Murphy accustomed to playing the waiting game

Will the last back row at Leinster please turn the lights off?

Spare a thought for Josh Murphy. Living the dream at Leinster, the sheer quality of player beside him means living the dream in a green shirt seems improbably far off.

A look at Andy Farrell’s squad for the game against England this week sees Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris, Will Connors, and Max Deegan involved — while Dan Leavy and Jack Conan are out injured. Then there’s Rhys Ruddock, a former Ireland captain, and Scott Penny, the highly rated former U20 star.f

“Myself and Penny are holding down the fort while everyone goes and plays for Ireland!” Murphy laughed.

“It’s great for those lads, I’ve come up playing with those lads, I’ve known how good they are all along. That makes it more and more competitive every week, but that’s why this club is as good as it is, there’s always someone ready to fill someone else’s boots.”

Doris was a surprise starter in the opening game against Scotland, Farrell’s first game in charge, but the Mayo man was unfortunate to suffer a concussion just four minutes into the game.

He missed the win over Wales, but is available for Twickenham on Sunday.

How would Murphy feel watching his younger team-mate getting such an opportunity?

“Delighted for him,” Murphy said. “Would I like to be there? Absolutely, I’d like to be on the Leinster team every week too, but that’s on me, not Caelan. I’m delighted for him and if he gets to run out at Twickenham at the weekend, it’d be brilliant.”

Murphy wore the green shirt 13 times at U20 stage, but for now the impatience to do so at Test level has to be parked — there are other games to win, and individual battles to win, also.

“There’s always a short term target now to work towards.

Week to week it (playing for Ireland) doesn’t cross my mind too often, because I’m often always fighting another battle here, so I haven’t gone to myself ‘that’s me not being an international’, I just keep going and trying to play as much for Leinster as I can.

A European debut came against Lyon last November, and while it was a serious mark of progress, Murphy is not resting on his laurels.

“It feels like a long time ago now, I wouldn’t mind getting another European game,” he said.

“It feels something like a box ticked, but while it’s great at the time, you just want to do it again straight away. It’s a box ticked, but I’m not content with it.”

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