Joe Schmidt’s Monday morning review sessions can be brutal at the best of times. At the worst, you grab a seat, sit up straight and hang on for dear life.
In the aftermath of the 32-26 loss to South Africa, Ireland’s coach looked like a man who was told upon check-out that the minibar was not, after all, complimentary.
The Kiwi seethed in his post-match interview, on Super Sport, and in the press briefing that followed.
To make matters worse, the day after Ireland let slip the chance of a series win his side were delayed at the airport for four and a half hours before being asked to share a plane to Port Elizabeth with the Springboks.
His players felt his verbal heat in the lengthy review session. Conor Murray had a few hard questions to answer, but answer them he did.
The Irish scrumhalf was a key figure in two of South Africa’s four second half tries. He was impeded in trying to shut down Willie le Roux before the Boks’ first try, by Ruan Combrinck, and Schmidt was livid about it.
Crafty gits https://t.co/zW445JVzmq
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With five minutes left on the clock, and Ireland leading 26-22, Murray was then trampled into the Ellis Park turf by rampaging centre Damian de Allende.
It was a surprise to see Murray left on his rump as de Allende then shrugged his way through the covering Andrew Trimble and Rhys Ruddock to score. 27-26 and three minutes to play. Ireland were too spent to muster a meaningful response and the series was levelled at 1-1.
Clip via Sky Sports
Fresh from the review, Murray had a resounding critique still ringing in his ears. In Port Elizabeth, on Monday, Murray told The42.ie:
“I actually went for a chop, I went low, and he carried the ball quite low anyway, and I think I hit his arm and the ball, and bounced off him and didn’t finish my tackle. So yeah, that’s up to me. That’s completely my fault. Like I said, the reviews haven’t been pretty.
“There’ll be a few demons this week but at least it’s not the end of the season. We get a chance to fix it this week, so that’s something I’ve got to get out of my head and fix this week.”
There is next to no chance Murray will miss Saturday’s Third Test so there is an immediate shot at redemption.
He will back himself to take the de Allende’s and Duane Vermeulens down if presented with the shot. Ireland require deeds, and big ones at that.
