Conor Murray may yet feature for Ireland against the All Blacks at the Aviva on November 17th.
The Munster scrum-half was not included when the Ireland squad for the November internationals was named last week.
However, he has been part of Ireland's training camp at Carton House.
"No, he hasn’t been ruled out," Ireland forwards coach, Simon Easterby, is quoted as saying by the Irish Examiner.
He’s been on a longer-term injury list, but he’s in camp this week. He’s been in Carton and we’ll probably assess him as we go through the series.
Everyone that was selected in that squad is not necessarily fit now, but they’re potentially available throughout the series. We’ll make decisions on each individual case as we go through the series, partly dependant on how well things go this weekend and, hopefully, if we stay injury free, but with Conor, it’s giving him an opportunity to get back in with us, working with some treatment, but also there’s still potential.
Murray disclosed last week that a bulging disc in his neck has kept him out of action since Ireland's summer tour of Australia.
"I’m nearly back," said Murray.
"I’m doing 90% of training with Munster for the last three weeks or so, doing modified contact on the sideline.
"I think in the next few weeks I’ll be allowed play. I’m itching to play, I’m pretty much fully training and I feel good.
"This isn’t an injury you can push, it’s in my neck and you’ve just to make sure it’s strong enough to come back and play professional rugby."
The chance that Murray could feature next month will not come as much of a surprise to New Zealand head coach, Steve Hansen. He joked over the weekend that Murray being omitted from Joe Schmidt's could be an "Irish trick".
Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
