Murray showing Lions pedigree, reckons Penney

Conor Murray’s emergence as a candidate for the Lions tour next summer has come on the back of a steady stream of improved performances, culminating in his dominance of Mike Phillips in Cardiff last weekend.

Murray may have gone ahead of the Welshman in the Lions pecking order — and now he faces the next big hurdle against the fleet-footed English pair of Ben Youngs and Danny Care at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday.

As always with the scrum-half position, much will depend on how the forward battle goes but should the Irish struggle in this respect, Murray still looks to possess the physical, football and defensive qualities to cope.

If there is a perceived weakness in Murray’s ever-developing game, however, it’s in the area of delivering the pass quickly enough to release those outside to effectively attack the gain line. However, he certainly got the ball away in one movement more often than not against Wales and it’s an argument that holds little water with Murray’s Munster coach Rob Penney.

“The Munster coaching staff wouldn’t agree with that,” he insisted. “Murray’s pass is world-class.”

In his assessment of Murray’s performance against the Welsh, Penney said: “I thought Conor was massive in that first 45, 50 minutes when Ireland were going forward and presenting the ball well to him.

“He really dictated terms nicely, his kicking was terrific and his general play was probing and relentless, creating a lot of havoc for the Welsh lads.

“I think there’s a massive amount of expectation on Conor’s shoulders. He was playing B&I Cup two years ago and now he is the starting half-back for Ireland. Goodness, what’s he going to be like at the next World Cup?”

And a good bet for the Lions tour? “Without doubt,” Penney declared.

Murray isn’t the only Munster representative in the Irish squad that Penney regards as a candidate to tour Australia next summer.

Having described Simon Zebo as “a special talent”, the left wing is high on that list along with Donnacha Ryan and Dave Kilcoyne.

“I was really excited for the Irish guys in general the way they played, particularly the first half when they ripped the Welsh lads apart,” said Penney. “And it was also great to see the Munster boys being a big part of that.

“Peter O’Mahony is like Conor Murray and Zeebs, something like 22, 23, it’s just wonderful for the country to have players of that age coming through and establishing themselves.”

Even though his season’s progress has been stalled by injury, Stephen Archer is another young player in whom Penney places a lot of faith for the future.

“You only need to talk to the hookers to know how good he is,” said Penney. “I don’t want to put too much expectation on the lad but there’s no reason why he can’t go all the way.”

Archer missed out on the recent Irish Wolfhounds-English Saxons game in Galway because of injury and is unlikely to be involved in Munster’s RaboDirect League clash with Edinburgh at Musgrave Park on Saturday. However, he should be back in action for the following week’s visits to Scarlets and Treviso when Penney is confident that the burly Cork Con man will begin a series of matches that may well see him established as a rival to Mike Ross and BJ Botha for the tight head berth with both Ireland and Munster.