Stuart McCloskey says free-scoring Ulster riding high on confidence ahead of

Dan McFarland’s side’s five matches have yielded an average of 62 points.

Ulster are top scorers in the league with 190 points, securing four bonus point wins while collecting a losing bonus point in their only defeat.

However, centre Stuart McCloskey – named in Andy Farrell’s Ireland squad for the Autumn Internationals – maintains there is no conscious decision to play in a cavalier way.

“I don’t think Jonny (Bell, defence coach) is too keen on that, but Sopes (Dan Soper, attack coach) and Billy (Burns) are pretty keen on us to score as many as we can,” McCloskey said.

“A few years ago, it felt like we had to keep teams to low scores to get results but now if it does come down to ‘we’ll score more than you’, I feel like we have the tools and the ammo to do that.

“We’re definitely moving in the right direction and have had a great start to the year, and have averaged about 40 points a game. And that would be higher if we hadn’t had those conditions against Leinster at home.

“The coaching team with the two Dans, Jonny coming in and also the guys just getting a bit older, we had quite a young squad maybe four years ago and it’s now maturing with a lot of guys getting close to their prime.”

One of the reasons McCloskey thinks Ulster have been free-scoring is because of additional strength in depth among the backs.

“There have been so many good ones over the years that I’ve played in, I think there is maybe a bit more depth than there has been in years gone by,” he said.

“Guys who have been there for a while like (John) Cooney and Billy steering the ship and now Doaky (Nathan Doak) coming in as well.

“Yeah, there’s probably more depth and that’s where we’ve improved than just the players.”

After last Saturday’s bonus point win over the Lions Ulster sit second in the league, two points behind Leinster and face two massive games on the road before the international break.

“It takes a lot of pressure off, we have a tough run of three games here with the Lions, Sharks and Munster coming up so it’s nice to get the first one off the bat and especially with five points,” McCloskey said.

“I don’t know if it allows us to be a lot freer this week but it definitely takes a bit of pressure off, that’s how I feel about it. I don’t know if the coaches feel that way about it.

“The Sharks will be extremely physical but we did a good job on them last year at home,” he added.

"I know it’s a different job away but I reckon we can do it and the way we’ve been playing since the start of this season, we’ll take that as a bit of confidence.”