Murphy tips team-mate Morris for Ireland honours

GEORDAN MURPHY reckons Leicester team-mate Niall Morris is on the fast-track to the Ireland side — and has tipped the youngster to show why against Ulster this evening.

The 23-year-old wing joined Leicester from Leinster in the summer on a two-year deal, and has made a fine start to his Tigers career, scoring four tries in nine games for the club — including one on his Heineken Cup debut against Aironi last weekend. But he faces a tough test against an Ulster side that will be on a high after last weekend’s stunning 16-11 victory over Clermont Auvergne. Yet Murphy insists Morris is a fine talent and could make all the difference against an Ulster side bidding to build on last season’s run to the Heineken Cup quarter-finals.

“Niall’s a quality player,” said Murphy, who insists he has given no further thought to his own international future after hinting he is likely to retire from Ireland duty before the Six Nations.

“I think he is a future international. I knew when he came over that he was a class player from speaking to a couple of the Leinster boys, and he’s impressed me. He’s a quiet guy but the boys are all right behind him. He’s a good runner, a good ball player, he can play on either wing or at full-back very comfortably.

“He can potentially be a very good player indeed and hopefully we will see that this weekend.”

Murphy admits Ulster are now a force to be reckoned with their influx of foreign stars to go with their homegrown talent. The likes of Ruan Pienaar, Johann Muller and Pedrie Wannenberg were vital as Ulster reached the last eight for the first time since they won the Heineken Cup in 1999, and Murphy believes they have made a real difference to the province. But he says his side can bounce back after their own torrid start to the campaign, having won just two of their opening eight Aviva Premiership matches.

“Ulster didn’t quite make it for a few years, but then they signed some quality players to go with the young talent they’ve got coming through to join the likes of Stephen Ferris. It will be a really tough game. I thought they had the potential to go a lot further than the quarter-finals last season, and I know how ambitious they are from some of the guys in their side. It’s going to be a very big ask for us to beat them as they want to go further than last season. It’s a really big game for us. We’ve had a tough start to the season so we have to try and get a team together, and we’re having to juggle with a few injuries. The Heineken Cup is a competition we want to do well in and Ulster are a quality side, so we know it couldn’t get much harder than that.”

And Murphy admits his Irish World Cup team-mates such as Ferris, Rory Best and Andrew Trimble have been bombarded with texts ahead of the game. “There will be a couple of them getting a message or two before the game,” laughed Murphy. “I’ll speak to a couple of them before and wish them luck and I’m sure I’ll speak to them afterwards.”