Richie Murphy: Interim head coach 'very confident' of improving Ulster

Interim head coach Richie Murphy says he remains "very confident" of turning around Ulster's fortunes.

Ireland Under-20s head coach Murphy is in charge until the end of the season after replacing Dan McFarland, who left his role in February.

Ulster have only won one of their four matches under Murphy and face Cardiff in Belfast on Friday.

"How confident am I? I'm very confident and I'm very confident in the team as well," Murphy told BBC Sport NI.

"I'm confident in my own ability as a coach to help point teams in the right direction and drive the standards that are needed in order to be able to play at the very top level.

"As a team, we need to really chase that."

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Murphy's tenure started with defeats by Sharks and Stormers in South Africa, before a big win away to Montpellier in the European Challenge Cup was swiftly followed by a heavy defeat quarter-final loss to Clermont Auvergne.

His first home fixture will be at home to Cardiff on Friday, and Murphy, who has previously said he would like to stay on beyond this season, says he has "really enjoyed" his experience in Belfast to date.

"I'm definitely enjoying the job. I'm frustrated sometimes, delighted other times - all of the emotions that come with professional rugby," said the 54-year-old, who added he was "blown away" by the opportunity.

"Over the past couple of weeks it has been tough and intense, but I've really enjoyed it."

'We need to get wins quickly'

Murphy feels he has witnessed "signs of improvement" despite the difficult start, that leaves Ulster eighth in the United Rugby Championship table and out of the Challenge Cup.

"We need to get some wins and we need to get them quickly, and we're hoping that will start this week.

"I kind of know the target, but we're not talking about that and we are just taking it game by game.

"We're fully aware of where we sit in the league and we want to chase each one of these five games on an individual basis."

Murphy feels his side are "not a million miles away" and their remaining URC fixtures - home matches with Cardiff, Benetton and Leinster and trips to Scarlets and Munster - are all winnable.

"These three home games and two away games - each one is winnable, so we have to go into them with that mindset.

"We'll take one game at a time and `not get carried away.

"In professional rugby and professional sport it is all about results. We're confident we're going in the right direction and hopefully the results will follow."

Murphy added Ulster need to consider recruiting a new fly-half to replace the outgoing Billy Burns, who will join Irish rivals Munster at the end of the season.

That would leave Jake Flannery as Ulster's only other full-time senior fly-half, with Nathan Doak switching between half-back positions.

"It's something that definitely needs to be considered," Murphy said about the need to recruit another specialist 10.

"Jake [Flannery] is there and we have James Humphreys coming through the academy, but it is a position I'm sure Ulster need to have a look at."

Doak, who has played the majority of his senior career at scrum-half, has been handed the fly-half jersey for Ulster's last two outings and Murphy said the 22-year-old has "done a very good job".

Murphy added that he is unsure where the Doak's long-term futures lies, but his versatility is crucial.

"Learning to play 10 at a professional level is pretty difficult," he said.

"Week on week, we're not really sure at this point as to where we see him. We see him moving between the two positions at the moment."