83 kg vs 107 kg.
We know Conor Murray is world-class but when a man’s arm is lame, it’s lame.
Murray would not have wanted to come off the Principality Stadium pitch at half-time, with Ireland down 8-6, and want to leave it at that.
The man is a born competitor and it would have killed him to come off at the break, even though his arm was stung to bits and hanging off. So he argued and cajoled and convinced.
Ireland desperately needed Murray. Johnny Sexton was in the sin-bin and would be until the 49th minute. Simon Zebo was taking the restarts and Paddy Jackson had already been exposed in defence.
So Murray went back out there when others would not have. It was brave but it was also folly. Without full power in his arm, he could not zing away crosses and Wales pressed up; seizing the advantage. They forced a turnover and it soon led to a killer try – George North’s second was effectively the matchwinner.
Finally, on came Kieran Marmion.
He had proved himself as an emergency winger against Australia and had forced a David Pocock turnover.
He is not Conor Murray but he would have been the better call. On he came and his first defensive task was another monster: one-on-one with Ross Moriarty.
Moriarty is a whole four kilos heavier than Pocock and has 24 kilos [that’s 3-stone, 9-pounds] to spare over the Connacht scrum-half.
Marmion wasn’t having it. Oddly enough, it wasn’t even a contest:
Job done. Ireland soon were back up into the Welsh have and, after that, Marmion was pass, pass, pass, pass. He had the ball 74 times and passed all but twice as Ireland trucked, thrashed and crashed.
Wales love that sort of defensive work, though, and Ireland were repelled.
Schmidt said, following Ireland’s 22-9 loss, that Murray had suffered a “stinger” injury. He will want to face England next Saturday but Schmidt has a lad that will give it his all if needed.
If. Needed.
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