Murray happy with display against Parisse

THERE is clearly little that fazes Conor Murray just five caps into his Ireland career and the 22-year-old’s nullification of Italy captain Sergio Parisse is just the latest example.

Few seasoned players would relish the chance to go toe-to-toe with the Azzurri’s talismanic back rower yet the robust Munster youngster accepted the role willingly and executed it with gusto at the Otago Stadium on Sunday, pouncing on Parisse’s every move at the back of the Italian scrum and thwarting his side’s ability to offer a platform to the backs.

“I don’t think we targeted that but he is obviously a quality player and we had to keep an eye on him a good bit off scrums and stuff,” Murray said. “Yeah I got him down a few times all right, I was happy with that.”