Ulster interim head coach Richie Murphy said his side were “very lucky” to beat Cardiff on Friday night.

The province edged the URC contest 19-17 thanks to John Cooney’s 79th minute penalty.

Cardiff thought they had won the game with what would have been Theo Cabango’s hat-trick try only for the officiating team to call play back for a knock-on from Rhys Carre.

With that infringement judged to be deliberate, Cooney was able to kick the game-winner with only seconds remaining.

“I fully believe we were very lucky to win the game,” said Murphy.

The hosts were outscored two tries to one with Cardiff also believing there had been a knock-on in the build-up to David McCann’s close-range score that came when Jacob Stockdale was in the sin-bin.

“It was a strange one,” Murphy said of the game’s dramatic final moments.

“I couldn’t see a clear knock-on [from Cardiff].

“I thought the game had gone at that stage. We were probably a little bit lucky to get the win in the end.

“Looking back at the game as a whole, there are so many things that we need to do better to get into those situations at the end of a game.”