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Scotland will target Murray but fairly, says Brown

Fraser Brown (left) leads Scotland's warm up in the captain's run at Murrayfield Stadium
Fraser Brown (left) leads Scotland's warm up in the captain's run at Murrayfield Stadium

Scotland will still seek to pressure Ireland’s Lions half-back Conor Murray despite his claims that he’s being dangerously targeted in recent games.

Hooker Fraser Brown, starting in place of front row centurion Ross Ford, is one of five Glasgow players in the home pack of the RBS Six Nations opener from the two testing European Cup games with Murray’s Munster in which the scrum-half claimed he was being singled out for dangerous play.

And while those tussles and the league match with Munster – all lost by Glasgow – don’t have direct relevance on today’s opening Six Nations game, there is something to be drawn from them, Brown agrees.

“In a sense it’s a brilliant place to approach the game because we know each other so well,” he said. “From a Glasgow point of view we’ve been on the wrong side of the results in those battles, so I’m not going to lie and say it doesn’t mean anything because it does – there’s an added impetus, and there’s Scotland versus Ireland most weeks in the Pro12.

“It definitely adds a bit of spice because you know how the other team operates better. But I don’t think there’s any ill-feeling or anything like that.

“Certainly not from our point of view – we play the game and we play it really hard.”

And that includes measures to curb Murray’s influence.

“Murray has been playing really well this year, he’s one of the most in-form 9s in the world, and he has such a strong kicking game,” continued Brown. “Any team would look to pressurise their 9 and 10, and that’s what we’re going to do this weekend.

“We legally put a lot of pressure on him in that game and he was rattled, so we’ll be doing everything we can to make him uncomfortable again.

“There’s no malice, no ill-will or intent, we’re just playing the game of rugby. We maybe had one challenge there which was a little bit late, but that’s for the referee to look at but everything else was above board and onside of the law.”

Brown can’t get caught up in any mind games anyway, he says, as he has so many roles to perform, his setpiece and his presence about the park which probably got him the nod ahead of Ford.

“I don’t think there’s any more pressure on me,” he said of the selection. “There’s no point focusing on anyone else whether it’s in your position or the opposition: you just go out and look to play your own game.

“Ross and I have been in squads together for a long time. It’s not a you-versus-them thing: it’s constant dialogue. Because we’re trying to make the team better as a whole, and the only way we can do that is by helping each other.”

But even as the elder statesman in the starting front row with Allan Dell and Zander Fagerson, the responsibility is collective, he adds.

“Nothing technically changes at this level you’ve just got to be able to get the mindset right to go into a game of this magnitude, especially at the start of the competition,” he continued.

“Everyone knows that in the Six Nations you need to start well because it’s really difficult to come back if you get a slow start. So it’s really important that from the very first game, and for us the very first 20 minutes, that we’re in the right place.

“The same responsibility is shared across everyone in the team; everyone has their job to do. We all have the same responsibility.”

That may be so, but there’s definite added pressure on the young front row, with all three players who gave Scotland such a stable foundation from the 2015 World Cup through to the end of last season absent.

Ireland will be the first to test their mettle after the perception was the Scots buckled but didn’t wholly bend in the scrum in the autumn. Zander Fagerson has advanced huge strides even in the intervening two months, but that’s not going to stop every team in the championship targeting Scotland’s scrummage.

There’s no question the Scots have firepower behind the pack with Finn Russell at the very peak of his powers, Stuart Hogg a dazzling counterattacker and Tommy Seymour a magnificent finisher to name but three.

But the question remains whether the setpiece, scrummage and lineout, will win enough ball against the formidable Irish pack to provide Russell with enough ammunition to launch Scotland to a win.