EVEN THOUGH his side had run in nine tries to obliterate what was a notably weak Racing 92 selection, Ulster head coach Richie Murphy focused on the contrasting halves of rugby produced by his side in the 61-7 rout.
An edgy Ulster had led by just 14-7 when the teams changed ends before then swatting Racing aside on their way to scoring 47 second-half points — seven of the nine try total coming in that period — on an evening when Wallaby prop Angus Bell made his debut.
“Half-time came at the right time,” Murphy said in the wake of Ulster’s first-ever pool stage game in the European Challenge Cup.
“The guys readjusted inside, and we came out and played the rugby that we know we can.
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“In the second half, I thought we were very good. I thought we played the space really well and, obviously, we were on a big score.
“I thought the players did a really good job at resetting (at half-time) and going again, the second half was very good,” he added of a game watched from the stands by Ireland coach Andy Farrell.
Jacob Stockdale and Zac Ward led the way in the try-fest as both crossed the Racing line on two occasions, while Jack Murphy ended his night on 16 points from eight conversions.
Referring to the first half when Racing opened the scoring, Murphy said: “We were a bit patchy at the start, a little bit slow to move in the first half, and probably didn’t reach the heights that we would have liked.
“We conceded a few too many line breaks,” he added, with only some effective scramble defence and a disallowed try preventing the visitors from adding more points in that period.
“Although we didn’t feel that we were at our very best (in the first half), we still created and put the defensive team under quite a lot of pressure, which paid off in the end.”
As for Bell’s appearance off the bench, Murphy stated: “We literally only trained on Tuesday, there was a captain’s run yesterday, and then we played, so for him (Bell) to come in and fit in really quickly was good.
“It was always a case where we wanted to get him 25-30 minutes so that he understood what it’s like to play for Ulster, and over the next couple of months, we’ll probably see the best of him.”
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Murphy praises Ulster's second-half improvement after rout of Racing
EVEN THOUGH his side had run in nine tries to obliterate what was a notably weak Racing 92 selection, Ulster head coach Richie Murphy focused on the contrasting halves of rugby produced by his side in the 61-7 rout.
An edgy Ulster had led by just 14-7 when the teams changed ends before then swatting Racing aside on their way to scoring 47 second-half points — seven of the nine try total coming in that period — on an evening when Wallaby prop Angus Bell made his debut.
“Half-time came at the right time,” Murphy said in the wake of Ulster’s first-ever pool stage game in the European Challenge Cup.
“The guys readjusted inside, and we came out and played the rugby that we know we can.
“In the second half, I thought we were very good. I thought we played the space really well and, obviously, we were on a big score.
“I thought the players did a really good job at resetting (at half-time) and going again, the second half was very good,” he added of a game watched from the stands by Ireland coach Andy Farrell.
Jacob Stockdale and Zac Ward led the way in the try-fest as both crossed the Racing line on two occasions, while Jack Murphy ended his night on 16 points from eight conversions.
Referring to the first half when Racing opened the scoring, Murphy said: “We were a bit patchy at the start, a little bit slow to move in the first half, and probably didn’t reach the heights that we would have liked.
“We conceded a few too many line breaks,” he added, with only some effective scramble defence and a disallowed try preventing the visitors from adding more points in that period.
“Although we didn’t feel that we were at our very best (in the first half), we still created and put the defensive team under quite a lot of pressure, which paid off in the end.”
As for Bell’s appearance off the bench, Murphy stated: “We literally only trained on Tuesday, there was a captain’s run yesterday, and then we played, so for him (Bell) to come in and fit in really quickly was good.
“It was always a case where we wanted to get him 25-30 minutes so that he understood what it’s like to play for Ulster, and over the next couple of months, we’ll probably see the best of him.”
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Angus Bell easy racing 92 richie murphy Rugby Ulster