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Conor Murray set to start for Ireland despite family emergency
By Liam Heagney
Seasoned Ireland scrum-half Conor Murray is set to start for Ireland in this Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations match versus France despite an ongoing family emergency. The 33-year-old was named on Thursday by Andy Farrell as the Irish No9 for the round two showdown with the French.
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At the time of that afternoon announcement, it hadn’t publicly emerged that Murray’s father Gerry has been seriously injured earlier in the week in a road traffic accident. Referencing the inclusion of Murray in the team the coach said: “He’s good to go. In good spirits. For personal reasons I’d like to keep that as it is.”
It emerged later on Thursday the family reason why Murray had emerged as a midweek doubt to play. A report in the Irish Independent read: “Gerry Murray, who is in his late 60s, is an avid and experienced cyclist who has worked as an official motorbike marshal on the Tour de France.
“He was cycling on the N20 near Patrickswell when there was a collision involving his bike and a truck last Tuesday afternoon. Gardai closed the road for 90 minutes as emergency services worked to extract the father-of-three from the wreckage.
“Mr Murray, who is married to former Irish international squash player, Barbara Murray, was taken by ambulance to University Hospital Limerick. He was later transferred to Cork University Hospital with serious head injuries.”
Murray has been a constant presence at his son’s rugby matches over the years and the family was pictured on the Aviva Stadium pitch in November after the scrum-half became just the eighth player to win 100 Ireland caps.
A first-half injury curtailed that appearance against the Springboks but after missing the remaining two Autumn Nations Series matches, Murray was restored to the No9 Ireland jersey shortly before the start of last weekend’s Six Nations match away to Wales. The originally chosen No9 Jamison Gibson-Park pulled out with an injury, resulting in Murray getting promoted from the bench.
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Murray trained at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Friday morning, with Ireland scrum coach John Fogarty later offering words of support on behalf of the squad. “Yeah, he is in good form. He is back in with the group, is in good form, and is looking forward to tomorrow. We wish his dad the very best from the squad and a quick recovery.”
