Richie Murphy
| Date of birth | 29 July 1974 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| School | Presentation College, Bray | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Notable relative(s) | John Murphy (uncle) Ben Murphy (son) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Richie Murphy (born 29 July 1974)[1] is an Irish rugby union coach and former player. After three successful seasons as head coach of the Ireland national under-20 rugby union team, he became head coach of Ulster in 2024.
He was educated at Presentation College, Bray, and captained the school to the Leinster Schools Junior Cup in 1990.[2] He played out-half for Greystones, Clontarf, Carlow and Old Belvedere in the All-Ireland League, represented Leinster,[3] including two appearances in the 1998–99 Heineken Cup.[4] and turned down opportunities to play professionally in England and Italy, preferring to stay in Ireland.[5] He was the All-Ireland League's record points scorer until 2017, when he was overtaken by Dolphin's Barry Keeshan.[6]
He worked for Leinster as a player development officer, and became the province's Senior Skills and Kicking Coach in 2010,[7] helping to develop players like Johnny Sexton, Ian Madigan and Fergus McFadden. Sexton would phone him for guidance while at the 2011 Rugby World Cup with Ireland. In 2013 he was backs coach for Emerging Ireland for the Tbilisi Cup under head coach Allen Clarke.[8] He became skills and kicking coach for the senior Ireland team in 2013, being appointed to the role full-time in 2015.[9] He became head coach of the Ireland national under-20 rugby union team in 2021, taking over from Kieran Campbell.[10] Under his leadership Ireland won two Grand Slams in a row in the 2022 and 2023 Under 20s Six Nations,[11] were losing finalists in the 2023 World Rugby U20 Championship,[12] and finished second and unbeaten in the 2024 Under-20s Six Nations.[13] After the departure of Dan McFarland, Ulster named Murphy as interim head coach from the end of the 2024 Under-20s Six Nations to the end of the 2023–24 season.[14] He signed a two-year contract with Ulster in May.[15]
He is the nephew of the former Ireland international Johnny Murphy,[5] and has two sons who are rugby players: Ben Murphy plays scrum-half for Connacht,[16] and Jack Murphy is an Ireland Under-20 international at out-half,[17] and a member of the Ulster academy.[18]
Managerial statistics
- As of match played 28 September 2024
| Team | Nation | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | |||||||
| Ireland U20 | 
|
2021 | 2024 | 25 | 20 | 2 | 3 | 80 | |||
| Ulster |
|
2024 | Present | 19 | 8 | 0 | 11 | 42.11 | |||
| Total | 44 | 28 | 2 | 14 | 63.64 | ||||||
References
- ^ Profile at ItsRugby.co.uk
- ^ Profile at Ultimate Rugby
- ^ "Leinster and Ireland kicking coach Richie Murphy always looking for solutions", The42, 30 April 2014
- ^ Profile at ItsRugby
- ^ a b Foley, Derek (11 July 2023). "Rugby Under-20s World Cup Final: Murphy is a coach Rich' in ability". Buzz.ie.
- ^ "16 seasons of AIL rugby come to an end for the record-breaking Barry Keeshan today", The42, 14 April 2018
- ^ [https://web.archive.org/web/20141202115641/http://www.leinsterrugby.ie/team/backroom/richie_murphy.php Leinster Rugby bio, archived 2 December 2014
- ^ "Murphy keen to kick on with Schmidt", Irish Examiner, 15 May 2013
- ^ [https://www.irishrugby.ie/staff/richie-murphy/ Richie Murphy profile, IRFU, accessed 28 May 2024
- ^ "Richie Murphy named as new Ireland under-20 head coach", The Irish Times, 29 March 2021
- ^ Cian Tracey, "Ireland U-20s secure second consecutive clean sweep as Richie Murphy promises 'there’s more to come'", Irish Independent, 19 March 2023
- ^ Johnny Morton, "Ireland U20 head coach Richie Murphy says squad will leave U20 World Championship as "mature young men" after reaching final", News Letter, 14 July 2023
- ^ "Under-20 Six Nations: Ireland beat Scotland but miss out on title", BBC Sport, 15 March 2024
- ^ John O'Sullivan & Gerry Thornley, "Richie Murphy to take over from Dan McFarland as Ulster head coach", The Irish Times, 21 February 2024
- ^ "Ulster name Murphy permanent boss on two-year deal", BBC Sport, 13 May 2024.
- ^ "Connacht confirm two signings from Leinster, including Ben Murphy". www.rugbypass.com. 2024-05-09. Retrieved 2024-05-18.
- ^ John O'Sullivan, "Jack and Richie Murphy bring father-son duo to Ireland U20s ahead of Six Nations campaign", The Irish Times, 26 January 2024
- ^ "Ulster Rugby Academy confirmed for 2024/25", Ulster Rugby, 14 June 2024