Leinster win 'most complete' of my tenure - Ulster boss Murphy

Head coach Richie Murphy said it was "very satisfying" for Ulster to claim a spot in the United Rugby Championship [URC] play-offs thanks to a win over Leinster he feels was their most complete since he arrived at Kingspan Stadium.

The former Ireland Under-20s boss took over after Dan McFarland was sacked in February, initially on an interim basis before signing a two-year permanent deal earlier this week.

The province were 8th at the time of McFarland's dismissal but, after losing three of Murphy's first four games in all competitions, the 23-21 victory over the Investec Champions Cup finalists sealed by a late John Cooney penalty was Ulster's fourth in a row.

Guaranteed their place in the play-offs with a round of the URC to spare, there would still be some work to do in order to book a Champions Cup spot for next season should the Sharks beat Gloucester in the European Challenge Cup final on Friday.

"Coming into the game I thought if we got a couple of points we’d probably be in the play-offs, but then with everyone else winning we needed to win," said Murphy.

"It’s very satisfying. The crowd were incredible getting in behind the team and we feel like we are getting better over the last couple of weeks.

"Compared to where we started, you can see things coming together.  That was probably our most complete performance even though we still had loads of mistakes.

"Our goal was to get into the play-offs but it was our performances that were going to take care of that.  

"We’re delighted to be in it, so that’s great, and we’ll try to get Champions Cup but who knows what will happen in the final next week."

With the race for places in the URC's top eight having been increasingly tight through his two-month stint, Murphy said he did not feel securing an away quarter-final represented any sort of relieving of pressure.

"It's funny, because I came in three-quarters through the season, I've never looked at it like that," he added.

"Even there [against Leinster], I don't feel the pressure in those situations. It's more about seeing is our team progressing and moving in the right direction?

"Even if we had lost, I still feel like we would have taken a massive step forward in relation to how we went about our business throughout the game.

"It's great we're in the play-offs, and I'm absolutely delighted, but I'm more worried about the performance of the team and how the lads have taken to some of the new directions we're going in."

Sixth in the URC table going into their final round fixture away to Munster in two weeks' time, Ulster would presently be in line to face Leinster in Dublin come the quarter-finals.

They could, however, still finish anywhere between fifth and eighth and be travelling to any one of the top four in the second weekend of June.

"Whoever we get, we get," said Murphy.

"We'll go to Munster in two weeks' time, players will get some time off this week to recover.

"We came through that game pretty well in that we didn't lose anyone [to injury]. Hopefully we can build off the back of this into the play-offs and see who we get."