Murphy inspired by Lewsey heroics

Geordan Murphy could have been forgiven for kissing goodbye to any hopes of wearing the Lions fullback jersey in the Test series against New Zealand after watching Josh Lewsey produced a stunning man-of-the-match display in the Lions’ victory over the Bay of Plenty.

But not a bit of it. The Irishman is relishing the challenge and today vowed to respond by raising the bar even higher against Taranaki on Wednesday.

“I always love challenges and for me personally I’d love to be playing in a Lions Test shirt, preferable at 15,” said Murphy.

“So for me it was great that Josh played so well against the Bay. I thought his performance was fantastic.

“He was unblemished, he scored a couple of tries and laid one on (for Gordon D’Arcy) when he could have got a hat-trick, which was very unselfish of him.

“I was delighted to see him playing so well. If players like Josh set the bar so high for the rest of the guys then that will raise our game as players.

“If we want to get into the Test team we are going to have to play some fantastic rugby, so I’m looking forward to having a run out on Wednesday.”

Murphy struggled to hit top form during the Six Nations and again for the Lions against Argentina in Cardiff.

Many of the Lions were on a hiding to nothing that day as the squad had done very little preparation and next to no analysis of the Pumas.

But while Wednesday represents a bigger opportunity for Murphy, he is acutely aware that trying too hard to prove himself could end up being detrimental to his chances of winning a Test place.

“I suppose I learnt very early in my rugby career that the game isn’t all about scoring tries. It is about team performances,” he said.

“It is obviously important to play well an that is always the aim when I step onto a rugby field, but there is no fear of me trying to do anything spectacular.

“It is more important that the team gets the win and I’d rather have an average performance with the team winning that a fantastic personal performance and a poor defeat.”

The Lions hit the ground running on Saturday, racing into an explosive 17-0 lead inside 14 minutes before losing their way – not helped by Lawrence Dallaglio’s injury – and the Bay of Plenty hit back to level things up at half time.

The Lions ground out a 34-20 win that head coach Sir Clive Woodward insisted will give the squad momentum.

The responsibility to keeping that ball rolling now lies with the midweek side, which will be captained by Murphy’s Leicester team-mate Martin Corry.

In actual fact, there are five Tigers players in the Lions starting XV on Wednesday night and with Murphy flanked by Irish wingers Denis Hickie and Shane Horgan, he should feel right at home.

“Cozza brings honesty to his captaincy. He is direct and will have a big say this week,” said Murphy.

“It makes things a little bit easier having an all Irish back three and we should gel immediately having played a few Tests together already,” he said.

“I suppose I’m onto a winner with so many Irish and Leicester players in the team, but I’m excited about playing with the guys I haven’t played with before and that will be interesting.

“But the trick of any tour is to gel together a group of guys who haven’t played together before. It is important to work on my relationship with the guys I don’t know so we can get a good team performance together.”

Taranaki boast a number of players with Super 12 experience and the pack has been bolstered by the return of former All Blacks hooker Andrew Hore, flanker Chris Masoe and lock Paul Tito.

Tito was part of the New Zealand Maori team who defeated Fiji last week, while Hore and Masoe were in the winning Possibles side in last Friday’s All Blacks trial.

Samoan winger Sailosi Tagicakibau starts after recovering from the hairline fracture of his right leg suffered playing for Super 12 side the Waikato Chiefs five weeks ago.

“I’ve seen a bit of Taranaki and they are a hard running team. They are very strong with the ball in hand and I think they’ll be a tough opposition,” said Murphy.

“They’re a direct side and from what I know of Taranaki of old, they are a forward orientated side and they’ll pose us some real threats.

“But it is very important to keep the momentum going now, and I think everyone in this team is keen to get out on the paddock and have a run.”

Taranaki: S Ireland; S Tagicakibau, M Stewart, M Lifeimi, C Woods; S Young, C Fevre; T Penn, A Hore, G Slater, P Tito (capt), S Breman, J Willis, C Masoe, T Soqeta.

Replacements: P Mitchell, H Mitchell, J Eaton, R Bryant, M Harvey, B Watt, J King.

British and Irish Lions: G Murphy (Leicester and Ireland); S Horgan (Leinster and Ireland), W Greenwood (Harlequins and England), O Smith (Leicester and England), D Hickie (Leinster and Ireland); C Hodgson (Sale and England), C Cusiter (Borders and Scotland); G Rowntree (Leicester and England), A Titterrell (Sale and England), J Hayes (Munster and Ireland), D O’Callaghan (Munster and Ireland), D Grewcock (Bath and England), M Corry (Leicester and England, capt), L Moody (Leicester and England), M Owen (Newport Gwent Dragons and Wales)

Replacements: S Byrne (Leinster and Ireland), G Jenkins (Cardiff and Wales), B Kay (Leicester and England), M Williams (Cardiff and Wales), G Cooper (Newport Gwent Dragons and Wales), J Wilkinson (Newcastle and England), G Henson (Neath Swansea Ospreys and Wales).