Tag Richie Murphy

Ulster are back in match action tonight, with Michael Lowry captaining a 27-player squad for the pre-season trip to Edinburgh Rugby at Hive Stadium.

Richie Murphy has mixed senior experience, Academy players and summer arrivals for the first warm-up fixture of the 2026/27 campaign. Scrum-half Matthew Devine and fly-half Jamie Benson will make their first appearances in an Ulster jersey, while several other new signings are set to feature from the bench.

Edinburgh v Ulster: match details

• Fixture: Edinburgh Rugby v Ulster Rugby
• Date: Friday 4 September 2026
• Kick-off: 7.45pm (UK/Ireland time)
• Venue: Hive Stadium, Edinburgh
• Competition: Scottish Building Society pre-season friendly
• TV: Premier Sports 2

For the wider fixture background, including the quick turnaround before the teams meet again in the URC, see our Edinburgh v Ulster pre-season fixture guide.

Ulster team v Edinburgh

Lowry starts at full-back and leads the side. Eric O’Sullivan, James McCormick and Academy tighthead Tom McAllister form the front row, with Harry Sheridan and Joe Hopes in the second row. James McKillop, Tom Brigg and David McCann make up the back row.

The new half-back pairing is one of the most interesting selections. Devine starts at scrum-half after joining from Connacht, with Benson at fly-half following his move from Harlequins. Daniel Hawkshaw starts at inside centre alongside Ben Carson, while Aitzol Arenzana-King and Chay Mullins are on the wings.

Ulster starting XV

1. Eric O’Sullivan
2. James McCormick
3. Tom McAllister
4. Harry Sheridan
5. Joe Hopes
6. James McKillop
7. Tom Brigg
8. David McCann
9. Matthew Devine
10. Jamie Benson
11. Aitzol Arenzana-King
12. Daniel Hawkshaw
13. Ben Carson
14. Chay Mullins
15. Michael Lowry (captain)

Ulster replacements

Henry Walker, Flynn Longstaff, Eduardo Bello, Ben Donnell, Eli Snyman, Martin Moloney, James McNabney, Clark Logan, Jake Flannery, Jonny Scott, Jed Findlay and Jack Murphy.

New faces get an early opportunity

Devine and Benson are not the only summer arrivals involved. Eduardo Bello, Eli Snyman, Ben Donnell and Martin Moloney are named among the replacements, giving Murphy the chance to spread minutes across a large squad.

There is also a welcome return to a matchday squad for James McNabney as he continues his comeback from a long-term ACL injury. With 12 replacements available, the emphasis is clearly on game time and combinations rather than treating this like a normal competitive matchday 23.

What to watch from Ulster tonight

The Devine-Benson partnership: two new half-backs starting together means supporters will get an immediate look at how they manage territory, tempo and Ulster’s attack.

Younger forwards under pressure: McAllister, McKillop and Brigg all start in a pack that will be tested by an Edinburgh side also using the night to assess combinations.

Competition in the back three: Arenzana-King and Mullins start on the wings with Lowry at full-back, offering pace and a chance for the newer faces to make an early impression.

Edinburgh will rotate heavily too

Edinburgh have named two XVs, with each unit expected to get around 40 minutes. New recruits Alec Hepburn, James Grayson and Geordie Gwynn are among the first-half starters, while Kienan Higgins is due to feature after the interval.

That makes tonight exactly what a useful pre-season game should be: plenty of changes, fresh combinations and an opportunity for both coaching teams to learn more before competitive rugby begins.

How to watch

Kick-off at Hive Stadium is 7.45pm and the match is being shown live on Premier Sports 2.

We will keep an eye on the key talking points from Edinburgh as Ulster’s 2026/27 preparations move up a level.

Joe Schmidt joins Ulster in one of the most interesting coaching appointments the province has made in years, but the important detail is that he is not arriving as Richie Murphy’s new assistant or taking over the senior team.

The former Ireland and Australia head coach has been appointed as Ulster’s new Coach Development Advisor, a consultancy role created to strengthen coaching across the province. It is a 12-month arrangement, with Schmidt expected to make several visits to Ulster while also working remotely with coaches between those visits.

That makes this a very different appointment from the usual headline-grabbing addition to a professional coaching ticket. Schmidt’s remit stretches through the academy, age-grade programmes, schools and clubs, as well as the professional game.

So what will Joe Schmidt actually do at Ulster?

The simplest way to look at the role is that Schmidt is being brought in to help improve the people who coach Ulster players, rather than simply coach the senior players himself.

Ulster have described the job as one focused on creating a clearer and more connected coaching pathway. That means mentorship, guidance and strategic support for coaches working at different levels of the game, from the pathway that develops young players through to the professional environment.

For supporters, that may make the impact less obvious at first. There might not be a new Schmidt-designed attack appearing on the pitch in week one, and he will not be standing beside Murphy every matchday. The value is more likely to come from improving standards and consistency behind the scenes.

If a coach working with an academy group, school or club becomes better at developing players, that improvement can eventually feed into the professional side. The same applies if coaches at different levels are working from a more connected set of ideas about skill development, decision-making and preparation.

Why Schmidt is a significant person to bring in

Schmidt arrives with one of the strongest coaching CVs in modern Irish rugby. He won two European Cups with Leinster before taking charge of Ireland in 2013, where he went on to win three Six Nations titles, including the 2018 Grand Slam.

His Ireland side also delivered landmark results against New Zealand, while his reputation became closely associated with detailed preparation and getting players to understand exactly what was expected of them.

After leaving Ireland in 2019, Schmidt later worked in New Zealand rugby and with the All Blacks before becoming Australia head coach in 2024. He stepped down from the Wallabies role this summer, with former Ulster director of rugby Les Kiss succeeding him.

That experience is important, but so is his familiarity with the Irish system. Schmidt already knows how the provincial, academy and international structures interact, which should reduce the amount of time needed simply to understand the environment.

The Richie Murphy connection matters too

There is also an existing relationship at the heart of the appointment. Richie Murphy previously worked with Schmidt at both Leinster and Ireland, so this is not a case of two coaches being introduced for the first time and hoping their ideas fit.

Murphy has first-hand knowledge of how Schmidt works, and Schmidt already understands the demands of developing players within Irish rugby. That should make it easier for the consultancy to complement the existing Ulster coaching structure rather than cut across it.

It also helps explain why this should not be read as pressure on Murphy’s position. Schmidt’s brief is deliberately wider than the senior squad. The appointment is about coach development across Ulster, not installing another head coach above or beside the current one.

What could supporters realistically expect?

The temptation with a name as big as Schmidt is to expect an immediate first-team transformation. That is probably the wrong way to judge this move.

A more realistic test will be whether Ulster can build a stronger coaching pipeline, improve the transition between different levels of the pathway and give promising coaches better access to high-level experience.

That could eventually influence the senior team through better-developed players and coaches, but the most valuable results may take longer than a single season to become obvious.

For Ulster, there is very little downside in giving coaches across the province access to someone with Schmidt’s experience. The more interesting question is how much of that knowledge can be embedded into the system during the next 12 months so the benefit remains after the consultancy ends.

That is what makes the appointment worth watching. It is not simply about putting a famous name into an Ulster tracksuit. It is an attempt to strengthen the structure that produces the coaches who, in turn, develop the next generation of Ulster players.

What do you make of the appointment? Follow our Ulster coaching news as the province builds towards the new season.