Conor Murray can’t wait to see ‘world class’ Johnny Sexton back
Murray preceded him back into Joe Schmidt’s selection in Rome after his own injury issues and the pair in tandem offer the champions what is probably the most accomplished half-back pairing in the championship.
“Johnny is a world-class player and to have him fit is going to be hugely beneficial to the squad,” said Murray. “It’s great to have him back in full training this week. The lads that did stand in, the two Ians (Keatley and Madigan), did well and have benefited from that experience. We have three really good out-halves in our squad at the moment. Over the last couple of years, Johnny has been really, really good for Ireland. He’s a real leader in our squad and drives the standards in training and off the pitch.”
That he returns against France adds an extra layer to the narrative, given his current station in Paris with Racing Metro. Every one of the visiting players at the Aviva Stadium this weekend will be even more aware than usual of the damage the opposing 10 can do.
“Every other team knows how good Johnny is and he is of that world-class standard. Not that it brings fear but they are going to pay a bit more attention to him and be really wary of the threat he brings around him.
“He brings players in off their wings and off the ball really well and he directs play for us extremely well. He knows our game plan inside out. It’s just the quality of player; other players are going to examine him a bit more.”
That won’t include a greater emphasis on churning down his defensive channel, according to the Munster nine. Sexton’s reputation in the tackle isn’t bad for an out-half and if there are issues on his return, they are likely to be fitness-based rather than anything else.
Still, 12 weeks without a game of any description is liable to leave a player rusty and Sexton may be joined by a handful of others — Jamie Heaslip, Sean O’Brien — who have less rugby than they would like under their belts.
Schmidt’s Ireland showed last November injuries are not necessarily an impediment to victory although the reintegration of players due to enforced absences must have some effect on the cohesion or otherwise of the side.
“For the group that was playing, firstly, it will be a challenge to iron those things but, for the lads who are potentially coming back into the team, they’ve been in the squad for the last few weeks and have been in the team doing reps. They’ve a full understanding of how we wanted to play against Italy, they’ve seen the game, they know what we’re trying to fix. They’ll be at training this afternoon and repping it out, trying to do it.”
Murray seemed to take exception at one point to the suggestion that Ireland haven’t been showing much in the way of ambition, but yet the party line is significant improvement will be needed to overcome the French.
Long is the list of laments by Irish players who have lost to France, but Murray doesn’t share many of them. Only the first of his four meetings with them have resulted in defeat, proof perhaps that their status as Ireland’s bogey side is slipping.
“France are very tough opponent. I’ve been lucky against them: the last three times we’ve played them, I’ve drawn twice and beat them narrowly last year over there. But they are still loaded with really good players who can pull rabbits out of hats at times. They are a really strong team. We’ve got to pat ourselves on the back a little bit. We’ve played well against them in the last couple of years. You look at the game last season, France played their best game of the season against us and we were able to deal with that and come away with a result.
“I’m aware that France are a really, really good team. They have a strong squad with world-class players in it. I think we’ve just managed to perform well against them and they raise their game when they play us.”
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