Bernard Jackman believes Ulster may have competition to keep head coach Richie Murphy beyond this season.
Murphy, who is in his second full season at the province after replacing Dan McFarland in March 2024, is out of contract in the summer of 2026, with a high-profile Premiership side believed to be making efforts to lure him to England.
"His progress and his little rebuild with Ulster is starting to make waves in the UK," Jackman told the RTE Rugby podcast this week.
"I heard Saracens are having a look at Richie Murphy who's off contract in the summer."
The former Ireland U20 coach was initially sent on a damage control mission in the spring of 2024 when Ulster parted company with McFarland, and after an impressive interim stint, he was appointed on a two-year deal.
His first season in charge didn't go well, as Ulster missed out on Champions Cup rugby for the first time in their history, but after an overhaul of his backroom team, there have been green shoots in the first third of this campaign.
Murphy brought Mark Sexton in as attack coach from Connacht, and his stamp is already evident in their game, while forwards coach Jimmy Duffy and defence coach Willie Faloon have also come on board, having also worked with Murphy at the Ireland U20s.
"Obviously you'd hope that Ulster – Rory Best obviously in there now – that they could just get that coaching staff locked down because they have done a great job," Jackman added.
Having started the season with four wins from five games in the URC, and a win and a defeat in the Challenge Cup, Ulster head into a crucial run of Interpros across the festive period.
On Friday, the province take on Leinster at Aviva Stadium, before another away fixture against Connacht on 27 December, while they welcome Munster to Belfast on 2 January.
"He's a confident young lad..." 🏉
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Could Ulster's Jack Murphy get in the door of an Ireland squad this year? 🔟☘️
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Jackman believes with no Champions Cup involvement this year, their Interpro slate has plenty at stake.
And he's particularly looking forward to seeing how Sexton’s attack shapes up against Jacques Nienaber’s defence.
"I also think for the Ulster players, who have maybe been disappointed not to be more involved with Ireland, because they're not in the European Cup, their Interpros become even more important for them in terms of laying down a marker.
"And seeing actually, can they go toe-to-toe with an Irish province, a team like Leinster?
"And is it going to be ball in hand, which they have been doing, or are they going to go look to turn Leinster and find that kick space? Or will it be a mixture of both?
"Ulster are one of the few teams at the moment who have still kept the philosophy that they want to build phases.
"I said it last week, one of the stats that they had [against Racing 92] was that Racing concede more tries than anyone else after five phases, but that suited Ulster.
"Like, there's no point, if you're a team who, who go hard for three phases, trying to change too much, but Ulster's philosophy is 'play, keep the ball’.
"And again you would love to see how that plays out against the Leinster defence who are going to have changes in it as well because of squad rotation."
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