It’s all about reading between the lines.
It’s going to be a very interesting 80 minutes in Murrayfield this weekend.
One of the sub-plots to the opening game of the Six Nations has been the possibility of whether Conor Murray will experience the treatment that he received against the Glasgow Warriors when playing for Munster in the Champions Cup a few weeks ago.
All scrum-halves get targeted or receive extra ‘attention’, it’s part and parcel of rugby and has been for many years.
However, it was the alleged targeting of Murray’s standing leg when executing a box-kick which had the Limerick man and Munster fans in general, fuming.
Even Stander admitted this week that he and his Munster colleagues could have done more to protect their most prized asset.
The scrum-half could receive similar treatment this weekend https://t.co/XTiMw1EQdu
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) January 31, 2017
With many of that Warriors team involved for Scotland this weekend, including one of the main culprits, Josh Strauss, the question on everyone’s lips has been whether we will see a repeat of this tactic in Murrayfield.
The issue has been put to many of the Irish players during the week.
Most have just batted away the question or have refused to get drawn on the issue but Best, speaking to the media after the captains run, re-iterated that it’s all about creating a platform for Murray.
“He (Murray) expects them to pressure him around that area (box-kick).
“For us it’s about making sure that we cope with that pressure and we perform, and for him in particular that he’s able to perform his role and we make sure that we get a good enough platform for him to get his box-kick or his pass off well.”
It is natural that for a scrum-half to execute their box-kicks then they need protection from their pack, you get that in rugby at all levels.
However, with Best admitting that pressure is expected, you get the sense that this topic would have come up on a few occasions over the past two weeks, regardless of the managers and players’ reluctance to speak about the issue.
We imagine that the players will be extra vigilant and conscious of this fact in Murrayfield tomorrow and it wouldn’t surprise us if this whole area rears its head again when the full-time whistle blows.
