Ulster fell to another Champions cup defeat on Saturday after Bordeaux-Bégles left Ravenhill with a 40-19 win.
Leading 19-14 at half-time, the Ulster faithful were questioning whether they could keep this level of performance up for another 40 minutes.
Fingers and toes were crossed, but as Ulster tired, Bordeaux-Bégles replaced superstar with superstar, and Ulster’s brave effort fell short as the French side outscored them 26-0 in the second half.
“Yeah, I’m definitely frustrated,” said Ulster head coach Richie Murphy afterwards.
“I thought we put some really good stuff together and we put a very very good team under a lot of pressure. Couple of breakdowns were missed and they take the ball off you if you are not accurate in those outside channels. That was disappointing,” continued Murphy.
“I suppose the territory and the possession that we had in the first half we probably didn’t make a good enough impression with what we had. The second half their bench came on; the physicality of the game just goes up and we couldn’t survive.”
With Ulster’s confidence taking a battering last week in Toulouse it was vital that the home side get off to a good start. But before they could settle into the game Number 8 Tevita Tatafu touched down to give Bordeaux-Bégles the lead.
But Ulster came roaring back into the contest.
Playing like men possessed, Jude Postlethwaite and Nick Timoney led the charge Ulster charge. The visitors found their aggression and direct running too hot to handle at times, with Timoney in particular, playing like he had a point to prove and debutant Zac Ward performing like a seasoned campaigner.
Bordeaux-Bégles were rattled and Ulster took full advantage. Tries from Cormac Izuchukwu, Timoney and Werner Kok shot Ulster into a deserving five point led at the break.
It was as good a spell as Ulster have produced this season. While acknowledging this, Murphy was again left frustrated as a few basic errors let the French side off the hook and back into the contest.
“I suppose, like I said, the first half we played some really good rugby and we put a really good team under pressure. The second half we weren’t really able to hold on to the ball and defensively they started making yards on us. And a couple of decisions went against us which made it very difficult.”
“Yeah. We’ve probably had glimpse of that over a period. You know, I thought we were pretty direct, really strong. You know, again, at vital times when we look like we are going to break we miss a clean out and that gives the opposition back the ball. But I was really happy with that first half. I thought lads played amazing.”
Ulster’s brave effort eventually started to fizzle out, and the French should their ruthless side to run in four second half tries.
It has been a tough learning curve for Ulster the last number of weeks, and while he admits Ulster have some way to go yet, there are signs of improvement.
“We are playing in the top competition in Europe and we’re playing against two of probably the top four or five teams in Europe on the back of playing another one (Leinster). So that three of the top five teams in Europe over the last three weeks is difficult. We feel like we are getting better. I think the first half shows that but in order to be able to play against these types of teams you need to be able to last 80 minutes. At the moment we’re not quite able to do that.”
