Battle of the 9s... Webb v Murray:
IT is a contest for which the legendary American boxing promoter Don King would not be needed to sell tickets.
It isn’t even hyperbole on a grand scale to suggest Rhys Webb and Conor Murray will contest the scrum-half championship of the British Isles when Wales host Ireland at the Principality Stadium on Friday evening.
For these are the form No. 9s of the Six Nations and two players who are expected to duke it out for the scrum-worker’s jersey on the Lions tour to New Zealand this summer.
With tongue in cheek, Mike Phillips described Murray as “a poor man’s Mike Phillips” before this Six Nations, but the Munster man is a top-quality operator whom Brian O’Driscoll has described as the best in his position in the world.
But the certainty is such a remark will not faze Webb in the slightest. In fact, the likelihood is it will heighten his determination to prove a point.
Both he and Murray are close to being at the peak of their powers.
Here, MARK ORDERS assesses two players who are certain to have central roles in the latest Test under lights in Cardiff.
PASSING RHYS WEBB 7 CONOR MURRAY 7
WEBB has worked hard on his passing and while he doesn’t have a silver service to compare with Rob Jones in his Swansea and Wales pomp, he does have a sharp, crisp delivery that gives his fly-half space and allows attacks to develop without loss of momentum. Murray’s distribution came on significantly after he worked with Rob Howley on the Lions tour of Australia in 2013.
KICKING GAME WEBB 7 MURRAY 8
AWAFER thin advantage to Murray here. Webb and Dan Biggar decisively out-kicked and outplayed Murray and Ian Keatley in a Pro12 encounter at Thomond Park a few years ago - Webb walked off with the man-of-the-match bauble - and the Wales No. 9 judges his work with the boot to either earn territory for his side or give chasers a chance to apply pressure. In an otherwise-terrific performance for Ireland against New Zealand in Chicago earlier this term, Murrayfield was wayward with a few box-kicks, but as a rule this is one of the strong points on his game.
ATTACKING THREAT WEBB 9 MURRAY 8
ADVANTAGE Webb. The 6ft 2in, 14st 13lb Murray is a physical customer who can take on opposition back rows but has developed sufficiently over the years to understand that there are other ways to skin a tiger: he is now likely to avoid contact as much as seek it and it has made him a better player. He boasts a try every 5.1 games in Test rugby, while on average Webb has crossed the opposition line once every 3.7 matches for Wales. He plays what he sees and is up there with the leading opportunists in world rugby. “It’s like having an arch goalscorer in your side, a go-to man in tight games,” Ospreys backs coach Gruff Rhys once said.
DEFENCE WEBB 8 MURRAY 8
BOTH of them are reliable defenders. Webb always gives as good as he gets. Eddie Jones called him a terrier and he more than lives up to such a billing, seemingly operating to the dictum that it’s not the size of the dog in the fight that matters, it’s the size of the fight in the dog. Murray is physical and resolute, a player who does not hesitate to make his tackles. His effort in defence against New Zealand in Chicago was outstanding.
EXPERIENCE WEBB 7 MURRAY 8
WITH 58 caps, including two for the Lions, Murray has the upper hand here. He has been around the block a number of times and was picked out by Warren Gatland as one of the players who developed significantly during the Lions tour of Australia in 2013. Webb served his apprenticeship un- der a series of world-class scrumhalves, among them Justin Marshall, Mike Phillips and Kahn Fotuali’i, and has faced all the leading countries in the world at Test level and played close on 140 games for the Ospreys.
LEADERSHIP WEBB 8 MURRAY 8
MURRAY has been touted as a possible Lions captain and he is a player who plays with significant on-pitch authority, though Munster director of rugby Rassie Erasmus has expressed doubts about whether he’d want the job heading up the best of British and Irish rugby this summer. Nonetheless, he can boss a side on the pitch. Webb, too, has shown himself to be officer class when skippering the Ospreys in the absence of Alun Wyn Jones. He has developed his tactical awareness and leads by example.