Conor Murray 'ready to rock' with Ireland out for revenge

Conor Murray says he is ready to step up to the starting role for Ireland's second Test against South Africa at Hollywoodbets King's Park in Durban on Saturday, after an impressive cameo off the bench against the Springboks.

Ireland last night confirmed that Craig Casey would miss this week's second Test, after suffering a concussion midway through the second half of the 27-20 defeat, with Ulster's Nathan Doak drafted into the squad as back-up.

Andy Farrell will name his team on Thursday, and in addition to Casey's absence, the head coach has other injury problems to contend with.

Hooker Dan Sheehan is also out, and the Leinster man is set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines with a suspected ruptured anterior cruciate ligament, which leaves him as a major doubt for the Six Nations next year.

Robbie Henshaw, Andrew Porter, Bundee Aki and Jamie Osborne are also being monitored for knocks ahead of the game at the home of the Sharks.

Connacht's Caolin Blade will be expected to come onto the bench for his third cap on Saturday, with Murray (below) expected to start.

The experienced Munster man hade a positive impact in his 17-minute cameo, scoring Ireland's second try which briefly got them back into the contest in the final ten minutes.

"I feel good, feel fit, feel good about my game for the last part of the season, ready to rock next week," the 35-year-old said.

"Craig [Casey] played really well, I thought, he had a great game, took a really unfortunate knock."

Murray's try was a variation of the score Hugo Keenan finished off against France in the 2023 Six Nations at the Aviva Stadium, where Ireland engineered space after a goal-line drop-out.

And the scrum-half says those restarts are becoming an important part of the attacking