Connacht's Conor Carey wants to make his mark
Carey has impressed for Connacht this season and with Finlay Bealham ruled out for a few weeks, the Belfast-born 26-year old has an opportunity to make progress.
Carey, whose first campaign with Connacht last season was disrupted by a five-month foot injury, came to prominence with an Ireland U-20 squad where the tighthead competition came from Tadhg Furlong, Marty Moore and Bealham.
All the other three have been capped by Ireland and Carey, who joined Connacht after a stint with Nottingham, is keen to push on after coming through with that exceptional bunch of tightheads under Mike Ruddockâs guidance in 2011.
âIt was a few years ago, you didnât think Ireland had many tightheads and now there seems to be ten very good ones. Andrew Porter is 21, he is a freak, and there are more coming through,â said Carey.
He has chalked up 30 appearances for Connacht, 18 of them this season and has played in all five Challenge Cup games and is hoping to nail down a home quarter-final when they take on Oyonnax at the Sportsground tomorrow.
âItâs gone well. I am injury-free which is good. I am enjoying it. I am enjoying the competition. Finlay has been playing some of the best rugby I have seen him playing since they won the PRO12. He has rightly had the three shirt for most of the season.
âI have been trying to up my game to try to displace him. In recent weeks I have put in some decent performances and I hope the two of us can keep pushing. It only makes us better and we have got Dominic Roberston-McCoy coming back as well. Before he got injured he was pushing really hard. He went really well against Worcester last time. There is a lot of competition there.â The 24-24 draw away to Worcester last weekend has left Connacht fighting a battle to make a top two seeding which would secure a home semi-final if they advance, but Carey stressed they werenât looking beyond tomorrowâs game.
