We expect more from Conor Murray. He knows it. We know it.
From the moment he took to the pitch against France for his international debut, just under six years ago, we have expected him to deliver.
A young lad who had blitzed his was into Munster’s starting 15, Murray was a bolter in Declan Kidney’s extended World Cup squad. He didn’t flinch when he got his chance and he ended that 2011 tournament as Ireland’s first-choice scrum-half.
We’ve asked a lot of him from the start and ever since. More often that not, he delivers.
Saturday in Murrayfield was different. Murray was fine; merely fine. Most of his passes were crisp, most of his tackles stuck, most of his box-kicks gave teammates a chance. His block of a second-half grubber kick, and a resulting break, almost set up an Irish try.
If there was one area that was lacking it was Murray taking the ball on himself and making something happen from nothing. It was enough [or not enough] for his former Munster and Ireland teammate Donncha O’Callaghan, who told The Hard Yards podcast, “For me, personally, I was very disappointed in Conor Murray.”
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O’Callaghan acknowledges that Murray is rightly considered as world-class so he is held to a tougher account than others. Having recently outclassed opposite numbers such as Aaron Smith and Ben Youngs, he entered the Six Nations in top form. O’Callaghan commented:
“For me, his service… He passed an awful lot without taking a whole lot out of the ball. When he runs, he is a threat to those in and around the ruck.
“If you are worried about a sniping 9, the guard and shield defenders [at the ruck] are kept a little bit honest and then he can offload to Sean O’Brien, CJ Stander and Jamie Heaslip. Conor passed a lot from the base and didn’t run a lot. The lads ended up running into a wall. You can defend one-out runners all day. It’s very easy when you are not worried about the 9 making a run.”
Former Leinster and Ireland flanker Kevin McLaughlin points out that Paddy Jackson, Murray’s half-back partner, would have been used to playing alongside the sniping Ruan Pienaar at Ulster and expected the same against Scotland.
McLaughlin also shed some light on why Jackson was sitting back deeper and deeper in the pocket during a worrying first half against the Scots.
“They had Jackson on the back-foot almost every single time. If you look back on the game, they were firing a defender out of the line every single time. A guy was going out of the line and going at Jackson. He got deeper and deeper as the game went on, which obviously stifled Ireland’s game.”
Acres of room to improve against Italy as the pair are likely to start again this weekend.
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