Former Brecon schoolboy Marmion is the toast of Ireland
WALES couldn’t prevent England heading to Dublin last weekend searching for back-to-back Grand Slams and a world record 19th successive Test match victory... but a former Brecon schoolboy has helped Ireland run Eddie Jones’ Chariots off the road.
After only 13 Test caps and five appearances in the Six Nations Championship, 25-yearold Kieran Marmion finds himself the toast of the Emerald Isle this week after a gem of a performance at the Aviva Stadium stepping into the considerable No.9 boots of Munster’s Conor Murray. Former New Zealand outside-half Nick Evans and ex-England Grand Slam-winning hooker Brian Moore were among those lined up to laud the performance of the Connacht star in the biggest game of his fledgling Six Nations career as he took his allaction, sniping game onto the international stage.
It’s all a far cry from his childhood spent at Brecon’s Mount Street Junior School and then Christ College, in the town, after Marmion’s Irish parents moved from Essex to Wales.
Marmion was born in Barking, but dad Mick, a former Saracens centre, upped sticks to Brecon and so did his son’s rugby education begin.
Despite much of his life spent in the Powys town, Marmion, who continued his education at UWIC, in Cardiff, was involved in the Irish Exiles set-up from a young age.
He played at Under-18, 19 and 20 levels which saw a call up to the Ireland Under-20 team and a move to Connacht in 2011 followed.
“I would have thought Wales would have known of Kieran, what with him being a Brecon boy,” said former Wales coach Mike Ruddock back in 2013 in his capacity as Ireland’s U20 head coach. “Once the Exiles made me aware that he was Irish-qualified, I delved a bit deeper.
“I found out that he was at university in Cardiff but that he hadn’t made the first team. He wasn’t displaying the form then that he’s shown since. We gave him a trial, he impressed and hasn’t looked back.
“That happens to some players. They get a chance and suddenly they kick on.”
“It’s given me a taste of the big time, for sure,” Marmion said after the game.
“Those kind of experiences are pretty valuable. You can really take a lot out of them to know that you’ve played against the second best team in the world, at the moment. You can take a lot away from that and just build.
“I was under no illusion it would be tough.
“Conor (Murray) has performed so well the last few years, I knew I had a lot to try and live up to. Throughout the week a lot of lads gave me confidence in training, kept telling me to nail what I have to do.
“Conor was there for me as well ... anything I had to ask he was there to help me out.
“I knew they would probably be trying to put me and Johnny (Sexton) under pressure, and I could definitely hear them at all the rucks and stuff, giving me a good bit of verbal pressure.”