CONOR MURRAY’S ATTEMPTED clearing kick with 90 seconds left to play at Twickenham on Saturday was discussed on Rugby Weekly Extra today, the podcast for subscribers to The 42.
Gavan Casey, host of the pod, said the kick was the “hot-button topic” among Ireland fans following the loss to England. Murray Kinsella, rugby journalist with The 42, argued that it was the correct call to kick.
“As it happened I didn’t even think about it because to me it was probably the only decision for them to make,” Kinsella said, “and I think every other team virtually at all levels really would have done the same. There’s 90 seconds on the clock which actually is quite a long time in rugby. The average passage of play in rugby is about 30 seconds, we know that a lot can go wrong in that time.”
Kinsella added: “There’s a big break in play before they go and kick the ball. Chandler Cunningham-South is getting treatment and he hobbles off and leaves England with 14, but obviously Ireland now have loads of time to discuss it.
“It’s not Conor Murray. I think some people are confused that Conor Murray is just deciding to wing it and kick the ball himself. That’s a decision that’s been transmitted onto the pitch by the coaches and discussed by the leaders on the pitch and they’ve made that decision together, so it’s not on him.
“I thought it was right to get out of that zone. If you’re trying to play phases in there for 90 seconds, the referee’s going to be really hot on your breakdown stuff, he’s going to be looking for any opportunity really to penalise what is negative play, what referees see as negative play.
“England are going to go absolutely all out on your breakdown, there’s the potential for a knock-on in there, and I laugh to think of the reaction if Ireland had tried to do that and got turned over and lost that way. I know they still lost, but it would have been even worse I think, and some of the criticism of whichever player made a mistake would have been off the charts.
“For me it was the right decision, I think the execution was poor, I don’t think it was Conor Murray’s best kick. He doesn’t make it up to the 10-metre line which is kind of the minimum expectation on any exit kick, get beyond that, either make a tackle beyond that or get it into touch beyond that so you’re further up the pitch.”
If you are not already a subscriber then sign up here to listen to this podcast and enjoy unlimited access to The 42.
