RICHIE MURPHY heaped praise on his forwards’ efforts following Ulster’s eight-try, 52-24 victory over Exeter Chiefs which secured the northern province knockout rugby in the Challenge Cup and could yet open the door for them to make the last 16 in the Champions Cup.

Guaranteed fifth spot in Pool One and a last 16 place in Europe’s secondary tournament, Ulster can stay afloat in the Champions Cup and elbow their way to fourth via superior points differential should Bordeaux-Begles win by 29 points when hosting the Sharks on Sunday and deny the South Africans a try bonus.

Seven of Ulster’s eight tries — against a shadow Exeter team — for this the province’s sole win of the group stages, were scored by their pack, Cormac Izuchukwu claiming a hat-trick and David McCann a brace, after the struggling Premiership side had stunned their hosts by racing into an early 12-0 lead.

“I thought the pack were incredible,” said Murphy whose side also dropped into the Challenge Cup last season making to the quarter-finals where they lost heavily at Clermont.

“A lot of credit must go to (forwards coach) Jimmy Duffy for what he has done in a very short space of time in relation to line-out, attack and defence.

“The maul is much better, the scrum, he’s done a super job in that area with young guys under immense pressure at the very top of the game having to step up.”

And focusing on Ireland squad member Izuchukwu the Ulster coach said: “Izzy’s been brilliant. Everyone talks about him roaming in the outside channels and carrying ball, but there’s much more to him than that.

“His line-out work over the last few months has been really big, teams don’t really want to throw anywhere near him and he’s spooking lineouts, which is fantastic.

“He’s working hard all the time and he’s playing with a smile on his face,” he added.
Following half-time, when the scores were tied at 17-each, Ulster powered clear to register 35 points before the Chiefs snatched a last-gasp score in the final play as the hosts kept pushing for more to improve their points differential on the Sharks.

Nick Timoney and Rob Herring scored — man of the match Scott Wilson also had a huge game though didn’t cross the line — before the backs got in on it when Ben Carson claimed his solo effort. Nathan Doak kicked two conversions while replacement John Cooney nailed four.

“We know we’ve a European game coming up,” said the Ulster coach, “who that will be and in what competition, that will depend on what happens on Sunday.

“But it’s important we win rugby matches and over the last while we haven’t won enough, so we’ll enjoy this one and go after more over the next few weeks.”