Jack Murphy is quick to right the record when it comes to his move to Ulster — he didn’t follow dad Richie to Ravenhill, his dad followed him.
“My move came first, I believe,” corrects the young fly-half with a grin.
“I’d been talking about coming up the year before and then decided I’d come up when I did. And then my dad’s move came about a few weeks after that.”
Certainly it seems like something of a coincidence that only a few weeks after Richie was confirmed to be taking the reins at Ulster on a permanent basis, his son would make the move north too. But, in reality, this was a switch about a year in the making.
Murphy Jnr had already had exploratory talks with the province about joining their Academy the year prior and, although suitably impressed, felt the timing just wasn’t quite right. He was about to embark upon another campaign with the Ireland Under-20s, where he was pulling the strings at fly-half, and still wanted to see how things stood at his native Leinster.
But quickly he saw the writing on the wall at the RDS. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his own ability, far from it, but with the Byrne brothers and Sam Prendergast already well established within the squad and even Ciaran Frawley capable of filling in at fly-half if required, it meant that he would need a fair degree of luck to go his way in order to break into the starting line-up.
On the contrary, at Ulster there was a direct path to game time. While Aidan Morgan started with a strong performance against the Glasgow Warriors at the weekend, the New Zealander has only been in situ from the start of the season and has yet to nail down the jersey, while the only other senior option is Jake Flannery.
If there was no path at Leinster, there is very much one at Ulster.
“I visited the year before and thought about coming up but I didn’t think I was ready then, I wanted to focus on the Under-20s, which I did,” explains Murphy.
“I really liked it when I came up and, at the time, I felt like there was a less cluttered out-half spot than when at Leinster. I was looking at guys like Sam Prendergast, Ross Byrne, Harry Byrne — it looked like it was going to be pretty packed.
“Ulster offered for me to come up to the Academy and I was really impressed with how Ulster explained it to me, and I knew a lot of guys up here from the Under-20s as well. I was always ready to come up.”
And so, just after the turn of the year, Murphy agreed to move to Ulster. And then, only a few months later after the departure of Dan McFarland, dad Richie followed suit, firstly on an interim basis and then, soon after, permanently.
“It wasn’t until the last game of the Six Nations I had heard that Ulster were talking to him about getting in as interim. I had made my decision by then, in the weeks leading up to that. I was already very sure what I wanted to do,” confirms Murphy.
It’s not the first time the two will have worked together, of course, Murphy Snr having been head coach of the Under-20s up until the end of this year’s Six Nations where Murphy Jnr was fly-half, so the father-son rugby dynamic is nothing new to the pair.
But it is still new for them in a way, with this the first time they have been in a provincial set-up together. While Jack has been mostly with the Academy and therefore hasn’t had as much of a first-hand view as others, he has still been able to see what his father is like within the room during pre-season.
“I’ve obviously worked with him closely. Even before that he’s developed me from a young player. It’s good to see him now at a club level, seeing him in that environment is pretty cool. And I’m still learning off him,” adds the fly-half.
“When we’re at training and work, he’s just like any other of my coaches, then when we’re at home he’s just my father, so I can chat to him about anything else.
“I’m not going to have any conversations about selection with him, though. I’m going to leave that up to somebody else, I think.”
An added dimension has seen brother Ben flourish as a scrum-half with Connacht, too, earning man of the match honours against Munster at the weekend, meaning there are plenty of divided loyalties within the Murphy household.
“We’d a big rugby house when we were growing up. It was good to train against him,” continues Murphy.
“(Mum) went to Thomond at the weekend, she’s up and down quite a bit. She’s loving it up here, too, though.”
The goals are simple with Ulster: firstly, to make his debut, and then to nail down the fly-half jersey at Ravenhill. They may not be his home province but Murphy has already quickly adapted to life in Belfast and is keen to make big strides within the set-up.
But in the short-term, he has other pressing matters to attend to, namely being called up to the Emerging Ireland squad for their tour to South Africa over the next few weeks and aiming to make an impact in games against the Pumas, Western Force and Cheetahs.
“It’s a huge deal to go away again to South Africa. The squad they’ve picked is really strong so it’s going to be great for my development and my learning as well. I’m really looking forward to that,” beams Murphy.
“To be in the squad is nice when you consider they’ve picked so many experienced and talented players. I’m just focused on making the most of that, repaying their faith in me for including me in the squad.
“To go away with Ireland any time is really special, it’s not something you can say no to. It’s always a positive to play for Ireland, no matter what team it is, and I’ll be delighted to do that if I get picked for one of the games.”
With interim Ireland head coach Simon Easterby saying that some of the players on tour could earn themselves Autumn International call-ups if they perform well, it has given some added incentive, but Murphy laughs when asked if he’s considered a potential senior berth in November.
“It gives you something to chase but I wouldn’t be too focused on that just yet,” he smiles.
“I’d be focused on trying to go well over in South Africa and see where that leaves me.”