Tigers’ Murphy game for battle

THIS is a big week for Geordan Murphy but he hides it well.

When he takes to the field in an Irish jersey this afternoon it will be for the first time since fielding Stephen Jones’ fateful kick in the Millennium Stadium last March.

No Irish player knows Twickenham as well as Murphy who has been domiciled in the English midlands since 1997. His familiarity with the opposing players and management is no less complete.

The sense that the stars have aligned for Murphy this week is only franked by the revolving door that saw Rob Kearney leave the squad through injury at the same time as Murphy was returning to full fitness.

With Girvan Dempsey’s international career all but wound down, Luke Fitzgerald also out injured and Keith Earls still light on exposure at 15, it was no surprise when Declan Kidney turned to Newbridge’s finest.

It remains to be seen when Kearney will be available for selection again but Murphy is unwilling – publicly, at least – to paint today’s fixture as some sort of audition for a more permanent stint in the role.

“Not really, no,” insisted the Leicester Tiger who made a two-try debut against the USA in 2000. “It’s not something that I’m overly worried about. I’m delighted to be back in but who knows what will happen? I’m not concerned about any game other than this weekend and we’ll see what happens down the line.”

Such equanimity has long been par for the course for Murphy on international media duties and it is difficult to argue with that approach given what must, despite his protestations, be a frustrating litany of highs and lows.

God knows, it hasn’t been all that bad. Murphy has 63 international caps to his credit after all but the likes of John Hayes and Ronan O’Gara debuted in the same year and are on the cusp of centuries.

Murphy’s stuttering international career was never more apparent than last year when he played in only five of Ireland’s ten games – all bar one as a replacement – his lowest representation since the 2001/02 campaign.

He returns this time light on match practice after cameos against Northampton and Leeds and one 80-minute run against Gloucester and readily admits that he can’t remember his last Six Nations start.

For the record, that was also in Twickenham, in 2008, when the hosts ushered Eddie O’Sullivan out the door with a comfortable 33-10 victory after Ireland had scored the first ten points.

Whatever today’s outcome, it is difficult to see the full-back being taken by surprise given the fact that he is probably more familiar with a good number of the England players than he is his own teammates.

Interestingly, there are only two Tigers in the starting XV, both of them – predictably, given the club’s reputation – in the pack, but the midlands side will be better represented in the stands come 4pm. Martin Johnson aside, Graham Rowntree, Brian Smith and John Wells have all spent chapters of their careers there although Murphy doesn’t go along with the notion that England are some sort of Leicester-writ-large.

“There’s a lot of those guys who are involved in management with England and they seem to be doing a pretty good job. It’s always very difficult to take over any team and make them successful. But the English team will probably go into this game as favourites so they seem to be doing a pretty good job. It’s not that any team plays any particular style. They’ll play many different styles of rugby.”

It might not be pretty but it is the kind of day Murphy will enjoy. He will, after all, be 33 in less than two months but he bristles at the notion that his time on stages of this magnitude is coming to an end.

“Says who? It’s not something I think about. As soon as you think it’s almost over, you might as well hang up your boots. In my head, I’m going to play in these fixtures for another 10 years. I know that’s not going to be the case. It’s not something you think about. You just get on with it.”