Ulster ‘attack and defence together’ the target for Jonny Bell

The optimism of the last-gasp win over Glasgow evaporated in the heat and altitude of Johannesburg against the Lions as Ulster fell to a disappointing defeat.

And the stats didn’t make good reading for the defence coach.

Ulster conceded five tries, the Lions had 18 clean line breaks, beating 38 defenders in the process. The Kingspan Stadium side missed 38 tackles and conceded 11 penalties.

Another tough challenge is waiting Ulster in Pretoria against last year’s URC runners-up, who could have their World Cup-winning Springboks returning from international duty.

“Our one-on-one tackling needs to improve, no two ways about it, but if you're creating circumstances where you allow them opportunities one-on-one, if our kick isn't accurate, if our chase isn't up to scratch, we need to be fundamentally better,” said Bell. “But we also have to make sure we don't put our defence under pressure...it's about us working attack and defence together.

“Our defence has to make turnover opportunities and our attack has to be accurate with the ball to take pressure off the D. That's important, unfortunately, we're a little bit inaccurate with the ball but the stats flow whatever way you want them to flow.”

“Against the Lions we probably weren't difficult enough to play against, that's the challenge and that's where we want to get to. Everyone knows about their individual responsibility, the players spoke around the tackle, we've got to be better.”

“I've got to be coaching better and make sure we're well-prepared, I'm including myself in all this...it's a team effort but we've got to be more accurate in everything we do.

“When you look back through the flow of that game there was a litany of errors that caused us issues, not just in defence, but attack and defence and when you play at altitude, in the heat, those mental errors can hurt you badly. The fight, the determination...we came back into that game and scored some great tries and that took a lot of juice out of the players.”

Bell is backing young centre Ben Carson, who was part of the 30-man squad that travelled to South Africa, to start adding to his single cap for the province.

“Ben is out here, he’s been training really well all summer, he's really impressed me, he's much fitter than I've seen him since I've been here,” said Bell. “He looks sharp with the ball, aggressive without the ball, he's a guy that we're going to see some time.

“With all those young players, they're actually very knowledgeable. For me, you can share your knowledge with them and your experience, but they need to get out there themselves and feel it themselves.

“I haven't played in a long time...I haven't played in South Africa in a long time, they'll find out themselves.”

“They're a great group of young backs, they all help each other...the senior players have been great at taking them under their wing, they allow them to be vocal (and) give them a lot of advice. It's a team effort and we all share the load.”