Speaking after the match, Dan McFarland said it was excellent to get the new campaign off to a winning start, albeit not a perfect performance against a tough Zebre Parma side.
On the winning start
"It was brilliant to get the bonus point win, I'm pleased with the six tries, some of our attacking play I thought was excellent. Obviously, some of our defensive work, especially in the first half wasn’t great and that’s something we will have to work at.
Defensively around the maul, some of our tackling wasn’t great in the first half but to be fair, the team pulled it around second half, got ahead and then let Zebre back into it after a couple of mistakes.
It’s the first game of the season, Zebre always go in hot in that first game, they went close last year against Leinster, so we knew it was going to be a tense game - I'm really happy to get the win."
On the character of the team
"Absolutely pleased with the reaction, the lads are desperate to win and we were under pressure a lot at scrum time at the end of the game obviously and we held out in the end."
A few players made their first appearances for us, how do you think they faired?
"Yes, we had Greg McGrath and James French at tighthead, they came in pretty inexperienced, James is very inexperienced, so it was a big ask for those guys to jump into the team against a big Zebre side.
Big Dave Ewers does what it says on the tin, he carries well, makes people tackle him and is difficult to deal with physically, so he’s settled in really well. I'm really pleased for them and the lads celebrated that in the dressing room."
Mike Lowry reflected on his new positional switch to the wing, the Belfast man plays the majority of his Ulster career at full-back but on Saturday, he took up a new running lane next to the touchline.
Thoughts on the match
"Obviously delighted with the five points, it was far from perfect, we definitely have a lot to work on defensively and accuracy wise but I felt we attacked pretty well at times. Hopefully we are starting to see our attacking shape coming through and that’s really exciting.
We want to have a crack and enjoy it, fair play to Zebre, they gave us a real physical challenge, set pieces are a vital part of the game and they really took it to us up front – it was quite frustrating at times and we have to be better against the Vodacom Bulls next weekend."
On his positional change
I’m always up for a new challenge, as long as I can get on the pitch, I don’t mind where I can play. That’s the main thing for me, I’m up for learning all different positions if it means I can help the team out. I enjoyed getting out there today and getting on the scoresheet."
On the spirit shown by the team
"I don’t think we can ever question our character, it’s part of our DNA, we made mistakes that allowed them back into the game but our character is always there, no doubt about work rate we always fight to the end, if it comes down to last few mins we are confident we can get it over the line.
A happy dressing room but we know how much better we have to be, they have dangerous players, obviously Marcell Coetzee will be coming back but we have to be a lot better."
Ready for our first home match of the season?
Ulster take on Vodacom Bulls at Kingspan Stadium in the first home match of the season on Sunday 29th October.
With halloween celebrations in full flow, make sure you grab your tickets and roar the Ulstermen on!