MURRAY IS BACK IN BUSINESS
ZEBRE 7 MUNSTER 32
IT WAS a most welcome sight for Munster and Ireland supporters. In the 51st minute at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Conor Murray entered the fray as a replacement for fellow scrumhalf Neil Cronin.
After five months out with a neck injury, Murray made his first appearance of the season as Johann van Graan’s side secured a four-try win over Zebre yesterday to stay second ion Conference A behind Glasgow.
Murray was mooted for a sensational comeback against the All Blacks earlier this month but this was a decidedly lower profile return for the 29-year-old.
Kieran Marmion, Luke McGrath and John Cooney all saw game time for Ireland during in the Lion’s absence and Ireland coach Joe Schmidt will be happy that Murray’s understudies got timely exposure to the rigours of Test rugby.
Nonetheless the return of his prized first-choice scrum-half yesterday is a huge boost to Ireland’s head coach ahead of Ireland’s Six Nations title defence in the new year.
There was further good news for Munster and Ireland with centre Chris Farrell also making his comeback. Farrell has been out of action since he suffered a knee injury during an Ireland training session at Lansdowne Road last February but got through 30 minutes of solid work in Parma.
Fellow centre Jaco Taute and flanker Conor Oliver were also back after injury but Munster’s assignment in Parma was dealt an early blow with fly-half JJ Hanrahan withdrawing due to illness with Bill Johnston stepping in and doing well. The visitors opened up a 14-0 lead inside half an hour as second row Fineen Wycherley and hooker Kevin O’Byrne both touched down, with Johnston adding the conversions. A long-range penalty from Johnston made it 17-0 just before half time. Zebre reduced the deficit through substitute Renato Giammarioli’s converted try just after the hour mark, Munster negotiated a tricky third quarter in difficult conditions to pull away. Rory Scannell, who moved to flyhalf following Farrell’s introduction, hit a 69th-minute penalty to increase his side’s lead to 20-7. Winger O’Mahony then raced onto Tyler Bleyendaal’s grubber kick to score Munster’s third try of the evening in the 75th minute. The bonus point-clinching try arrived in the dying moments as Murray sent Scannell powering over from close range.