DESPITE A SEVEN try to three rout at altitude at Loftus Versfeld, Ulster coach Richie Murphy was happy with his side’s performance in their 47-21 loss to the Vodacom Bulls in Pretoria on Saturday.
Murphy said when taking into account the factors, and the Bulls dominance up front, Ulster felt they gave a good account of themselves, even though they left Pretoria without any points from the game.
“I thought our boys stuck to their task very well. Obviously we were outpowered in the set-piece, but I thought our boys stuck in the game and played some really good rugby at times,” Murphy said.
“I was disappointed that we didn’t come away with something – probably more likely to come away with a four-try bonus point than anything else but definitely not a disappointment for our boys.
“It is an extremely young team, our front rowers have three caps each and one of them has only joined us late in the season. That’s where we are at the moment.”
Murphy said the Bulls home ground advantage in the Spring heat, as well as the altitude factor made it difficult to beat them in their own backyard.
“It’s a pretty tough place to come and play anyway. Twenty five degrees heat at altitude. We had two games at altitude. Maybe one at sea level and one at altitude would have been a better way of splitting it. But coming to South Africa at any time is difficult, especially in 25-degree heat – we aren’t used to that.
“The guys stuck at it, and we were still there at the end of the game. I know we were well beaten but the guys really worked hard.”
Bulls coach Jake White said he was satisfied with the performance as his side now heads on a three match tour from next week unbeaten in the competition.
“Very happy. I saw today that when you get the balance right between your forwards and backs, you score a lot of points,” White said.
“Someone like Kurt-Lee (Arendse) and front rowers like Gerhard (Steenekamp) and Wilco (Louw), you have to use them. I’m very happy with the way that game turned out. You will never be completely happy when a side scored three tries against you but at least I can tell you that is our second game and it is promising for us if we can build on that from week to week.”
The Bulls will face Ospreys away from home next week while Ulster face Connacht, where Murphy will coach against his son Ben, who plays scrum-half for the western province. His other son, Jack, is on the books at Ulster.
- Updated 10.17pm.