CJ Stander says that Munster let Conor Murray down when he took a battering against Glasgow earlier this year.
The feeling in the aftermath of the Champions Cup win in Scotstoun was that, as a key player, the scrum-half was targeted by the Warriors.
There were a number of questionable tackles, however, the most-talked about incident, which saw Murray receive medical treatment for a number of minutes on the pitch before going off for a HIA in a subsequent collision, was caused by poor tackle technique on the 27-year-old’s behalf.
Ireland take on Scotland in the opening Six Nations on Saturday and the Scottish skipper Greig Laidlaw has already said that they intend to target Murray in that game.
"Will we be putting pressure on him? For sure we will. He's not going to come to Murrayfield and get an armchair ride," Laidlaw was quoted as saying.
Back row Stander, who is likely to start for Ireland Saturday, believes that Ireland will have to protect Murray and said: "I think…from a Munster side we let him a bit down that weekend when we didn’t really look after him as much as we could.
"But it’s a different game and a different team and I think their mindset will be different. We’ll go out and play our game."
While admitting that Munster could have done more to look after their playmaker, Stander, who made his debut in last season’s campaign, added that Murray is big enough and bold enough to get on with business.
"He a player that looks after himself,” said the 26-year-old South African.
"We just need to get the ball back from the ruck and make it easier for him to get the ball and let him play his game because if you need to concentrate on stuff that’s not in your control then the game is going to get away from you.
"We all concentrate on our job and what we need to do so we’ll just make the ball available for him but he’s a big man, he’ll look after himself."
Live Six Nations coverage of Scotland versus Ireland on RTÉ Two on Saturday at 1.30pm (KO 2.25pm) and live radio commentary on RTÉ Radio 1’s Saturday Sport programme from 2pm. Live coverage of Scotland v Ireland in the Women’s Six Nations on RTÉ Two on Friday at 6.30pm (KO 6.35pm), with live radio updates and reaction on an extended 2FM Game On programme at 7pm.
