Cementing a regular place in Joe Schmidt's match day 23 and making his Six Nations debut is a big target for Connacht scrumhalf Kieran Marmion – but he admits he still has to watch his back at Connacht.
Marmion looks set for a battle with Eoin Reddan to become first choice back up to Conor Murray ahead of the Six Nations and World Cup, but already he is fighting off the competition at the Sportsground.
Marmion made 59 consecutive appearances for Connacht after making his breakthrough in September 2012, but with Leinster loanee John Cooney, new arrival Ian Porter and local youngster Caolin Blade – who scored two tries away to Bayonne – all battling for his shirt, Marmion is keen to concentrate on his Connacht form.
“Obviously [getting into the Irish matchday 23] is a target, yeah. But all I can do is perform as well as I can do for Connacht and hopefully that will look after itself,” said Connacht academy graduate Marmion.
“I probably have the most games played. But that doesn’t matter, it’s about whoever is performing best at the time. That’s the guy that’s going to get the game.
“We all train together, so we are all pushing each other to try and get better. Everyone is performing so it’s only good for each one of us to push our game and try and keep improving.”
Outstanding form
Marmion’s Connacht form has been outstanding since he broke into the team for the first time on the opening day of the 2012-13 season.
Last year he was the team’s top try scorer with seven tries in 28 appearances, and this year he again leads the way with four tries in 12 games.
He showed his worth on the big occasion last week against Munster with another excellent performance in some of the toughest conditions he has played in.
He scored the first try and his sniping run off the back of a second-half scrum set up Aly Muldowney’s third Connacht try, but it was a challenging evening, he says.
“The conditions very, very hard, especially for the half backs. The wind and rain was one of the toughest I’ve played in. But we adapted our game better to that – probably better than Munster did – and I think that showed.
“Before the three weeks [of Christmas] we said that we wanted to re-raise our intensity and really try and improve on what we have already done this season. The most important thing, I think, was that everyone bought into it and everyone wanted to get the results.
“But yeah I’m happy with how I’m going. Everyone just wants to improve, but as long as we keep working hard and keep trying to put the performances in out on the pitch, that’s all that matters.”
