Kieran Marmion says he’s eager to show what he can bring to the Ireland squad.
The Connacht man slots in at scrum-half in Saturday’s test against Canada at the Aviva Stadium.
The 24 year-old has just six caps under his belt but has been consistent with Connacht for the past few seasons.
And he’s relishing the opportunity to impress Head Coach Joe Schmidt:
"I've been around the setup for a few years now. Obviously I've been in and out in training and stuff so I now I go out and get an opportunity to get a start and hopefully put into the game what I've been learning with training”.
Saturday’s game will see a new link-up between Marmion in scrum-half and Ulster’s Paddy Jackson at out-half.
However, Marmion says he’s played alongside Jackson at underage international level:
Despite being one of the lesser-experienced men in Schmidt’s starting XV this Saturday, Marmion says he’s not taking Canada for granted.
"We've been looking back at their footage and we're seeing that they've run Italy and Japan close over the summer, so they're not going to be any pushovers. But if we perform to what we know we can, then we'll make sure we'll get a victory," he said.
