Ulster Rugby: ‘Leinster possibly the strongest team in the world’ – Richie Murphy

Murphy will be without James Hume for the Leinster game, but can welcome back Werner Kok, Cormac Izuchukwu and Jude Postlethwaite from injury.

He believes Saturday will be an important game for the latter duo as they try to stake a claim to be included in this summer’s Ireland squad.

To do so, they will have to be part of an Ulster side that will record a rare win at the Aviva Stadium, a venue they have struggled at in recent years.

“Those two boys [Izuchukwu and Postlethwaite] have a point to prove, losing James Hume isn’t ideal but a like for like replacement with Jude coming back in,” Murphy added.

“Our results in the Aviva over the last while haven’t been good, we have only won once in nine games.

“That is something we can think about in the back of our minds, it is a huge day for our boys who want to challenge and try get into the Ireland squad in the summer.”

The 50-year-old believes that Ulster are “moving in the right direction” after a three-match winning run in March moved them up to the play-off positions in sixth spot in the URC.

That is the position they currently occupy, but it remains a congested table with 13th-placed Connacht only four points behind Ulster and Murphy knows they must pick up as many points as they can in their last four games to secure a play-off spot.

“Every point is important now, we have four games left and if we win three of those four, we definitely qualify if we win two, we could qualify so you want to get that done as soon as you can.”