'We lacked those final touches,' laments Bulls coach after Munster loss

It was a match of tight margins. Neither team ran away with the contest and while the Bulls put themselves within touching distance of snatching a victory thanks to a 73rd-minute try from Jeandre Rudolph, a more clinical Munster held on for the victory.

The Bulls showed a willingness to spread the ball wide, sometimes to their own detriment, as mentioned by Ackermann.

"There was good variation in our attack, but our execution still wasn't good enough," said the coach.

There were times when I felt we could have been a bit more direct instead of just trying to play.

"But when we got it right, we looked good, and unfortunately there were times when we just lacked those final touches. There are always areas to improve in attack, as well as a lot of other areas that we'll keep working on.

"At half-time we felt we never really had the possession or territory. The times we did, we scored two tries, so we felt that if we just kept putting pressure on them and looking after the ball, we would get the upper hand."

Ackerman admitted that Munster capitalised on mistakes - such as the chargedown on Curwin Bosch that led to a try - but also felt hard done by the TMO.

"The soft tries they scored came off our errors," he continued.

Then there were unfortunately two incidents missed by the TMO. One should have been a penalty for us and the other should have been our lineout, but they missed it and it ended up as a scrum for Munster. I think from that scrum they were rewarded with points later.

"So, it's a pity that technology still gets it wrong."

The Bulls return to South Africa to host the Lions in the trans-Jukskie derby next Saturday. 

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