Ulster out-half depth chart 'not ideal', says Richie Murphy

Richie Murphy admits that lack of experience at out-half is "not an ideal situation" as he prepares a young squad for his first full BKT URC season.

The province lost Billy Burns to Munster over the summer and with him over 200 caps worth of club experience, while he played seven times for Ireland.

Murphy has four out-and-out 10s, with Jake Flannery's 21 senior appearances, including six for Munster the most experienced, at his disposal.

Ireland-qualified New Zealander Aidan Morgan, who joined from the Hurricanes, and James Humphreys have yet to win competitive caps for the province, while former Ireland U20s out-half Jack Murphy switched from the Leinster to Ulster academy at the end of the season.

Scrum-halves John Cooney and Nathan Doak, and full-back Mike Lowry, have also filled in at 10 on occasion.

"It's not an ideal situation," Murphy told RTÉ Sport.

"But [we make up for lack of experience] from review, hearing what they have to say and dealing with them after training with regard to video analysis and how things work.

"Obviously, we've two 23-year-old out-halves and a 20-year-old out-half, we do have Mike Lowry who has played there in the past, but we're going to be a young side over the next couple of years.

"Our frontliners, we've plenty of experience except for that position, so we're going to build something around those guys and that's pretty interesting."

On Morgan, who started against Benetton in a friendly at the weekend, Murphy said: "He's been good, he's come in and settled in very quickly.

"He's a big running threat, ball in hand, he's probably going to spend a bit of time getting used to the balance between that and the European game and what's expected of him.

"He's very exciting, he's fitted in with the group