Venue: <\/strong>Stade Marcel-Michelin, Clermont-Ferrand<\/span> Date:<\/strong> Saturday, 13 April <\/span>Kick-off: <\/strong>12:30 BST<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n| Coverage:<\/strong> Listen on Radio Ulster & BBC Sounds with live text commentary, report and highlights on the BBC Sport website & app<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n | John Cooney believes “reconnecting” with Ulster’s interim head coach Richie Murphy can help him regain his best form after what he says has been a “difficult” season for him.<\/span><\/p>\n Scrum-half Cooney, 33, worked with Murphy as a 17-year-old when he was in the Leinster Academy.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n “I probably know Richie the best out of everybody in this [Ulster] environment,” said Cooney on Wednesday.<\/span><\/p>\n “I know how good he actually is at coaching players.”<\/span><\/p>\n Cooney and his Ulster team-mate Marty Moore were both coached by Murphy early in their Leinster careers and speaking ahead of Saturday’s European Challenge Cup quarter-final against Clermont Auvergne in France, the scrum-half heaped praise on the 54-year-old who was installed as interim head coach after Dan McFarland’s exit in February. <\/span><\/p>\n “His attention to detail and his skill ability is as good as you find in the country,” added Cooney.<\/span><\/p>\n “For a player like me, a bit later in your career, it’s nice to reconnect with him. He knows how I should play and he knows how to get the best out of me.”<\/span><\/p>\n Cooney revealed that Murphy, straight after his arrival at Ulster, immediately picked up on a “bad habit” that had developed in the scrum-half’s passing.<\/span><\/p>\n “One of my things was the way my finger was coming off a pass. <\/span><\/p>\n “Something as small as that, there’s probably nobody else in the country that would notice that after throwing one pass.”<\/span><\/p>\n Cooney added that one of Murphy’s strongest suits in being able to marry having a great sense of humour with also being direct about player failings. <\/span><\/p>\n “Like starting Monday mornings uplifting maybe with some gags. Sometimes you come in a little bit anxious after a weekend. <\/span><\/p>\n “Those ice-breakers can make a difference on Monday morning.<\/span><\/p>\n “[But] also he’s just very black and white. He’s just saying how it is and how we need to get better in certain fundamentals which is correct as well.”<\/span><\/p>\n Cooney acknowledged that at times this season as Ulster struggled, self-doubt began to creep in but he says that has been arrested by Murphy’s arrival.<\/span><\/p>\n “I don’t feel physically old but mentally I felt 45 this season in terms of, ‘am I still up to the level?’\u2026..that sort of stuff. <\/span><\/p>\n “So rejuvenating me, getting a coach that I know well, a coach that I know can make me better, has given me a lease of life now at the end of the season to kick on and continue improving and also maybe another chapter in my career.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n |
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