Ulster

Murphy lamented his team’s indiscipline in the first half, highlighting that as a contributory factor in leaving them with a mountain to climb.

“Our scrum held up reasonably well. Everyone knows when you come to South Africa your scrum is going to be under pressure so it’s an area we need to get better at.

“We had a way we wanted to play. We probably went away from that early on in the game but we got more towards what we were trying to do towards the back end of the half and in the second half.

“You have to stick in the fight here. Plenty of teams come here and kind of roll over.

“I don’t think we did that, which I’m really proud about, the way the lads stuck to the task.”

A Stuart McCloskey pass looked to have set James McKillop galloping clear on the wing to put Ulster in with a chance of what at one stage appeared a very unlikely victory but the Ireland centre was adjudged to have had part of his foot in touch.

“Stu’s foot was probably just in touch but if he gets that away earlier we’re going into the last two minutes with a lead. But that’s the breaks,” bemoaned the Ulster coach.

Murphy highlighted the breakdown as another area his side could improve on before next week’s meeting with the Stormers in Cape Town.

“We have to learn lessons but we will benefit from these tight battles come the end of the season,” he added.

The province’s Ireland internationals will return home to join up with Andy Farrell’s international squad, which assembles on Monday, while Murphy revealed that seven squad reinforcements would be arriving in Cape Town to bolster his side’s ranks ahead of the game with Stormers.

Ulster hooker Tom Stewart admits “I don’t think I’ve come to the party well enough” and says the squad must have “honest conversations” after an underwhelming start to the season.

Successive draws with Glasgow and Munster after a loss to Edinburgh leaves Ulster winless in the United Rugby Championship before starting their Challenge Cup campaign away to Zebre next week.

Head coach Richie Murphy said he was “bitterly disappointed” after his side were forced to fight back for a 26-26 draw with Munster, while Stewart questioned his own contributions to the game in Belfast.

“From a personal point of view, I’m not happy with my performances about it. I don’t think I’ve come to the party well enough, I don’t know if it’s my preparation or the mental side to the game,” said Stewart, who captained Ulster against Glasgow and Munster in the injured Iain Henderson’s absence.

“It’s something I really need to have a look at and plan better or whatever it is, but I need to start understanding why that is the case.”

Stewart, who marked his seventh Ireland cap with a try against Japan over the summer, added: “From my own point of view, I need to properly watch back my intent in some of the collisions and my actual process around what I’m doing.

“Then I think we need to have some honest conversations this week within ourselves, with the team, players and coaches to see where we’re at.”

Ulster travel to Zebre on Saturday (15:15 BST) before travelling to South Africa for difficult URC assignments against the Bulls and Stormers.

For Stewart, Ulster “can’t shy away” from the shortcomings in their performances as they strive to kick-start their season.

“It’s hard, when you have a game like that you don’t want to watch it back,” added the 25-year-old.

“You don’t want to review yourself properly, you don’t want to look at the hard stuff, the nitty-gritty that you haven’t done well, but that’s where you find the fixes, the learnings.

“The hardest stuff you watch will be the most impactful stuff going forward.”

Ulster will be without backs Michael Lowry, Aitzol Arenzana-King and Robert Baloucoune for Saturday’s United Rugby Championship game against Glasgow at Scotstoun (17:30 BST).

Full-back Lowry and wing Baloucoune suffered concussions in the Irish province’s 34-29 defeat by Edinburgh in their opening URC game of the 2026-27 campaign.

Winger Arenzana-King picked up a knee injury during the game in Belfast, from which Ulster emerged with two bonus points.

All three players started last weekend’s fixture, with Lowry captaining the side and scoring the first of Ulster’s four tries in a match which Richie Murphy’s side’s comeback fall short after they bounced back from a 34-5 deficit.

Glasgow began their season with an impressive 26-20 victory on the road at Munster.