Richie Murphy's interim reign at Ulster starts with United Rugby Championship defeat to Sharks in South Africa

It was the first time the Sharks had beaten Ulster in the United Rugby Championship and dents the province’s hopes of a home quarter-final.

After a scrappy opening 18 minutes where both sides conceded turnovers in promising positions, Ulster broke the deadlock with their first serious break into the Sharks 22.

A penalty was kicked to the corner, Ulster secured the line out and after a serious of pick and drives close to the line, flanker Harry Sheridan eventually squeezed over and grounded the ball with John Cooney adding the conversion.

However, Ulster pushed the self-destruct button on 25 minutes. Tom Stewart lost the ball in the Sharks 22, Makazole Mapimpi launched it down the field with a huge kick and centre Ethan Hooker showed great speed to win the race, but the ball didn’t roll for him near the Ulster line.

Mike Lowry couldn’t scoop it up allowing flanker Phepsi Butelezi to cross the whitewash. Syia Masuka added the conversion.

The Sharks finished the half strongly but, indictive of a side that has been struggling, they couldn’t turn their possession into points.

From an attacking five metre lineout they missed the jumper and from a scrum close to the line they knocked on allowing Ulster to run down the clock and the sides went into the break level at 7-7.

The Sharks started the second-half where they left off the first period, but as they stretched the Ulster defence, Eben Etzebeth knocked on close to the Ulster line.

They finally made their dominance count on 46 minutes with a second try.

The forwards showed great hands to find Mapimpi in space and the winger put a perfectly weighted kick in for Eudan Keyter before the right winger hacked on and won the race to ground the ball. Masuka added the conversion from a tight angle.

Masuka extended the Sharks lead with a simple penalty from in front of the posts on 53 minutes.

Ulster got back in the game on 56 minutes with a piece of opportunism from Kieran Treadwell.

The visitors kicked a penalty to touch but lost the lineout and as the Sharks were preparing to clear the ball, it squirted out of the ruck allowing the lock to pick up and rumble over. Cooney failed to convert.

Tempers exploded on 64 minutes. Ulster skipper Iain Henderson was sin binned for a high tackle near his own try line while James Hume and Sharks flanker Vicent Tshituka were yellow carded for their part in the resulting melee.

The Sharks kicked the resulting penalty to touch and from the lineout drove over with Springbok hooker Bongi Mbonambi touching down but Masuka couldn’t convert.

They should have sealed their bonus point on 74 minutes but replacement lock Corne Rahl had the ball dislodged as he was going over the try line.