Munster reaping the rewards as Kildare man gets new lease of life

RUGBY:Johne Murphy jumped at the opportunity to return home to play for Munster and he's never had reason to regret the decision, writes JOHN O'SULLIVAN

ELLISTOWN GAA club equipped Johne Murphy with a skill set that would transcend one sporting code and permit him to excel in another. Cill Dara rugby club, Lansdowne and the Leicester Tigers took turns in not alone moulding and buffing potential but also framing character and inculcating a work ethic.

The results were impressive, incorporating silverware with the Tigers, Ireland A (Churchill Cup) and taking him to the cusp of a senior cap. The process, though, stalled a little at Welford Road in his final of five seasons at the club so when Munster came calling last February he had no hesitation in putting pen to paper and agreeing a summer return to Ireland.

It was a prescient decision based not alone on a series of excellent performances in the red jersey but also his development as a person. Munster handed Murphy responsibility and were rewarded by a player whose maturing attitude perfectly complemented his physical attributes.

“I suppose I have been given more responsibility in my role here than I had in Leicester. I feel I have been given a new lease of life coming here, fresh impetus in both rugby terms and my life outside of the sport. I am very happy and that’s feeding into the rugby,” Murphy explained before alighting on how he has changed over the past 12 months.

“I am quicker to criticise myself here in Munster than look to blame other people as I did in Leicester: well not blame people as such but look for excuses. I feel with the responsibility that the buck stops with me. I have to give myself a kick in the ass every now and again. Last year it was Mattie (O’Connor, Tigers coach) or Cockers (Richard Cockerill, Tigers director of rugby) who did it.

“Now the responsibility has been put on me. I have grown up in that respect and I needed it. Last year I looked to blame other people about why I wasn’t playing, why I was being shifted around. I should have been more self-critical. I wasn’t getting as many matches because I was not working on aspects of game that required improvement.

“That is something that has changed since coming to Munster. I know that in the last two games I haven’t been as good as prior to that; I need to address it and rectify it for Sunday.”

Returning from Leicester hasn’t precluded a lingering attachment or two. Murphy was forced to re-home his tearaway bulldog puppy with Martin Castrogiovanni; a meeting of minds apparently. He’s also left his apartment in the care of a local estate agent. “It’s more of a hindrance than anything else at the moment the way things are going. I have had trouble with it; a pipe burst and that’s been annoying.

“It’s the hassle of it in terms of getting other people to organise repairs and you’re relying on them from a distance. I have a very good estate agent who looks after it.”

His home now is in an enclave of team-mates in Annacotty where he enjoys the camaraderie, but it also allows him to pop up the motorway a couple of times a week to Rathangan to see his girlfriend, family and friends.

Last year he made it home on Christmas Eve night and was gone again on St Stephen’s Day morning. It was the first time he had managed that in five years. Even though Munster play on December 26th this year, the travel will be less fraught from the family home. His happiness off the pitch is reflected in the enthusiasm he brings to the day job.

His next assignment is to clip the wings of the Ospreys’ Irish colossus Tommy Bowe as the Welsh franchise arrive in Limerick for the first of successive Heineken Cup ties between the teams. The pre-match chat started last month. Murphy explained: “Tommy (Bowe) and Rog (Ronan O’Gara) have been having the banter during the Autumn Test Series, swapping insults. Rog was slagging Tommy that the only game the Ospreys look forward to is the Munster one.”

Thumped in a Heineken Cup quarter-final at tomorrow’s venue, the Ospreys proved they had absorbed the lesson when returning to Thomond Park in a Magners League clash and winning. On the night they eschewed the expansive patterns in favour of a kicking-oriented, territorial approach.

“It’s misleading. They (Ospreys) come with the tag of playing ball and wanting to run but Dan Biggar is the type of outhalf who will sit in the pocket when they’re not having a go out wide and kick to the corners. They kick as much as anyone in any Magners League or Heineken Cup matches. They have a Plan A and Plan B. Teams coming to Thomond Park will try and beat us at what they perceive to be our game.

“We have tried to move away from that kicking game in the last few months; certainly since I have been here. That is something that the lads have said we need to be better at in terms of taking our opportunities. Our first instinct is to run but it’s essentially about making correct decisions under pressure, rather than ignoring the option to kick. We’re trying to balance our approach.

“They are going to play a pressure game. As a back three we have looked at their kicking game. They don’t just kick long but mix it up nicely, using the little chip behind the defensive line. It is something that we have noticed in the analysis. They use that against teams that have a lot of line speed coming up in defence. They’re trying to slow the opposition down. It is a huge attacking option.”

Murphy knows Munster need to be structured in the manner in which they chase kicks because even without Lee Byrne and Shane Williams, the Ospreys back three still possess the footballing ability and speed to open up from deep.

“We’ve worked on that this week; Axel (Anthony Foley) has spoken about the importance of building our chase lines properly. Individuals have to make choices too. If you feel you can get there and challenge for the ball, knock them off their stride, then you’ll do it. If you think you’re not going to make it a 50/50 contest then you don’t race up and give them the scope to step around you.

“It’s about taking the pace off and arriving as a group to try and force turnovers. We know that if we kick loosely to their back three then we could be in a lot of trouble.”

A regular feature in the extended Irish squad – tomorrow’s duel with Bowe will be an interesting aside – it has whetted his appetite.

“I have had conversations with Declan (Kidney) during the autumn. You have conversations and you get his reasons; that’s it. He is the boss and he makes decisions. You then get your head down and work harder to try and create a position where he can’t do anything else but select you.”

Having turned 26 last month his future stretches out in front of him but somewhere down the road he hopes to return to Ellistown GAA club in Kildare. Returning to Ireland allowed him to catch a couple of their matches. It’s been a tough season for the club as they lost a relegation play-off that saw them relegated from senior to intermediate football. Murphy spoke to the team on the Thursday before that match.

He found it slightly disconcerting to be addressing lads he’d played with from childhood. “Hopefully they’ll have a good year and get up to senior; certainly by the time I retire from rugby. I’d like a couple of senior championship games.”

Before completing a circle though, he’s got the potential to accomplish loftier goals.