Murray key to Ireland’s destiny
That may sound like a lot of responsibility to place on a 25-year-old’s shoulders heading into the campaign but the Munster scrum-half has crammed more than enough experience into his four and a half seasons as a senior professional to carry the burden of expectation as Ireland prepare to face Italy at Stadio Olimpico without a first-choice No.8 and fly-half and an inexperienced midfield pairing.
Coming to the Eternal City was always going to be tough with Sergio Parisse’s Azzurri side showing in November the signs of a return to the heights they reached in 2013, when they ran both France and an injury-hit and demoralised Ireland ragged on home soil.
Arriving here without frontline players of the calibre of Jamie Heaslip and Johnny Sexton while continuing to blood a new centre partnership following the retirement of Brian O’Driscoll makes the task even more onerous.
Instead, Jordi Murphy and Ian Keatley make their first Six Nations start and debut respectively at Nos 8 and 10 while there are further championship debuts for Robbie Henshaw at 12 and Jared Payne at 13.
That is a lot inexperience down the spine of Schmidt’s selection and the head coach is turning to Murray to provide the glue that will turn them into a cohesive unit.
He hopes Keatley flourishes in just his third cap alongside his provincial team-mate and that the Lions scrum-half will marshal the scrum and breakdown in the face of intense physicality and abrasion the Italians will be sure to bring in front of their passionate supporters today.
“I think it’s vital even when we’ve got all the experience because he’s such a good player,” Schmidt said of Murray. “His kicking game, his cover defence game, his speed of pass, all those elements that make him such a good contributor for us. If Conor delivers those he leads anyway and he actually makes Ian Keatley’s job a little bit easier because he gives him more time on the ball. He’ll make the midfielders’ jobs a little bit easier because they’ll have the surety of him giving a bit of cover in behind them. He’ll make other guys’ jobs easier because he’ll put the ball in the areas of the field that allow us to keep a bit of control of them rather than being exposed. So those facets of Conor’s game will be really important to us.”
Schmidt must be giving thanks to the rugby Gods that Murray did pass fit enough for selection for his 31st Ireland Test, having missed the last month’s action with a neck injury sustained whilst scoring a try for Munster in a Pro12 win at Zebre.
With Heaslip failing to shake off a shoulder problem that has been hampering since the New Year, Sexton cleared to play next week against France after his 12-week concussion layoff and Sean O’Brien coming into the side for the first time since November 2013 following two shoulder reconstructions and off the back of just 50 minutes’ play for the Wolfhounds eight days ago, the Ireland boss could scarcely have countenanced the absence of another key player, particularly with back-up scrum-half Eoin Reddan failing to make the bench through injury.
Yet Schmidt has shown he can manage admirably with such setbacks during his four international windows since succeeding Declan Kidney in the summer of 2013 and it is those experiences that mean his confidence remains solid.
“I think you have to be confident,” he said. “Confidence, to a degree, is contagious. If I show a lack of confidence in players, players are going to start questioning themselves and you don’t have time and space to question yourself when there’s a lot of traffic and it’s big and it’s physical.
“I’m very aware of the players who are missing and what they achieved last year. The player of the year in Andrew Trimble, the guy who broke the most tackles was Dave Kearney. Johnny (Sexton) scored the most points and the most tries as well. For us, we have the personnel we have and I’m confident, but always with a degree of trepidation about how Saturday comes out because I think the Italian players will be highly motivated. I think they’ve worked really hard to prepare well, but I think people underestimate the challenge that Italy will be.”
When one thinks of Italian rugby, the default mode is their set-piece strength, built on a powerful scrum and that will once again be a cornerstone of the threat from Sergio Parisse’s side this afternoon. Tighthead Martin Castrogiovanni will be fancying his charges against loosehead newcomer Jack McGrath with Cian Healy hopeful of returning from a serious hamstring injury as early as next week but the present incumbent will be no pushover for the Italian front row as the Irish pack looks to reclaim a little lost ground in their scrummaging over the autumn Tests. McGrath will be very much the junior partner alongside Rory Best and Mike Ross, who is preferred at tighthead over his Leinster usurper Marty Moore but while that contest will rage, the Italians are now in a place to open the challenge on a number of new fronts.
“They’ve certainly added a few more strings to their bow,” Munster captain O’Mahony said. “They’re definitely a more complete team than they were back then (in 2013). They’ve certainly guys like (Alessandro) Zanni and (Sergio) Parisse back, who didn’t play last year against us. I know at 10 (Kelly Haimona) has brought a different dynamic to them. Guys like (full-back Andrea) Masi and (wing Luke) McLean, they’ve a great quality backline so their counter-attack, and set-piece attack, they’ve improved upon a huge amount. And their short-side stuff. I think they’re certainly more rounded team than what they were two years ago.”
Italy, then, is a tough place for Ireland to come and open their title defence, particularly when they have been installed as favourites to win back-to-back championships. To a man, players and management meeting the media this week have dismissed their favouritism as irrelevant and this opening game, with so many missing personnel, certainly indicates they will be up against it from the start. Yet this is an Ireland team made of strong stuff, a group of players who toughed it out against the odds to lift the trophy in Paris of all places last March. If Murray can steer them around this potential banana skin today in Rome and with those key frontliners coming back on stream to face the French in Dublin seven days hence, then fighting the favourites’ tag will get just a little more difficult.
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