We told you he was good.
Conor Murray just needed the one game – all 80 minutes of it – to confirm what most of us suspected. Barring any injury issues, Murray will wear the No.9 jersey for the Lions in the First Test against New Zealand at Eden Park, on June 24.
The Munster and Ireland scrum-half had a near perfect Lions 2017 debut against Crusaders. Despite some glitches passing off his left-hand, Murray controlled the tempo supremely well, tackled with intent and kicked like a dream.
Murray’s performance drew a host of gushing comments from fans, past players and commentators with All Blacks legend Justin Marshall leading the charge. He told Sky Sport NZ:
“Class. All class tonight. Everything Murray has done has been exceptional.”
Murray has been named in a Lions half-back pairing with Owen Farrell for this weekend’s game against the Maori All Blacks and there is little doubt how highly he is rated by the local players and press.
During the most recent episode of New Zealand Herald’s rugby podcast Out of the Box, pundits Daniel McHardy, Brian Ashby and Nigel Yalden could not get over how good the Irishman was [and is]. Yalden commented:
“The Lions kicking display as well… Conor Murray, my goodness gracious me. His kicking was absolutely delightful to watch. An absolute joy.”
Ashby described the box-kicking of Murray and Owen Farrell as ‘some of the best I have ever seen’. He revealed a post-match conversation with a beaten Crusaders player about how immense the Lions half-backs were. Ashby said:
“They had the ball on a string. The accuracy of it was such that, the Crusaders are good in the air… [but] Israel Dagg was stretched all night. George Bridge was battling it.
“One of the interesting things was, I was talking to one of the players afterward about [the kicks], and Murray and Farrell put the ball so high with their kicks that, three times, the ball went above the height of the lights into the dark – the pitch black – and the Crusaders had no idea where the ball was until it came back down to the level of the lights again.
“They were like, where the hell is it? Oh here it is and they then had to try line themselves up.”
The Kiwis may never be converted to the all-out kicking game but you can’t say they are not impressed.
Expect more of the same from Murray & Co. this weekend, but it would be good to see them mix it with some scything, purposeful runs.
