Craig Casey: 'I’ve become a way better player from working with him'

GOOD COMPETITIVENESS: Craig Casey paid heartfelt tribute to scrum-half rival turned good friend Conor Murray as the Ireland Test centurion and three-time British & Irish Lion tourist prepares to play his final home game for Munster in Cork this Friday night. Pic: ©INPHO/James Crombie

Craig Casey paid heartfelt tribute to scrum-half rival turned good friend Conor Murray as the Ireland Test centurion and three-time British & Irish Lion tourist prepares to play his final home game for Munster in Cork this Friday night.

Murray, 36 and 10 years and a day older than his fellow Munster and Ireland number nine, will bid farewell to home supporters at a sell-out Virgin Media Park when the province bids to secure a place in the URC knockout rounds with a final-round victory over play-off rivals Benetton.

It is set to be Murray’s 205th appearance on a night when Casey is set to reach his 100th cap and the younger scrum-half on Tuesday acknowledged the debt he owes his positional rival.

“I've the utmost respect for Conor Murray,” Casey said. “I've said this from the moment I came into the academy that he's helped me drastically with any questions I've had; game management and kicking game are the two things I probably went to him most for when I came out of school and he's helped me massively with them.

"He's one of my good mates now, to be honest. We've been feisty with each other, we've been competitive, but it's been a good competitiveness. So the career he's had is something that I'd absolutely love to go on and try to do the things that he's done and I've utmost respect for that man. I'll be delighted to see him off.” 

Casey believes he can still tap into Murray’s vast rugby experience for guidance, though he is mindful that possibly drove the senior partner crazy with the amount of questions he used to ask his fellow Limerick man.

“I think I’ll always be connected with him and bouncing things off him, no matter if he’s in the building or not. I’ve kind of got that relationship with him now over the last four years that I could definitely ring him up once he’s gone and ask him a few questions and he’d be happy to help me out.

“It’s his last few months in the building so try and get as much out of him as I possibly can over these next few weeks but I’d say I had him driven demented for the first few years of my career so I’ve kind of eased off the last few.

“I’ve become a way better player from working with him. I think the calmness piece is probably the thing, like, nothing really fazes him, to be honest. I’d love to have the frame he has and be like an extra back-row and make tackles like he does but I don’t think I’m anywhere near that.

“But the calmness piece and the game management is probably somewhere I went hard at him there and he’s given me all the answers he could.”