After the Exeter game, Murphy had hinted at frustration about comparisons to other Ulster teams who had come up short in previous semi-finals.
He went as far to say that “this team hasn’t been in a semi-final before”.
And, in truth, he was right.
Of the starting team pipped by the Stormers in a dramatic United Rugby Championship semi-final in 2022, only five were in action on Saturday.
Along with Timoney, Ulster had Iain Henderson, Tom O’Toole, Stuart McCloskey and Ethan McIlroy as the survivors from the starting team that day.
Even of the players on the bench that day in Cape Town, only Nathan Doak and Eric O’Sullivan featured against Exeter.
“It’s such a different team since then,” Timoney said.
“There’s been a lot of change now to the group, so it’s about this current journey.
“Sometimes it’s good for individuals, and for me and the likes, to have those lessons built up over a number of years.
“But the beauty sometimes of newer lads who don’t have those experiences, they don’t have those scars and it doesn’t even factor into their minds.”
