Jonny Bell praise as Ulster defeat Bulls in United Rugby Championship success

Ulster closed the game out with a huge defensive set on their own try line.

“I’m very proud of everyone, they are a very good side, very strong and very powerful and they are clinical when they get their opportunities...so to come away with a win we have 100 per cent home record, so it is great,” said Bell. “I wouldn’t say there was pressure with the new pitch, we had trained on it but to play your first competitive match on it and the crowd looking forward to getting back to Kingspan and seeing how it affects the game...it changes the game and makes it quicker.

"And I thought the guys adapted well and it was a pretty good game of rugby, we are just very pleased to end up on the right side of it.

“Until you get to that first really competitive setting you find out a lot and the boys will be better off for it.

“We want to play with a little more tempo and I think you could see that, there was a lot of emphasis on getting speed into the game and getting offloads and the pitch helps that for us.

“It wasn’t the exact way we wanted to finish the game down defending our own line, an error was forced and Dave McCann jumped on a loose ball...it is about moments at times and we managed to play it out and get away.

“There is plenty for us to work on and we know that, but it is really encouraging for us to get a great win against a very good side.

“After the Zebre game we had a big focus on just making sure we got our spacing in defence, there was lots of pleasing stuff but there is always going to be things to work on and we’ll look back on some of the things we can rectify.

“It is a good start for us, but it doesn’t get any easier...we are away to Connacht on Saturday and it is going to be a tough one.”