The man stepped up and nailed a penalty against the All Blacks at Soldier Field. This was no bother at all.
Conor Murray has always fancied himself as a goal-kicker.
From an early age, with Young Munster then Garryowen, the scrum-half would hang around with the out-halves for kicking practice. He kept it up when he he entered the Munster academy and the senior set-up.
Go to any Munster and Ireland game early and you will catch the 28-year-old lining up kicks with his teammates before he turns to practising his box-kicks and passes.
There’s Conor Murray pinging touchline kicks ahead of #IREvSCO pic.twitter.com/DgylrqSnmg
— Pat McCarry (@patmccarry) March 19, 2016
In 2013, while on the Lions tour to Australia, coach Gareth Jenkins noticed Murray sticking around after training to practice his goal-kicking with the likes of Johnny Sexton and Leigh Halfpenny.
Jenkins, who kicked the Lions to a series victory against South Africa in 1997, was so impressed by Murray’s technique that he advised him to seriously consider it as an option in matches. The following season saw him lap over two conversions in a Guinness PRO12 win over Edinburgh.
58 minutes into Ireland’s historic victory over New Zealand, in Chicago, and Murray stepped up to float over a penalty while Sexton was down getting treatment.
It settled Irish tremors before they finished the world champions off with a late Robbie Henshaw try.
Down at Munster’s University of Limerick headquarters, early on Thursday, Murray was at it again. This time, however, he was nailing kicks from more acute angles. From the five-metre line, in fact.
In the morning mist, with Simon Zebo, CJ Stander and Munster coach Felix Jones looking on, Murray stepped up and pinged a perfect kick that beautifully bisected the posts.
‘Record this’ @conormurray9 nails it ???? pic.twitter.com/1aWNXCFJ1n
— Barry O Connell (@barryoc85) January 11, 2018
What is rare is wonderful and it is good to see Murray is keeping his kicking skills polished just in case they are needed in the upcoming Champions Cup and Six Nations challenges.
