New surface can help aid Ulster's backline next season, says backs coach Dan Soper as pre-season preparations continue

So far Ulster have used a mixture of first team and younger players in the defeats to Connacht and Leinster but with a trip to Benetton on Saturday evening before a final hit out against Glasgow in Cavan, Soper wants a step up in intensity.

“Certainly, over the next two games we need to get a few combinations going and make sure we are using pre-season to give guys an opportunity to put on the pitch what they have done in training, and I think we have done a pretty good job of giving those guys that opportunity,” said the Kiwi.

“As we get closer to the league starting, we need to make sure we are using the games to get that cohesion and get those combinations going.

“To be honest we are not absolutely certain what those combinations are because there are so many guys that have trained really well and taken their chance in the games that we have had."

Soper is looking forward to using the new surface at Kingspan Stadium.

“It certainly will change things; the consistency it will bring in the terms of the surface to play on and to train on will be first class,” he added.

“When you look at the teams in the league that have those pitches – Connacht, Edinburgh and Glasgow – you look at the way they play and the manner they are able to play [in], even when the weather is a wee bit worse for wear.

“The consistency of the surface makes such a difference. I’m really looking forward to it and I’m really optimistic that it is going to help us in how we play and how we go about things.

“We are looking forward to getting on it and training on it. I know speaking to the Connacht coaches and [from] the players speaking to the Connacht players, they are a year into it and they absolutely love it and I am sure it will be the same for us.”

The vast majority of Ulster’s tries last year came from line-out mauls, but with the new surface Soper is hoping it will bring the best out of Ulster’s back line.

“I suppose with the new pitch, we really want to go after collective speed again,” he said. “It was a big part of who we were two or three years ago and maybe we went away from that.

“There's been a real emphasis on that and getting back to the DNA that we believe is us. We think that ties nicely with the surface we'll be playing on.

“There's been a focus on that but to do that your core skills you need to really bang on.

"There's a huge focus on making sure everyone is at a level where they can play at that speed."

It will be horses for courses and Soper has no issue if the forwards are winning games.

“I think we were very good at what we would call our power game last year – we were very effective at it,” he added.

“It won us a lot of games, our maul, our gain line carries – it was very, very, good; we were as good as anyone in the league and it won us games.”