Leinster 24-20 Ulster: It was difficult to recover in the second half – Richie Murphy

Ulster coach Richie Murphy said there was no time to “wallow” after their 24-20 loss to Leinster in the United Rugby Championship.

Two scores from Werner Kok and a try from Tom Stewart helped Ulster lead 17-7 at half-time at the Aviva Stadium.

However, Leinster, aided by a strong bench, rallied when Joshua Kenny and Irish internationals James Lowe and Dan Sheehan crossed to give the home side a comeback win.

“It was a tough transition in the second half and we never really got our game going,” Murphy told Premier Sports.

“We probably got away from what we were doing in the first half, and if you give a team like Leinster a little bit of field position, they can play over you and it’s very difficult to try to recover.”

This is the second defeat in a row for Ulster, who started the season in great style.

A much-changed side squandered a 14-point lead to lose to Cardiff in the Challenge Cup, and Leinster inflicted a second league defeat of the season on Murphy’s young side.

However, they still remain fourth in the table, one place ahead of Leinster, and will face Connacht in Galway after Christmas.

Murphy added: “We can’t spend too much time wallowing in this. We have to learn from it and move forward.”

“We talked about it last week and now this is the second defeat. This is something we want to try to change very quickly.

“We will stop this, prepare for Connacht and move on.”