Murray’s extra duty suits him to a tee
CONOR Murray took one for the team in January 2016. Munster had been humiliated in France by 14man Stade Français and the scrum-half was facing the media a few days later in Limerick, attempting to defend the indefensible — a collective poor attitude and a second successive pool stage elimination from Europe.
‘There always is [tough talking]. Even when you’re winning, there is a bit of that in the changing room when people aren’t fulfilling their roles and doing what they are supposed to do. People walking is completely unacceptable,’ he said at the time.
‘We looked at the game and can see why people would say there was no passion when we were falling off soft tackles or getting outmuscled, which is something Munster teams never really did. It’s up to us to recognise how fans and media see it and try and fix it.’
Two years later, the affable scrum-half is still going above and beyond in the line of duty. First, the strange sight of him taking part in the lineout in the St Stephen’s Day league derby versus Leinster.
He was then planting the ball on the kicking tee last Sunday in Paris, putting his neck on the block with a hat-trick of penalty attempts in the Champions Cup classic at Racing.
Both games were lost. However, rather than the doom and gloom of 24 months ago, there is an unmistakable air of confidence at Munster, where a European quarter-final place is the reward if they beat Castres in Limerick on Sunday.
Murray needed some persuading that joining the setpiece was a good idea.
Billy Holland approached him Christmas week with Johann van Graan’s idea, but he initially laughed off the proposal.
‘I declined it first, but I got my head around it eventually. I did it when younger at Young Munster against UCC. It came off.
‘If it’s something that will help the team, I will do it. But it’s a bit scary up there.
‘I kicked a few fellas in the private areas when practicing, but I eventually got the hang of it. It nearly came off against Leinster, CJ Stander nearly got over and we managed to get over a couple of phases later.
‘Defences are so good now and the analysis that teams do on each other these days is massively important… the plan is to try and stay one step ahead, get the upper hand in whatever way you can.’
Murray came away from Paris with just a one-from-three success rate off the tee from long range.
He was brave, though. Having missed his initial two attempts, he could have run a mile from another pot. However, he called again for the tee he got at the start of the season from Tyler Bleyendaal and slotted the longest kick of his career on 74 minutes to put Munster 30-28 ahead.
‘I knew if another one popped up I really wanted to take it and get it or else I would be taking a big slagging this week. In fairness, the lads see me in training doing it and see I have the distance.’
It wasn’t an outrageous gamble as Murray had previous off the tee. He place-kicked regularly in the All-Ireland League for Garryowen, while he also put over a penalty in Ireland’s breakthrough win over New Zealand 14 months ago.
‘I used to kick off the small Gilbert tee and now I use the telescopic tees. I feel a bit more comfortable.
‘I have a similar technique to what I had when I kicked before with a few little adjustments for longer range ones. If it keeps on cropping up, I’ll probably have to practice a bit more.
‘I don’t know [what the success rate was at Garryowen], but it went well. I was firstchoice kicker at the time and more often than not they went over.
‘Obviously a few skewed off the boot. I was pretty decent, but I don’t have a figure.’
The most important number on Murray’s mind is Munster securing a 17th knockout stage qualification in 23 seasons.
Spruce up their discipline, he reckons, and the outcome should be a celebratory one. ‘Officials-wise, I probably got a little animated [in Paris] which wasn’t the right thing to do. It’s in our best interest to control that, paint better pictures for referees. We need to improve the discipline.
‘If you’re bogged down by this atmosphere coming up, then it’s not for you. It [qualification] is in our own hands. That is the carrot, the games you want to play in.
‘We never do it the easy way, but it’s a massive week. I love the buzz around it, love training in these weeks, love the hype and the build-up. We’re all in the same mindset.’
‘It’s a massive week... I love the buzz’