MARMION: I MAY LEAVE CONNACHT
KIERAN MARMION fears he may have to leave Connacht to keep his Ireland dream alive – if the province don't qualify for the Champions Cup in the next two seasons. The scrum-half made his second Irish start in last month's Six Nations win over England (inset). It gave the 25-year-old a taste of the big time and he knows he has to keep proving himself against the best of European rugby if he wants to compete with Conor Murray and stay ahead of Leinster's Luke Mcgrath in the race for the green No9 shirt. Kieran Keane, who will replace Pat Lam at Connacht this summer, will do his best to tie down the talented half-back who has just one year left on his contract. But the player says he'll have to consider everything and points to Robbie Henshaw's move to Leinster last summer. “I'll have to make that call at some stage,” Marmion said, “a new coach is coming in next year, we'll see where that leads us. I'm sure it will be a good place but obviously Robbie did what he felt best for him and that's what you need to do in rugby." Henshaw left Connacht for Leinster after helping Pat Lam's men defeat his new club in last May's PRO12 final. But while Henshaw is odds on to be back in the decider next month, Marmion's boys are battling for a play-off position. It's not good enough for a potential Ireland star and Marmion knows it. “There's not many spaces out there for Irish scrum-halves and at the same time I want to be playing in the Champions Cup,” he said. “I want to be playing at the highest possible standard to make sure I can compete with guys like Murray and Mcgrath. If they're playing Champions Cup every week and we're playing Challenge Cup, it's a different level. Our main aim is to qualify for that next month.” Marmion received huge praise for his performance against England but Irish coach Joe Schmidt wasn't throwing the rookie any parties. “Joe tries to make you as rounded a player as possible,” Marmion said. “There was so much that could have gone better in that game and so much to learn from. We haven't been back in camp since but he's been down to Connacht, he's been emailing all the stuff to work on. There's