‘Conor Murray needs game time or he’s not on plane’, says Lions coach Warren Gatland

Warren Gatland has put Conor Murray on notice that he will need to play before the end of the season if he wants to take his seat on the British & Irish Lions plane leaving for New Zealand in less than five weeks.

The Munster and Ireland scrum-half was one of 11 Irishmen and three from his province named in Gatland’s 41-man squad announced in London yesterday. Yet his ongoing struggle to overcome a stinger injury in his left shoulder/neck sustained almost six weeks ago is a concern for the Lions head coach.

If fully fit, Murray, who turns 28 today, would be favourite to be the starting number nine for the three-Test series against the All Blacks.