IRELAND U20S HEAD coach Richie Murphy has stated his pride at how his group of young players have handled the deeply difficult circumstances of the past week.
Murphy and his Irish players will play in the semi-finals of the World Rugby U20 Championships against hosts South Africa on Sunday [KO 3.30pm, Virgin Media], having overcome Fiji on Tuesday after a tough few days.
Last weekend, former St Michael’s College students Andrew O’Donnell and Max Wall died in separate incidents on the Greek island of Ios. With six St Michael’s past pupils in the Ireland U20s squad, the two were known to several members of the group.
Then on Monday, Munster academy coach Greig Oliver passed away in a paragliding accident in Cape Town, where he was supporting his son, Jack, a scrum-half with the Ireland U20s.
As Ireland dealt with the spate of tragic news, they brought in support from the South African Rugby Union as well as discussing whether to play Tuesday’s final pool game against Fiji as planned.
“On the back of some information we had got from Fiona [Greig Oliver's wife] and Jack himself, we decided that the game would go ahead and we would go out and play,” explained Murphy today.
“From that point on, the guys got their heads down and done the best they can under those circumstances, and we just tried to deal like we do every week; be where your feet are and deal with the things right in front of your face.
“I thought the guys did a really good job in relation to that. We got through that game and into the following day.”
Murphy said he was proud of the performance and bonus-point win that followed against the Fijians.
“Extremely, I was extremely proud of these guys way before that happening. I thought, like everything that’s happened to them over the course of the year, they take everything in their stride.
“They’ve the ability to deal with disappointment and upset, and still be able to go out and put in a performance. It definitely wasn’t the performance we would have wanted, but Fiji on a dry track are a handful for any team. They scored 37 points against Australia. I thought the guys showed great character getting through that.”
Now Ireland face the hosts South Africa, who scraped into the semi-finals just ahead of Georgia, having beaten them in their first pool game.
The South Africans lost to Italy before recovering to beat Argentina and Murphy expects a real battle at Athlone Sports Stadium in Cape Town.
“South Africa are probably a different kettle of fish,” said Murphy. “The Australia game disintegrated with the weather. It’s supposed to pick up for the game on Sunday.
“The team that we’ve picked, we feel that we can play a number of different of ways with that team. When the weather became pretty poor against Australia, we proved we could put it up our jumper a bit and maul, play field position and squeeze them.
“South Africa’s pack are big and strong, it’s a typical South African team with plenty of speed in the backline and loads of elusive runners. Up front, you have to get at least parity to be able to be in the game.
“We picked what we would see to be our biggest front five. Our back row, with the way things have gone with suspension and other things, is probably the best back row we have available to us at this stage.”
