The concession of seven tries in a whopping 36-point defeat admittingly doesn’t look good at first glance. But this Ulster performance was a lot better than what the final score of 47-21 suggests.
Yes, there were areas where Ulster were dominated by the Bulls in Pretoria, mainly the set-piece.
But over the 80-minutes, Richie Murphy’s young guns stuck to their task manfully and can count themselves unlucky not to leave Loftus Versfeld with a try-scoring bonus-point.
With ball in hand, Ulster were more than equal to their hosts. Jacob Stockdale showed plenty that he is edging ever closer back to his brilliant self.
A vintage chip and chase try was backed up by a number of big carries. But up front, Ulster were no match for the ferocious home pack.
Stockdale’s try cancelled out an earlier effort from Springbok wing, Kurt-Lee Ardense. David Kriel restored the Bulls advantage minutes later.
But Ulster responded well, but their execution in the final third was to be their downfall, and Murphy’s fresh-faced side were about to find out that South Africa can be a very unforgiving place.
Following a series of scrum penalties, prop Corrie Barrett picked up a yellow card, and minutes later Johan Grobbelaar was ta the end of a powerful maul to touchdown for the Bulls third try for a 21-7 half-time.
“I thought our boys stuck to their task really well,” said Murphy.
“Obviously, we were out-powered in the set-piece.
“But I thought our boys stuck in the game, played some really good rugby at times.
“Disappointed not to come away with something, probably more likely to get a four-try bonus point that something else, but definitely not a disappointment from our boys.”
Canan Moodie, Cameron Hanekom and Boeta Chamberlain pushed the Bulls lead out to 40-7 by the hour mark, but a plucky young Ulster side refused to throw-in the towel.
Debutant James Humphries floated a lovely pass wide for centre Ben Carson to score in the corner before David Shanahan and Mike Lowry combined to set Stewart Moore in the clear to grab Ulster’s third-try.
But as Ulster chased a bonus-point fourth try, the Bulls regained possession and Elrigh Louw broke through the Ulster rearguard to seal a 47-21 victory.
Afterwards, Murphy put things into perspective by explaining the enormity of the challenges that his inexperienced side have come up against.
“It’s an extremely young team and our two-front rowers have three-caps each, one of them only joined us late in the season.
“We had a centre getting his first cap playing alongside a guy who normally plays in the back three.
“We obviously missing our international centre pairing of James Hume and Stuart McCloskey.
“We’re missing two-international hookers in Rob Herring and Tom Stewart. "
“So, you know there is a lot of experience that is outside our team at the moment.
“But we’re growing and we’re learning as we go.
“So, this experience playing against such a strong Bulls team will stand to them. Teams have come here with a lot stronger team that we have had out there today and had the same thing done to them.
“We were dominated in the set-piece, and really you can take that part away, which you can’t, I think when it actually came to playing ball in hand, I think we held our own pretty well.”
Despite the scoreline, Muphy was delighted how his young side battled to the end.
“But the guys stuck at it until the end of the game. I know we were well beaten, but they never gave up and worked really hard.”
