Henshaw is going nowhere - Pat Lam

ATHLONE rugby star Robbie Henshaw will not be leaving Connacht before the end of his contract in 2016, according to Connacht head coach Pat Lam.

Henshaw has recently been linked with a big transfer to Leinster and IRFU President Pat Fitzgerald recently claimed that Henshaw would have to move if a transfer was requested by the Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt.

However, Lam said there are no plans for Henshaw to leave Connacht before the end of his recently signed deal with the province.

The 20-year-old has made a sensational impact for Connacht and has been capped three times by Ireland.

Connacht, who announced the signing of centre Bundee Aki from New Zealand last weekend, released a statement this week including Lam’s views on Henshaw.

Lam said: “There has been a lot of talk in the last week about the possibility of Robbie leaving Connacht for another Irish province. Robbie signed a new deal this season that says he will be playing at the Sportsground until 2016 at least. He showed that he is happy here playing with his home province. There are no plans for him to move before then.”

Commenting on the IRFU’s overall attitude to Connacht, Lam added: “The IRFU have been very supportive of Connacht and what we are trying to achieve here. I have a very good relationship with Joe (Schmidt) and there are good lines of communication between us. We talk regularly on games and players and he is especially supportive of the Connacht rugby programme going forward. We look forward to confirming some more player signings in the coming weeks for the 2014/15 season.”