Murray looks like an old hand already

FIRST this and first that, Conor Murray must be tired of it already.

If it is not his first Munster start, it’s his first Heineken Cup game and now he’s got that out of the way, we are set to discuss his first Heineken Cup game in France.

And when the rising scrum-half star’s first Munster game in a Leap Year, on a Tuesday afternoon, comes around we’ll ask him about that as well.

But seriously, when are we all going to realise that from the time he was chasing Ronan O’Gara around the Thomond Park pitch looking for his hero’s autograph, this fella was born ready for anything rugby can throw at him?

The rise of the young Garryowen half-back from the Munster Academy to Ireland’s World Cup starting number nine in a matter of months earlier this year has been well documented, and well articulated by the 22-year-old from Patrickswell, Limerick.

And playing your first Heineken Cup match, as he did in starting against Northampton Saints last Saturday evening having already started a World Cup quarter-final, may have been a touch of putting the cart before the horse in terms of story arcs. You could almost forgive Murray if he had treated the event matter-of-factly.

Yet, just as he has dealt with every new opportunity that has come his way over the last 12 months, the scrum-half is dealing with his new-found media attention with aplomb, even if the media is not quite as ready for Murray as he is for both it and top-level rugby.

By the time he sat down before an assembled throng in a Munster tracksuit for the first [yes, the first] time this week, you see, Murray had already ticked so many boxes that his experience was disproportionate to his novelty value.

How was he fitting in with Munster? Well, let’s rewind a few months for that one, because Murray is a now a returnee to the province having been on Irish World Cup duty.

“Good, it’s great to be back,” Murray said politely, before reminding us: “Towards the end of last season I started to get settled in, getting comfortable with all the older players and once I got back, we’ve grown closer again. There’s a buzz around the squad and I’m enjoying it.”

How was his first Heineken Cup and was he looking forward to today’s trip to Toulouse to play Castres? Hello, World Cup quarter-final? And before that a start in Brive last April and a Test in Bordeaux in August? Again the polite reminder.

“Yes, a first Heineken game but hopefully the experience I got playing in the World Cup and a few big games will stand to me. And I played against Brive down there last year in the Challenge Cup and that was quite intense, a really high intensity game. We came away with a win, so hopefully that will stand to me as well.

“Playing in the so-called bigger games has helped me. I’m a bit more used to the pressure that comes with it and I’m enjoying them as well. I enjoyed the big crowd last week and the pressure that the fans put on you to get the win. I really enjoyed it.”

Was he struck by anything different about playing Heineken Cup? Duh. Try coming on at a packed Eden Park and helping to close out victory over Australia.

“Probably the atmosphere was the first thing that struck me,” said Murray, treating this reporter’s question with far more respect than it deserved. “The crowd were a lot louder than anything I’ve experienced in Thomond Park, even the Magners League final. There’s just a different kind of buzz around the place for a Heineken Cup game.

“I remember Earlsy said it to me, before I played against Harlequins last year, just the European games, there’s something different about them, something a bit bigger about them which he enjoys as well. They’re brilliant.”

Now the focus for Murray is to help steer the side to a second win in France today at Stade Ernest Wallon.

“We’ve watched Castres and picked out areas where we can attack them but there were parts of our game last weekend that we weren’t happy with and we’ve addressed them this week and hopefully we’ve fixed them. We’re going there pretty confident and we’re happy enough with the majority of our game from last week.”

By this stage, Murray is certainly at ease in his surroundings, playing alongside O’Gara rather than pleading for his autograph, though he did admit it wasn’t always this way.

“It was a bit daunting at the start, even just training with the seniors but once you’ve got in the team for a few runs and even in training, passing the ball to them and talking to them, it’s become much easier. They kind of go along with you. That’s pressure off you because they’ve so much experience and they’re going to make good calls around you. That fills you with confidence more than makes you worried about playing with them.”