Henshaw and Murray ruled out of All Blacks clash

Conor Murray has been ruled out of Ireland's autumn Test with New Zealand on Saturday.

The British and Irish Lions scrum-half has not played since damaging his neck on Ireland's summer tour to Australia in June.

Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt had admitted after Saturday's 28-17 victory over Argentina that Murray was still in the running for a surprise return to take on the All Blacks.

Murray was omitted from Ireland's 42-man autumn Test squad, and will now not feature this month.

"Conor Murray is accelerating through his recovery but will not join the squad during the Guinness Series window," the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) confirmed in a statement.

Ireland will also be without Robbie Henshaw for the New Zealand and USA encounters, after the centre sustained a hamstring strain.

Henshaw pulled up in the warm-up ahead of Saturday's Pumas clash, and will now miss out this weekend.

"Robbie Henshaw's hamstring issue will rule him out of the remainder of the Guinness Series," read the IRFU statement.

"After the opening game of the 2018 Guiness Series at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening, a couple of players will be managed in training today following a physical encounter against Argentina but all are expected to train fully on Tuesday and Thursday."

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