OLYMPIAN JOHN PORCH has admitted his future with Connacht is up in the air and he could be on his way out of the Sportsground at the end of the season when his contract expires.

The Australian signed only a one-season contract extension earlier this year and this week said nothing has been decided about his future beyond that at this stage.

The 28-year old was brought to Galway by his former Aussie sevens coach Andy Friend, who will be leaving Connacht at the end of the current campaign.

Porch, who featured in the Rio Olympics with the Aussie sevens in 2016, has been a very good signing for Connacht and has chalked up 69 appearances so far, either at fullback or on the wing.

His hopes of being called into the Wallabies squad during the autumn internationals did not transpire and he has not looked into Irish qualification through the residency rules.

“I haven’t really looked into that to be honest,” said Porch when asked about the possibility of qualifying for Ireland. “At the moment I’m here until the end of this season and who knows what I’m doing after but if I am staying that is something I will look into, get down that track. I don’t really understand those residency rules. If I have to cross that bridge I will fully understand that when I get to it.

“I did set a goal at the start of the year. I was hoping to end up with the Wallabies in the autumn internationals but that didn’t transpire. But I’m always trying to put my best foot forward and hopefully that will lead to something down the line but if it doesn’t, those things happen, just as long as I’m playing good, consistent rugby here with Connacht I’m happy in that.”

His main focus at the moment is Leinster in the RDS on New Year’s Day after a frustrating 22-20 home defeat to Ulster when they almost salvaged a draw with two late tries.

“We know we can play that style of rugby if we want to, it’s just about putting that into a more 80-minute performance. Now, you are not going to get a full 80-minute performance but we need to be putting that into more areas of that 80 minutes of the game and it’s going to come down to us individuals just making sure we are really nailed on doing the simple things right.”

He knows it will take something special to be the first side to inflict a defeat on Leinster this season but stressed they have to sort out their own game rather than what Leinster will bring.

“I think when you are up against a team like this, if you focus too much on what they are good at you can sort of get away from your own game,” added Porch.

“So, for us, it’s all about just focusing on our own attack, our own defence and making sure we are switched on to whatever game-plan we go out there with.

And if we do our things right we know the game-plan should put them under pressure.”

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