Herring: Ulster's pack will improve

Skipper Rory Best admitted that frailty in the scrum had cost Ulster in Europe, where conceding penalties in dangerous areas saw them go down to Leicester Tigers and Toulon in consecutive games last week.

And while the Irish province recorded handsome wins over Cardiff Blues, Edinburgh Rugby and Glasgow Warriors in recent weeks, the opening-day tie with Scarlets and a slip-up against Zebre leave them third in the GUINNESS PRO12.

But Herring insists Ulster are an improved side from the start of the season, and the forwards are putting in the work on the training ground to put the last two weeks firmly behind them.

"The start of the GUINNESS PRO12 has been a bit hit and miss for us so far," said the 24-year-old. "A couple of lacklustre performances but on the whole we've been pretty good in the league.

"We're up there in terms of the table but we want to be pushing for that top spot, so we really need to get a few more wins behind us over the next month.

"The first few games of this season we've had a different squad to last year, so we've still been finding a few combinations and sorting out the smaller details.

"But if you look at the last three GUINNESS PRO12 games we've started to find a bit of form and played good rugby. You could definitely say we are improving.

"From a forwards point of view we are always working on our set-piece, looking to improve our quality there and give our backs the platform they deserve.

"We have great backs in our side and if we give them good quality support they can carve teams up.

"So as forwards we want to pick up our tempo, get our ball retention better, and small things like that. We are always looking to improve."

Ulster welcome the Dragons to the Kingspan Stadium on Saturday, and remain undefeated at home in the GUINNESS PRO12 so far this campaign.

Herring added: "Winning every game at home is definitely important to us as we have an awesome crowd who come week in, week out and they always do their best to get us going.

"We just want to repay that by giving them some good performances and something to cheer about.

"The Kingspan Stadium has been known as something of a fortress over the last few years and we don't want
that to let up.

"It has been very hard to lose some of the big names we have in our squad to injury - losing key payers is always tough to bounce back from.

"But we have improved our squad this season and guys have come in and done a great job, so it's all good."

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