Live

Highlights on Off The Ball

02:00 PM-06:00 PM

Highlights on Off The Ball
Advertisement
Rugby

Conor Murray prepared for "completely different" Scotland side

Conor Murray insists Ireland will take nothing for granted when they take on Scotland and says th...



Conor Murray prepared for "...
Rugby

Conor Murray prepared for "completely different" Scotland side

Conor Murray insists Ireland will take nothing for granted when they take on Scotland and says the side will have no false confidence from their rout over Italy last weekend.

Joe Schmidt's side welcome the Scots to the Aviva Stadium this Saturday for what is essentially a dead rubber for the team after earlier defeats to England and France, as well as an opening day draw against Wales.

Ireland ran in five second-half tries to cruise to a 58-15 victory over Italy last weekend, but Murray doesn't expect a similarly easy run when Vern Cotters' side visit.

"You can be tricked into thinking this Six Nations is going to fade out and we'll finish it well," he said.

"Scotland are going really well at the moment, so they'll be gunning for us after last year's result. The team that played us that day are completely different to the one we'll face on the weekend.

"We had to bring ourselves back down to earth and get back down to work this week. Some of the tries that we scored against Italy, some of the ones toward the end won't happen this weekend."

Stuart Hogg is tackled against France. Image: David Davies / PA Wire/Press Association Images

Scotland come off the back of an 11-point victory over France and will be hoping to constrict Ireland, not offering as much space as the Italy.

Murray says he is aware of what is required of the team.

"Our passing accuracy was very high, up in the nineties I think. We're doing the right things, but obviously we won't find those gaps as easy. The defensive frailties we showed toward the end against Italy, falling away from tackles at the end... Scotland will punish us for that.

"They're playing with real width at the moment, not afraid to throw the ball around. They've got a really strong scrum, that's probably a number one weapon for them. At the moment the back row are quite dangerous, very good at slowing down ball.

"[Greig] Laidlaw and Finn Russell if they're back, they do a really good job and run the show quite well. Then you've the likes of  [Tommy] Seymour, [Tim] Visser and [Stuart] Hogg. I know Hogg quite well, he's in a good vein of form, he'll come in here with his confidence sky high. 

"They're going to be a well-oiled machine coming here to do damage."

 Murray explained that there are positives to be taken from the win over Italy but that his side won't be carried away.

"We still had to go out and do a job and you can only play with what's in front of you. Italy started well and nearly scored a few tries to make it a different story. But probably as soon as we scored a few their heads went down. 

"You can certainly learn a few things from that, but you can't trick yourself into thinking you were as good as the scoreline suggests."

Action gets underway from 5pm this Saturday.

Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!

Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.


Read more about

Rugby