Rob Herring hails Scott Wilson as Ulster's breakthrough player of season and predicts bright Ireland future

Wilson has played nine times for Ulster this season – including a start against the Lions – and has become a regular in the matchday squad.

He signed a development contact last week, scored his first try for the province against Montpellier on Sunday and has received rave reviews for his scrummaging, especially when he held his own against Springbok powerhouse prop Ox Nche in the Sharks clash.

And Herring believes Wilson is set for a successful career with Ulster and Ireland.

“He has had a pretty good breakthrough season hasn’t he?” he said. “Until this season I really hadn’t worked with him at all as he has been around the academy set up and stuff.

“He is young and he is a raw talent but he has got all the makings to go the whole way and represent Ireland.

“I think he has just got to trust in the process. Tighthead is a tough position to get to [at international level].

"As long as he keeps learning and keeps pushing himself and the growth mindset, there is no reason why he can’t step up into international stuff.

“It has been great the way he has been going and hopefully he can just keep on improving,” he added.

“He is incredibly strong, Dan McFarland actually told me that pound for pound he is one of the strongest props in the squad, for a young guy that is pretty impressive.

“I also think he throws himself around the place, he is not scared to get stuck in and do a lot of work on the pitch.”

Herring believes Wilson can learn a lot from his team-mates at Ulster.

“We have got really good tightheads at the club for him to learn off them and them to show him the way,” he said. “I think that is going to be important for his development.

“For his performances this season I think he is getting great reward.”

Herring has also been mentoring Wilson when they are packing down together in the scrum.

He said: “I think the big thing is just to try and keep him calm, make sure he follows his process and takes a breath.

“I know what it is like when you are young and you get into a scrum, you kind of want to do things yourself and show what you are about and at scrum time that is not always the best thing to do.

“He is getting there in terms of his process and he is still figuring that out. If I’m next to him I’m just trying to keep him calm.

"When he gets into his process he is strong enough to get through anything, I suppose that is the key in things that I am trying to do for him.”

Ulster travel to Clermont in the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup on Saturday afternoon and Herring is relishing playing in front of the hostile crowd at the Stade Marcel-Michelin again.

“I love playing there, it’s incredible, great atmosphere and great energy,” he said.

“It is one of those stadiums that you really look forward to testing yourself in, seeing how clear we can be and how accurate we can be under a lot of pressure from the crowd.

“They are always really fun games and the last time we went there we won; it was a great achievement and we’ll be looking to do it again.”