Richie Murphy (born 29 July 1974) is an Irish

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

coach and former player. After three successful seasons as head coach of the

Ireland national under-20 rugby union team The Ireland national under-20 rugby team was formed in 2006, having previously been known as the under-21 team. History Ireland have won the Grand Slam four times and the Six Nations Championship five times: 2007, 2010, 2019, 2022 and 2023. In t ...

, he became head coach of

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

in 2024. He was educated at

Presentation College, Bray Presentation College (; colloquially known as Pres Bray) is a Catholic boys' secondary school established in 1921 by the Presentation Brothers in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland. There are currently about 970 students in Presentation College. T ...

, and captained the school to the

Leinster Schools Junior Cup The Leinster Schools Junior Challenge Cup is an under-age rugby union competition for schools affiliated to the Leinster Rugby, Leinster Branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union, IRFU. Background The Leinster Schools Junior Cup competition is ...

in 1990. He played out-half for

Greystones Greystones () is a coastal town and seaside resort in County Wicklow, Ireland. It lies on Ireland's east coast, south of Bray and south of Dublin city centre and has a population of 22,009, according to the 2022 census. The town is border ...

, Clontarf,

Carlow Carlow ( ; ) is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, from Dublin. At the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had a population of 27,351, the List of urban areas in the Republic of Ireland, ...

and

Old Belvedere Old Belvedere R.F.C. is a senior Irish rugby union club based on Anglesea Road in Ballsbridge, Dublin, Ireland. Old Belvedere was originally founded in 1918–19 by former pupils of Belvedere College. Old Belvedere enters senior men's teams in ...

in the All-Ireland League, represented

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

,"Leinster and Ireland kicking coach Richie Murphy always looking for solutions"
The42, 30 April 2014 including two appearances in the

1998–99 Heineken Cup The 1998–99 Heineken Cup was the fourth edition of the Heineken Cup. Competing teams from France, Ireland, Italy, Wales, and Scotland, were divided into four pools of four, in which teams played home and away matches against each other. Cardiff a ...

. and turned down opportunities to play professionally in England and Italy, preferring to stay in Ireland. He was the All-Ireland League's record points scorer until 2017, when he was overtaken by

Dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...

's Barry Keeshan. He worked for Leinster as a player development officer, and became the province's Senior Skills and Kicking Coach in 2010, helping to develop players like

Johnny Sexton Jonathan Jeremiah Sexton (born 11 July 1985) is an Irish former professional rugby union player who played as a Fly-half (rugby union), fly-half and Captain (sports), captained the Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland national team from ...

Ian Madigan Ian Madigan (born 21 March 1989) is an Irish former professional rugby union player for Leinster, Bordeaux, Bristol Bears, Ulster and Ireland. His primary position was at fly-half, although he also played at centre and full-back. Club career Mad ...

and

Fergus McFadden Fergus McFadden (17 June 1986) is a retired professional rugby union player who played for Leinster & Ireland. He played both as a centre and on the wing. Career Early career McFadden started playing rugby as a boy when he played mini rugby w ...

. Sexton would phone him for guidance while at the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The World Rugby, International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japa ...

with

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. In 2013 he was backs coach for

Emerging Ireland Emerging Ireland is an Irish international rugby union team that represents Irish Rugby Football Union, Ireland in selected matches, tours and competitions. Composed of Ireland qualified players only, mostly uncapped or at the beginning of their c ...

for the Tbilisi Cup under head coach Allen Clarke. He became skills and kicking coach for the senior Ireland team in 2013, being appointed to the role full-time in 2015. He became head coach of the

in 2021, taking over from

Kieran Campbell Kieran Campbell (born 6 July 1979) is a former Irish rugby union scrumhalf and current Director of rugby at Coleraine grammar school. He is the former manager of Ulster Rugby's academy and former head coach of the Ireland under-20 team. Born ...

. Under his leadership Ireland won two Grand Slams in a row in the

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

and 2023 Under 20s Six Nations, were losing finalists in the

2023 World Rugby U20 Championship The 2023 World Rugby U20 Championship was the 13th edition of the premier age-grade rugby union competition. The tournament is hosted in South Africa for the second time, previously being held in 2012. The 2023 under 20 competition (alongside ...

, and finished second and unbeaten in the 2024 Under-20s Six Nations. After the departure of

Dan McFarland Dan McFarland (born 10 April 1972) is an English rugby union coach and former player. He was head coach of Ulster Rugby from 2018 to 2024. He played loosehead prop for Richmond, Stade Français and Connacht, retiring in 2006. He was forwards co ...

named Murphy as interim head coach from the end of the 2024 Under-20s Six Nations to the end of the 2023–24 season. He signed a two-year contract with Ulster in May. He is the nephew of the former Ireland international

Johnny Murphy John Joseph Murphy (July 14, 1908 – January 14, 1970) was an American All-Star right-handed relief pitcher in Major League Baseball (1932, 1934–1943, 1946–1947) who later became a front office executive in the game. Yankees' relief ace A ...

, and has two sons who are rugby players:

Ben Murphy Ben Murphy (born March 6, 1942) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Kid Curry in the ABC television series '' Alias Smith and Jones''. Early life Murphy was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to Benjamin R. Castleberry and Nadi ...

plays scrum-half for

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

, and Jack Murphy is an Ireland Under-20 international at out-half, and a member of the Ulster academy."Ulster Rugby Academy confirmed for 2024/25"
Ulster Rugby, 14 June 2024

Managerial statistics

References

External links

Irish Rugby profileProfile at Front Row Speakers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Richie Irish rugby union players Rugby union fly-halves Greystones RFC players Clontarf FC players Old Belvedere R.F.C. players Leinster Rugby players Irish rugby union coaches Leinster Rugby non-playing staff Ireland national rugby union team coaches Ulster Rugby non-playing staff 1970 births Living people People educated at Presentation College, Bray