Incoming South African number eight Juarno Augustus exactly the sort of player we want in Ulster squad says head coach Richie Murphy

Head coach Richie Murphy says incoming number eight Juarno Augustus ticks all the boxes on Ulster’s wish list.

The province on Tuesday announced the South African will join in the summer after four seasons with Northampton.

Last season he helped the Saints win the Gallagher Premiership and, while Ulster already have heavyweight names in the back row including Nick Timoney, David McCann, and newly-minted Ireland international Cormac Izuchukwu, Murphy says the 26-year-old Augustus will be a huge addition to the Ravenhill squad.

“We consciously went looking for that type of player,” he said.

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“A focal point, a big ball-carrying backrow with high involvements that gets you on the front foot and allows other players to play off the back of him.

“If you look at the game, the game is about power and speed and he has both of those things, which will allow other big, powerful speed players like Nick, like ‘Izzy’ to come into the game more as well.

“It gives us another string to our bow that, when you’re playing at the very top end of Europe, you need players of that calibre.

“It’s a statement of where we want to get to. He’s a top-class player, he’s 26-years-old, he’s in his prime. He’s been a very effective ball carrier in the Premiership the last few seasons so we’re really delighted to get him here.”

Ulster return to URC action against Leinster on Friday, five weeks after their capitulation against Cardiff which saw them surrender a 19-0 half-time lead to eventually lose 21-19.

Timoney will be available for Ulster having been released from Ireland after not featuring during the Autumn Nations Series, which ends with a clash against Australia on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Jacob Stockdale’s return to Ireland action ended prematurely after limping off against Fiji at the weekend and will miss “a period of time” with a “considerable” hamstring injury, according to Murphy.

The timing could hardly be worse for Ulster, who head into a hellish block of fixtures, with Leinster on Friday and Munster on December 20 sandwiching Champions Cup clashes with first and second in the French Top 14, Toulouse and Bordeaux.

After eight days off in the wake of the Cardiff defeat, Ulster got back to work “on tidying up the areas of our game that we feel have been letting us down a little bit”.

They’ll face a Leinster side, while heavily depleted by international call-ups, that sit top of the URC with six wins out of six, although their last trip to the Kingspan Stadium in May saw them lose to John Cooney penalty at the death.

“Leinster at home is a game that the Ulster boys always rise for,” said Murphy.

“They’ve come up here towards the end of last season and we beat them last play of the game. They’ll be looking for revenge and at the moment they are looking very strong. “Obviously they’re missing a lot of players to international camp, which shows you the strength of the team when you think what will show up here on Friday night.”