Ulster coach after controversial Stormers defeat: 'In my head, we won that game'

Ulster coach Dan McFarland was not a happy camper after his side's narrow 23-20 loss to the Stormers in Cape Town on Saturday.

Ulster camped on Stormers tryline in the dying stages and thought they scored a winning try when replacement prop Callum Reid barged over in the 78th minute.

However, the try was cancelled after referee Gianluca Gnecchi opted to review it when a potential knock-on was brought to his attention.

Replays showed Reid losing control of the ball, with Stormers flank Hacjivah Dayimani knocking it out of his grasp.

A lengthy period of review then took place, before the officials agreed that Reid had lost the ball forward and awarded a scrum to the Stormers.

Ulster were furious, though, as they felt they deserved to be awarded the scrum because Dayimani seemingly knocked the ball forward out of Reid's hands.

McFarland told reporters afterwards he felt the officials had erred.

"I've got to be careful about what I say here," McFarland said. "But I can't understand why that's not a try.

"If it's not a try, then why was it a knock-on? They deliberately knocked the ball out of our hands. I don't get that."

"I'll have to hear what they have to say about it," he said.

The Stormers led 14-0 inside the first 10 minutes, before Ulster gradually took control. The visitors from Ireland enjoyed 63% possession and 67% territory and the home side had to make a whopping 125 tackles (missed 15). In contrast, Ulster made only 53 tackles (missed 6).

"In my head, we won that game, so we will move on," McFarland added. "We don't have the four log points, but there were a lot of positives.

"We got hit early. It was good play by them and poor by us. We grew as the game progressed - our aerial game, in particular. We also managed to