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Andy Farrell has revealed 'biggest compliment I could pay Conor'
Andy Farrell has claimed he is in awe of Conor Murray after handing the scrum-half a rare recent start on the occasion of his 100th Test cap for Ireland. Munster man Murray will become his country’s eighth centurion on Saturday when world champions South Africa visit a sold-out Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
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The 33-year-old has been a mainstay of the Irish team for more than a decade after making his international debut against France in 2011 but has slipped behind Jamison Gibson-Park in the pecking order in the past year.
Despite restricting him to just one start since the 2021 Six Nations, head coach Farrell hailed Murray as a top-class bloke and a legend of Irish rugby during a glowing tribute on Thursday. “It’s pretty special because we all know that to be able to get to that type of milestone what it really does take,” said Farrell.
“When you are a coach or when you are a player, you see all the ups and downs and all the pressures that come in from all sorts of directions and you see everyone wants to move on to what they perceive to be the next best thing.
“I just think somebody who stands up to be counted time and time again, to get to a point like that, I’m in awe of it because the hardest thing is to stay at the top.
“Of course, there are ups and downs but the biggest compliment I could pay Conor – he is a legend of Irish rugby and his abilities are second to none – is that he is a top, top-class bloke. I don’t know anyone who has a bad word to say about him. We are all obsessed with rugby but when it comes to how he has managed himself throughout his career – and there are big things still to come – he is classed as a fantastic human being by his peers.”
Murray will join Brian O’Driscoll, Ronan O’Gara, Rory Best, Cian Healy, Paul O’Connell, John Hayes and captain Johnny Sexton on the exclusive list of Ireland centurions – yet he has not started at international level since victory over Argentina last autumn. Leinster’s Gibson-Park has to settle for a place on the bench against the Springboks, having not played competitively since the series win in New Zealand in July due to a hamstring issue.
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With Ireland in form and currently top of the global rankings, Murray faces a challenge to dislodge Gibson-Park on a permanent basis ahead of next year’s World Cup. “He is a tough old character, Conor,” continued Farrell. “He’s steely strong mentally and he cares a lot about his own game and he gets a chance now to show us how he wants to push forward.
“It’s a respectful, competitive battle. Conor has been an unbelievable ear for Jamison because of his experience. You would definitely think that Conor would be thinking, ‘I’ll just leave him alone and let him find out for himself’ but Conor has been all over, helping Jamison be the player that Jamison has been from the start.
“He is a fantastic human being. And Jamison, over the last ten days, has been exactly the same back and that is exactly what we want in our environment.”
Farrell has made two enforced changes for the South Africa clash, with centre Garry Ringrose and wing Robert Baloucoune coming in for the suspended Bundee Aki and the injured James Lowe. Ulster wing Baloucoune is set to win a third Test cap after a torn hip tendon ruled him out of the All Blacks tour.
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“We feel he is ready, that he can offer something different,” Farrell said of the 25-year-old. “It’s up to Rob – and his teammates helping him – to grab the opportunity and show what he is about at the top level.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Je suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
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