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Less Kiss' Ulster wanted 'major statement' in victory over Harlequins

Ulster players celebrate after scoring against Harlequins in the Champions Cup. Charles McQuillan/Getty Images

Ulster director of rugby Les Kiss was a happy man after his side's six-try 52-24 bonus-point victory over Harlequins which secured second spot in Pool 1 of the European Champions Cup.

Back-to-back wins over the Quins -- who were already out of the running -- have put Ulster in a position to potentially qualify with two rounds remaining though, even at this stage, their best chance may be as a runner-up.

Stuart McCloskey, Craig Gilroy, Charles Piutau, Alan O'Connor, Andrew Trimble and John Cooney all scored tries for Ulster with Cooney also kicking five conversions and four penalties for a 27-point haul.

Quins scored four tries from Marcus Smith, Craig Walker, Ross Chisholm and Dave Ward.

"We were anxious to get out there and finish the deal," said Kiss. "And the boys wanted to make a major statement in this game in front of the fans. It certainly was a spectacle that's for sure.

"We have a chance to do something here, but La Rochelle [the pool leaders] are the form team in Europe. We opened them up nicely but we didn't capitalise and we shouldn't give a team like that a chance as they back their ability.

"They had a lot of youngsters and they told them just to play and they hurt us a few times."

Ulster only led 16-12 at half-time before pushing on late in the game and Kiss admitted he was frustrated at some of their defensive lapses.

"It was a bit too loose at times but it was good to get 52 points," he said. "The key focus for us was to concentrate on the basics of the game. I think we'd just got a bit away from that [in the first half] and I thought we were a little bit lateral at times."