Conor Murray and Robbie Henshaw to miss remainder of Ireland's autumn international series

Ireland internationals Robbie Henshaw and Conor Murray has been ruled out of the remainder of the autumn international campaign after failing to make sufficient recovery from their respective injuries.

Scrum-half Murray is out of action since June when he suffered a neck injury during the series against Australia. The 29-year-old was not named in the initial 42-man squad by head coach Joe Schmidt and now will miss the final two games of the series including a pivotal clash against the All Blacks.

Meanwhile, Henshaw pulled a hamstring ahead of the game against Argentina last weekend forcing Schmidt to replace him with Will Addison in the line-up.

"Conor Murray is accelerating through his recovery but will not join the squad during the Guinness Series window," a statement released by the Irish Rugby Football Union said.

Meanwhile, fly-half Johnny Sexton backed Murray's decision to not take a chance in the upcoming game against the All Blacks and is hopeful of him returning soon to action.

"I obviously stayed in touch with Conor a lot over the injury to see how he has been getting on and all the time he's been improving, but I suppose he's just trying to make sure he can get it right from now and it not be an issue going forward," said Sexton.

"It's probably a smart thing. It's a big ask. If you're out for a few weeks and you're asked to play the All Blacks, that's tough enough.

"But if you're out for the period of time he has been out for, it would be a big step in.

"Hopefully, we'll see him back soon, I'm not sure how soon but obviously he's a quality player, we'd hope to have him back, whether Munster or Ireland, whenever he can."

Ireland will host New Zealand and the United States of America on 17th and 24th November respectively in their final two games of the series at Aviva Stadium.