Joe Schmidt not worried about Conor Murray’s third suspected concussion in 10 months

The Ireland coach allayed fears that his scrum-half might miss the start of the World Cup.

Conor Murray was briefly sparked out by an accidental heel to the jaw, 16 minutes into Ireland's loss to England today. The Munster No.9 was taken off for a Head Injury Assessment. Joe Schmidt claims he passed it. In his post-match briefing, Schmidt commented, 'Conor went through all the Head Injury Assessments successfully, but because he was knocked down it was pertinent to leave him off the pitch so he sat it out. 'He’ll go through the return to play protocols which should see him fully fit for the start of the World Cup.' It is the third time in 10 months that Murray has been suspected of being concussed. He passed a HIA during Ireland's November Series win over Australia, only to demonstrate concussion-like symptoms the Monday after the game. In January he underwent a HIA during January's Guinness PRO12 win over Zebre but was ultimately ruled out of action for a month with a neck injury. Asked about his starting scrum-half shipping so many heavy blows in the space of two months, Schmidt was unconcerned. 'I think that it’s been a long time since he had one,' Schmidt began. 'I think the severity of it was that, I don’t know if you saw him coming off the pitch, but he was fine. 'One of the good things in the modern game is he’s removed from the pitch and stays off the pitch. 'Going back 10 or 15 years he probably would have just played on.' Schmidt is also refusing to panic after Ireland's second successive defeat. 'If someone’s made a mistake it’s because they are human,' he reasoned. 'If they repeat the mistake and we see they need to work on that, they maybe work on that away from being selected the next time, and hopefully that can be remedied. 'But we wouldn’t really be trigger-happy about maybe tailing someone who’s made a few mistakes and saying that’s untenable and therefore we’re going to move you on.'