Richie Murphy refused to get drawn on reports linking Mark Sexton with a role in his coaching team for next season.
Sexton, brother of former Ireland captain Johnny, is to leave his post as Connacht’s attack coach at the end of the season and has been widely tipped to join Ulster.
The duo previously worked together in the past with Ireland Under 20′s and gained success winning back-to-back Grand Slam’s in 2022 and 2023.
Sexton’s departure from Connacht was confirmed in a statement released by the westerners on Tuesday. The destination of Sexton’s new employers is yet to be confirmed but the statement did confirm that he is to leave for a ‘new opportunity.’
“At this moment of time, I suppose there’s always going to be speculation out there,” said Murphy.
“There is potentially a new coaching position within Ulster Rugby and a restructuring of different roles as well.
“We’re a fairly long way down the process of settling our coaching team for next year. But we’re not finished yet and there’s obviously a couple of coaches that are off contract at the end of the year that are currently with us.
“Over the next number of weeks, we feel that we’ll be in a position to be able to clarify exactly what’s happening next year, but at this moment, we’re probably not there yet.”
In the short term the focus of attention returns to the Champions Cup and a difficult trip to the Leicester Tigers on Saturday night.
An unexpected win in Connacht has lifted morale and the performances of a number of the younger players that night suggests that Murphy’s young stars are starting to find their feet at the top level.
None more so than the coach’s son Jack Murphy.
On debut, Murphy delivered a performance of maturity that made a mockery of his young years and lack of experience, and dad Richie says that he has no qualms of throwing his son in this weekend against one of the best in the business in Handrie Pollard.
“If it’s the right thing to do, we’ll throw him in,” added Murphy whose young guns continue to learn and improve with each passing week.
Saturday will offer another chance for Murphy’s fledgling stars to test themselves against the world’s best which is something that can only aid their developments.
“Like any of these young players, the likes of James McCormick, Jude (Postlethwaite), Ben Carson, you want to put them in, you want them to get a taste of it, get a feel for it, and then you want to take them out for a week or two, you want to debrief them. Re-goal them and let them work away on the areas they need to get better at to get back in.
“Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to do that enough this year because of the stress that’s been on the squad. We have four hookers but two of them have been injured, both international hookers, for most of the seasons. So, John Andrew and James McCormick have taken a huge amount of the thing. It’s a little bit like Jude and Ben Carson (in the centres) taking a lot of the stress.
“Our plan wasn’t to give Zach Ward his debut against Bordeaux but that’s where he got it. He ended up carrying the ball more than anyone else in the URC that weekend, now he could have passed a couple of them – but that’s the way it goes.
“We’re bobbing and weaving a little bit at times but these young lads are resilient they’re hungry and they want to play.”
