THE HERALD TODAY

Pensive prop Murray not buying into hype upon injury return
HUGH MacDONALD, Chief Sportswriter February 25 2009

RARING TO GO: Euan Murray
The pauses are so long one could set them to music. A symphony would just about suffice. They are not Pinteresque pauses, rather they are silences that would allow the recitation of a Pinter play and a couple of drinks in the bar afterwards.

Euan Murray considers questions and deliberates on answers. He takes his time. He is also intelligent and funny. At 19 stone and 6ft 1in, one would not tell him if he was neither.

Murray is also a world-class prop, even a star. The latter is a strange designation for a front-row forward. Murray even won a man of match award for his performance in the scrum against South Africa in the autumn Test. A prop being judged the best player on the pitch? This happens as often as The Rock making an Oscar acceptance speech.

Murray has also become a better player by not playing. This neat trick has been performed by dint of Scotland's scrum struggling in his absence in the RBS 6 Nations defeats against Wales and France.

The superhero had been laid low by a chunk of kryptonite, or a popped rib cartilage, to give it its medical term. "Small part, big impact," said Murray yesterday as he looked back on three weeks out with injury.

"It would wake me in the night as the cartilage would pop out," he said. How many times a night, he was asked by an anxious press man. "Twenty-three times," said Murray.

The 28-year-old forward is as dry as a dehydrated cream cracker. But there is a substance to him that stretches beyond his powerful frame.

Murray's selection for the match against Italy was not just welcomed. The enthusiasm for his return to the scrum was such that one was disappointed that a brass band had not preceded him into the press conference.

The pressure is on, the expectations are high. "I am aware of it," said Murray with air of someone who will sacrifice sleep to an injury but not to much else.

"There are other players who were not involved in the first two games of the Six Nations. Nathan Hines was not there. And the second row has a massive impact on the game of rugby because that is where a lot of the power comes from in the scrums," he said.

But everyone believes he will make the difference?

"I wouldn't say that at all," said Murray. "It is eight guys working together. It is a team game."

Murray, a committed Christian, is bolstered by faith. When pressed on the magnitude of the occasion on Saturday, he paused. Then spoke. "For me, there are more important things in life than rugby. Rugby is my job and to play for my country is a tremendous honour and privilege and I will do it with everything I have," he said.

Pressed on his singular importance, he slowly, quietly said: "Pride comes before a fall."

Murray has been felled by physical injury but there is no danger of him being compromised by arrogance. A dreadful accidental collision in a game against Munster in 2005 led to him being gripped by a seizure on field and losing consciousness. It led, too, to a reappraisal of his life and a decision to commit himself to God.

Murray was no stranger to injury. A thigh problem saw him return early from the national side's tour to Australia in 2004. Other blows had laid waste to seasons.

But the tighthead prop has enjoyed better fortune since the incident four years ago. But then cartilage popped out in a tackle against Toulon. He is philosophical about his latest absence. "You can get injured any time. I am just happy to get through the last couple of seasons injury free. I am used to being on the sidelines sometimes so I have learned to cope with it,"

said Murray.

His recovery, too, has been quicker than anticipated. Doctors told him he would miss four to six weeks but the forward came back a week earlier than the most optimistic prognosis. He played for Northampton Saints against Wasps on Sunday and described his 80 minutes on the park as "a massive bonus".

An international match, though, poses different problems. Murray must be integrated quickly into the game plan, though his experience with Scotland should smooth the transition. He did not seem unduly concerned. "One day's training, it's the first step," he said when asked how he was coping.

He added: "You work as hard as you can to get on the field and once on the field you work as hard as you can to stay there."

Murray will be expected to bring a stability to a scrum that struggled in the first two Six Nations matches and faces formidable foes in the Italians. He dismissed inquiries about what has been going wrong in the scrum for Scotland with the observation: "I can't speak for the last two games because I was not involved. All I can say that for this game, we will go in as a pack with the mindset that we have to knock them back, to be dominant."

He was intent on looking forward, refusing to discuss the specifics of the match against Italy at Murrayfield in 2007 when Scotland were defeated after trailing 21-0 only minutes into the game.

"I have blanked it. It is erased,"

said Murray.

There was silence. He had hit the pause button. Murray knows, though, it must be fast forward on Saturday.

This article was posted on 25-Feb-2009, 08:15 by Hugh Barrow.