SHANAHAN CONTENT WITH STRONG START

Scrumhalf Dave Shanahan believes there is more to come from the Ulster squad despite an unbeaten start to the Guinness PRO14 season. The 25-year-old scored a brace of tries in Friday's 39-39 draw away to the Cheetahs, which ended the Province's three-match winning streak after successes over Scarlets, Edinburgh and the Kings. Having won a match and drawn one on tour in South Africa, Shanahan has mixed feelings on the success of the trip: "To come away with 7 points is decent. We would have liked to have come away with 8, or maybe 10, but it was a good bonding experience for us and that is a big positive to take away from the trip. It's a long time to be together as a squad - there were some guys who I was like 'I've seen way too much of you over the past week' - but seriously, it allowed us get to know each other even better." While Ulster sit in second place in the table, just one point adrift of Leinster, they have needed late rallies in all of their opening four matches to earn points. It's something Shanahan knows they cannot continue to rely on. "We have shown good character to keep fighting to the end, but we need to do more earlier in the games. I think we are really close to producing a big performance and getting a big win," he enthused. "We've shown moments against the Kings and Cheetahs, and in the first two weeks (against Scarlets and Edinburgh), what we can do. For me, the big thing we need to work on is retaining the ball and the speed of our work at the breakdown. If we can put together a good string of phases then I think we'll be very difficult to defend against over 80 minutes." With Cooney in such good form for the Province, Shanahan has seen his playing opportunities restricted, with the game against the Cheetahs his first start since April. "I just try to control what I can control," said Shanahan, who has 24 Ulster appearances to his name. "I want to keep my head down and keep working hard to impress the coaches and hopefully get more chances. I try to bring good tempo to the game and to pass the ball well. Obviously, with John playing as well as he is, starts don't come around as often as I'd like. "Personally, I'm happy enough with how the South Africa tour has gone. I got a fair bit of game time against the Kings, I was maybe a bit rusty because I hadn't played in a few weeks, but I was happy enough. I was really happy to get the start against the Cheetahs and it obviously helps when you pick up two tries." Shanahan's tries came off clever support lines, with experienced centre Darren Cave supplying the assists on both occasions. It's something he admits he has worked hard on since the arrival of Assistant Coach Dwayne Peel last season... "You can't call yourself a good nine if you don't run support lines these days. Peely has put a lot of pressure on us to work hard and run those lines and Coons has done a great job doing that as well. Obviously, I was lucky to feed off some nice play from Cavey and Jonny Stewart got over for a try as well. It's something us, as a scrumhalf group in our squad, pride ourselves on."