EVERY point is a prisoner for Ulster as they head into their final three games of the regular season in the United Rugby Championship, beginning with Saturday's trip to Scarlets (3.05pm, live on Premier Sports).

Richie Murphy's men have scored back-to-back home victories in the competition to move back into the top half of the table, but will now aim to do it on away soil ahead of two inter-provincial clashes that will determine whether they reach the playoffs or the season comes to a premature end.

A glance at the table will show their Welsh hosts in 14th place and well out of the running for the post-season, but they are by no means a pushover and especially at home, evidenced by their 16-13 win over Benetton in Round 12 and last time out, they came up just short against the Hollywoodbets Sharks, led by future Ulster player Werner Kok who scored a hat-trick of tries.

A top eight place is the target but ideally, Ulster would be keen on finishing as high as possible, especially when it's considered that eighth may not be enough to qualify for next season's European Champions Cup should the Sharks, currently 13th, win the Challenge Cup final against Gloucester and therefore guaranteed a place in the premier competition next year.

"Three games left, it’s so tight in that top eight and it could be a top seven if the Hollywoodbets Sharks win the Challenge Cup," said Ulster's assistant coach, Dan Soper.

"One game at a time and Scarlets this weekend. I think it will be tough.

"We know Jared Payne (assistant coach) and Dwayne Peel (head coach) very well, and they know us well. "They have had a tough season, a few jiggle arounds with their coaching staff too. If you look at their form in the past few weeks they are improving as a side."

The last time they met at Parc y Scarlets, Ulster came through in a thriller, winning 55-39 and a bonus point victory would be most welcome again.

They will not have it easy against a side with plenty of talent including Welsh internationals, Ioan Lloyd and Johnny Williams, while Scotland's Alex Craig is a vital asset in the forwards.

Good news for Ulster is the return of Rob Herring and Stewart Moore from injury, while Jacob Stockdale and Dave Shanahan are back after their HIA from Benetton.

Ulster have had plenty of time to prepare and Soper is delighted they have had that opportunity for their final push into what they hoe will be the playoffs.

"This is the first long week into a game since back in the Six Nations period," he noted.

"Having a week like last week was valuable to get stuck into some coaching that is difficult to do with games every week.

"Having the training week meant there was detail we could spend time on, so we want to see how that’s transferred into the match."