Richie Murphy's Ulster view 'scoreline shouldn't dictate how you play the game'

​Richie Murphy’s side scored three tries against the Welsh side and nearly got a bonus point with the last play of the game on Saturday in Belfast, only for the TMO to rule it out

The head coach was happy with how his side performed across the consecutive 10-game block.

“We're obviously quite happy in that top four, probably seven out of 10 wins in theory over this block, probably one or two points maybe left behind and maybe one against Cardiff,” said Murphy. “But, in general, we're happy where we're at.

“We've a lot of work to do because this next block that's coming up could be 14 games.

"So that's going to put a fair bit of pressure on the squad, which is good to see some of those young lads come in and do so well.

“I think we've committed to try and drive certain standards within our team and the lads are doing that on a daily basis you know.

"Culture is really important in relation to getting your work done during the week and making sure that the guys are in an environment where one, they're challenged and two, they're learning.

"And, ultimately, a high-performance model of trying to get better every day is what we try and drive.

"If we don't hit the standards that we set, the lads themselves call themselves out and try and drive them from within the team.

“Delighted, obviously, to get the win against Cardiff...made hard work of it, especially in the second half, that first 20 minutes after half-time got stuck down our end.

"We had a couple of possessions that we didn't really look after the ball that well and brought Cardiff back into the game.

“We knew Cardiff would come back strong at us, they always do...but, overall, we're delighted with the win and we're a little bit frustrated, obviously, not to pick up the bonus point there towards the end.

“We’re just trying to make sure that when we come under pressure that we have the answers, the answers are very simple.

"The scoreline shouldn't dictate how you play the game...it's easy to say that, it's more difficult to do - especially with a young team and the rotations that we had, I thought some of the guys came in and stood up really well.”

Ulster’s next game is against the Ospreys at the end of February and Murphy has welcomed the break after a punishing schedule.

“It's perfect, it's great, we're delighted not to have a game because we've had 10 in a row,” said Murphy. “Players are given a week off and, from that point on, some will go to the Ireland XV team, they'll come in a week later.

“The other guys that are off next week will come in the week after...there's two A games in that period.

"So, the odd player here and there will be dropped into that to play, in the meantime, some of the senior players will get a little bit of time to do some strength-and-conditioning work and reset and a little mini-pre-season type thing.”