According to IRFU president Pat Fitzgerald, the national team must be given preference if such a situation was to arise.

The Longford native made the comments on Shannonside radio yesterday when asked to give an assurance that the talented youngster would not be poached by one of the other Irish provinces.

“That’s a difficult one, I don’t have the answer,” he said. “All I can say is that if the national coach feels that Robbie Henshaw would be better playing in another province, then the green team I’m afraid has to come first.”

Henshaw has been earmarked as Brian O’ Driscoll’s replacement after a string of impressive performances in the Rabo Pro 12 and Heineken Cup.

Although still largely untested, the precocious Athlone native has shown signs of being up to the task and has even been given a vote of confidence by O’ Driscoll as his heir apparent.

Connacht coach Pat Lam is known to be anxious to hold on to Henshaw who recently signed a contract extension to remain with the western province until 2016.

Fitzgerald also revealed that extra funding had been allocated to fund Connacht’s continued improvement.

“We are about to announce a new chief executive for Connacht, and as of yesterday the IRFU have agreed to continue to fund Connacht and to fund Connacht to a greater level than ever before, the future is looking very bright for Connacht.

“I have no doubt that with the new Heineken Cup, or whatever it is going to be called, that Connacht will be there or thereabouts and with the investment that the IRFU is going to put into Connacht they are just going to get stronger,” he added.

According to Fitzgerald, the academies in place in each of the provinces are likely to ensure continued success for the provinces too.

“I have no doubt that the Irish provinces can continue to be successful and one of the reasons I say that is that the academies in the provinces are really beginning to bear fruit…we now have a conveyor-belt where young people are becoming provincial players a lot younger,” he explained.

The IRFU president also indicated that French clubs’ pursuit of Irish stars remains a concern despite Jamie Heaslip and Sean O’ Brien opting to remain in Ireland instead of moving to the continent.

“It is a worry, even now when we have signed the Jamie Heaslips and Sean O’ Briens and all the guys who were targeted by the French clubs with the big cheque books.

“But we have realised that if we have to compete at cheque book level we ain’t going to be able to so we have to offer something else. What we offer is lifestyle, number one; it is how we protect them, in a lot of cases we nearly protect them from themselves.

“A professional player playing for Ireland will play around 24 games a year. Jonny Sexton and people like that will probably play closer to 40 in France. It prolongs their shelf life if they stay in Ireland.”