RUGBY:Leicester's Irish fullback talks to GERRY THORNLEYabout the challenge Ulster pose tonight and his lingering hope of one last call from Declan Kidney
FOR LEICESTER Tigers, no less than Ulster, tonight marks a point of no return in this season’s Heineken Cup. Ravaged by injury, notably in midfield where their in-form playmaker Toby Flood has joined their main go-to man Manu Tuilagi on the sidelines, and hit harder than most by the World Cup, they travelled to Belfast yesterday a little weary and with some degree of trepidation, but with their Euro DNA to call upon as well.
The two-time winners and five-time finalists have only failed to qualify four times in 14 attempts. Unfortunately, as their captain Geordan Murphy pointed out yesterday, three of those failures came in World Cup seasons, ie 1999-2000, 2003-’04 and 2007-08. “World Cup years have traditionally been difficult for Leicester. We’ve never got out of our group,” he said.
This season underlines the point, Leicester losing five of their first six Premiership matches during the World Cup to leave themselves 11th domestically.
“Straight from the word go we were under pressure. Usually they say ‘have a week off, have a rest’ but this time round ‘we’re struggling, you’ve got to come straight back here, we’re under pressure to win games’.
“The nature of the Premiership is that there are no easy games. Every team is scrapping for points because of relegation. We played Worcester the other week and we lost Manu Tuilagi and Louis Deacon to hamstring injuries and then the week after we lost Toby Flood against Wasps. We’re just constantly picking up bumps and bruises.”
Hence, according to Murphy, they’ve struggled to put together one 80-minute performance. That said, they are currently the form team in England. Now in his 15th season with the club, Leicester’s most capped Heineken Cup player (71 appearances) and leading Euro try scorer of all time (23), Murphy, especially, has a fair idea of what to expect tonight.
“Speaking to some of the Irish lads this week, Ulster are just so strong at home. They’ve built themselves a bit of a fortress there. It’s going to be incredibly difficult, but it’s the Heineken Cup. We’ve just got to go over there and give it a lash and raise our game. That’s all there is to it.
“They’re very passionate, they swarm all over you and play a huge pressure game. A lot of the tries they’ve scored in the last few games have been from opposition mistakes, they capitalise very well on turnover ball and play some good football on the break. They’ve got some very powerful guys and a big tight five as well. They’re a solid side.”
In particular, he is aware of the threat posed by one-time Tigers team-mate Ian Humphreys. “He’s a quality player. We wanted to keep him here. We went away to Thomond in ’07-08 and Humphs played great for us. A quality footballer. He’s missed a couple of tackles but his attacking ability is fantastic,” said Murphy, perhaps with more empathy than most.
A bit like Munster though, Leicester’s dogs of war do have an ability to grind out wins from less than favourable positions, witness the way Clermont turned up at Welford Road with their A away game, as it were, but somehow you always sensed the Tigers would pull through.
“We do have a good history in big games, especially when we’ve been written off. Clermont did bring a good away game and it was an incredibly difficult game but we pulled through. But Ulster did as well at home to Clermont.
“We know Ulster are a much improved side, and they’ll have been targeting this game for quite a few weeks and were able to rest players over Christmas, whereas we’ve had to play from week to week.”
Murphy is enjoying his rugby as much as ever, but will have a clearer idea as to his future in about 12 months’ time. As for Ireland, a Thierry Henry-style comeback is not out of the question. “That was unbelievable, wasn’t it? It was just brilliant, absolutely brilliant. He’s a legend, and I just loved his reaction.”
Veteran, semi-retired players still dream of the fairytale comeback and, though it’s unlikely, Murphy would prefer an Irish farewell in this Six Nations at, say, the Aviva than as a replacement in a 62-12 win over Russia in Rotorua.
Thus, while he will not be named in Declan Kidney’s Six Nations squad next Wednesday, he has not formally said farewell either. “The exact state of play is that I’ve spoken to Deccie (Kidney) and I’ve said to him that I’ve a year and a half left on my contract here and Leicester are quite keen for me to stay around,” said Murphy in reference to Six Nations weeks. “But if I’m needed Deccie said he’d give me a shout.”
So, Murphy is not officially retired from Test rugby and if required he would be available. Given there is no specialist cover for Rob Kearney, that is not inconceivable, although the likelihood is this class act has played his last game for Ireland.
