Ulster Rugby: Stormers match is our immediate priority – Murphy

The immediate priority for Ulster is Friday’s penultimate United Rugby Championship (URC) regular-season game against the Stormers at Affidea Stadium (19:45 BST), according to head coach Richie Murphy.

While Ulster have a European Challenge Cup final against Montpellier to look forward to on 22 May, thanks to their semi-final victory over Exeter on Saturday, there is no downplaying the importance of Friday’s fixture with a URC play-off berth still to be secured.

Currently, Ulster sit in eighth position, three points above Connacht who host Munster on Saturday (19:45).

A top-eight finish would not only mean they continue their quest for domestic silverware this season, but would also stamp their ticket for a place in next season’s European Champions Cup.

While victory over Montpellier in Bilbao in a fortnight would also be enough for them to qualify for Europe’s top competition, Murphy is certainly not prioritising that game and insists their meeting with the Stormers “is huge for us”.

“It’s a massive couple of weeks for the club and for the players,” Murphy told BBC Sport NI.

“We haven’t been in this situation where we are fighting on two fronts, trying to get into the top eight [of the URC] and that’s where our focus is this week.

“They [Stormers] are a massive team coming over, top of the league at the moment, [with a] big scrum, big maul and loads of exciting backs, so it’s a huge test and on a six-day turnaround it’s tight, but hopefully we have got the balance right of training and freshness to get the lads to perform.

“Our set-piece is going to be huge, but there are weaknesses in their team and we know if we get enough possession, we can cause any team problems.”