Ulster fell to a crushing 13-point defeat to the Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday afternoon.
In a game played in searing heat and at altitude, Richie Murphy’s men were no match for their hosts who dominated from start to finish.
Ulster travelled in confidence following their opening day win over Glasgow, but the Lions dominated Murphy’s side in a largely one-sided first half, and Ulster were rather fortunate to go in only 10 points down at the break.
Tries from Rabz Maxwane and captain Francke Horn helped the Lions to a deserving 15-0 lead, before a John Cooney try on the stroke of half-time brought Ulster back into contention.
An early second-half try from Aidan Morgan only served to renew hopes of an Ulster fightback. But the Lions were having none of it and added a further three tries in the second half on what turned out to be a tough day at the office for the northerners.
“I suppose, it was a difficult afternoon. I think it was 27, 28 degrees at altitude,” head coach Richie Murphy alluded to afterwards.
While the heat played a major role, Ulster’s continuance to constantly kick the ball away also frustrated Murphy.
Time and time again the Lions were incited into the Ulster half as Morgan and Cooney failed to find touch with their clearances, while the Lions maul attack also proved to be too hot to handle for the Ulstermen.
“We lost control of the game very early on and we kicked the ball poorly.
“In relation to our kick chase, we didn’t kick it long enough to put them under pressure.
“We didn’t kick it high enough to for us to get into the contest, and that obviously brought a lot of pressure back onto us.
“Second half, backend of the first half, we managed to get back into the game. But then a couple of basic mistakes and some missed tackles, but it was a really tough day over here.”
“Also, a couple of decisions early on that went against us. And that ends up putting us under more pressure. So, disappointed the way the game finished, but happy to get four tries and get a point from it.”
All things considered, Ulster did remarkably well to come away with a point.
Late tries from Werner Kok and Corrie Barret managed to seal a try bonus point and briefly put a better complexion on the scoreboard, but the final say of the contest was left to Lions out-half Wolhuter who capped a wonderful individual showing with the game’s last try in the dying minutes.
However, Murphy felt that Ulster were the victims of a few harsh calls over the 80 minutes and one in particular at a juncture in the second half that could’ve seen the game take a different direction.
“A couple of minutes before we actually got one, we were in the far corner and their player goes off his feet and gets his hands on the ball, and the referee gives him a penalty, which was really difficult.
“At that stage, if we had got another try and if we could’ve kicked the conversion, it would’ve brought us back into the game a little bit.
“But happy the way the lads stuck to their task, and getting that bonus point is obviously very important.
“So, we have five points from two games, it’s not the figure we wanted but that’s where we are at and we’ll move on to the next task.”
Ulster must now dust themselves down for a tussle with the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld next Saturday.
