Murray: Irish team in a good place

Ireland scrum-half Conor Murray has dismissed the notion that there is a crisis of confidence within the international squad after Declan Kidney’s men threw away a winning position against France in the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, allowing the visitors to claim a scarcely deserved 13-13 draw.

Ireland were in the driving seat at halftime, leading 13-3 but the men in green failed to add to that tally and a late French rally saw Louis Picamoles cross for a try which Freddie Michalak converted to level the teams.

The home side seemed to have learnt their lesson from the English defeat and were playing the conditions better than the French with Murray contributing through his effective kicking game.

With Ireland on top in most facets of the game it was hard to see a way back for the French but Ireland failed to turn their dominance into points and Murray believes this is what ultimately cost them the win.

“We wanted to come out this weekend and give a good performance and I think we managed that for most the game,” the scrum-half remarked.

“One thing we lacked was probably to tick the scoreboard over a little bit more in the second half, or at all, and it probably would have been a different result.

“They obviously had a chat at halftime and they came out and gave an awful lot more. That’s always going to happen as it did against Wales in the first round.

“Ten minutes into the second half we got really deep in their twenty-two and a couple of phases later we were back on their twenty-two which is quite disappointing and if we had managed to put away that opportunity it probably would have been a different story.”

Saturday’s draw mirrored events in Paris last year when Ireland allowed France fight back from a losing position to draw.

Kidney’s men have struggled to put teams away when they have had the upper hand in recent seasons but Murray doesn’t believe that reflects a lack of confidence among the players.

“I don’t think people need to freak out, there’s no issue with confidence in the team.

“We’re not going to smash away teams but we’re creating an awful lot, we’re controlling games and controlling territory, there’s just little things.

“We just needed to tick the scoreboard over in the second half and we would have kicked on again, I can’t put my finger on why we didn’t do that.

“But I don’t think we need to panic, the team is in a good place.”

Murray seemed to enjoy a better understanding with new Irish flyhalf Paddy Jackson on the Ulsertman’s second cap.

The Munster number 9 believes his half-back partner proved his resilience by shaking off the criticism he received following the Scotland game to produce an accomplished performance.

“Against Scotland, his main criticism was his place kicking and if you look at his game in general outside of that it was quite good.

“He played with Ulster last week and did really well, he got his place kicking back to where it has been all year.

“He knocked over a few crackers and his game all round was good so he’s definitely pushing on and getting more confident and comfortable.”