Dan McFarland proclaimed Ulster's 31-15 win over Racing 92 of the best performance of the season.
Ulster had won four of eight games across both the Investec Champions Cup and the URC but had come off the back of three disheartening defeats in a row.
They scored four tries and were relatively comfortable winners over the Top14 leaders to get their European season up and running.
"Definitely our best for a while," said the head coach.
"Speaking to the senior players in the week and they had a feel that we were bubbling away, the opportunities that we created with the ball in the last two games, against Bath and Edinburgh, left us feeling we left a lot out there on the field but also confident that the foundations of what we are trying to put together are there.
"Just some of the detail around making it work weren’t, but we made a strategic decision at the start of the year that we were going to move the ball a bit more.
"We changed the shape that we were playing and it took a period of time but I thought in that first 40 minutes it looked much more like what we were trying to achieve.
"The foundations are there but we’re certainly not the complete article.
"To deny them the bonus point was one of the most pleasing things we did."
Meanwhile, Racing 92 boss Stuart Lancaster (below) was left frustrated by his team’s showing as they fell to a second European loss in a week.
"Frustrating really, we knew there was going to be a strong reaction from Ulster on the back of the Bath game and I’ve been here enough times to know what that looks and feels like," said the former Leinster senior coach, who is in his first year at the Paris club.
"There was a big swing when our disallowed try led to their [second] try and we’re 14 down.
"I thought we stayed in the fight well...the reality is we gave away too much possession and didn’t take our opportunities and then allowed them to build pressure and score points and we’re chasing the game from then on."
Ulster welcome Connacht to the Kingspan Stadium on Friday in the URC, a rematch of last season’s quarter-final, which the hosts lost.
"They had traditionally come and caused us problems," said McFarland. "It's a completely different style of rugby that will happen against them.
"The bottom line is we have to front up in that game."
