COUNTDOWN IT’S WHAT YOU DREAM OF
Slam is everything to Murray but Red Rose is a thorn in his side 6
EVEN the brightest of stars in Joe Schmidt’s Ireland squad have gaps on their CV. Last weekend, Conor Murray won his third Six Nations title. He is a two times’ Lions tourist and was part of the first Ireland team to defeat New Zealand.
However, in over six years as an international player the Red Rose has been a constant thorn in Murray’s side.
In six outings against Ireland’s fiercest rivals he has only ever come out on the winning side once, and never in Twickenham, so the size of the task at hand at the end of this massive week is not lost on the scrum-half.
Of course, the shoe was on the other foot last year as Ireland took their chance to spoil England’s Grand Slam dream at Lansdowne Road, but a nerve injury to Murray’s shoulder meant he was forced to watch on from the sidelines as the hosts edged the new champions 13-9.
The deflated celebrations of Jones’ men as they received the trophy that evening is an image that has stayed with Murray, and it is a scenario he is desperate to avoid this weekend.
Ireland may be Six Nations champions, but such is this group’s desire that anything less than a Grand Slam will feel like failure.
The fact that they officially became champions while wearing their dinner suits as England slumped to defeat in France has only heightened the sense that there is a lot more to play for.
‘If we had won it [the Six Nations] and there was a lot of celebration on the pitch or whatever, then it would have been a lot more difficult this week,’ Murray explains.
‘I think the fact that we won it while we were sitting down having dinner and there wasn’t that much celebration, I think it actually shows the mentality of the group, that we want something a little bit more.
‘It’s obviously fantastic, it’s a massively proud achievement to win a championship. At the end of it all, whether it goes good or bad [against England], we’ll be very proud of that. But I think it focuses us for the week ahead and what we need to do and what we want to achieve, and that’s obviously a Grand Slam.
‘[Seeing what happened to England last year], that’s definitely a part of the motivation.’
Back in 2016, Murray had admitted that there was ‘a fear factor’ among some players about facing England in Twickenham, but events in the intervening two years means that the mentality and belief among this current group is vastly improved.
This is now a team that not only knows how to big win games on the road, but expects to.
‘I think occasions like this, massive games with a lot of pressure, that’s the challenge — that you don’t go into your shell and you tighten things up and you don’t express yourself,’ he continues. ‘What this group is really is good at, we are coached really well and we have our game plan and structure, but there is a lot of natural ability in the group.
‘People play heads-up rugby, people play football, people back themselves in certain instances and we can’t lose it in the challenge of this week, that people with those kind of instincts don’t shy away from that because that adds so much to our game plan and to what we are trying to do.
‘I don’t think anything will change [in our approach]. We will obviously have a look at England, look at opportunities, obviously their strengths and dealing with that but we can’t lose that natural kind of heads-up approach we have.’
Obviously, the current form and age profile of this Irish team bodes well for next year’s World Cup in Japan, but while Murray isn’t interested in thinking that far ahead, he acknowledges the importance of putting together a string of victories during this Six Nations, rather than the one-off wins produced by Irish teams of the past.
Saturday’s defeat of Scotland was a record 11th win on the bounce for an Irish team, a run that began against Jones’ England 12 months previously.
‘I think if you talk about Chicago [and beating New Zealand in 2016], we came together for a short period and managed to put a performance like that together, which is fantastic.
‘It’s great to know you can do that, then like you said [it is great to be] building performances and getting better week on week, knowing that you’re getting better and that you’re growing, fixing things that haven’t gone so well. Hopefully you’ll make it count on the pitch on the final day.’
When Ireland last won the Grand Slam back in 2009, Murray — along with current teammates Peter O’Mahony and Jack McGrath — was part of an Ireland Under 20s team that beat Wales 9-6 the night before that historic day in Cardiff.
Now, he has a chance to create his own history.
‘You look back to all the big Ireland victories when you were younger, looking on the telly or in the stands and it just drives your desire to want to be there,’ he says.
‘That’s probably what feeds a lot of us from when we were younger, seeing it and wanting to achieve it, and putting the work in for it, seeing those great days.
‘And then when you get in and you chat to the lads, like Rob [Kearney] and Rory [Best] and a few of the lads who have gone from Ireland now, chatting to them about it, they’re special days and you create a bond for life with the people you do it with.
‘It’s a massive week, an exciting week, a challenging week, but a week you dream of.’
‘Celebrations would have made this week harder’