'Grateful' Conor Murray wants to make fourth World Cup count

When Conor Murray first threw the Irish number 9 jersey over his back in 2011, it marked a phenomenal rise for the Munster scrum-half.

His first Irish start came on his third cap, a World Cup debut against the USA that only six months earlier would have seemed improbable, to put it mildly.

Between March and October of 2011, Murray went from his first Munster start to becoming Ireland's first-choice scrum half.

This evening against Tonga the 34-year-old will earn his 109th Ireland cap with France 2023 being his fourth crack at the Rugby World Cup.

"It feels long," he says as he looks back on his World Cup bow 12 years ago.

Having made the breakthrough with Munster at the tail end of the 2010/11 season, Murray was the bolter in Declan Kidney's World Cup squad that summer when he featured off the bench in two warm-up games before starting the tournament opener against an Eddie O'Sullivan-coached USA in New Plymouth.

He finished that tournament as first choice scrum-half ahead of Eoin Reddan and Isaac Boss, and would own that jersey for the majority of his Test career.

In recent seasons though he's been playing the support role for Jamison Gibson Park, with the Leinster man's pace a perfect fit for the style that Andy Farrell wants to use.

Murray may no longer be first choice, but he's still an influential player in the group and almost certain to be involved off the bench when fit.

And having seen many players drift in and out of squad down the years, he knows the value of that role.

"I am really lucky to have made four [World Cups]. I've seen in every cycle that people fall out through injury or through form.

"It's just a grateful one, I suppose, I'm really lucky to be part of a squad, especially this one.

"They've all been great