Tigers Ready To Put Tough Season Behind Them, Says Murphy
It’s a measure of the season Leicester have endured that the most successful club in English rugby history go into their 12th consecutive Premiership semi-final as huge underdogs.
You can get odds of 4:1 on them winning away at Wasps, who haven’t lost at home all season and finished top of the table, on Saturday but that might just act as that extra bit of motivation the Tigers crave.
Head coach Geordan Murphy knows all about what it takes to win a Premiership title, after being part of eight title-winning sides in his 16 seasons as a player at the club, and says the players have confounded the critics all season and would love nothing more than to do so again in the semi-final.
“The boys are very confident and are really looking forward to it,” he told Rugby Pass.
“Justifiably, we are going there as underdogs but halfway through the season people were saying that we weren’t even going to be in the top six and were going to be struggling to make Champions Cup qualification. So, from our point of view, there is no pressure on us and it is exciting. We can go there and enjoy the game, get stuck in and try and get a result.
“We know how strong Wasps are but this is knockout rugby and it is why we have worked so hard all year to keep coming back when we’ve been written off.”
Leicester won a remarkable eight consecutive Premiership semi-finals between 2006 and 2013 but have suffered defeat in the past three seasons, and particularly chastening ones at the hands of Bath and Saracens in the last two years.
After finishing 18 points behind Wasps at the end of the regular season, the bookies are clearly fearful that they could be on the wrong end of another semi-final hiding. However, Tigers won seven of their last nine league games and are on the up again.
“It’s been a really tough year. We’ve had lots of issues on the field and have lost three coaches, our defence coach early in the season, then Richard Cockerill and Aaron Mauger,” said Murphy, who has been one of the few constants.
“A lot of the guys have worked under Matt O’Connor before, so they know what he brings and his process is slightly different to Cockerill and Mauger.
“Cockers is more forward-based but Matt is very similar to Aaron really in terms of his principals. He is very directive and he knows what he wants and isn’t afraid to tell the boys that either.”
Long-term injuries to the likes of Manu Tuilagi, Matt Toomua, Marcos Ayerza and others have not helped Leicester but Murphy is pleased with the way the squad have come together and turned their season around after suffering hammerings at the hands of Munster and Glasgow in December and January.
“We have had a tough run off the field as well. We have had a lot of injuries to key players and that has proved costly in parts of the season. On the whole, though, I think the way the players have reacted, come out fighting, bounced back and been so resilient has been great and there are some real positives that we can take out of the campaign as well,” he said.
“The players have reacted really well to all of the coaches and have worked hard throughout the season. They are the ones who have got us to this semi-final.”
The prospect of the Tigers being 4:1 underdogs when Murphy, who is the club’s most decorated player, graced the Welford Road turf was unthinkable. He can’t have as much of an influence on the result this weekend as when he was dancing through defences but one thing he can guarantee is that Wasps won’t have it all their own way at the Ricoh Arena on Saturday.
“You want to give a good account of yourselves and make your opposition earn it and we won’t be giving anything away for free,” he added.
“Geordan Murphy took part in the Fiat Fullback Challenge. For more information on the new Fiat Fullback Pick-up visit: https://www.fiatprofessional.co.uk/uk/Models/fullback-pick-up”
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments