RUGBY:GEORDAN MURPHY will play no part in Ireland's Six Nations Championship campaign this year after being ruled out for the rest of the season with a broken foot. The Leicester Tigers fullback fractured two bones in his foot while on club duty against Northampton last Saturday and, in what has been described as a "freak injury", also dislocated one of the joints in the same foot.
It had been thought the 32-year-old dislocated his ankle when he was stretchered off 10 minutes from time at Welford Road. While that injury would have kept him on the sidelines for between three and six weeks, subsequent scans revealed his ankle was fine but he had suffered the more serious foot injuries.
Murphy is due to have an operation at a specialist clinic outside London next Friday when the swelling subsides. It is anticipated plates and screws will be inserted into his foot to aid the healing process.
Given the nature of the injury, it is difficult to put an exact timeframe on his recovery but he is facing a lengthy rehabilitation process and is not expected to be back in training until at least the end of May.
A spokesman for Leicester refused to confirm the nature of Murphy’s injury yesterday, or indeed any expected period of recuperation, with the club preferring to focus on tomorrow’s Heineken Cup trip to the Llanelli Scarlets.
However, the player is said to be devastated at the prospect of another lengthy spell on the sidelines. Next summer’s World Cup warm-up matches – Ireland face Scotland, France (twice) and England in August – are now the realistic target if he is to have any hope of reviving his international career and forcing his way onto the plane to New Zealand.
Murphy’s career has been pockmarked by injury. A broken leg, suffered in the final warm-up game against Scotland, scuppered his involvement in the 2003 World Cup and a dislocated shoulder curtailed the start of last season.
He did recover in time to play a role in the Six Nations, starting two of the matches, and was in pole position to claim the number 15 jersey for the trip to Italy next month with Rob Kearney recovering from a serious knee injury.
Murphy’s latest setback leaves Ireland coach Declan Kidney with precious few options at fullback. With Connacht’s Gavin Duffy struggling to overcome a knee injury of his own, Luke Fitzgerald is the obvious contender to fill the fullback role.
But Fitzgerald has failed to nail down the position at Leinster, with coach Joe Schmidt preferring Kearney and Isa Nacewa, and is relatively inexperienced in the role at the highest level.
Schmidt, who has been in regular contact with Kidney and “head office”, may elect to give Fitzgerald a run in his favoured fullback berth against Saracens tomorrow, and again in Paris when Leinster take on Racing Metro next weekend. But with qualification for the knockout stages of the Heineken Cup and an all-important home quarter-final still to play for, Schmidt may deem that to be a gamble not worth taking.
