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 Four of the Heineken Cup.

After seeing off the Italians 30-6, a win 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.

The bonus-point 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 the province'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.

"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."

Opportunistic

Andrew Trimble's first-half try, with an excellent assist from Springbok Ruan Pienaar, was supplemented in the second half by an opportunistic score from Ian Humphreys, along with tries from Simon Danielli and the bonus point coming courtesy of Pienaar.

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

Looking forward to next weekend's game in Biarritz, McLaughlin said that Ulster were under no illusions about the task ahead.

"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," the Ulster coach added.

"I was pretty rusty and threw a few bad passes and made a few poor kicks," said Ulster out-half Humphreys after playing his first competitive game of the season.

"I thought that it was just through a few mistakes from us that we didn't pile on the points. We were just trying to force the offloads and passes.

"To meet the challenge of Biarritz next week, we really have to tighten up on that aspect of our game and cut out the silly errors," added Humphreys, who took over the kicking duties from Pienaar.

Playing their first ever home match in the league, Aironi Rugby faced off against Irish opposition for the second week running. Their coach Franco Bernini kept faith with the team that lost 33-17 away to Munster over the opening weekend.

His Ulster counterpart, Brian McLaughlin, made five changes to the side that secured a 27-26 home win over the Ospreys, with Ireland trio Paddy Wallace, Tom Court and Chris Henry stepping up for their first starts of the campaign.

Nigel Brady and Robbie Diack were also introduced for the Irish province's first ever trip to Stadio Zaffanella, the 34th different venue to stage a Magners League game.

There was no definite pattern to the early exchanges, but French out-half Ludovic Mercier kicked a long range penalty to give Aironi a fifth minute lead.

Ulster were back level by the quarter hour mark and out-half Niall O'Connor's second successful penalty, from a difficult angle on the right, moved McLaughlin's men 6-3 in front.

Ulster enjoyed a purple patch but could not turn possession into points, a forward pass from scrum half Paul Marshall to number 8 Diack spoilt a promising move near the 22.

Aironi were cut to 14 men when their number 8 Nick Williams was sin-binned for coming in at the side and use of abusive language. However, after O'Connor had missed a difficult right-sided penalty, Aironi levelled the tie.

Mercier, who was off target with a drop goal attempt, struck his second penalty from in front of the posts.

Ulster looked lively in attack as the first half came to a close, building through the phases before Henry was presented with a chance five metres out from the hosts' try-line. The Aironi cover got to him, however, and he was knocked into touch.

Still, the men in white took a 9-6 advantage into the break, courtesy of a third penalty from O'Connor.

Aironi were putting it up to Ulster and a drop goal from Mercier, after a wayward Ulster lineout, pulled the Italian side level. As Ulster's error count increased, a Mercier penalty nudged Bernini's charges ahead for the first time at 12-9.

It really was game on as this stage, an intriguing battle ensuing despite the amount of mistakes from both sides. The home crowd willed Aironi on, with Italy head coach Nick Mallett an interested spectator.

Either side of a yellow card for Aironi replacement Gabriel Pizarro for killing the ball, O'Connor had two shots at the posts and he landed the second penalty to get the visitors back on terms.

As the game moved into the final quarter, Ulster made a telling breakthrough. Diack intercepted a loose pass from Mercier and had the pace to make the line to score the game's only try, which O'Connor converted.

Mercier redeemed himself when popping over another penalty to take his personal haul to 15 points, as Aironi took it through the forwards and played to their strengths. Back rowers Gareth Krause and Williams stood out with some strong carries.

Hands in the ruck from number 8 Williams allowed O'Connor stretch Ulster's lead back to seven points.

But the final minutes were far from comfortable for Ulster who lost flanker Pedrie Wannenburg to the sin-bin for not rolling away after the tackle.

Aironi, with their forwards putting in another display full of grit and determination, created one final scoring opportunity from a lineout five metres out.

Williams burrowed his way towards the whitewash, only for replacement scrum half Ian Porter to put his body on the line and position himself so that the Italians were held up over the line.

Winger Giulio Rubini made a half-break in the dying seconds as Aironi tried to get back into the Ulster 22, but try scorer Diack was there to make the all-important tackle.

And as Ulster kept up their defensive guard, a knock on from centre Roberto Quartaroli, in the final play, ended the hosts' brave effort.

The losing bonus point was some consolation for Aironi who face trips to the Scarlets and the Ospreys before the month's end.

The result keeps Ulster at the business end of the table, with McLaughlin admitting afterwards: "We made a lot of errors and our set piece was just not clinical enough, so while the result is pleasing, the performance was less so.

"However, away wins, in particular, are hard to come by and I'm very pleased and a little relieved to have taken the points away from this trip.

"Over the past couple of weeks Aironi have shown that they are more the capable of competing in the Magners League.

"We're not getting ahead of ourselves, it's a very long season but from a results' point of view, it's hard not to be happy with two wins starting off.

"Edinburgh at Ravenhill next Friday will be another tough proposition and we've got plenty to work on," he added.

Keith Earls was in Cork again today (Tuesday) along with the rest of the Munster squad for training, although he was confined to a spectator role on the sidelines.

He is not expected to resume training again for 'several weeks.'

The 22-year-old picked up the injury in a non-contact situation during rehabiliation work on an existing groin problem.

The Munster squad for their opening Magners League clash with Aironi Rugby will be announced on Wednesday afternoon.

The newly-formed provincial outfit join Benetton Treviso in taking the total number of Magners League teams to 12 as the competition enters its 10th anniversary season.

And while critics suggest they may struggle to make the step up, Aironi No8 Josh Sole is optimistic that his side can exceed expectations.

"Every game is going to be a learning curve for us," said Sole at the official Magners League launch at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

"We don't want to set goals or objectives that are going to be unobtainable or arrogant.

"Personally, if we could finish somewhere like seventh or eighth, I think that would be a good first season for us. It's hard to call but I think that's quite a realistic goal.

"You've got to have a little bit of a mix of confidence and arrogance but you don't want to cross that line."

Aironi Rugby may be an entirely new entity made up of an amalgamation of a number of different sides but the Magners League new boys are having no problems developing team spirit.

The group haven't been plagued with a lack of familiarity due to the make up of the national team and results suggest that the group are gelling well ahead of the new season.

"They've got a really good set up with the national team in Italy," added Sole.

"We always have a lot of camps and we incorporate a lot of players from Italy A and some of the younger guys around the Under 21 level.

"A lot of those guys have come into the Aironi set up and we already know each other because we've trained together or have represented Italy together. No one's a stranger and everyone gets on well.

"We've trained very well over the last six or seven weeks. We've got a few pre-season games under our belt now and we've got one more against Northampton left this weekend.

"We've won three out of the four games so far: the boys beat Mont-de-Marsan and two Italian Super 10 teams quite comfortably. Northampton will be a good step up before the big one against Munster on September 3."

Ireland number eight Denis Leamy has revealed that he feared for his playing future after suffering a severe knee injury during a Test last November.

The Munster back-row forward, who sustained the seven-month problem when playing against Fiji, said it was a horrible feeling knowing how long the road back to full fitness will be.

"Having a long-term injury is very depressing and it is difficult going through the rehabilitation," said Leamy, speaking to the Irish Independent.

"As a rugby player, being out for seven months is a huge time away from the game. But you have to be positive and say it's only an injury as I know it is difficult times for people in Ireland with the recession.

"We are lucky with the support we have at Munster and the fact that we have good, secure jobs was one big motivation to come back for me.

"I did study Sports Science for two years but rugby is really all I know. If I'd had to retire, I would have gone back to college to finish my degree as jobs are hard to come by in the work force. Of course, there were times when I went to the gym and felt like turning back around.

"But I know it will be all worthwhile when I'm back playing for Munster and Ireland again. I have a great job and I want to play for as long as possible."

On his impending return to action, Leamy has already eyed the region's Magners League opener against the competition new boys Aironi as his comeback in six weeks time.

"I'm not quite 100 per cent but I'm getting there. I only started running six weeks ago but it's good to be back," he said.

"I'm no stranger to being on the sidelines and it is frustrating. The amount of time and then the boredom of having to stick to a programme made this the most difficult of all the injuries.

"But I've managed to dig it out and all the hard work seems to have paid off. It's a massive lift for me to be back in training. My aim is to start the season."