Rob Herring hopes that Mike Lowry and James Hume get the chance to shine for Ireland in the coming weeks.
The backline pair have been sensational for Ulster in the Champions Cup since the start of December.
Herring said: “Mike is topping three or four stats in the Champions Cup and James, he’s ready to come of age this year.
“He’s always had that X factor but the consistency is there now, he’s just churning out performances week on week.
“Both great lads and what people don’t see is the work they put in.
“They’re probably two of the hardest workers in the squad, they’re always doing extras and working on bits – that shows you their mindset and where they want to be.
“They’ve had great Champions Cup performances and hopefully they’ll get a bit of time in the Six Nations to show what they can do.”
Meanwhile, Herring is ready to do battle with Leinster’s dynamic duo for a starting place against Wales.
Herring, 31, started four of the five championship games last year.
But Ronán Kelleher’s late call-up to the Lions in South Africa was a sign of things to come as the 23-year-old got the nod to start all three November series wins for Ireland.
Then Kelleher’s Leinster team-mate Dan Sheehan made his debut off the bench against Japan and also replaced Kelleher against Argentina.
In between, Herring came off the bench against New Zealand but after the Test window he agreed with Ireland boss Andy Farrell’s assessment that he needed to do more to compete with the new kids on the block.
“You’ve got to look at yourself first,” said Herring.
“There’s probably five or six really good hookers in Ireland and particularly over the last campaign, Dan and Ronán really stepped up.
“Faz said to me after the autumn that he felt I wasn’t getting involved as much and other boys were, and when I took a step back and looked at it, that was 100 per cent fair.
“I probably wasn’t putting my best foot forward and it’s something that is in my control and that I can improve on. Hopefully since then that has shown.”
Herring bounced into Ireland camp yesterday on the back of a strong Champions Cup campaign with Ulster.
He scored a great try against Northampton before Christmas and added two more from the back of lineout mauls in last Saturday’s dramatic 34-31 victory over Clermont.
“People notice tries but stuff from the back of the maul, that comes from the work of the other forwards. I’m just the guy who gets to put it down,” said the South African.
“But I’ve certainly tried to get more involved, particularly with my carrying and what I offer in attack. It’s been nice to get my hands on the ball more.
“I wanted to improve. I knew I had to step things up. It’s something that I’ve been working on and it’s starting to come good.
“I want to take that to the next level now.”
Herring knows there is a lot of support for Kelleher and Sheehan to get the nod for next week.
“People are going to have opinions, no matter what you do and how you’re going,” he said.
“I’m very self-driven and have my own standards that I like to meet.
“If I’m relying on outside motivations it’s not going to get me far.
“It’s going to be a good battle for guys to get into the matchday 23.”
