Jamison Gibson-Park says he is “really lucky” to have learnt from legendary scrum-half Conor Murray, who will play his final game for Ireland on Saturday.
The 35-year-old will call time on his international career after Ireland’s final game of the Six Nations in Rome.
Alongside Peter O’Mahony and Cian Healy, who will also retire from Test rugby after the tournament, Murray played his final Ireland game in Dublin in Saturday’s defeat by France.
Gibson-Park said Murray, who has won five Six Nations titles, was “unbelievable and a great guy”.
“He was one of the best in the world for the guts of 10 years,” said Gibson-Park, who moved to Ireland from his native New Zealand to join Leinster in 2016.
“I used to watch on and when I first arrived in Ireland I was kind of amazed at how good he was really, he was unbelievably consistent and I suppose in many ways I felt at that time I was probably a little inconsistent.
“So I looked up to guys like him for sure, and then getting into camp with him, it’s been awesome to rub shoulders with him. He’s such a great guy and he’s certainly helped my career.”
Gibson-Park says Ireland will be motivated for Murray, O’Mahony and Healy to end their time in green on a high.
“I feel privileged to have played with all three of them,” he said.
“It would be nice to finish off in a good way for the lads that are done, obviously it was their last game in the Aviva, but we have another game [on Saturday] to look forward to.
“That’s the beauty about this competition, we still have a game to go and we can turn around hopefully, so I look forward to that.”
