Kiss worried by Ulster's defence despite win

Ulster director of rugby Les Kiss warns there is still much for his defence to work on despite the impressive 39-32 European Champions Cup victory over Clermont.

Ulster kept their Pool 5 hopes alive with a bonus-point victory over the Top 14 leaders at the Kingspan Stadium on Saturday, but Kiss was disappointed by his side's concession of four tries and 32 points.

Tries from Luke Marshall, Iain Henderson and Paddy Jackson put Ulster 22-18 up at the break, and Marshall's second try secured Ulster's bonus point before Charles Piutau's brilliant try extended the lead to 39-18.

But Nick Abendanon and Damien Chouly went over to give Clermont two bonus points, following Peceli Yato and Scott Spedding's first-half scores, and Ulster were hanging on in the final minutes after Rodney Ah-You's red card.

"When we dominated with a bit of possession and field position, we hurt them," Kiss told Newstalk 106,

"That's pleasing. But the last 15 minutes worries me. We gave away a few penalties, albeit I don't think [referee Wayne] Barnes saw both sides there as equal as I would have liked. But that's the way it goes. And we held out."

Clermont are three points clear of Ulster at the top of Pool 5, and Kiss says there is much for both side to mull over ahead of the return fixture between the sides at Stade Marcel Michelin next Sunday.

"We created reasonable speed of the ball at the ruck which gave us the chance to attack the way we like to," he added.

"Certainly, there's a little bit more work to do on some things I think and we'll work on that. Defensively, both teams I think will be looking at their defence. We let [Wesley] Fofana have too much space in that first half."

Photo (Inpho/ Darren Kidd)

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