United Rugby Championship: Richie Murphy ‘loved’ Ulster performance despite Munster loss

Ulster head coach Richie Murphy praised the performance of his players despite a 29-24 loss to Munster in Thomond Park on Saturday.

Already dealing with a series of injuries to key players, Ulster lost Stuart McCloskey and Ethan McIlroy from their starting side just before kick-off, while locks Kieran Treadwell and Alan O’Connor both had to be replaced in the opening quarter.

Still, the visitors had a 17-7 advantage at half time, and led from the eighth until the 69th minute of the game, before Munster’s more powerful bench turned the tide and sealed top spot in the table for the hosts.

“I loved my team’s performance – I thought they were brilliant,” said Murphy.

“To come down here, they went after Munster from the word go.

“They stuck in the game, we lost our way a bit in the second half, we just lost control of the ball.

“There were a couple of decisions that didn’t go our way and Munster just got back on top. The home town sort of feel probably just barely got them over the line.”