The issue has been raised a number of times in the build up to Ireland’s Six Nations opener against Scotland.
One of the major talking points as we head into Ireland’s opening Six Nations match at the weekend has been the potential re-occurrence of the treatment Conor Murray received in Munster’s Champions Cup win over the Glasgow Warriors a couple of weeks ago.
Murray, of course, was on the receiving end of a number of late challenges, perceived as block-downs, mostly when he was executing his box kicks.
The particular grievance surrounded the fact that the challenges eventually led to contact with Murray’s standing leg, which firmly planted in the ground, could be devastated by injury in the right circumstances.
Unsurprisingly, a significant number of the Scotland squad are made up of Glasgow players and considering how much Murray was targeted during that game, many have wondered will the same treatment arise again.
The notion surrounding Murray’s treatment that day arose during CJ Stander’s press conference at Carton House today and the Munster man immediately admitted that his team should had done more to protect one of their most important players.
“I think from a Munster side we let him a bit down that weekend and we didn’t really look after him as much as we could.”
When quizzed on whether Murray’s teammates will have to offer him protection this weekend, Stander refused to get drawn on the issue, stating that Murray is well capable of looking after himself and that his job, along with his fellow forwards, is to secure efficient ball for the scrum-half.
“We all concentrate on our job and we all know what we need to do. So we will just make the ball available for him and you know, he’s a big man who can look after himself.”
It is clear that Stander and his teammates don’t want to get distracted by this issue as there is potential for a lack of concentration on more important on-field matters.
“If you concentrate on stuff that is not in your control then the game can get away from you so we haven’t really concentrated on that at all this week.”
However, Stander and his teammates may have to be vigilant during Saturday’s encounter in Murrayfield as Scotland captain, Greg Laidlaw, has come out and said that the Limerick man will receive some attention on Saturday.
