THERE’S NOTHING LIKE a long-term injury that really sharpens the focus on how short a rugby career can be, or so Jordi Murphy has found this season.
The Ulster flanker turns 31 today and, although he still has several years left in the professional game [touch wood] he’s spent most of this campaign wondering exactly how long he has left plying his trade in the upper echelons of the sport.
Sitting on the sidelines will do that to a man, particularly how it happened for Murphy. Initially scheduled to miss just six weeks at the start of the season with a foot injury sustained in pre-season – a timeline he met – as he was building up to his big return all the way back in October, he tweaked his knee in training and went under the knife.
With one freak moment, six weeks turned into six months and a lengthy rehab stint as Ulster climbed to the top of the United Rugby Championship and went four-for-four in the Heineken Champions Cup pool stages. Left to his own thoughts on the treatment table, they naturally lingered to when the boots might be hung up.
“I’ve been lucky in my career that hasn’t happened too often,” begins Murphy, before confessing: “It was very difficult at the time, especially when I thought I was back and then to have a setback again, which was nothing to do with my foot at all, it was completely separate.
“It makes you reflect. I’m only 30 but I guess when you get to a point where you’re missing six months of a season you start to think, ‘jeez, how long do I have?’ So you want to be involved as much as possible.
“It was great to see the lads doing so well but you always want to be a part of that. I’m just delighted to be back and hopefully I can stay fit for the foreseeable future.”
His second attempt at his big return was more successful, Murphy starting against Cardiff in March, and since then the knee has shown no signs of slowing him down as he has featured in every game since for Ulster, making four sub appearances and one further start.
He timed his comeback well, too, just in time for him to play a part in their European last-16 games against Toulouse, although there is perhaps a small part of him that wishes he maybe sat out their gut-wrenching knockout disappointment as they suffered a one-point aggregate defeat to the defending champions.
“Saturday’s defeat was a serious blow, I have to say. It took me a good 24 to 48 hours [to get over], I didn’t do much talking. I probably wasn’t very pleasant to be around at home!” he groans.
“I took a few days to reflect on it. Maybe it’s experience where it’s happened before and I’ve tried to learn how to get over it quickly and move on and focus on the next task at hand, which is the league now.”
Winning the United Rugby Championship and ending a well-publicised 16-year drought for silverware would more than make up for that, with Ulster having their play-off destiny in their own hands sitting in second place, however their repeated failures in knockout games does justifiably raise questions as to what will change when they reach the post-season in the league.
As narrow as the Toulouse loss was, it is just the latest in a string of near misses for Dan McFarland’s side after also coming up short against Leinster and Leicester Tigers in European knockout matches they arguably should have won in recent years.
Murphy is someone who knows plenty about being on winning teams having claimed three Six Nations – one of them a Grand Slam – with Ireland as well as a Champions Cup and three Pro14 titles with Leinster, so the question remains as to what this Ulster side are missing to get over the line.
“I don’t think there’s anything missing there,” he believes.
“Look, we’re knocking at the door, we’re just coming up against top sides. That’s where I feel we should be and we’re getting to play those teams and put ourselves in those positions where we can contest in these knockout games. We haven’t quite gotten there but I don’t see anything missing.
“I think the squad has gone from strength to strength over the last few years and it’s great to be part of it. It’s ultimately very disappointing to be out the Champions Cup at this stage but we’re in the league now and it’s full focus on that, finishing strongly and hopefully get ourselves into some more home knockout games.”
Beating Munster tonight would go a long way to securing home advantage in the play-offs, the southern province heading to Kingspan Stadium tonight [kick-off, 7.35pm] for a full-blooded inter-pro with just three points separating the two sides in the standings.
With just seven points between Ulster in second and the Cell C Sharks in eighth, every point matters at the business end of the season and Murphy knows that they cannot afford to dwell in the past, lest their mini-skid that has seen them lose three of their last four games drag on.
“We’ve got to learn from the past. It’s only a couple of seasons ago that we had that disappointment in the quarter-final of losing against Leinster down in the Aviva Stadium, and then we went to Glasgow and we were humbled six days later,” he recalled.
“It’s just one of those situations we’re in. Games just keep coming and you have to learn to deal with disappointments. Obviously the game at the weekend was one of the biggest ones we’ve had in a while.
“We’ve had our minds set on competing on two fronts. That’s obviously been made a lot simpler for us now knowing that we can only go for one competition, but we’re very, very hungry to do our absolute best and challenge in the league, and no better time to do it than Munster this weekend.”
And he hopes four points would be the icing on the literal cake this evening.
“I can’t remember the last time I played on my birthday. There’d be no better present than a win so I’ll try my best to give that to myself!”
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