To see Conor Murray in action is to see a player at the peak of his powers. If it seems effortless and natural, that’s only half the story.
Murray has been at the top of his game for coming on seven years. That is quite an achievement when you consider that he is 28.
He had been spotted at an early age as a top prospect for Young Munster – Paul O’Connell knew all about his progress – before he switched to Garryowen. He flourished in the underage set-up and hit the ground running when he was pitched into Munster’s senior team by Tony McGahan.
On Tuesday night, at the Guinness Storehouse, Murray claimed the Rugby Writers of Ireland award for Player of the Year. in a wide-ranging interview, given before the event, Murray touched upon the 2016/17 season that saw Munster lose their coach Anthony Foley, last November’s victory over New Zealand and his form on the Lions Tour.
However, the comments that stood out to us were about the extras that Murray does after training sessions with Munster. He may be seen as one of the world’s very best scrum-halves but Murray is certainly not resting on his past accomplishments. He said:
“You’re 28, you’re here for a while now and you really appreciate it. The older you get you really appreciate it and you understand how hard it is to get in here and stay here so you just want to keep doing it as long and as best you can.
“That is the most simple way of explaining my motivation. I’ve targets in my head and things I want to get done this year that I’ll keep to myself. I like doing that, setting goals for myself but it’s just about being the best you can be.
“You’re 28, I know I’m not pushing on retirement but you want to keep going for as long as you can at a high level. I’m competitive, I want to stay here and get better and see how good I can get. That’s my motivation.”
We recently spoke with Munster and Ireland winger Keith Earls about Murray. “He’s often the first guy out for training and last guy to set off,” Earls told us. “He’s always improving.
Murray’s words attest to that.
“There are still things I have to work on, definitely and working closely with Jacques Nienaber, after training it’s usually me and Andrew Conway, we’ll do a bit of contact work in defence, little things like that, that you know are going to make a difference if you keep working on them and keep improving. That’s the aim of the game.
“Awards are really nice but I wouldn’t get fooled by them. I’m not going to say I’ve got this award and now I can just chill out. It doesn’t work like that. The coaches here, we’ve a new camp, new players and we’re talking about the series coming up and it’s all about that. You just try and get yourself right for that and it moves forward like that very quickly.
“So this is nice, it’s nice to reflect on and nice for the family to have on the mantelpiece at home but the show must go on.”
Those extra sessions and drills are what help improve Murray as a player but also give him that mental push when it comes to big moments in big games.
Players looking to make it in the game could do a lot worse than look at Murray as a great example of how to wring the very best out of oneself.
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