The Ireland squad for the upcoming set of November internationals has been named by Joe Schmidt and as expected Conor Murray has been left out.
The Ireland and Munster scrum-half is still working his way back from a neck injury which had attracted a level of intrigue in the public sphere given the uncertainty about the issue.
But Murray has cleared up the situation around why he hadn't been able to speak to extensively about it up to now in a sit-down chat with Joe Molloy as he helped launch Pinergy's #WeAre16 campaign.
"I got injured and then we didn't really know how serious it was," the 29-year-old explained.
"So we were still figuring out how long I'd be out for. At the time, because I was just coming back into pre-season, I just said to the medical staff at Munster, 'Just say we're dealing with an injury until I know when I'm back and then I can start rehabbing and talking to people about it'. So that's what we said Week 1."
PINERGY today announced that it has teamed up with Munster scrum-half, Conor Murray, for the 2018/2019 season, as part of its innovative #WeAre16 campaign. PINERGY the official energy partner to Munster Rugby will continue its Fan of the Match competition and introduce the new PINERGY POWER PLAYER for the second year of the #WeAre16 campaign. The Fan of the Match will be presented with a match jersey at every home game along with two tickets to the game. Munster fans will have the chance to nominate themselves through PINERGY’S Facebook page before every home game this season
Pictured today is Conor Murray ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
As he explained, in the meantime, "conspiracy theories" and "rumours" about the extent of the injury had spread in the media.
"It wasn't my intention to hold this big secret and make this massive. So to clear the air, it was from the beginning we were unsure how long I would be out," said Murray.
On the prognosis of his neck injury, he confirmed, "It's nearly better thank God".
It's now just a question of regaining full strength in the neck for full contact training as well as regaining full strength in his shoulder.
"It was nothing really complicated," he said.
"I'll get back to full fitness and fully recovered and we can put it to bed hopefully."
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