LAST UPDATE | 22 Oct 2021
CONNACHT SCRUM-HALF Kieran Marmion says he’s been impressed by what he has seen of Ulster’s Nathan Doak but reckons Saturday’s clash at Aviva Stadium will be the biggest test the 19-year old has encountered.
Doak, son of former Ulster scrum-half and coach Neil, has been hugely impressive in the few games he has got at the outset of this season, having made his debut off the bench earlier this year.
But Marmion reckons a full-on inter-pro derby at the Aviva will be a big step up from what the promising young Ulster scrum-half has faced so far.
“Yeah, he’s been good. He has a very good kicking game,” said Marmion. “I think this weekend will probably be the biggest game of his career so he will be under a bit more pressure. He’s been good from what I have seen so far.”
Marmion said the players were looking forward to playing this game at the Aviva, even if the attendance falls massively short of what was hoped would attend.
“Yeah, we are all excited about it. Whenever you get an opportunity to play in an international stadium it is a great experience. I’m sure there will be more there than we had at the Sportsground. It might feel a little bit empty but at the same time it’s great we can get as many people as we can to a game.
“We are really looking forward to putting on a performance to as many people as possible. Last year we managed to beat them away and at the Aviva so we can take confidence from that and back ourselves to win.
“Last time we played there we played pretty well. It’s a nice surface, it should be a fast game, hopefully the weather will be nice and we can play a bit of running rugby.”
Marmion, who won the last of his 28 caps when he appeared off the bench against Georgia last November, said that the controversy around their loss to Munster last weekend was quickly parked by players and management.
“That was parked on Monday. We did the review then. What happened happened, we felt it was a much better performance than the week before it, obviously we were disappointed at not getting a result but we can take away that we showed up, that we ran them close. We obviously wanted to win but we take confidence going into this weekend.
“I think it was just a typical inter-pro performance, and we spoke amongst ourselves how can we do that every week? I think the emotions of the occasion bring out the best out of everyone but we need to be delivering every week if we want to finish top of the table,” added the 29-year old.
Disappointed him and Blade have been overlooked for JGP,
@Al Byrne: why??JGP is who Sexton wants in the squad
@Paddy Moran: you seriously believe sexton picks the squad. There must be someone you can talk too.
@Chris Mc: did I say he picks the squad??your delusional if you think he dosent have a say on who plays at 9 inside him,
@Paddy Moran: so if that was the case why whould he pick JPG for ireland and i’d guess you also believe he also picks the 9 at leinster with mcgrath selected as first choice at the club?
See delusional i might be but i just think farrell, cullen and Lancaster make their own choices.
Oh did sexton also pick casey for the squad or was that jacob stockdales pick?
@Paddy Moran: it’s well known Sexton is why Cooney isn’t in the squad like. He apperantly hates him from the Lenister days
@Dara (Alex): thats just daft.
@Chris Mc: dude it’s not, its all over most lenister and Ireland sites, you either don’t want to know about it or just selectively read articles and comments. Not my problem which it is tbh but it’s legit apperantly. Same with the stuart mccloskey issue he slighted Joe Schmidt years ago when he wouldn’t go on standby for a tour due to his wedding, low and behold never picked under him again regardless of form or however many Ulster fans cry and moan. This stuff is nearly always due to someone being annoyed players and coaches are human also. If Sexton is on 400 grand + and he doesn’t like a slightly better player then Murry at the time he won’t be picked have to keep the centrally contracted players happy
@Dara (Alex): hadn’t heard the McCloskey angle, but had heard the Cooney/Sexton story before.
If the Connacht that played Munster turn up it will be a good game, if its the Connacht that played Dragons, Ulster will have the BP before half time. Connachts issue for last few years is backing up big performances, hopefully they have managed it and we can look forward to a cracker. Feel sorry that Connacht gave up home advantage but look like they are not going to make any gains for doing so.
@Kingshu: one of the reasons their players dont make the international setup is because of the hot and cold way they play.
@Kingshu: part of that is squad depth. They’ve got a good first team but the standard drops massively below that.
@Rudiger McMonihan: Thats actually a very good point. It explains alot. Part of that is the small player pool, but I’d say budget plays a bigger part. Hopefully redeveloped sportsground means larger average crowds, but they really need to get much larger.
@Kingshu:
+1 for squad depth…
Connacht have huge drops sometimes and then there players out of position or playing with a knock…
Saying that Marmion v Doak should the game for Ireland No2 with Blade having a say too…
Casey has proven nothing and JGP is just journey man…
Can anyone here envision JGP being on a team that would beat the all blacks. Marmion did and even had the New Zealand Hearld questioning Aaron Smith future. Marmion only got one start in a warm up game after that..