Murray has become a marked man, says Sexton

Ireland captain Johnny Sexton has defended his half-back partner Conor Murray following criticism of his form, describing the scrumhalf as a “marked man” and backing him to produce a good performance against Wales tomorrow.

“The biggest problem for Conor is he’s had those games where he’s ripped up the All Blacks in Chicago [in 2016], but then you become a marked man,” Sexton said. “Then sometimes the space isn’t there. It’s not as simple as, ‘Why didn’t that

work? He didn’t do it this game’. He played really well [in the win over Scotland] last week. I’m sure he’ll play well again this week.”

After scintillating performances against the All Blacks for Ireland and for the British and Irish Lions in 2017, Murray was one of the first names on Joe Schmidt’s team sheet. But a series of injuries caused him to miss a chunk of 2018, and the 30-year-old has not returned at quite the same level.

Many in Ireland felt that John Cooney’s strong form for Ulster would see him get the nod for this Six Nations campaign, but new

head coach Andy Farrell has stuck with Murray.

Sexton, when asked about Murray not being as threatening around the ruck, said: “When those opportunities present themselves, or if they present themselves, I’m sure he’ll be ready to go.

“But I don’t think they did last week. Some of that was the speed of ball. We were playing a lot off unstructured play. Conor has scope to go and snipe.

“But international rugby, it doesn’t always open up. It’s not like provincial rugby or even some Heineken Cup games. It’s proper

Test match rugby. Last week was a proper Test match.”

Wales arrive in Dublin as Grand Slam champions after completing last year’s tournament clean sweep by crushing Ireland 25-7 in Cardiff.

Sexton admitted that emphatic defeat at the Principality Stadium still stung, and said he expected a fiery showdown in Dublin.

“We were going for a championship, they were going for a Grand Slam. We got well beaten out of the gate, a very disappointing day,” Sexton said.

“Any time you lose for Ireland it never leaves you, you think about