Ulster Rugby: Team ‘don’t have the answers at the moment’, says Richie Murphy after Benetton loss

Ulster head coach Richie Murphy said his side are “struggling to get over the line” after their 34-19 loss to Benetton.

The province have lost seven of their 11 games in the United Rugby Championship (URC) this season and have fallen to 14th in the standings.

Their latest defeat came after they were leading 19-17 at half-time but failed to score a single point after the restart.

Central to their struggles in the second half were yellow cards for David McCann, Nick Timoney and Stewart Moore, while they had a try chalked off late on for an illegal clear-out by Tom O’Toole.

“The game got away from us in the second half and our own ill discipline cost us,” said Murphy.

“Yellow cards and a try chalked off have a big bearing on the game.

“We came under a lot of pressure and unfortunately we don’t have the answers at the moment.”

Murphy had no complaints about his side’s disallowed try, although he thought a penalty rather than yellow card would have sufficed for Timoney’s high tackle.

In the final stages of the game, the head coach felt his side “became a bit individual” as they tried to turn the tide.

“Where we are at the moment, lacking in ability to get over the line, when the pressure comes on it’s important we stick together and play as a team,” he added.

“We went away from that and became a bit individual, trying to solve problems on our own, and ultimately that cost us the game.”