Eight-try Exeter win 'massive' for Ulster - Murphy

Ulster blew Exeter away in the second half to secure a big win in Belfast

Ulster head coach Richie Murphy says Friday's 52-24 victory over Exeter "is a massive win for us".

The eight-try win in Belfast keeps Ulster's hopes alive of progressing to the last-16 in the Investec Champions Cup.

Exeter made a blistering start and raced into a 12-0 lead, but Ulster rallied and went int the break tied at 17-17.

Ulster pulled away after the restart and, at a minimum, have secured Challenge Cup rugby no matter what happens in the Sharks' game with Bordeaux on Sunday.

Murphy's side need the Sharks to lose by more than 28 points and hope the South African side don't collect a bonus-point.

"We knew they had a massive pack and, in many ways, they had nothing to lose from coming here," Murphy told Premier Sports.

"They showed that in the first 10 minutes when they hit us really hard. We were a little bit naive in that but we stuck in the fight.

"Half-time was about just going through the things that we had planned and I thought the lads were brilliant in the second half.

"They really went after them and to score that amount of points - we're still a bit disappointed to let that one in at the end."

Murphy admitted there were "some really good bits and some pretty poor bits" from his injury-hit side - particularly in the first half.

"You get that when you have a lot of young lads out on the pitch and they are trying to learn and find their way in the Champions Cup – which is an extremely high level of rugby," he added.

"Some lads really found their feet tonight, Scott Wilson is 21 and scrummaging really well and got around the pitch.

"Jude Postlethwaite is 22, Ben Carson is 22, Jack (Murphy), Doaky (Nathan Doak) – they had a part to play in this win.

"A lot of the old boys did a really good job to keep the thing together, so to score eight tries gives us a chance to stay in the competition."