“And I was like ‘Oh yeah my God, he said sorry’.”
Since making his Ireland debut in 2011, Conor Murray, alongside Johnny Sexton, formed one of the most effective half-back partnership rugby has ever seen.
And it culminated in three Six Nations titles and Ireland’s first wins over the All Blacks.
While ex-Leinster out-half Sexton retired after the 2023 World Cup at the age of 38, Munster scrum-half Murray is still trucking along at 35.
Ahead of the Six Nations, which begins next week, Murray revealed the one time in his years of playing with Sexton that he won an argument with the notoriously competitive and feisty No 10.
Speaking with Anthony Watson on the For The Love Of Rugby podcast, Murray said: “I genuinely won one argument against Johnny, and I had to be so sure I was right.
“It was when you throw a ball off the top a and you’re supposed to hit 12.
“So we had to call for that. I don’t know what it was called, like ‘Apple’ say. And the 10 is supposed to tell you, and we went through the week and he hadn’t told me a few times.
“I was like, ‘you tell me if it’s to 12, because it makes a difference. Like I’m going to hit you on the side of the head’.
“And I was like, wait, because he’s organising all the backs, and I was waiting for him to tell me and like I would always roar, I’d be like ‘heeeey, what’s the call?’
“So I had a sneaky suspicion that it was like ‘Apple’ throw to 12 or whatever, but if he doesn’t tell me then it’s to the 10, so I rifled the pass and literally whacked him on the side of the head because he was looking at the 12.
“And then I just like ‘you didn’t tell me the fucking call.’
“I actually had to go a bit more aggressive than that and then he was just like ‘oh shit, sorry’, like not shit, he was like ‘oh sorry’, whatever like ‘sorry my my bad’.
“And I was like ‘oh my God, he said sorry’.
“But that was only one. Like he won hundreds more against me.
“I was like ‘yeah, fair enough, yeah, you know what you’re doing, you’re right’.”
