Will the boy from Barcelona become the man Ireland’s Six Nations hopes rest upon in 2015?
The selection of Jordi Murphy as Ireland’s No.8 to face Sergio Parisse and his Italian teammates came out of left-field, shortly before midday, today.
The 23-year-old was expected to start at openside but Jamie Heaslip has not proved his fitness to the Irish coaching staff in time to get into the match-day squad. A back row juggle has ensued with Sean O’Brien straight in at No. 7 and Murphy at the back of the pack.
No.8 is a position Murphy is accustomed too but he has not featured there too much, for Leinster, this season. Heaslip has started in the position for virtually all of Ireland and Leinster’s matches in the past five years.
The man imbued with ‘wolverine blood’, and the man who once said, ‘This bus don’t break’, is sidelined with a knee injury.
Joe Schmidt didn’t try to gloss over the impact of the absence of Heaslip.
‘What we’re missing is a lot of experience and I don’t think Jordi can bring that.
‘He doesn’t have the same experience, and the same accuracy. Jamie is an incredibly accurate player and, I think, it is sometimes overlooked, the amount of work he gets through in a game.
‘At the same time, Peter O’Mahony has a lot of experience and is a leader of his provincial team and he’s a leader in our group. Sean O’Brien is a leader, in the way he plays the game. People seem to follow him because he tends goes forward.’
Murphy has played four times for Ireland [twice in the Six Nations] but has a solitary start to his name coming against Argentina, in Tucuman last year. The Spanish born forward put in a battling, bustling performance in the win over the Pumas.
While Murphy may have been hoping to prove himself at openside, the injury to Heaslip gives the young forward a superb opportunity to show Schmidt he can do the job, when it counts, at No.8 and nail down a World Cup squad spot.
All he has to do is tame Parisse, Alessandro Zanni, clean out rucks, go for all 80 minutes in the Roman heat and provide go-forward ball. Simple, really.
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