Richie Murphy's Ulster will face South African giants depleted by Ireland's call

Ulster coach Richie Murphy was pleased with his team’s fighting spirit in a 26-34 United Rugby Championship loss to the Bulls at the weekend, but he faces a different challenge in Cape Town this coming Saturday.

It was not just Loftus Versfeld’s infamous altitude of 1,350 metres (4,429 feet) above sea level, but also the temperatures that soared above 30°C that the winless Irish tourists had to cope with in Pretoria.

The result left them with two defeats and two draws from their opening stanza in the URC.

Brave as they were, taking the battle to the Bulls, Ulster had to settle for a four-try bonus point in a close-fought match.

Ulster now move to the more comfortable sea-level venue of Cape Town for a Round Five face-off with the Stormers.

While the Stormers have some injury trouble of their own, with four frontline hookers out injured or suspended, Ulster will be depleted much more.

The province’s Ireland internationals have returned home to join up with Andy Farrell’s international squad on Monday, while Murphy revealed that seven squad reinforcements arrived in Cape Town to bolster his side’s ranks ahead of the game with Stormers.

Fullback Jacob Stockdale, centres Jamie Benson and Stuart McCloskey, scrumhalf Nathan Doak, prop Tom O’Toole, hooker and captain Tom Stewart and flank Nick Timoney all started at Loftus.

James McNabney, who played off the bench in Pretoria, joined the other seven on a plane back to Ireland.

Robert Baloucoune did not travel to South Africa with the squad, as part of the Ireland international player management and national team protocols.

They still have former Stormers and Baby Bok loose forward Juarno Augustus, and Zimbabwean-born forward Eli Snyman to give them a hard edge around the park.

The coach, Murphy, admitted he would have liked to have his international contingent available for the Cape Town clash, the bigger challenge is closer to home.

“We need to improve around our breakdown area,” he said about the ‘lessons’ they learnt from the loss at Loftus.

“We were turning over the ball a little bit too easily over the first four games,” Murphy said of the 16 times they conceded possession, adding: “Improving that area and also our discipline.”

Then there were the 12 penalties and 30 missed tackles, with a success rate of just 77 percent.

Not to mention the set pieces.

“We know when we go to Stormers, we’re going to have a big scrum battle,” the coach said.

“We’re going to have a line-out battle.

“Some of our outside backs are electric, but we must ensure that we really compete well up front.

“We also have to be clever in relation to how we compete at the breakdown, so that we’re not giving away as many penalties as we were.”

Her also spoke about the scrum battle, an aspect that cost them dearly in Pretoria.

“That’s the scrum, isn’t it?” he said of a scrum penalty they conceded in the closing stage that ended up costing them a second bonus point and potentially a win.

“Our scrum held up reasonably well,” he said of the set piece contest against the Bulls.

“Everyone knows when you come to South Africa, that the scrum is going to be under pressure.

“It’s an area we need to get better at.”

Turning to their winless start – which includes losses to Edinburgh and the Bulls, alongside draws with Glasgow Warriors and Munster – said a look at the quality of the opposition will suggest they were not as bad as their position on the standings (13th) seems to suggest.

“The opposition we played were all top four teams,” he said, adding: “Later in the season we will benefit from these games.”