Ulster

Richard Petrie
BBC Sport NI Journalist

Image source, Inpho

Ulster fly-half Jake Flannery says players being "very clear" over their roles has helped improve the team's performances and results this season.

Richie Murphy's side have won six of their first eight United Rugby Championship encounters in 2025-26 to sit third in the table, while they have seen off Racing 92 at home and lost to Cardiff away in the European Challenge Cup.

The introduction of Mark Sexton as attack coach and Willie Faloon as his defensive counterpart has been significant, Flannery explained in an interview with BBC Sport NI.

"I think the biggest thing is clarity. We are very clear on our roles as a team, whether it be attack or defence. The two lads [Sexton and Faloon], every training session, are just driving standards and driving clarity every minute of every session. It's constant, room for growth and constant development happening all the time.

"I think you're seeing that coming out on the pitch and I think the exciting thing is we're not even close to the finished product. There's so much growth to go.

"It's an exciting group to be part of."

Flannery scored one of Ulster's three tries in their 28-3 victory over Munster at Affidea Stadium last week, the latest positive result for the Irish province as they prepare to resume their European campaign.

"The attack is brilliant, and is really coming on, but I think the defence are really keen to get the ball back for the attack, and it drives both sides of your game on.

"We're just really eager to get the ball because we believe we are in a position to really challenge teams and score points every time we get the ball."

The 26-year-old believes that the opportunity to play a different team in the form of the Cheetahs - in a game which has been moved from Amsterdam to s-Hertogenbosch because of weather conditions - this weekend brings a freshness to the game.

"A new experience for a load of guys, including myself. A new place to play, probably haven't the luxury of seeing 10 games from the Cheetahs, only probably a couple of Challenge Cup and a couple in the Toyota Challenge as well.

"So yeah, new team that we don't see too often, new location, it'll be a cool weekend."

In the Cheetahs' corner this weekend will be Ulster legend Ruan Pienaar, who is now an attack coach with the South African side.

"When I was playing for Emerging Ireland against the Cheetahs a few years ago he was actually playing, which was mad. Doaky got a picture with him and it was cool," enthused Flannery.

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Sunday's Challenge Cup fixture between Cheetahs and Ulster has been moved to Dukes Rugby Club in s-Hertogenbosch and will now be played at 13:00 GMT.

The sides were due to meet in Amsterdam with kick-off at 15:15, but with sub-zero temperatures expected in the capital, the game has been relocated to the south of the Netherlands with the NRCA Stadium deemed unplayable.

Governing body European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) has also confirmed that the match will also now be played behind closed doors.

"EPCR, Rugby Nederland and Toyota Cheetahs are continuing to monitor weather conditions, should these further impact the fixture," read a statement from Ulster.

"Ulster Rugby is seeking further clarification from tournament organisers regarding the implications of this decision and next steps, particularly for supporters who have already made travel arrangements."

Ulster return to European action after victories against Connacht and Munster in the United Rugby Championship.

The northern province hammered Racing 92 in their opening Challenge Cup game before losing to Cardiff.

The Cheetahs have struggled with their form this season and will aim to end their five-game losing streak against Richie Murphy's outfit.

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Ulster full-back Jacob Stockdale has been ruled out of Sunday's Challenge Cup pool game against the Cheetahs (15:15 GMT) with a rib injury.

The Ireland back suffered the injury in last week's United Rugby Championship win over Munster and was forced off early in the second half.

The 29-year-old joins Juarno Augustus, Michael Lowry, Rory McGuire (all ankle), Charlie Irvine (calf), Ethan McIlroy (ribs), James McNabney (knee), Stewart Moore (hand) on Ulster's injury list.

In more positive news, Ben Moxham is available for selection for Sunday's game in Amsterdam after recovering from a serious knee injury.

The 24-year-old winger has not played since tearing an anterior cruciate ligament during Ulster's loss to Leinster in November 2024.

Speaking to BBC Sport NI, Ulster defence coach Willie Faloon indicated that back-row Augustus may not be absent for as long as first thought after he was initially diagnosed with "a significant ankle ligament injury".

"He saw a specialist last Friday and hopefully we'll see in the next couple of weeks when he'll be back. We're hoping it will be a little more positive," said Faloon.

Ulster opened their Challenge Cup campaign with a resounding 61-7 win over Racing 92 but fell to a 29-26 loss to Cardiff.

Since then, Richie Murphy's side lost to Leinster before beating Connacht and Munster in the festive inter-provincial derbies in the United Rugby Championship.

Faloon added that this week's meeting with the Cheetahs offers something of a change of venue and opposition for the Irish province.

"Looking forward to it, looking forward to putting in a performance there, but it's different, travelling to Amsterdam, playing against a team that we don't face regularly, it's an exciting challenge.

"We want to go as well in the Challenge Cup as we can so it's really important that we win this game and put ourselves in a good position."

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Munster head coach Clayton McMillan felt his side were "poor" in their United Rugby Championship loss against Ulster on Friday night but said his side will "bounce back" from a poor run.

After making a strong start to the campaign, Munster have struggled over recent weeks and have now lost four of their past six including back-to-back Irish derbies against Leinster and Ulster.

Against the latter at Affidea Stadium, Richie Murphy's side had only a narrow 6-3 lead at half-time before tries from Tom Stewart, Jake Flannery and Bryn Ward after the restart secured a comfortable 28-3 win for the hosts.

The result put an end to Munster's three-game winning run against Ulster and saw the northern province jump above their Irish rivals in the table.

"We trained well during the week and expected a much better performance across the board," McMillan told BBC Sport NI.

"We didn't get it, and we weren't allowed to get it through a quality, physical Ulster side, so full credit to them.

"They [Ulster] won the scraps on the ground and were able to build a little bit of momentum off that, the breakdown was poor, we lost races and we carried high. We had a couple of good moments but, overall, were poor again."

The defeat dropped Munster to sixth in the URC table before they turn their attention to the Champions Cup and Sunday's game against Top 14 side Toulon (13:00 GMT).

McMillan added he needs to "find out what will bring a turn of form" before their trip to the Stade Mayol.

"It is just our execution, which is becoming a recurring theme so, first and foremost, the coaches will look at ourselves before we look at the players," said the head coach in his first season at Thomond Park.

"We need to reflect again and start thinking about what will bring a turn of form. We are hanging in there, but we haven't been that compelling with anything that we have done.

"We have a good group and we will bounce back, but you would like to have a bit more consistency and not have to go through performances like that to get a response."

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Ulster head coach Richie Murphy says there is a "great buzz" around the northern province this season.

Friday night's 28-3 interpro triumph over Munster lifted the side into second place in the United Rugby Championship and they have won six of eight games played in the league this season.

Having finished 14th last season, above only Zebre and Dragons in the table, it has been a dramatic turnaround at the Affidea Stadium so far in 2025-26.

"There's a great buzz down in the changing room," said the head coach in his second full season in the job.

"There's confidence growing. There's a real belief. There's a real hunger. The atmosphere on a daily basis is great.

"The lads are turning up and they're hungry for work."

Murphy has been impressed by the contributions of 21-year-old pair Bryn Ward and Joe Hopes in recent weeks and feels it was important to increase the depth of his panel this season after a host of experienced departures in recent summers.

"There's a few others that we want to try and get in over these next couple of weeks to try and build out our squad because that's one of the things that is going to be really important come the back end of the tournament.

"The challenge in training is a lot better now because, one, we've a healthier squad than we did last year and those young guys are learning from the experience.

"Our older guys, the Iain Hendersons, the Rob Herrings, the Jacob Stockdales, Nick Timoneys, they're really driving the place forward.

"The young lads are really hungry as well, so it's great."

In their latest victory, Ulster had led only 6-3 at half-time in snowy conditions but made their dominance count in the second half with three tries and 22 unanswered points to ensure they would leapfrog Munster in the table despite not picking up the four-try bonus point in the final minutes.

"Just early on in the game, we couldn't quite break them down and we didn't look after the ball quite well enough, but we put them under a hell of a lot of pressure and I suppose that told in the second half," Murphy added.

"I still think we tried and we tried hard to play [in the first half].

"We were the team that were trying to move the ball to space and get our big ball carrying wingers into the game and I thought we'd done that really well, just probably a little bit disappointed that we couldn't get that final try."

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Ulster scrum-half Nathan Doak has signed a new contract that runs until the summer of 2028.

Doak, 24, has established himself as a key player for Ulster after making his debut as a teenager in 2021.

He has played a key role in Ulster's impressive season under head coach Richie Murphy, and he has the most successful conversions in the United Rugby Championship, with 19, and is second for most kicking metres made.

Doak, whose father Neil also played for Ulster as a scrum-half, was called up to the Ireland squad for the summer tour and has been involved in two Ireland 'A' matches.

He was also part of the Emerging Ireland squad which toured South Africa in 2022.

Doak said that playing for Ulster "means everything" and discussions with Ulster's new general manager Rory Best played a key role in him committing his future to the province.

"I understand the responsibility and significance of wearing this shirt, it means everything to me," Doak said.

"From my discussions with Rory, he made it clear to me the direction in which he sees Ulster going and that is something I wanted to be a part of and believe we can reach.

"I want to help the team keep moving forward while also improving my own game, and I feel Ulster is the best place for me to do that."

Former Ireland and Ulster captain Best said he felt Doak's "best years are ahead of him" and he has the potential to play for Ireland.

"It's clear that Nathan's performances this season have been rightly praised, and we are aware of interest from other top clubs in signing him.

"Nathan has a lot of experience for someone who has just turned 24 years of age, and I know that Richie and the coaching staff have been impressed by his maturity and development."

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Ulster back row Juarno Augustus will be sidelined "for a number of weeks" because of the ankle ligament injury he sustained in the United Rugby Championship win over Connacht in Galway.

Augustus left the field midway through the second half of his team's 29-24 success at Dexcom Stadium and Ulster say the damage is "significant".

The former Northampton Saints number eight has initially been ruled out of Friday's URC match with Munster in Belfast.

"He's going to see someone about it on Friday," head coach Richie Murphy told BBC Sport NI.

"We're not sure exactly on the timeline, but yeah we won't be seeing him over the next couple of weeks. It gives him an opportunity then to retrain himself and get himself nice and fit and come back fighting bigger and stronger hopefully."

Meanwhile Ethan McIlroy's injury woe has continued as he faces a further spell out of action after picking up a rib injury in Ballynahinch's Senior Cup Final victory over Instonians.

Eric O'Sullivan (hamstring), Matthew Dalton (knee), Iain Henderson (back) and Rob Herring (knee) have all resumed team training and their availability for selection will be assessed through training this week.

"It's a big boost for the squad," Murphy added when asked about the return of experienced Ireland internationals Herring and Henderson.

"Their experience and work in the early part of the season was really valuable for us. I think if you look at the likes of Harry Sheridan, Charlie Irvine and even Izzy [Cormac Izuchukwu], some of these younger guys, having a guy like Hendy in there is really valuable for them."

Ulster sit fifth in the URC table, three points below second-placed Munster, so have the opportunity to leapfrog their Irish interprovincial rivals in the table with a win at Affidea Stadium.

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Ulster forward Cormac Izuchukwu says he is not getting ahead of himself with regards to potential Six Nations selection after making his first start in nearly three months.

Izuchukwu impressed on his return to the Ulster line-up for the first time since 11 October in Saturday's United Rugby Championship win over Connacht in Galway, winning the player of the match award.

The 25-year-old has started just three games in a season interrupted by injury and illness and he says he cannot afford to focus too much on Ireland selection having only just returned for his province.

"I've missed so many camps with injuries that I've learned that you can get down on yourself if you're planning two months out to go to a camp and then you get injured, it can be quite a tough thing to live with," said the Offaly-born lock, who has three Ireland caps.

"If I just focus on staying fit, playing each week and then if it comes it comes, I can enjoy it then, but I'm not trying to put it up on a pedestal where if it doesn't go my way, it'll be a massive loss for me."

Saturday's 29-24 victory over Connacht was Ulster's fifth in seven URC games this season.

"If these games are lost, it amps up the pressure in the backend of the season," he added.

"We had that last year. We were kind of struggling coming into the backend of the season and then the Edinburgh game [the final game last season], it kind of fell apart.

"That's the lesson we've learned - can we win these games to make it easier to play in the later part of the season."

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Ulster head coach Richie Murphy says he was happy that his side "ground out" a 29-24 victory over Connacht in their United Rugby Championship interprovincial in Galway on Saturday but added that things got "a little too close for comfort" as a late surge saw the westerners move to within two points.

Ulster had to come from behind to claim a fifth bonus-point win of their URC campaign, scoring two tries in each half.

Zac Ward scored twice for the northern province, with a Werner Kok touchdown and penalty try also contributing to the win.

Connacht, who had led 10-0 in the first-half, scored late tries through Sean Jansen and Matthew Devine to cut the deficit to a couple of points, but Jack Murphy's late penalty made the game safe.

"It was a little disappointing [conceding two late tries] but you're always aware that you are in Connacht and Connacht are never going to give up without a fight," reflected Murphy.

"A lot of credit has to go to them for how they finished the game and at the end we're hanging on there.

"We'll look at how we get better in those final 20 minutes and really we just have to keep doing the things we were doing earlier in the half. We just kind of went into our shell a little bit. It's really important we keep going after the game."

The Ulster coach thought his side was deserving of their victory after some enterprising play.

"It was a cagey first 10 minutes or so, then Connacht got their try, but I thought we played some really good rugby in the second period of that first half when we started moving the ball and bringing some of our big outside backs into the game and they're a handful for any team.

"We started to move the ball into space and we were much more effective with ball in hand.

"We brought on two international standard props [Angus Bell and Tom O'Toole] at half-time. That's what we were thinking about, getting them involved early, try to sort out the scrum a little bit and also give us a little bit of carry power.

"Both of them were pretty effective and did quite well for us in that second half."

Back row Juarno Augustus was forced off the pitch through injury in the second half, with "an ankle sprain", with Murphy revealing that the initial impression post-match was that it was "not as serious as it first looked".

Ulster remain fifth in the URC table and host Munster in Belfast next week.