Murphy tinkering with thoughts of retirement

GEORDAN MURPHY admits he is likely to retire from international rugby before next year’s Six Nations.

The full-back made two appearances during Ireland’s run to the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals, his 71st and 72nd for his country. But the 33-year-old says he is leaning towards giving up international rugby in order to concentrate on captaining Leicester Tigers.

And although Murphy is set to depart the international stage, he believes that the likes of Brian O’Driscoll, Paul O’Connell and Ronan O’Gara will continue to make themselves available for Declan Kidney – although he has doubts as to how many will still be around for the next World Cup, in England in 2015.

“I haven’t made a concrete decision yet but I’m heading that way,” said Murphy when asked about international retirement. “I spoke to Declan Kidney at the end of the World Cup. I’m weighing up my options and I’ll probably make a call on it before the Six Nations.”

He added: “I don’t think many of them (other Ireland players) will retire. If you’re based in Ireland, you’re centrally contracted so it wouldn’t be smart to retire. But for many of the guys at the World Cup it was their last opportunity.

“We very much have a number of young players to build a side around. But there are a lot of good young players coming through the ranks.”

And Murphy has admitted that the agonising 22-10 defeat to Wales still hurts almost a month after the event.

“I think everyone was disappointed to leave the World Cup early,” he said. “Everyone aspires to be there in the final and there are disappointments we all have to deal with. It was one of those things.

“The World Cup experience was going well for us, and we were enjoying it. We were quite happy playing against Wales in a quarter-final. But nothing went right for us and we were beaten by the better side on the day.

“Its disappointing – but that’s life.”