From starting against the All Blacks to rugby's scrap heap in just 24 months: the rise and fall of Darryl Marfo
Eventually, after months of injury anguish and maddening non-selection, an age holding the Edinburgh tackle bags knowing his chances of playing were as remote as seeing Richard Cockerill in a tutu, Darryl Marfo needed to get out.
In two years, he had gone from starting for Scotland against the All Blacks to Edinburgh’s fourth-choice loosehead prop. The trajectory that had taken him from club-less and considering premature retirement to the international game had not so much hit a plateau as plummeted.
He played 21 minutes of rugby in 2018/19 and by December last year, none at all the following season. Since joining Edinburgh in 2017, Marfo had made just eleven outings. His career had fallen stagnant and at 29 years old, he couldn’t go on.
“When you know, you know,” Marfo told RugbyPass. “I couldn’t do what I wanted with Edinburgh and I couldn’t do for Edinburgh what they needed me to. I wanted the match-day 23 to have the best preparation they could, but there is only a certain amount of time you can keep spending in that position where you’re just holding the bag, not doing anything meaningful.
“Part of my problem is that I’m not big on reflective glory. A lot of people tell me I need to lighten up and not be so hard on myself. I want everything to be unrealistically perfect. I’d never, ever be the kind of person to put on my kit, go and train with Edinburgh and say, ‘This is great’. If you’re not playing, you’re not a rugby player – you’re a professional trainer. That is the truth.”
Naturally, Cockerill, the pugnacious Edinburgh coach, didn’t sugar-coat the predicament Marfo was in. With the arrival and stupendous impact of Pierre Schoeman, the signing of Jamie Bhatti and the return to fitness of Rory Sutherland, Marfo practically needed injuries, Scotland call-ups and dramatic losses of form all at once to get a look-in.
Despite the meagre game time, Edinburgh were good to Marfo, and ultimately, player and club reached what he describes as an “amicable” settlement. That allowed Marfo to cut short his contract and free himself up for new suitors.
“One thing I really respect about Cockers is his honesty,” he said. “It’s only now when I’m out of the environment that I really appreciate him doing that. I understand coaches have a million things to worry about, and they’re always trying to keep the environment positive to make it as successful as it can be. But what in turn happens is that sometimes people avoid telling hard truths.
“When I was doing well, Cockers told me, and when I wasn’t doing so well, he told me that too. If you asked him what the craic was with something, he’d tell you to your face. I’ll never lay any blame at his door. I’ll take responsibility for everything that happened. I’m in charge of my performance. Realistically, I wasn’t going to play, so it’s either sitting around or trying to make something different happen.”
Manufacturing opportunity from adversity is no new concept. Arguably, it is Marfo’s ability to endure, adapt, and thrive off the paddock that is more impressive than the considerable quality he delivers on it.
After emerging from the Harlequins academy, he struggled to oust the internationals blocking his path to the first team. He left for the Championship seeking precious match minutes, had stints with London Scottish, Ealing Trailfinders and London Welsh before the latter went bust and he joined Bath on a short-term deal. With no longer contract in the offing, he emailed Jonny Petrie, Edinburgh’s former managing director, and engineered a move north.
Although raised on a coarse but loving estate in central London, Marfo and his brother spent many happy childhood weeks holidaying in Ayrshire, where their mother Cheryl is from. It was through Cheryl that a sense of Scottishness always resonated, and he capitalised on a spree of injuries to face Samoa, take part in an agonising loss to New Zealand and an evisceration of the Wallabies in successive weekends in November 2017.
The general consensus was that this unknown behemoth from Pimlico had played a blinder on his first steps in Test rugby. “There was pride and happiness that I’d kept going through all the times where it seemed it wouldn’t happen,” Marfo said.
📰: Prop Darryl Marfo has left Edinburgh Rugby with immediate effect, with the decision aimed at allowing the prop to find a new club.
"We thank Darryl for his hard work during his time at the club and we wish him all the best moving forward.”https://t.co/lmpCRaoyyg
— Edinburgh Rugby (@EdinburghRugby) December 10, 2019
“Being an international rugby player can depend on so many things. I’ve seen guys playing in the Championship who, in my opinion, are better than some internationals that I’ve been around. I believed I had the ability to do it if I put in the work. I got the opportunity and I showed that I did have the ability to compete and perform on that stage. It was a nice vindication.”
In January, the Ospreys’ need for looseheads was nearly as grave as Gregor Townsend’s was that autumn. The region were losing props like coins down a sofa and losing matches nearly as fast. Marfo’s first start was the gentlest of baptisms, a Champions Cup pool match against scandal-hit giants Saracens.
The holders were not fielding all of their galacticos, and lost Rhys Carre to a fifth-minute red card, but they were still an almighty beast for a team in dire straits and a prop who hadn’t played a competitive beat since November 2018.
He got 73 minutes that day, trudging from the pitch spent but satisfied. There was only one more appearance before the Covid-19 pandemic hit and rugby toppled into a state of indefinite adjournment, but the slog against the champions renewed his confidence that he still belongs in that sphere.
“You’re sort of back to competing against the top players. People say that it wasn’t a full-strength Saracens side, but there was still George Kruis starting and Vincent Koch coming off the bench.
“Once you’ve come through it, you can say that you did contribute to the team, and showed that you could still perform at that level. Being a prop is so simple. If you’re able to tackle, carry, do your set-piece, you can clearly do what’s required. As long as I’m fit, I can operate and I can read the game quite well.
“I’m not saying I’m going to be like Ellis Genge, he’s crazy physically gifted. I’m Darryl Marfo, no-one else. I can provide a solid set-piece, the niggly bits in the loose, and cover the space that I need to.”
The spreading virus denied Marfo the opportunity to showcase himself more fully. There was interest from France, in both the Top 14 and Pro D2, but that has since waned.
Partly, it’s the pandemic visiting financial havoc across the game. It’s also Marfo’s unfortunate berth in the constricted middle tier of a toiling market – neither a burgeoning hotshot nor a world-class icon. And he isn’t English or French-qualified, which renders him less attractive to clubs in the twos richest European leagues.
“I’ve been through it before, so I’m able to understand that certain things will be what they will be,” he accepted. “It doesn’t make it any easier. Being in that squeezed middle is becoming harder. You’re not the young kid; you’re not the world star. That’s the tough position that people are finding themselves in now, no matter the quality of the player.
“My friend Luke Wallace was outstanding for Quins for nine years but he was part of that squeezed middle, he couldn’t get a contract in the top flight and had to go to the Championship. Is he not good enough to play in the Prem? No, clearly he is. But finances and the way clubs are run, that’s what happens to some guys.”
The deck is stacked against Marfo once more. Whatever the odds, you’d be a fool to bet against him.
Comments on RugbyPass
Dagg is still trying to get enough headlines to make himself relevant enough to get a job. The Crusaders went back to square one at all levels. Shelve this season and nail the next one.
4 Go to commentsHe was in such great form. Sad for him but only a short term injury and it will be great to see him back for the finals.
1 Go to commentsAfter their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
3 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
37 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to comments