The scrum-half was not afraid to admit taking pleasure from Ireland’s draw.
Ireland proved us all wrong on Sunday. Sure, they did not beat Wales but they did lose either, as most pundits and former players had predicted.
Joe Schmidt’s team went into the match without 12 senior players, who were all injured, and still seeking to fill the leadership void left by the retired Paul O’Connell. There were legitimate fears that Wales’power game could overrun the men in green.
Before the match, former Ireland lock Neil Francis called the reigning Six Nations champions the worst side to be sent into battle in more than 15 years. On Newstalk’s Off the Ball, Gavin Cummiskey of The Irish Times went one step further – he proposed this was the weakest Ireland XV since 1998.
Fuel for the fire then and Ireland started like they had been cattle-prodded out of the dressing room.
They shot into a 13-0 lead before needing a late Johnny Sexton penalty to rescue a draw and keep their championship aspirations healthy.
Post-match, Irish tryscorer Conor Murray addressed the criticism directed at his team. He told us:
“The feeling outside the group has been [pessimistic] like that, with players missing.
“That does filter into the camp, whether you stay from the media or whatever, because your family will read and listen to everything.
“We’re a confident group. Yes there’s a few changes and people missing, but the lads that have stepped up have been in camp and have been here before. They know what to expect of Joe and really, they’ve gone out and proved that they can play well within the system.
“A new group will always be different, and you’ll always wonder how you’ll go slightly, no matter how experienced you are.
“But I thought we did quite well there, played well, the lads who haven’t been in the team performed well. And we’ll look to build on that for next week.”
Murray believes Ireland are still in the hunt for the Six Nations title despite only claiming a solitary point from the opening weekend. He highlighted poor exits as something to improve ahead of Saturday’s game with France and is hopeful that Ireland can achieve greater parity in the scrum. He commented:
“Probably more happy I would say and I’m not afraid saying that… Overall I think we’re pleased that we’ve shown a little bit of what we know we can do, and we’ve proved it a little bit out there today.
“There’s always work to do and I’m sure Joe and the coaches will look at the game tonight, and look to sure up a few of those little areas that weren’t quite as tight as they should have been.”
