Conor Murray: ‘Strong start [by Munster] would give us extra belief’

Conor Murray will be looking for Munster to turn the tables on Clermont Auvergne in France on Sunday by hitting them with the sort of fast start at Stade Marcel Michelin that undid his own side at Thomond Park last Saturday.

Ireland and Lions scrum-half Murray saw opposite number Ludovic Radoslavjevic engineer a first-minute try for Clermont with a clever box kick into space in Limerick that put Munster on the back foot for the rest of the game, resulting in a first defeat on home soil to a French side in 19 seasons of European competition.

The 16-9 defeat ups the ante for Munster as they prepare for the return pool fixture this weekend in a stadium Clermont have turned into a fortress over the past six years, but Murray believes a strong opening from his side would be a major psychological boost for the visitors.

“To start well down there would be brilliant for us. It would give us that extra bit of belief that we probably need, that they probably got on Saturday night after 30 seconds, it probably settled them down a little bit, made them realise they could do it,” Murray said. “You saw at the end what it meant to them, how they celebrated, so to have a chance over there especially, you are going to have to start well.”

Murray is well aware of the consequences of hitting the ground running.

“The knock-on effects from us not being able to get momentum on the ball early on in the first few carries, once they came off the line and hit us, we were on the back foot. You struggle to find front foot ball again and then you probably look to kick it. Our kicking game probably wasn’t up to the standard we have been playing to for the season so far.

“We probably played into their hands a little bit. We were probably a bit predicable in the way we carried the ball. They seemed to know which runners we were going to use, so probably being a bit smarter around that area will be an aim this week.”

To turn things around, Murray believes, is a simple process, particularly as Munster were unable to really show their hand first time round.

“Number one, be better, be more physical and win the collisions. But we always have little moves we can exploit, if we see weaknesses in an opponent. Like they managed to do against us. A backs move or a peel off a lineout, we always have four or five plays, whether it be scrum, lineout or kick-off, you try to exploit weaknesses and that’s what they did early on.

“We probably need to tighten up in a few areas. But yeah, we’ll always have a few little power plays. But to do those, you can’t even begin to talk about plays without winning collisions, without getting momentum on the ball.”

“It is on us to go down there and perform and try and get a win. It is going to be huge for the group. I am not talking about bonus points or anything like that, it’s about going down there and performing.

“As good as they are, and they will probably be a different prospect this week, they will probably be running the ball a lot more, we got to look at ourselves, our own performance and try and get that right, physically make an impact on the game, which is something we didn’t do, which is pretty crucial in the big games.”