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Conor Murray: 'If I’m playing against him, I’ll just try and avoid him'

By PA
Conor Murray of Ireland looks on as he leaves the field after defeating Romania during the Rugby World Cup France 2023 match between Ireland and Romania at Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux on September 09, 2023 in Bordeaux, France. (Photo by Adam Pretty - World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images)

Scrum-half Conor Murray feels Ireland’s squad are “buzzing” and in “unbelievable nick” ahead of a pivotal Paris appointment with reigning world champions South Africa.

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Andy Farrell’s men have underlined their status as Test rugby’s top-ranked nation by beginning the World Cup with emphatic bonus-point successes over Romania and Tonga.

But their credentials will be truly tested on Saturday evening when they face the formidable Springboks at Stade de France in Pool B’s standout fixture.

Video Spacer

Ireland post-match press conference after Tonga win

Video Spacer

Ireland post-match press conference after Tonga win

Ireland will assess hooker Dan Sheehan, back-rower Jack Conan (both foot) and prop Finlay Bealham (head injury assessment) before the visit to the French capital, with Murray excited for the step up in challenge.

“We feel great,” said the Munster player. “Going back to the pre-season we had, it was great. We feel fit. Most of the lads are in unbelievable nick.

“We have a couple of lads with knocks to come back and, when we get them, we will be absolutely buzzing.

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“But we are buzzing already. The exciting thing is we want to see where we can take this team when the challenges get tougher and tougher.

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“We are playing good rugby and have things to work on as usual. The big tests are to come but we feel good, we are ready to go.

“You have to embrace it. It’s going to be a massive challenge: world champions in a World Cup. It’s something really exciting.”

Murray started against Tonga in Nantes after backing up Jamison Gibson-Park from the bench in the Bordeaux opener against Romania.

The 34-year-old could this weekend come up against provincial team-mate Jean Kleyn, who represented Ireland at the 2019 World Cup before recently switching allegiance to his native country.

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Murray insists there are no hard feelings over that decision but will be looking to steer clear of his towering former Test colleague on the field.

“He has been an unbelievable servant to Munster, so you’d wish him all the best,” he said of 30-year-old lock Kleyn.

“Players make decisions when they have opportunities and that’s the way the world is now.

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“If I’m playing against him, I’ll just try and avoid him. He is a physical man, he loves that kind of carry on and he is very, very good at it, so, I’ll just try to avoid him and we’ll have a chat after.”

Assistant coach Mike Catt says Ireland are fully aware of the threats posed by South Africa but concedes nullifying them is a different matter.

“They are playing a great brand of rugby at the moment, there is a real good mix of their physicality and their directness to their ability to move the ball,” said the former England World Cup winner, who was born and raised in Port Elizabeth.

“I think having Manie Libbok at 10, Damian Willemse at 15 and Willie Le Roux, they’re definitely putting the ball through the hands more and causing problems, big problems, for a lot of teams.

“We’re well aware of it, but still got to try and stop it.”

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T
Tom 18 minutes ago
Has 'narrow-mindedness' cost Ribbans and others their Lions chance?

I didn't say anything regarding whether I feel the eligibility rule is right or wrong, you've jumped to conclusions there…


The fact is the eligibility rule does exist and any English qualified player is aware when they sign a foreign contract that they're making themselves ineligible and less likely to be picked for the Lions. If Jack Willis and Dave Ribbans priority was playing for England and the Lions they wouldn't be playing in France. Whether they should be allowed to play for England or not isn't my point. Under the current rules they have chosen to make themselves ineligible so they can't have their cake and eat it while other players have taken lesser salaries to commit themselves to their dream of playing for England and the Lions. They have made their choices.


Besides, while it works for South Africa doesn't prove it will work for any other country. South Africa have an extraordinary talent pool of incredible rugby athletes which no other country can compete with. They sadly don't have the resources to keep hold of them so they've been forced into this system. If they had the wealth to keep all their players at home and were still playing in Super Rugby they might be even better… they could be worse. We can't know for sure but cherry picking the best country in the world with a sample size of 1 and extrapolating it to other nations with very different circumstances doesn't hold water. Again, not saying the eligibility rule is correct just that you can't assume scrapping it would benefit us simply because South Africa are world champions.

17 Go to comments
I
IkeaBoy 58 minutes ago
How Leinster bullied the Bulls at Croke Park

Expert coaches exist across the land and the IRFU already funds plenty. Ulster own their academy and who owns Ulster?


If you go to school in the North and rugby/tag rugby isn’t even on the PE curriculum until 12/13 as opposed to 7 or 8 in Leinster, how is that the IRFU’s fault? Even then, it’s only certain schools in the North that will offer it. On what basis would they go up to the North (strictly speaking, another country in the eyes of some) and dictate their schools programme?


The ABs used to be light years ahead of the pack because their eventual test superstars had been playing structured, competitive rugby from an average age of 5/6! On top of kicking it around the yard from the age they could walk with their rugby mad parents and older siblings.


Have you somehow gotten the impression that the Leinster system is not working for Irish rugby? What is that based on? The SARU should just stop competing because despite their back to back RWC’s, all 4 of their URC teams aren’t contesting semi-finals every year?


A couple of mining towns basically provided a Welsh team in the 70’s that were unplayable. Queensland in the old Super 10 provided the spine of an Oz team that were the first to win multiple world cups and in the same decade. The ABs population density is well documented with 35% of the population living around one city.


Is England’s match day 23 equally represented by mid-counties players, tough as nails northerners, a couple from Cornwall, a pack of manc’s and a lone Geordie? Ever?

It’s cute they won’t relegate the Falcons but has a Geordie test player ever hit 50 caps?


It’s ok not to understand geography. It’s also ok not to understand sport. Not understanding the geography of sport is something different entirely.

265 Go to comments
f
fl 3 hours ago
Ex-Wallaby laughs off claims Bath are amongst the best in the world

I ultimately don’t care who the best club team in the world is, so yeah, lets agree to disagree on that.


I would appreciate clarity on a couple of things though:

Where did I contradict myself?

Saying “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.” is entirely compatible with ranking a team as the best - over an extended period - when they have won more games and made more finals than other comparable teams. It would be contradictory for me to say “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.” and then completely ignore Leinster record of winning games and making finals.


“You can get frustrated and say I am not reading what you write, but when you quote me, then your first line is to say thats true (what I wrote), but by the end of the paragraph have stated something different, thats where you contradict yourself.”

What you said (that I think trophies matter) is true, in that I said “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.”. Do you understand that Leinster won more games and made more finals than any other (URC-based) team did under the period under consideration?


“Pointless comparison on Blackburn and Tottenham to this discussion as no-one includes them on a list of the best club. I would say that Blackburns title season was better than anything Tottenham have done in the Premier League. My reference to the league was that the team who finished second over two seasons are not better than the two other teams who did win the league each time. One of the best - of course, but not the best, which is relevant to my point here about Leinster, not comparing teams who won 30 years ago against a team that never won.”

I really don’t understand why you would think that this is irrelevant. You seem to be saying that winning trophies is the only thing that matters when assessing who is the best, but doesn’t matter at all when assessing who is 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.


“What I referred to in my Leinster wouldn’t say the were the best is your post earlier where you said Leinster were the best overall. You said that in two separate posts. Seasons dont work like that, they are individual. Unless the same team keeps winning then you can say they were the best over a period of time and group them, but thats not the case here.”

Well then we’ve just been talking at cross purposes. In that my position (that Leinster were the best team overall in 2022-2024) was pretty clear, and you just decided to respond to a different point (whether Leinster were the best team individually in particular years) essentially making the entire discussion completely pointless. I guess if you think that trophies are the only thing that matters then it makes sense to see the season as an individual event that culminates in a trophy (or not), whereas because I believe that trophies matter a lot, but that so does winning matches and making finals, it makes it easier for me to consider quality over an extended period.

24 Go to comments
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LONG READ Did Argentina 'con' the British and Irish Lions in 2005? Did Argentina 'con' the British and Irish Lions in 2005?
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