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'We spoke about it... how much this competition means to Irish teams'
By PA
Ulster head coach Richie Murphy was proud of his battling players as they slipped out of the Champions Cup following a 43-31 defeat at Bordeaux-Begles in the last 16.
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The visitors scored five tries at Stade Chaban-Delmas but saw their opponents to run in six to book a quarter-final showdown with fly-half Joey Carbery’s former team Munster.
Murphy told Premier Sports: “It was an incredible game, wasn’t it, end-to-end. The ball was kept in play for long periods, players on both sides looked very tired at times.
“They probably did better in the transitionary moments, but I have to say I’m incredibly proud of our players and what they produced today. I think we played some of our best rugby at times and one or two scores more and it could have been a very tight ending.
“But I wish Bordeaux all the best next week and we’ll get ready for our URC run-in.”
Ulster trailed 21-0 after just 21 minutes, but tries from forwards Tom O’Toole and Dave McCann dragged them back into it before the break and Nick Timoney and Zac Ward, twice, crossed in the second half to keep their side in it until the final whistle.
Asked about individual performances, Murphy said: “I would be unable at the moment to single somebody out.
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“All I can say is their commitment all week to put the plan together, to turning up, to coming here, nobody giving us a chance and what we’ve produced on the day – yes we’re disappointed we didn’t win, but we’ve got something to build on here.”
Bordeaux attack coach Noel McNamara saw Damian Penaud, Ben Tameifuna, Adam Coleman, Romain Buros, Maxime Lamothe and Rohan Janse van Rensburg touch down, but knows they will have to be better to get past Munster.
McNamara said: “The first thing you’ve got to do is give a lot of credit to Ulster. A lot of teams at 21-0 down might have struggled a little bit. They came back at us, they got a couple of tries at the end of that first half and again in the second half, they never went away.
“We spoke about it during the week, we spoke about it again this morning, how much this competition means to Irish teams and how difficult they are to beat, so I think that was very much in evidence today.
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“Obviously for us, the most important thing is getting through to the next round, and what a challenge that’s going to be.
“We’ve got a short turn-around – it’s only six days – and realistically speaking we probably know that that won’t be good enough, but I felt that overall it’s a positive and lots for us to work on.”
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