Making a strong case to make the plane.
Connacht delivered a resounding 28-12 victory over Munster at Thomond Park, last night, and one player shone the brightest.
Scrum-half Kieran Marmion scored a brace for the westerners and looked the best player on show.
Joe Schmidt was in Belfast to watch Ulster fall 24-21 to Leinster, but Simon Easterby, his assistant, was on a watching brief in Limerick.
Both of Marmion’s tries arrived off the back of lineout and rolling maul moves – the 23-year-old spotting gaps and sniping over.
Munster responded through CJ Stander before a try by new Connacht signing Nepia Fox Matamua and a penalty try sealed an away win.
Marmion won his second Ireland cap, off the bench, in their 35-21 win over Wales and looks to be fighting it out with Leinster’s Isaac Boss to claim the final scrum-half spot.
Speaking to us at his unveiling as a Mazda Brand Ambassador, during the week, Marmion admitted his was in the dark as to Schmidt’s selection plans.
He commented, ‘You usually get an email the night before and you’re asked to go back [to Carton House]. You don’t really plan too far ahead.
‘It has been tough, in training, but I have enjoyed every minute of it.
‘The sessions have been more intense that we may have at Connacht. There is still pressure here but the [Irish] sessions are sharper.
‘You learn stuff every day up there, especially from the three guys around you – Bossy, Eoin Reddan and Conor Murray. It is good to see what they can do, first-hand, and try and put it into your game.’
Marmion enjoyed his first outing at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium and, as a Welsh-born player, jokes that he had to let friends and families down by doling out a defeat to Wales.
It was a Test rugby taste he wants more of in the coming months.
He adds, ‘Joe is telling us that we are all in contention and that it only takes one injury to change everything.’
Marmion is a Mazda Brand Ambassador, along with Denis Buckley and Connacht captain John Muldoon. For further information on Mazda’s upcoming roadshows, visit their website or Facebook page.
