Conor Murray felt overwhelming shame and embarrassment after Ireland's defeat to New Zealand in the 2023 Rugby World Cup. He had pictured delivering a victory that would spark nationwide celebration, with open-top bus parades in Dublin and receptions across Limerick and Thomond Park. The loss erased those dreams and left him retreating into isolation, afraid to meet people and unwilling to talk. He described returning to a quiet house on a quiet street and hiding away, feeling bereft of the shared national joy he had hoped to give supporters and haunted by what was lost.
After a defeat of that magnitude, I find I just want to hide myself away. I'm afraid to meet people. I'm kind of embarrassed. You're well aware that the whole country had massive high hopes for us reaching a World Cup final and maybe winning the whole thing. And as a player you want to give them that high. You want to make them feel proud, you want to help to give them this national celebration.
And in that little child's part of your brain where you still hold onto your dreams, you've pictured the open-top bus parade in Dublin with hundreds of thousands lining the streets; the reception in Limerick, in Thomond Park, everywhere you go. But now you come home to your quiet house on your quiet street and you hide away, basically. You don't want to talk to anyone.
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