Ben Murphy's 'far-fetched' Ireland ambition realised after big year at Connacht

Ben Murphy has gone from surplus to requirements at Leinster to one of Connacht's key figures. Picture: Ben Brady/Inpho

Go back to the end of the 2024/25 season and Ben Murphy was stuck in a long queue of scrum-halves angling for game time at Leinster where Jamison Gibson-Park and Luke McGrath were the elder statesmen proving so hard to dislodge.

Now the 24-year old is coming off the back of a first season at Connacht where he played more minutes than any of their nines and he is poised for a summer mini-tour to Georgia and Portugal having already spent time in Ireland camp during the Six Nations.

“From the outside looking in, it probably would have been far-fetched, but I kind of felt that with the movements this year, Lions year and all that, that there was going to be an opportunity for a young scrum-half to come into the squad.

“I just wanted to put my best foot forward to be the one to be in that position,” said the son of Ulster head coach Richie Murphy. “Thankfully I got an opportunity earlier with Connacht. I’ve managed to push forward and get into the squad so delighted.” 

That involvement during the spring has served as something of a settler for the man out of Bray. That and the fact that he was one of half-a-dozen Connacht players named originally in Paul O’Connell’s squad for this two-game tour of duty.

Finlay Bealham and Cian Prendergast already had caps to their name. Murphy, Darragh Murray, Shayne Bolton and Hugh Gavin have all yet to play at the Test level for their country, and the management’s plan is that all will do so this next few weeks.

Bealham, of course, has since been called up for, and played for, Andy Farrell’s British and Irish Lions. The Canberra-born tighthead joined his Connacht teammates Bundee Aki and Mack Hansen in putting on the red jersey against Argentina in Dublin last Friday.

That’s a huge moment in time for the province.

Murphy passes to Sam Prendergast during Ireland rugby squad training. Picture: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

The entire country of Wales has just two men in the entire Lions squad. Only Leinster, Glasgow and Northampton have more and among the feted clubs with less are Munster (1), Bath (2), Leicester (1) and Harlequins (1).

“They’ve worked very hard to get into that position,” said Murphy of the trio. “I thought all of them put their best foot forward. Bundee obviously scored and I thought Finlay did well. Mack had a good impact of the bench as well. It was a proud day for everyone watching and hopefully they kick on and see if they can get involved in the Tests.” 

All of which is hard to square with the disappointment that Connacht endured as a collective last season. A 13th-place finish, five rungs and nine points off the ladder spot they needed to make the playoffs, spoke for the difficulties suffered on and off the pitch.

Murphy talks about frustrations around the collective, and the failure to grasp chances in the Challenge Cup knockout game against Racing 92 and down the stretch of the URC when they still could have done something but succumbed to familiar failings and inconsistencies.

The future promises more. Much more.

The project delivering the new Dexcom Stadium and the province’s state-of-the-art training centre is taking shape and the announcement some weeks ago that Stuart Lancaster is to be the new boss has sent a jolt of excitement through the club and the region.

Murphy didn’t feel Connacht were a million miles away, in some respects, last season and he has already had the chance to grab a quick chat with Lancaster about some of the areas the new boss intends to focus on ahead of the new campaign.

The pair already had a history. Lancaster was still at Leinster during Murphy’s two years in the academy in Dublin and the scrum-half points to the plethora of Leinster players currently touring in Australia as proof of the Englishman’s body of work.

“Any dealings I had with him, I’ve always had massive respect for him and I think you can see the development in the likes of a lot of the Lions who’ve gone in who’ve worked with him in Leinster.

“How he’s brought them up from 19/20-year olds to now hopefully Lions internationals in a few weeks. He is very good, not just on the pitch but off the pitch, in building leadership skills and driving a team so I’m looking forward to hopefully picking his brain a bit on that.”