AT 29-0 DOWN, Ulster looked dead and buried in Belfast. Sam Prendergast scored Leinster’s bonus-point try in the 51st minute, and what had already been a long night for the home side was threatening to become a proper hammering.

Yet from there, Ulster came to life. Across a scrappy first half showing, it had taken Ulster over 20 minutes to just get into the Leinster 22. Now they were flowing forward in numbers, getting great reward from their attacks down the left flank. Across the final half hour Ulster look transformed, scoring 21 unanswered points as a spirited fightback ended in an eight-point defeat.

Make sense of that one.

“It was a very difficult start to the game, obviously, playing into the wind,” said Ulster head coach Richie Murphy.

“Leinster just kicked the ball up in the air and chased and trapped us down our end. We got plenty of pressure through on some of our carries who were trying to set up to kick out and just kept the pressure on us in that first half.

“So, 10-0 down, we got back down, we had a five-minute line-out, a good opportunity. Unfortunately, it was crooked. And then on the far side, soon after that, we had a three-v-two down the edge in opposition 22, which could have made the game a little bit tighter. But a lot of credit has to go to Leinster with the way they turned up.”

Murphy felt his team were unlucky to come away from the game empty handed. Having gone into the weekend third in the URC table, last night’s loss saw them slip to fourth as Leinster leapfrogged into the top three.

“Yes, massively disappointed. Even towards the end of the game, they’re obviously down to 14. Jude gets hit in the head and that’s missed and it’s another opportunity to get a penalty and get back down into the corner and get them under more pressure. We definitely deserve something out of the game.”

Ulster’s second half surge was a world away from their frustrating start to the game, where they couldn’t make a dent in a solid Leinster defence – which would then be repeatedly stretched across the final half-hour.

“It’s not that we went out there with the intention of not playing well in the first half,” Murphy continued.

Angus Bell leaves the pitch injured. Grace Halton / INPHO Grace Halton / INPHO / INPHO

“I’m extremely proud of the players in relation to how they reacted when they were under massive pressure at 29-0 down and managed to put together some really good things.

“We’ve a fair bit of learning to do in relation to that first half. It’s probably a little bit of the difference of the level of the Challenge Cup last couple of weeks. You go up and you’re playing against a Champions Cup semi-final team, even though they’re heavily rotated but there’s good learnings in that for us and it’ll help us going forward.”

Ulster lost Angus Bell in the opening minutes to injury, the prop leaving on a motorised stretcher, with James Hume forced off shortly after with what appeared to be an arm/shoulder issue.

Scott Wilson and Tom O’Toole also picked up knocks, but post-game Ulster had no update available on any of the injuries.

Next weekend the province are away to Munster, before they play Exeter in the Challenge Cup semi-finals.

Ulster’s final two regular-season URC games are testing home ties against Glasgow and the Stormers.