Irish Examiner view: Murray ready to lead the Lions

A great honour for Munster scrum-half

Conor Murray was named British and Irish Lions captain for their coming tour of South Africa.

Every sport, every code, has an Everest and scaling it can be the challenge of a lifetime. The thousands of athletes planning to compete at the Tokyo Olympics next month have spent years preparing for that challenge, yet even at this late stage, it remains uncertain if those games can take place.

Fate, cruel fate, intervened with certainty at the weekend to deny two wonderful sportsmen the opportunity to scale their Everest. Lions captain Alun Wyn Jones and Justin Tipuric have been ruled out of the tour to South Africa because of injuries incurred against Japan. Munster and Ireland scrum-half Conor Murray has been asked to lead the Lions in Wyn Jones’ absence. This is a singular honour for the player, his family, community, and club, even if a new outbreak of Covid in the Springboks’ camp new raises questions about the tour. The pandemic means this will be a tour like no other and brings unique pressures and disciplines — it will not be the usual progress through South African vineyards or game farms as so many tours were before. Murray is the second Munster player to captain a Lions tour this century. Paul O’Connell led them to South Africa in 2009 while Peter O’Mahony captained them for a test in New Zealand four years ago.