Despite being an unashamed 'Lonnacht', Gordon D'Arcy was full of praise for Munster's victory at Glasgow in the Champions Cup last Saturday.
In a particularly fascinating Irish Times column entry, the Leinster and Ireland legend provided some superb detail as to the perceived targeting of Conor Murray during a highly-aggressive encounter at Scotstoun.
The Munster scrum-half was on the wrong end of a number of late tackles - many directed at his knee and leg area. Brian Moore wrote yesterday that Glasgow's ruffling of Murray's feathers, despite its cynicism, was "a tactical success."
D'Arcy, too, wasn't surprised that the Cots attempted to derail Ireland's form player, and believes Murray will work on his technique to avoid such targeting in future:
Conor Murray had a really good game despite the suspected concussion and Glasgow forwards honing in on him for a little extra examination.
Murray was, clearly, targeted. This shouldn't come as a surprise. Any team that wants to negate Munster and Ireland need to get to him.
There is no bigger compliment. This is not going to cease. Conor will go away and look at these incidents and refine his technique, ever so slightly, to ensure those diving at his standing leg do not injure him or disrupt his mindset.
I’m sure Rassie Erasmus will pull him aside and say ‘Welcome to the Big League.’
The best nine in the game must be able to cope with cheap shots or little moments, like being held after play moves on.
It's an intriguing view from D'Arcy, who in a tremendous piece - which you can read in full here - goes on to compare Murray's plight to that of Joost van der Westhuizen, who starred alongside Rassie Erasmus at international level.
He also explains how Justin Marshall adapted to shrug off similar treatment during a Barbarians game with England at Twickenham in 2009.
