Conor Murray blocking out the social media abuse to contribute for Munster and Ireland
HEAR NO EVIL: Conor Murray during Munster rugby squad training at University of Limerick in Limerick. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Signing on for another year with Munster, and Ireland, was the easy part for Conor Murray, accepting that his new contract extension comes inevitably with potentially another 12 months on online abuse is a more difficult for the veteran scrum-half to digest.
"The joys of it lads!” Murray said as the 34-year-old Test centurion reflected on the anonymous trolling that came his way following Ireland’s one-point defeat to England at Twickenham last month and the prospect of more coming his way now he has extended his stay with Munster beyond the central IRFU contract that expires at the end of the current campaign.
Murray returns to the Munster matchday squad tomorrow afternoon for the Champions Cup Round of 16 showdown at Northampton Saints, his first outing in red since helping Ireland secure back-to-back Six Nations titles against Scotland on March 16.
It is the scrum-half’s fifth championship winner’s medal, yet another bauble in a remarkable career spanning 116 Tests with Ireland, eight British & Irish Lions Test matches across three tours and four World Cups, not forgetting 185 appearances for his province in 15 seasons, bookmarked by a league winner’s medal at either end.
Not that any of the significant contribution made a difference to those who seized on Murray’s box kick in the endgame at Twickenham four weeks ago as the root cause of Ireland’s last-gasp 23-22 loss and the end of a quest for back-to-back Grand Slams.
That Andy Farrell’s men failed to adequately defend the subsequent England lineout and attack that led to Marcus Smith’s decisive drop goal was forgotten by some, the ire was instead aimed directly at Murray.
"That was a weird one, yeah, there's no hiding from the abuse you get,” he said. “You can't get away from it but that clip didn't even come up in the review, that's how irrelevant it was.
"Genuinely, we've been around long enough to know how long you can hold on to the ball in your own '22, that was the right call; we'd do it again, it was what happened after.
"Chatting to Andy, we had a giggle about it, it was wild. Unfortunately, that's just the way the world is. But I was taken aback by it, the level of messages coming into my phone.
"Just abuse, really, just: 'What the fuck are you doing kicking the ball away'. People who, in fairness, 'support' Ireland and are frustrated that we lost and they're just looking for some way to vent and they see they can message you on Instagram.
"It was mad, but if I'd made a mistake or missed a tackle you'd think, not fair enough, but you could see the reason for it. But, genuinely, that didn't come up in the review."
What has not come up yet, thankfully, is any abuse to Murray’s in person.
"Yeah, zero, it's funny how that works… and I was ready for them after the England game if anyone came up to me!
"No, they don't, and that's unfortunately the world we live in, and a lot of those messages were probably from profiles with fake pictures. It's a tough part of being a professional athlete in this day and age.”
For Murray it gave an understanding as to why his Lions half-back partner and former England captain Owen Farrell walked away from Test rugby following last year’s World Cup.
"Yeah. 100 per cent, yeah. That came into my mind after that England week, I was like...It was very brief, but I thought, 'what's the point here if you can't win?'.
"But that was very quickly ironed out. I just let lads know. I was like, 'Jesus, I'm getting serious heat here' and they're like, 'about what?'
"And genuinely the lads in the dressing room saying, 'about what', and I told them and I knew but it was just nice to share that with your team-mates and your coaches and then just chat about it and it was like, 'no, it's irrelevant'.
"It's irrelevant but it's not right at some point. Some of the messages aren't just aimed at you, they're aimed at your family and stuff and you're like, 'who's writing these'.
“You just delete all of it. I genuinely just looked at a couple. I looked at my phone and it just flooded up with messages.
"I looked at a few and it was just 'fucking hell' and then just deleted all at the bottom. There was no point. If you read it all, some of it's going to seep into you.
"Whether I made a mistake or not, I wouldn't read it. You're aware of it. You can't not be aware of it, that's the thing in this day and age, you can't not see it. Whether you read it all is up to the player themselves but I just saw enough to go, 'no, I'm gone'.”
Murray, who turns 35 on April 20, may have switched off his phone but he is far from gone from the rugby field and he said he will keep playing as long as keeps contributing to the Munster and Ireland cause.
“Relatively easy,” was the contract decision. “Like the years before, just a great place to be, a great place to play. I suppose in the latter half of your career you appreciate where you are and what you have. So yeah, easy decision.
“What we’re doing here and what we did last year and obviously up in camp is incredible too. That’s part of the motivation too, to stick around there, so it’ll be tough but I’m motivated for the next year definitely.” One season at a time suits him perfectly, not that he always felt that way.
“Before I would have been like, I’ll play til 30-odd or whatever but I think you sell yourself short. There’s no point putting a cap on it, I think you feel good and you’re fit and you’re producing and you feel you can contribute to the team in terms of what you can bring to it.
“So yeah, a while back I would have said, ‘sign this and I’ll finish next year’ but now it’s just as long as you’re enjoying it and you’re fit and you’re mainly able to contribute. And you’re not a passenger, and I don’t feel anywhere near that so yeah, just keep going.
“I love being a professional rugby player, looking after yourself, being fit and healthy so who knows how long you can go for.”
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