Murphy’s relief tempered by need to step it up a gear
And he accepts that Eddie O’Sullivan’s side need to improve if the dream of a Grand Slam is to remain alive.
“There are mixed emotions about the win over England - sheer happiness and a wipe of the brow that we survived,” he wrote in his online diary for the BBC.
Though overjoyed with the win, Murphy agrees that the manner of victory is a cause for concern.
“We had set our sights on coming away with two points. We got them but we did it without too much style. But I have to be fair to England, they played fantastically well.
“We really had to graft very hard out there, put our bodies on the line. When the game became scrappy they looked very dangerous and kept us under pressure. All the Irish players feel really proud coming out on top in a game like that. Not conceding a try in those last 10 minutes was hard work, but extremely gratifying.”
He paid special tribute to Ronan O’Gara and the work of the pack in such testing circumstances.
“He’s having a tremendous season and deserved the man-of-the-match award,” he said of O’Gara.
“His kicking against the wind in the first-half was awesome, and in the second-half he controlled the game.
“It was also a huge performance from the pack. We knew the England forwards were going to come out all fired up and ready to take the game to us. But we set out our stall not to be bullied, and our forwards didn’t give an inch. It was a sort of impasse, and in the end it was them who won us the game.”
And he didn’t escape the physicality.
“I’m not feeling too clever at the minute and there are a few boys I have to have a word with. There were a few dropped knees from a couple of Leicester colleagues that didn’t do my leg any good.”
Murphy played a key role in Brian O’Driscoll’s 58th-minute touchdown - his first in six Tests against England.
Yet the Leicester star was modest about his part in the crucial score.
“What about that try by our skipper Brian O’Driscoll? It was magical and it was the defining moment of the game. That gave us the 19-13 lead, and we hung on from there. At that time, the game was swaying one way then the other, and it was very important time for us to score.
“To be honest, I don’t remember much about the build-up to the try. It was a planned move to bring Denis Hickie in from the left wing and he made the initial thrust. I think it nearly brought us a score then. The ball was recycled and I showed the ball, saw the gap, and then put Brian away. He didn’t have much room to manoeuvre, but his pace took him clear.”
Murphy is wary of the French challenge on March 12, yet confident that Ireland will learn many lessons from Sunday.
“As I said, we did well to win the game - but I know we have another couple of gears to use yet. There are a number of areas which we have to work on before we hit the French.
“The championship is still wide open, but to state an old cliché we are taking it one game at a time. The French are hurt and they are going to be very tough indeed. They were awesome in the first-half against the Welsh before the wheels came off and they are going to be smarting from that.”
Meanwhile, his colleague Johnny O’Connor will wait until the Six Nations is finished before deciding where he will play his club rugby next season.
Wasps want the livewire openside to sign a new contract after two great seasons under Warren Gatland at the club.
But there are a host of clubs queuing up for the 25-year-old - including his native Connacht.
O’Connor is one of several players being targeted by Connacht as part of an ambitious plan to bring Irish players home from Britain.
Gavin Duffy, Colm Rigney and Damien Browne - all of whom played with O’Connor at Connacht - are also on the list, as well as Irish blindside flanker Simon Easterby, the current Llanelli skipper.
Connacht last week submitted a business plan to the IRFU outlining how they can bring the players home.
The IRFU reaction remains to be seen but the news that O’Connor will not be putting pen to paper for another few weeks at least, will be a welcome relief.
“There are a number of options, but it is an issue I don’t want to address for the next few weeks.
“I am really enjoying my rugby at the moment. Sunday was a huge win for us.
We left it late, but once we kept plugging away I felt we were always going to win it,” said O’Connor.
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