Ulster 38-38 Stormers: Stuart McCloskey set to miss Challenge Cup final with injury

Murphy said his emotions were “hard to sum up” after the eventful draw with the Stormers at the Aphidia Stadium.

Eleven tries were scored in the end-to-end encounter, with a late penalty try causing controversy for the away side.

Nathan Doak thought he had won the game for Ulster when he held up Stormers winger Lleolin Jass to score, but, on further review, Doak was penalized for shoulder-to-head contact, received a yellow card and a penalty try, decisions which Murphy was disappointed with.

“You look at collisions or the lack of collisions and you go, ‘Well, we can find at least five more incidents that don’t occur during the game’, so that’s pretty hard to take,” he said.

“Is there contact with the head? Is it direct? The referee has to decide on that, but it’s a very disappointing way to take away a victory.

“We looked at that last pick or two minutes from a defensive standpoint and we didn’t defend well enough, that’s for sure, but we had a really big, strong, physical and attacking team coming in.

“In the 80 minutes, I thought the way we adapted to the things that went against us was really good. I thought we scored some great tries as well.

“I thought the character that’s been shown in the team over the last couple of weeks has been really good. So, we’ve got to take it on the chin and move on.”