Ireland scrum half Conor Murray discussed dealing with losing matches, reviewing his performances and keeping things positive on OTB AM on Tuesday, after the defeat to France on Saturday.

The 31-year-old Munster stalwart mentioned that it can be difficult to remain positive due to the pressure innate in professional rugby.

“It can be tough, with the pressure,” Murray said.

“Most of the time it is a very good job, and it is really enjoyable, but with it comes negativity and comes some stress.”

Murray was announced as a Down Syndrome Ireland ambassador on Monday, supporting awareness and support for those with down syndrome.

He suggested that his work as an ambassador actually helps keep the positivity in his own life.

“Having that outlet, and seeing people in the organisation, whether it be children with down syndrome, or volunteers with their positivity,” Murray said.

“The way they see the world, they see it for what it is.

“Sometimes you get tunnel vision, getting caught up on what you are doing, it can seem like the most important thing in the world at the time.

“It is a good way to be as well, it motivates you to do the best, but it is nice to be able to see it from another point of view and not get too cordoned off in your own world.”

Conor Murray of Ireland during the Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship match between France and Ireland at Stade de France in Paris, France. Photo by Sportsfile

Murray looks to learn from every match

While Murray tries to remain positive about every performance, he mentioned that it is important to learn from every match.

“You need to take it on board, learn from it, and move on,” Murray said.

“I think earlier in my career you would have dwelled on it for a lot longer, but now you can learn from it a lot better, you are more experienced, you can learn from it a lot quicker.

“As long as you feel like you are doing everything you can that is a reason to feel positive.

“The loss hurts, it hurts massively because we could have had a trophy today if we had played a small bit better, but you just go again.”

After a loss like Ireland’s final Six Nations match on Saturday, Murray explained how he recovers from a difficult loss.

“We came home [on Sunday]… obviously on the way home you are thinking about the game,” Murray said.

“I hadn’t watched it, I just chilled out, we ate dinner and I watched a movie with my girlfriend Joanna and we just chilled out and didn’t talk about rugby.

“This morning when you wake up, because it is further away, you can process it, so I sat down this morning and watched the game back on my laptop.

“I did my own review, where we went wrong, what could have been better, and that’s locked away and we will chat about it when we get back to camp.”

Conor Murray of Ireland during the Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship match between France and Ireland at Stade de France in Paris, France. Photo by Sportsfile

Recovering from a bad match

Ireland went into the weekend as the only team whose fate was fully in their own hands, as they knew that they could have won the Six Nations with a bonus point win.

On the day, it turned out that they only needed to win by six points after they scored a try against France to win the championship.

Murray mentioned that, although they were not that far away, the Irish performance was not up to scratch.

“It is fine margins in sport,” Murray said.

“When you win or lose, it is always by fine margins, so we are not that far away.

“We are disappointed by the way we performed, but we know within our group, within our bubble, that we can be an awful lot better.

“It wasn’t as if we played to our full potential last week; we just played under par and we deserved to lose because we didn’t play that well.”

Murray acknowledged that he needs to be the one to review his own performance and see where he needs to improve.

“You have to be your own worst critic at times,” Murray said.

“Only you know, truly, yourself if you are working as hard as you possibly can or if you could have worked harder in a couple of areas.

“You just give yourself a true reflection of how you saw yourself playing in the game.

“If you are someone who brushes over those mistakes or you don’t see those opportunities where you could have done better, you won’t be in the game too long.”

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