With the Autumn internationals nearly upon us, many fans are already looking forward to Ireland's showdown with New Zealand at the Aviva on November 17th.
On the Second Captains podcast yesterday Shane Horgan was on to talk about the mouth watering clash, and one of the points raised was the absence/potential return of Conor Murray to the Irish fold in time for the game.
Murray has been on the sidelines with a bulging disk in his neck, which has seen him sidelined since Ireland's tour of Australia, though Ireland forward's coach Simon Easterby has not ruled the Munster scrum half out of contention for the New Zealand game.
New Zealand coach Steve Hansen had already had a tongue in cheek comment about Ireland tricking his team into thinking Murray will be a surprise inclusion:
Well, I’m not sure about that, I don’t know.
Is Conor really going to be out or is it an Irish trick? Or is it the truth?
Horgan delivered a response to Hansen's comments on the podcast, accusing Hansen and New Zealand of being self-absorbed in their view of Murray's injury:
I think we've rattled them. I think they don't like to be considered in the same breath as Ireland and you know it's funny how self absorbed they are, they're talking about Conor Murray and whether this is a big trick to get one over on New Zealand.
The fact that he's been out for the last god knows how many months, just to get one over on New Zealand. Listen lads I know youse love rugby and are absorbed by it but we have other things going on as well.
The former Ireland wing also stated that if the physicality of the All Blacks could be a key factor in the tie and believes that if the All Blacks adopt a similar approach to their 2016 defeat to Ireland then they will see several players sin binned.
You can listen the full interview on the Second Captains here.
