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Ulster's Rory Best claimed his side were denied a clear penalty late on Ryan Byrne/INPHO

Best laments officiating after Ulster fall just short

The Ireland international also defended Ian Humphreys, after he missed a kick late on.

ULSTER’S RORY BEST said his side were “not happy” with the officiating after they suffered a narrow 21-20 loss to Munster in the Guinness Pro12 tonight.

Speaking in an interview with BBC Sport, Best claimed Ulster were denied “a straightforward penalty in front of the posts” after an alleged infringement at the breakdown in the last seconds of the game.

“When you come away from home, and the tide turns like that, it’s disappointing,” Best added, referring to the 12-0 lead Ulster let slip in tonight’s game.

Yet the 32-year-old forward said his side could take plenty of encouragement from the way they eventually fought back to come so close to a victory, while defending out-half Ian Humphreys, who missed the decisive conversion at the death.

“All credit to the boys… From nine points down, to give ourselves an opportunity to win it — and it was a tough kick. Ian’s disappointed, but he orchestrated play extremely well to get us into that position to score the try.”

Pressed on the reasons for Ulster’s sudden collapse after such a promising start, Best said:

“Our discipline let us down. It was just a few silly penalties and system errors that gave them a bit of life and hope.

“We’ll take a look at that. When you come away from home, you have to be really solid defensively. I just think we let a few of their big players back into the game by missing tackles.”

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