ULSTER coach Brian McLaughlin believes his side can play better after they struggled to deal with a brave Aironi effort before registering an opening bonus point win in Pool 4 of the Heineken Cup. After seeing off the Italians 30-6, which took his side's unbeaten record to six games in all competitions at Ravenhill, McLaughlin admitted his side could improve on their performance.

"The way to describe it was we got a great win but we can still play better," he said. A bonus point win was vital for Ulster, who play Biarritz away next weekend and also have to face Bath in what is likely to be a highly competitive group. McLaughlin was keen to play down Ulster's absolute need to get maximum points from the Aironi clash.

"We are chuffed with the result but we never mentioned the bonus point. We knew though that going into Europe it would be very important for us to get maximum points," he said. "At half-time we talked about maintaining tempo and intensity which had been lacking in previous games while we also talked about accuracy, but that sort of let us down tonight."

Andrew Trimble's first half try, with an excellent assist from Ruan Pienaar, was supplemented in the second half by an opportunistic score from Ian Humphreys along with tries from Simon Danielli and Springbok Pienaar, which sealed the bonus point for the 1999 Heineken Cup winners. Ulster have not escaped the pool stages since that win and the coach knows results are vital to finally repeat the feat.

"In the second half we got there in the end, but we still made a few mistakes. Thankfully we got there," McLaughlin added.

Looking forward to next weekend's game in Biarritz, McLaughlin said Ulster were under no illusions. "Aironi are a very tough physical pack and it's going to be no different in Biarritz but we have to deal with that and make sure we match Biarritz's physicality," McLaughlin said.

"We're going to go there with a lot of confidence and we must make sure we take our opportunities when they arise. We're very happy with where we are, we're in a good place but we know we can still do better."