Herring draws positives from Munster reverse

Ulster came away from Thomond Park on Saturday evening with a losing bonus point in their close-run 22-16 defeat by Munster, which keeps them in second place in the Conference A table of the Guinness PRO14. Ulster’s captain and try scorer, Rob Herring, was disappointed with the result but heartened by his team’s performance. “We came into this game wanting to get the victory and we wanted to lay down a marker,” he said. “I thought we came out firing and ultimately, we wanted to put in a performance and do the jersey proud. There were a few individual errors with knock-ons and a few missed line-outs which took the pressure off Munster. “I thought we built into the game really well and we were pretty dominant in the first twenty minutes, even though we let in a try. Defensively, we were really good; the boys were getting off the line and we were hungry to make big hits, but those small errors let Munster back into the game at times and it cost us in the end.” After half-time, Ulster came out firing and dominated Munster in the third quarter of the game, which the 29-year-old put down to the team re-grouping at the break and finding a way to put the hosts under pressure. “We started well and then the last 15 minutes of the half, we let them back in and had a bit of a dip. So, we knew if we came out like that again in the second half – Munster are good at putting teams away – we had to find a weapon somewhere. “The scrum went well in the third quarter. We just managed to put pressure on and it resulted in a good kick to the corner, and we were lucky enough to finish with a try. That all came down to good work from the boys, putting on pressure and not letting them off.” In terms of opportunities for improvement, Herring concedes that there is still some work to do ahead of two back-to-back European games. “We haven’t had the performance we wanted yet. I don’t think we’re there just yet and haven’t put in a full 80-minute performance, but I thought in patches we were really good. It was a classic Inter-Pro game with big collisions and boys getting stuck in. “It’s a precursor to what’s coming with some big European games coming up now. We’ll go away to Bath which will be similar having a hostile environment. I think this game was a good stepping-stone for us, but we need to improve more.” Going into the Heineken Champions Cup, the Ulster captain is eager to build upon the positives from last night’s game. “Performance-wise, there were some really good things from the Munster game. There were some elements of our game that we will have to bring again, especially in the next two weeks against Bath and Clermont. “We have a few things to work on to find a way to keep pressure on teams but all-in-all, we can take some positives from this game. We’re disappointed with a loss though and we’re going to have to step it up another level to get a win against Bath next week.”