Joe Schmidt and Vern Cotter keen to defuse Conor Murray row

Ireland boss Joe Schmidt has backed scrum-half Conor Murray’s view of his treatment at the hands of Glasgow Warriors but said he hopes the bad blood at club level will not spill over into the opening RBS 6 Nations match at Murrayfield.

Ireland travel to Edinburgh for round one of the 2017 Championship on February 4 just three weeks after Munster edged a tight Champions Cup contest at Glasgow’s Scotstoun, a game which provoked controversy over what Murray perceived as the deliberate targeting by Warriors forwards, all of whom Scottish internationals, at his standing leg as he kicked from behind rucks.

Murray, one of 13 Munstermen in the Ireland squad, said last week that playing in a pivotal position like scrum-half he accepted he was fair game to opposition forwards but admitted he had been “properly pissed off” by the treatment he received and said he was lucky not to have been seriously injured by the tactic, a point which national head coach Schmidt echoed during yesterday’s RBS 6 Nations launch in London, suggesting his star No. 9 could have blown out his knee.

“What happened in that game is probably done and dusted now. It was fairly public that there was dissatisfaction and I totally understand Conor being disappointed with how it happened.

“You can’t charge a ball down from the blindside, you have got to go through the standing leg and the potential for injury is clearly evident.

“You only have to see how Conor just managed to lift his foot in that first 25 seconds, otherwise if his foot is anchored he’s going to blow his knee out, potential ACL, MCL, the whole shebang.

“I think that is the past. It will be incredibly intense, incredibly combative but I certainly don’t anticipate anything like that happening.”

Glasgow defended themselves against Murray’s claims and while Scotland head coach Vern Cotter, Schmidt’s friend and fellow New Zealander, also expressed his hope that the matter was at an end, the former Clermont Auvergne boss also insisted it had not been an intentional ploy to hurt Murray.

“There was a discussion afterwards and some of it went to the press,” Cotter said. “I’ve talked to the coaches and the players and it was not a deliberate tactic to injure Conor Murray.

“He is a key member of the team, as any half-back or decision-maker is, so there was pressure applied on him at certain parts of the game. But there was no deliberate attempt to injure the player. It was unfortunate what came out in the press.

“There will be pressure applied on players, but all done within the laws of the game.”

Cotter, who will join Montpellier at the end of the season, believes Scotland can benefit from playing Ireland at home on the first weekend after successive defeats on the last day of the past two seasons, their 2015 home loss by 40-10 handing Schmidt’s players the title. Yet he also suggested the Irish will vie with Grand Slam winners England to become this year’s champions.

“We probably have a little more strength in depth this year. We have lost WP Nel, a big loss, but that gives opportunities to Zander (Fagerson) and the others who have been selected. I think we will get closer than those last two games in the Six Nations. Will having them in the first game at BT Murrayfield give us a lift going into the game? Yes, I think it will. If we do everything right, we prepare well and our mindset is right then perhaps we can push them closer than we have previously.

“Once again, we are talking about Ireland. At the end of the Six Nations we will see which of the two teams — Ireland or England — are at the top of their game. Not many teams beat New Zealand. They beat us by 40 points not so long ago, which is an indication of what we are up against. We need to be a little frightened of them — I think that’s good thing. We need to be on top of our game.”

Schmidt laughed when he was informed of Cotter’s endorsement of Ireland as potential champions.

“I’m sure VC said that. A little more expectation on my shoulders and a little off his. He has got bigger shoulders than I have. Just to throw a bit more back on his, he has done a super job.

“They have more depth than I have ever known them to have. The competition for places in all sorts of positions is clearly evident and from where they were two years ago where we won the Six Nations with that final game in Murrayfield, they have come a heck of a long way.

“But for one decision at the end of a World Cup quarter-final they were into a World Cup semi-final. They played incredibly well that day against Australia. They played incredibly well against Australia again in November and led for the bulk of the game and beat Argentina in November as well.

“Obviously, Glasgow’s form and Edinburgh’s form and being able to draw in guys like Richie Gray and Greig Laidlaw from outside, Duncan Taylor from outside, Huw Jones in from the Stormers, so not only do they have that core from their provincial teams but they have those guys who come in and will inevitably add value.”