IT’S ONLY SEVEN months since Conor Murray and his family went through one of the most stressful periods of their lives. His father, Gerry, was in a serious road accident when a truck collided with his bicycle near the family home in County Limerick.
Gerry was placed into an induced coma for several days and his son had to make a tough decision to play for Ireland against France the following weekend. Murray’s father wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
Happily, Gerry has been recovering well and getting his life back on track. He’s in Nantes this weekend to watch Conor start for Ireland in their game against Tonga today [KO 8pm Irish time, RTÉ].
“My dad is on his way over on the ferry as we speak, so it’s great,” said Murray earlier this week
“He’s in good health and he’s back golfing and doing everything he loves.
“It’s great that he’s able to do it.”
It will be a special day for Murray’s family as he wins his 109th Ireland cap in a very strong Irish team.
This is Murray’s fourth World Cup, but the excitement hasn’t worn off for his loved ones.
“They’re hugely excited, it’s probably the last one as well so they’re definitely making the most of it,” said the scrum-half.
“It’s brilliant. Friends are starting to come over this weekend, a few people have [asked for] team tickets and things like that.
“Families love it. You see it when they turn up how excited they are, so it just kind of hits home how big it is.”
Murray’s journey has been full of ups and downs. He first broke into the Ireland team during the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand, dominated the number nine shirt for a decade, and more recently has had to battle with Jamison Gibson-Park at scrum-half.
There have been injuries, long runs of brilliant form, patches of poor form, and much else in between.
“How long have you got?” said Murray with a smile when asked how much he has changed since 2011.
He was “young and naive” back then and the biggest thing that has changed is his sheer level of experience. There aren’t too many situations he hasn’t been in on the rugby pitch.
One thing that hasn’t changed is the anxiety of the build-up to games.
“It never changes, you’re always really, really nervous,” said Murray. “I can’t eat.”
He has looked at old photos from 2011, when he had longer hair, and it feels like a lifetime ago.
“The journey, I’ve talked about it before, about coming through and getting in for 2011 but where I am now, I suppose, it’s my fourth World Cup. People have mentioned that and I’m aware of it but I just really appreciate where I am and I’m really grateful for the opportunities,” said Murray.
“I am really lucky to have made four. I’ve seen in every cycle that people fall out through injury or through favour or form. It’s just a grateful one, I suppose, I’m really lucky to be part of a squad, especially this one.
“They’ve all been great craic and they have all been talented squads, but this one ticks a lot of those boxes, the camaraderie we have.
“I hope that shows from the inside out, we don’t need to talk about that, we’re a really tight group and obviously with the potential we have.
“So yeah, just excited to be part of the environment and excited about where we can go.”
That’s a message that Murray reiterates – he takes delight in being part of this particular Ireland team.
Even though he hasn’t always been the starter at scrum-half, with Gibson-Park being an important figure, Murray is deeply enjoying being part of Andy Farrell’s set-up.
Despite their excellent results in recent seasons, Murray understands that there are no guarantees in this World Cup.
“I’d say we’ve had a great three- or four-year run and we’ve had a lot of success but a number of us who’ve been to World Cups and we’ve come in in good form or whatever, it really just comes down to the competition and how well you play within that competition.
“So, you can take a lot of confidence from what we’ve done but also it’s a completely different competition that you’re in. People can say it doesn’t really matter for much.
“So I think the whole group know, and you’ve heard us say it before, that if we play to our potential we have a chance and I think we’ve done that more consistently over the last few, three or four years than we have previously in other times.
“So, yeah, it feels different but I think everyone’s aware of how hard we have to work to still try and go as far as we can.”
