Rob Baxter bemoans 'tale of the game' in dismal Chiefs loss

Ulster head coach Richie Murphy hailed an “incredible” second-half performance after his team reached the EPCR Challenge Cup final.

They brushed aside Exeter 29-12 in Belfast and will tackle Montpellier or the Dragons for silverware on May 22.

Ulster surged clear in the second half after establishing a three-point interval lead, outscoring Exeter 4-2 on tries.

“I am delighted. I thought our second half was incredible. We were really good and clinical,” Murphy told Premier Sports.

“I thought we played some really good rugby, and we are looking forward to going to Bilbao.

“I think you could see the tightness in the squad. What I loved about today was that we won a semi-final playing the rugby we have played all year.

“To be in a final is amazing, but everyone who goes to a final, it only really counts if you win. We will get on to that in a couple of weeks’ time.”

Former Northampton number eight Juarno Augustus, fly-half Jack Murphy, flanker Dave McCann and hooker Tom Stewart scored tries for Ulster, with scrum-half Nathan Doak adding a penalty and three conversions.

Exeter replied through tries for number eight Ross Vintcent and wing Campbell Ridl, plus one Henry Slade conversion, but Ulster effortlessly eased away from them to secure a dominant success.

Chiefs rugby director Rob Baxter said: “It didn’t feel as non-competitive as the score towards the end looked, because it looked like we were in the game all the way through.

“But at the same time, the scoreboard probably did tell the tale of how many errors we made.

“There were forced errors, but there were also quite a lot of unforced errors, which was the tale of the game.”