Leicester coach praises captain Murphy

Rugby:Ireland international Geordan Murphy will lead Leicester into Saturday's Heineken Cup final with a ringing endorsement from Tigers coach Richard Cockerill.

The long-serving fullback has led from the front since inheriting the captaincy from Martin Corry and, fresh from inspiring the Tigers to victory in the Guinness Premiership final, Cockerill expects him to lead them to even greater glory against Leinster at Murrayfield.

Cockerill spared the modest Murphy another media grilling at Leicester’s pre-final media day and was happy to do his talking for him.

“We’ve got a great captain in Geordan,” said Cockerill. “He is world class, as good as any full-back in world rugby.

“I think making him captain has galvanised his game even more. He’s played even better since he’s been captain because he has taken responsibility for the team.

“He’s been here a long time so he understands the culture of this club. All the Irish guys we’ve had here have been good, honest people. What he says about playing the game is worth listening to.”

While the 31-year-old Murphy will aim to collect a third Heineken Cup winners’ medal as the Tigers bid to equal Toulouse’s tournament record, Julien Dupuy will seek his first in what is likely to be his final match for the club.

The 25-year-old goalkicking scrumhalf is seeking a release from the final year of his two-year contract because his girlfriend is homesick and Cockerill admits the club may do a deal with Stade Francais.

The form that has kept Harry Ellis on the bench for the Tigers also earned Dupuy a call-up yesterday ahead of experienced duo Dimitri Yachvili and Jean-Baptiste Elissalde into France’s squad for the southern hemisphere tour.

The former Biarritz number nine has managed to produce the best rugby of his career despite the cloud hanging over his future and he admits that victory in Edinburgh could mark a fairytale finish to his cameo spell in England.

“It would be a great finish,” he said. “I try to keep it out of my head but sometimes it is hard because you don’t know where you play. I try to concentrate on this season.”

Dupuy, who was on the bench when Biarritz lost to Munster in the 2006 final in Cardiff, admits the team have yet to celebrate their victory in Saturday’s climax to the domestic season.

“It was difficult because we wanted to drink some beer but we have this big game,” he said.

“This is the biggest game of my career, it’s very exciting to play in the Heineken Cup final. We’ve worked very hard this season to get to this game.

“But we have to play better because, if we play like we did against London Irish, we will lose. We will need to play much smarter.

“We know Leinster have a lot of good players and they played very well against Munster.

“We have played a lot of big games since the semi-final and Leinster have played just one or two games so maybe they are a little bit fresher than us.”