‘We’ll come back fighting’ – Ulster boss Richie Murphy reflects on ‘difficult day’ against Montpellier
Richie Murphy reflects on Ulster's Challenge Cup Final loss to Montpellier.
Ulster head coach Richie Murphy has reflected on a “very difficult day” as they came up short in the EPCR Challenge Cup Final against Montpellier in Bilbao on Friday.
The high-flying French side bulldozed their way to an emphatic 59-26 win at San Mames Stadium as they dominated the physical aspect of the game and ran in nine tries.
Ulster crossed for four tries in all on the night, but Montpellier put their foot to the floor, especially in the second and third quarters, to cruise to a third Challenge Cup title.
Too much power
“It’s a very difficult day. We came up against a real powerhouse of French rugby,” head coach Murphy admitted as his side had their season ended with a bruising defeat.
“They are right up at the top of the table and they had too much power for us tonight.”
He added: “If you look at where Montpellier sit and the teams they have beaten over the past number of weeks, they are one of the best teams in Europe.
“We’re disappointed, but we will get back together to have a look at it before we break up.”
It’s a bittersweet end to the campaign for Ulster as they reached this European final and bettered last season’s United Rugby Championship (URC) points total by 14 points.
However, a ninth-placed finish in the URC means they ultimately miss out on Investec Champions Cup qualification for next campaign as a late-season slide cost them dear.
“I think we’re a completely different team from where we were this time last year,” said Murphy, who looked at the positives of the all-round improvements this season.
“At the start of the season, if you had told me we would get 52 points in the league and be in a European final with a chance to win it, I would have taken your hand off.
“A team with 52 points has never not got into the top eight in the URC.”
The next task for Murphy and Ulster is continuing to build on the solid foundations they laid in 2025/26, and the head coach is confident that they are on the correct path.
“It’s a lot of work on the training pitch. It’s going back and reviewing to make incremental changes over the next period of time,” he said.
Right direction
“You can look at our season and people will decide whether it was good or bad, but we feel like we are moving in the right direction.
“You look at the team we had out there. We had a lot of very young players.
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“Those guys will learn a huge amount from that experience. This will drive us forward and it gives us a real taste of how good we have to be to be at the top end of Europe.
“We’ve done incredibly well to get this far, but we’re not satisfied with that. We’ll come back fighting.”