Conor Murray Hits Out At Glasgow’s Cynical Targeting Of Him

Conor Murray has hit out at Glasgow’s cynical targeting of him in Munster’s win last Saturday.

The Munster nine has branded it “unsafe” and “very dangerous,” after his standing leg was targeted from the base of ruck as he kicked in Munster’s Champions Cup win at Scotstoun this past weekend.

The treatment of Murray as well as his suspected injury from the game, has been a real talking point this week, with former player’s such as Gordon D’Arcy and Brian Moore telling Murray he needs to expect this going forward.

The Limerick man however, is having none of it, and believes he is lucky to have escaped without a serious injury.

Murray was incensed by a late hit on his standing leg in the 18th minute of the game, by No8 Josh Strauss, demanding action be taken by a touch judge immediately after the hit. Munster assistant coach Jerry Flannery revealed during an in-game interview with Sky Sports that the officials, had been asked to keep an eye on the Warriors tactics regarding the scrumhalf.

“I’m properly pissed off about that,” Murray said.

“I don’t see any benefit in charging down someone’s standing leg, I only see it as a danger or as a potential to get injured.

“I don’t think it’s a good tactic. You could put another label on that type of tactic, but they did it to us at Thomond Park [in the European tie on October 22]. They got our scrum-half Te [Aihe Toma] with it in the league game [at Scotstoun on December 2] and they almost got me a couple of times.

“So, luckily, my leg came out of the ground and I managed to fall over, but if my leg stayed in the ground — especially in that (4G) surface — you’re looking at syndesmosis [joint damage], you’re looking at cruciate [ligament damage].

“I’m not blaming the players. I don’t know who told them to do it, but it’s dangerous. It’s very dangerous and, thankfully, I didn’t get injured, but if I had have been injured, I would have been going on more of a rant.”

“I’ve no problem with people going after you; you know, ‘I’m trying to rattle you’ and all that, but when the only… I just can’t see a way of that being legal or any way that could lead to a charge down or a tackle.

The ball is long gone from my hands and I just think it’s really dangerous and it will end up with someone getting properly injured by it.”

Murray feels more could be done to prevent the tactic by addressing it before matches.

“We chatted about it and they were aware of it,” he said of the match officials.

“My issue would be, it was after the first one and they were made aware of it before that.

“There’s so much going on in the game that something like that needs to be just looked at outside the game, before the game has even started, in the lead up to the game, and make sure things like that are outlawed in the game, because they have enough on their plate, as well, but it is in the best interest of the players for something like that to be looked at.”

Regarding the suspected concussion, Murray said he did not lose consciousness, but rather hurt his neck and was ‘rattled.’

“We followed every protocol above and beyond,” he said. “I was in Cork last night with a neurologist, Brian Sweeney, just to make sure that he didn’t suspect any concussion. We’ve gone through all of that. It was, literally, a bang. A badly timed, bad technique in the tackle.

“It was a big hit, I’m not trying to get away from that, and I got a bit of a rattle from it, but I didn’t lose consciousness, I followed everything, all my HIAs, talking to the physios, the doctors and the neurologist; all is well. I trained today fully, I feel fine.

“Everyone kept a close eye on me in case I felt tired, in case I slowed down, all of those signs that we’re trying to follow, and I felt perfect. I’m fit to play at the weekend.”

Do referee’s need to be more vigilant, to stamp this kind of play out?

[Irish Examiner]