Marty Moore admits relief as Ulster see off Munster

Three unconverted first-half tries were enough for Ulster to leave Limerick with a precious victory – although they had to survive a second-half comeback by Graham Rowntree’s side.

Moore topped the tackle count, was strong in the loose and also held his end up well in the set piece.

“I think relieved is the overwhelming feeling,” said Moore. “As good as Munster were at times, I think we made it difficult on ourselves with the penalty count and giving away field position at crucial times.

“We will be pretty critical of ourselves when we come back together as a squad in a few weeks in that regard...but, at the same time, we have to take it for what it is and we haven’t won down here in a very long time.

"That was the goal and we achieved it.

“It wasn’t as pretty or as efficient as we would have liked.

"Relief is the overwhelming feeling after a mixed bag of a performance, but it was good enough to get the job done and get that monkey off our back.

“The fact that we have all regrouped and got ourselves as healthy as possible – and put in a performance – is good after a pretty tremulous couple of weeks on the road.

“It was just good to be back out there.

"And for myself as well...I wasn’t available for the first game in South Africa and to have that opportunity taken away was pretty annoying.

"So I am just happy to be out on the field playing.”

Moore played the whole game.

“It is rarely 80 minutes but I am happy with that,” he said. “I needed as much minutes as possible.

"I have had a pretty messy period coming in and out with injuries and knocks, so as many minutes that are available to me, I’m going to take them with both hands.”

The tight head prop feels Ulster are in a good place going into the international break as they sit second in the URC table.

“Nights like Saturday are good at showing where we are and how much we probably want it when things are tough,” he said. “And we make it tough on ourselves when teams like Munster come back into the game and start to get a hold on it.”

Moore has been selected for Ireland A against an All Blacks XV at the RDS on Friday night.

“To be honest, I didn’t expect to be in either squad,” he said. “Just the opportunity to play rugby as close to the top level is something like.

"Whether it was a game tonight (Munster), European Cup or an A game - which is as close as it comes to Test match rugby - is something that I will grab with both hands and, hopefully, get a good hit out again.

"Because I only would have been sitting around at home doing a bit of training so it is definitely the better option.”