our performance which will hopefully lead to a positive result," Murphy added.
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