CJ Stander believes Conor Murray’s teammates “let him down” during the Champions Cup game in Glasgow but doesn’t feel that Ireland’s back row will have to provide any extra protection when the scrum-half returns to Scotland this weekend, writes Brendan O’Brien.
Murray was vocal in his dissatisfaction with what he believed was Glasgow’s targeting of his standing leg as he box-kicked in that crucial Scotstoun encounter last month and went as far as to say the week after that he was lucky to avoid a serious injury.
The absence of any defender standing sentinel on the blindside of the ruck was all the temptation that Glasgow needed to pressure the number nine and Stander admitted on Tuesday afternoon that he and the rest of his Munster colleagues “didn’t look after him as much as we could”.
Yet there will be no special security against the Scots.
“Nah, nah. He’s a player that looks after himself,” said Stander.
“We just need to stick to getting the ball back from the ruck and make it easier for him to get the ball and let him play his games. If you concentrate on stuff that is not in your control the game is going to get away from you so we won’t concentrate on that at all this week.”
Stander was equally dismissive of the suggestion that the whole furore could bring with it an extra edge to Murrayfield on Saturday given there are 17 Glasgow Warriors in the Scottish squad and 13 of Munster’s made it into Joe Schmidt’s.
The two Guinness PRO12 rivals have met three times already this season, with Munster winning every one, and Stander can hardly be questioned for playing up the challenge created by a Scottish team that, like Glasgow, has progressed significantly in recent years.
“The way they play is the forwards bring the physicality and they just give it to their superstar backs and then they create tries out of nothing. We’ve played Glasgow a few times this year so we know what they bring.
“You need to be up for it, otherwise you are going to get shown the way. Scotland is a different kettle of fish. They have stepped up their game massively. It’s going to be a good one on Saturday.”
