Patient Murphy ready and waiting to answer Ireland call

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If there’s one area this island is oversubscribed with talent it’s the back-row. At number eight you’ve Jamie Heaslip holding off Robin Copeland, Roger Wilson and James Coughlan. At seven Chris Henry has come in for Sean O’Brien while Tommy O’Donnell sits in the wings alongside Shane Jennings. At six Peter O’Mahony has made the position his own despite the efforts of Kevin McLaughlin and Rhys Ruddock.

It’d be easy to become frustrated. Especially if you’re Jordi Murphy. He’s been brought into Irish squads for the past two seasons as cover for all three positions but never made the match-day squad.

A full international cap remains elusive but he hasn’t given up hope.

“Obviously I wasn’t involved in the 23 and that was disappointing but he (Joe Schmidt) just said to keep going and keep putting my hand up,” explained Murphy.

“If I keep doing that then hopefully, eventually, I’ll get a cap, but as soon as I knew I wasn’t going to be involved I just put my mind back to Leinster. I got there by having some good performances so I’ve got to keep that up and even improve if I want to get into the 23, 25-man squad.

“Every player obviously wants to be starting for Ireland now and to be a week-in, week-out regular. I can’t be thinking, ‘oh, I’m happy where I am now’ because then I might be getting a bit lazy. Patience is a part of the game obviously, everyone is impatient because you want to do better and better. But it’s up to you to play as well as you can and make the coaches make the hard decisions.”

A full 80 minutes against Zebre in their 8-31 rout last week gave him an area to take out any frustrations he might have had. It was his first full game since the Castres victory in the final stage of the Heineken Cup and gave him a chance to get back into the squad for the England game.

“This year I really set my goals high. I was happy enough with the first couple of weeks and then I had a setback, but I’ve come back and just wanted to play as much as I can. I’m enjoying the new coaching with Matt [O’Connor] and the faith that Jono [Gibbes] and Feeky [Greg Feek] have shown in me, so I’ve just got to keep it up and keep playing well.”

To repay that faith by becoming a fully-fledged international he must first dislodge Munster man Tommy O’Donnell from the bench. He’s hoping his versatility will count in future selection meetings, even if it’s costing him now.

“Tommy got picked ahead of me in the last two games; it’s just up to me to play better. He had an injury setback at the start of the year, but he’s come back unbelievably strong and he’s put his name in the mix big time.

“The versatility is obviously great as an option for a coach. If they wanted to have me on the bench then they don’t have to worry about mixing people around when I come on but I’d have to say I probably have to start focusing on one or two positions, so seven and eight are what I’m focusing on at the moment. In the future I’m sure I’ll start sticking to one.”

Tonight’s meeting with the Newport Gwent Dragons is the perfect opportunity in the number eight role.

Fergus McFadden, Martin Moore, Sean Cronin and Jack McGrath who all saw game time against Wales in the Six Nations start, while Rhys Ruddock, who was on the extended match day squad, also comes in.

LEINSTER: Z Kirchner, F McFadden, B Macken, N Reid, D Fanning, I Madigan, E Reddan; J McGrath, S Cronin, M Moore, L Cullen (capt), M McCarthy, R Ruddock, S Jennings, J Murphy.

Replacements: A Dundon, M Bent, T Furlong, T Denton, D Ryan, I Boss, J Gopperth, D Hudson.