Richie Murphy is looking to change Ulster's fortunes around as a decidedly wobbly first-half of the season was, essentially, 'saved' by an unexpected win at Connacht last time out.

A win that was the difference between waking up the next morning placed eighth in the table rather than 13th. As it stands, and following Scarlets win over Dragons three days later, they finished the year in ninth position.

Ulster finished sixth in the league-proper last season, second in 2022/23, and third in 2021/2022; right now, the northern side are just below the Champions League water-line.

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The good news is that bottom-feeders Zebre are next up in Belfast and should be a source of league points (Murphy will be hoping for all five) which may ease some of the immediate pressure.

The best bit of the bad news about the squad's international aspirations is that they are unlikely to be affected too much by Ireland's Six Nations plans.

Leinster may be facing seven or so weeks without even seeing a whole swathe of players, Ulster may struggle to gain a cap through the campaign.

Cormac Izuchukwu has a chance, Iain Henderson, Rob Herring and/or Tom O'Toole may be asked to sit on a bench but Stuart McCloskey and Jacob Stockdale have been fading from contention.

Onfield, there has been reliance on the back-row with David McCann, Nick Timony and, lately, James McNabney doing a lot of the grunt work with Jude Postelthwaite providing similar power in the centre.

At the same it is hard to avoid the extraordinary stats on offer from scrum-half Nathan Doak who has started seven games and comes on a sub three times; he has kicked the ball the third most and the third furthest in the entire URC.

Thus with Ulster following on from Zebre with a trip to Benetton, a home game against Scarlets, a trip to Dragons and a home game with Stormers, they may fancy their chances of posting some wins.

Be warned though, their fixtures are not set up for a late, late surge - away at Munster and away at Edinburgh in their last two outings.

POINTS SCORED: 206 - 4th

TRIES SCORED: 31 - 3rd

OFFLOADS: 62 - 9th

METRES GAINED: 2,844 - 10th

DEFENDERS BEATEN: - 199 - 3rd

CLEAN BREAKS: 47 - 13th

OTHER/PLAYER

DEFENDERS BEATEN - Jacob Stockdale 25 - 5th

CARRIES - Dave McCann 90 - 8th

TURNOVERS WON - Nick Timony 9 - 4th

KICKS IN PLAY - Nathan Doak 73 kicks - 3rd; 2,124m - 3rd

PENALTIES CONCEDED - Eric O'Sullivan 11 - 2nd

LINEOUT STEALS - Kieran Treadwell - 3rd

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