Munster’s secret weapon? Larry Murphy

“HOW do you pronounce the name of that new signing?” Munster coach Declan Kidney was asked recently.

“Life-imi Mafi,” replied Declan. Alongside Declan, however, Munster captain Paul O’Connell leaned his considerable frame towards the microphone – “Larry Murphy,” he whispered, to loud laughter. Another Munster baptism, another nickname to rank alongside ever-popular Australian Jim ‘Seamus’ Williams.

On Saturday, Mafi introduced himself to the Munster faithful in Thomond Park, and man, did he leave an impression.

“Now that’s an introduction,” said Ronan O’Gara, with a grin. “The thing about islanders, they accelerate into contact. We’ve met provincial teams on the Lions’ tour, all those fellas of Maori extraction, they go up a gear into contact, where a lot of us might melt in contact, but Jeez, that was some hand-off!”

The hand off O’Gara referred to was one that Bourgoin full-back Florin Denos won’t be saving in his video bank, a stiff-arm from Lifeimi that turned the Frenchman arse-over-kettle, on the break that was to result in Munster’s sixth try. That was just minutes after the former New Zealand U-19 and U-21 had put in a huge defensive hit on one of the massive Bourgoin forwards, stopping him dead in his tracks, underlining his ability on both sides of the ball. It was a debut that impressed everyone, not least Mafi’s new centre partner and new namesake, Barry Murphy.

“Ah he’s just brilliant, the very same as Federico (Pucciariello, popular Argentinean prop), always a big smile on his face, but he doesn’t fit in at all. That’s the joke here, ‘ah sure he doesn’t fit’, but he certainly does, a gas man, absolutely gas man. We haven’t done much full-on training since he’s arrived, it’s been all six-day turnarounds from game to game, so we haven’t seen much of him. But we saw it now, he’s got some pace. Only on the field a couple of minutes when he put in that big hit, then made that break for the try. There’s competition there now, I’ll have to keep my eye on him!”

They’ll have to keep an eye on each other because Barry Murphy, back in Thomond Park for the first time since a serious leg injury seven months ago, was also in superb form, several searing line-breaks reminiscent of the sort of form that saw him called up to the Irish squad last season. “It’s been a long seven months, but I had a good feeling before the game; it’s absolutely brilliant to get back into it, the huge crowd, everything. You could feel the extra buzz around beforehand, even in the dressing-room.”

It was better than good, and Barry himself looked to be back to his explosive best, always looking for the gap. Appearances, however, can be deceptive, reckoned the man himself. “I don’t know about that, I’m still a bit sluggish, a few things to iron out, I’m not as sharp as I was this time last year.

“At times, far too early in the game for a 23-year-old, I was feeling a bit tired, a bit weary. There’s still have an awful lot of hard work to do off the field.”

Perhaps, but with Barry Murphy and ‘Larry Murphy’, one coming back to full fitness and form after a long injury layoff, the other coming in from the blue, with Trevor Halstead showing the kind of form that helped Munster to the long-sought European Cup win last season, Munster fans now have a number of centres to really get excited over.

Steady on, cautions Barry. “We’re not going to get over-excited about it. Bourgoin didn’t threaten us that often out wide, while we had a lot of ball. As a backline we’re getting more confident, had a lot to iron out after the Edinburgh defeat a couple of weeks ago.

“We got to experiment a small bit in this game, throw it around a bit. Bringing on the likes of Tomás (O'Leary), Jeremy (Manning), Leifimi, that was good as well, and will help in the Celtic League, when the internationals are away.”