Dec 15,2024
Ulster's hopes of progressing from Pool of the Champions Cup suffered another setback after they lost 40-19 against Bordeaux-Begles in Belfast.
A week after conceding 61 points to holders Toulouse, Ulster led 19-14 at half-time following tries from Cormac Izuchukwu, Nick Timoney and Werner Kok.
Bordeaux, though, overwhelmed the hosts after the break as Damian Penaud, Guido Petti, Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Ugo Boniface claimed touchdowns that followed a first-half penalty try and score for Tevita Tatafu.
It was a game of two halves, according to Ulster's head coach Richie Murphy.
"Our set piece in the first-half was good. We launched into them, played on top of them and caused a very good team a lot of trouble but ultimately, we weren't quite accurate to finish them off.
Several refereeing decisions didn't go the Ulstermen's way, which Murphy says was difficult and had influenced the scoreline.
"I though some of the decisions that went against us in the game were quite difficult to deal with. We probably needed to get everything right in order to put a team like Bordeaux away.
"They are rolling off some big bodies and then the power game kicked in, couple of turn overs, one of their tries was a no release penalty to us. But they run the length of the pitch and score.. it's a difficult one to deal with and those ones kind of break the game open," he reflects.
The Ulster head coach was also critical of the application of the offside line, not just in this game, and thinks it needs to be policed more heavily.
"I think the offside line is a thing of the past. Everyone is playing so far over, it makes it very difficult for teams to play, if we are trying to play open rugby, we have got to get the offside line refereed properly."
Ulster will have another chance at redemption, against Munster in the URC on Friday next, which Murphy explains is another tough test.
"Munster is a different test again... it's a massive game for us, when we see what we have Monday, we can start making plans for that."
