New Zealand beat Australia 37-20 in their third Bledisloe Cup match in Yokohama on Saturday.
Post-match, All Blacks head coach, Seve Hansen, was asked by an Irish journalist about New Zealand's November game against Ireland in Dublin.
"How much of a blow do you think the loss of Conor Murray will be to Ireland's chances of beating New Zealand?" was the question put to Hansen.
Hansen responded by initially affecting an Irish accent. Though, he abandoned it mid-sentence.
"I'm not sure about that, I don't know if Conor's going to be out or if it's an Irish trick or is it the truth," said Hansen.
Murray has been out of action since the summer tour of Australia due to a neck injury. The scrum-half said during the week that he hopes to be back in action in a "few weeks".
The game against New Zealand will likely come too soon for the 29-year-old. Though, in his Irish Examiner column on Friday, Ronan O'Gara said he gut tells him that Murray will play.
"Conor's a great player and it's really disappointing for both Ireland and us that he's not playing," added Hansen.
When you play quality teams, you want all their players to be there. It's called a Test match for a reason and it's about testing yourself.
They'll miss him but what a wonderful opportunity for someone else to step up and play well for Ireland. I'm sure whoever that is that's given the opportunity will do their best to do that.
You can watch Hansen speaking about Conor Murray at the 5:44 mark below.
