Murray impressed by clarity and calmness

CONOR MURRAY thinks Munster are well tuned after their Christmas inter-pro exploits as they turn attention to next weekend’s key Champions Cup tussle away to Gloucester.

Murray was a second-half replacement in their second derby win in a week, while their bonus-point victory against Connacht means they also claimed top spot in Conference A.

Johann van Graan’s side are also top of their European pool, three points clear of Castres and four ahead of Exeter and Gloucester, and a win at Kingsholm would put Munster on the verge of a place in the knock-out stages.

League wins over Leinster and Connacht were a huge boost to the squad after their loss to Ulster before Christmas, and Murray is happy that the season is panning out as they had hoped. ‘It’s a really good performance to build into Europe, I think,’ said Murray (below), who has six games under his belt since his return from a neck injury. ‘Those three inter-pros over Christmas, and rotations in the squad, a lot of lads who are close to the team get a bit of game-time. Who knows what will happen next week with selection, with injuries or whatever, so I think the Christmas period was really beneficial for our squad.’ This was far from a straightforward win for Munster, who had to come from behind on two occasions and then fend off a late Connacht surge after Jack Carty’s try closed the gap to seven points.

But two Dan Goggin tries and one each for Peter O’Mahony and Joey Carbery proved sufficient for Munster, and after watching on for 50 minutes and closing out the game Murray thought the team performed well.

‘Yeah, I’m impressed with what I saw. It can be a tough game against Connacht because they do attack a lot. They like to counter-attack, they’re dangerous.

‘I thought coming on, just to fit in and get into our system [was the aim], but there was a good calmness about us, especially when we went under pressure late in the game.

‘There was just a good clarity and we knew what we were about and we executed a lot of what we were trying to do pretty well.’

For Connacht, they will be quietly satisfied with their Christmas exploits – beating Ulster and claiming losing bonus points against Leinster and Munster.