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Caolin Blade has been part of many special occasions during his Connacht career and if selected for this weekends game against Zebre in the Challenge Cup it could be another one to remember.
The Monivea man is one away from reaching 200 caps, reaching this milestone would make him the ninth Connacht player to reach 200 caps or more. The scrum half spoke to media ahead of the game and the possibility of making his 200th cap.
"I think when I started playing rugby I didn't even know what Connacht Rugby was"
"My aim was to play for Monivea Juniors"
"To come through Monivea, Galwegians and then to get my first cap for Connacht was amazing"
"To get 200 caps would be crazy really, I wouldn't have expected this as a young guy growing up in Monivea"
"If I get selected I'm sure its a day I will enjoy with my family after but there's a game to win first before all of that"
The eight players before him to reach the 200 milestone are John Muldoon, Michael Swift, Denis Buckley, Tiernan O'Halloran, Kieran Marmion, Jack Carty, Finlay Bealham and Dave Heffernan.
"Monivea was everything to me when I was growing up so hopefully I've done them proud in those 199 games I've played"
"You look at that list of the men who have gone on to make 200 caps and there are still plenty of them here playing as well as Mul (John Muldoon)"
"The likes of Jack (Carty), Finlay (Bealham, Heff (Dave Heffernan) and Denis (Buckley) who are a bit older than me have guided me along the way, especially Jack who I think I've played most with"
Competition for the number nine jersey is very competitive this season. Ben Murphy, Caolin Blade, Colm Reilly and Matthew Devine are all battling it out for the scrum half position.
"For me having this competition is amazing as it pushes standards"
"The other lads are a good bit younger than me, I'm on the other side of 30 while they are in their early 20s so I feel I can help them along with my experience but the great thing about these lads is I don't need to help too much as they can look after themselves just fine"
"Tomas Farthing is there in the academy as well but we all get on very well which is great"
