GEORDAN MURPHY INTERVIEW: There are a number of ways to embarrass Geordan Murphy. Tell him his strike rate of nine tries in 12 international matches is better than that of England's Jason Robinson. Try that, or, call him rugby's George Best. His Leicester coach, Dean Richards, has been doing the "Bestie" routine for a while now. Mortifying. The George Best of rugby and better than Jason Robinson? Say it and blush.
"The George Best thing. I know, it's disastrous," says Murphy. "There's nothing I can do to get rid of it. I don't know how many times he (Richards) has said it now but it seems to be one of those things that has stuck. I might get rid of it soon but, ah, you know - the drinking and the women, that's the thing."
Selected on the wing, or in the event of Girvan Dempsey failing a fitness test tomorrow, full back, Murphy can take the light-hearted view on the "Bestie" hyperbole. True, Leicester had been banging the drum about their then winger before Ireland really bit, but it has been Murphy's move from the Leicester flank to full back this season that has given him a better platform to crack the starting Irish team - ironically, in the absence of Shane Horgan, on the wing.
Murphy's innate footballing talent has always been his strength and in the early days in England he was maybe seen as too mercurial a full back to be the foundation for a Test match. But his periodic ventures into the line have always been strikingly good. As ever, people were attracted to the light. And with Richards on board the image was too good to pass up. Geordan Murphy swinging down the King's Road.
A season at full back has armed him better for the trench warfare of the Six Nations, and with Leicester, especially this season, he has become a serial man-of-the-match winner in the English Premiership. Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan may always have been a believer. Now he's showing it.
"The problem we had was that he wasn't playing in Leicester at full back but on the wing, and a couple of years ago when he was dropped in at full back at Test level he did struggle, which is understandable," says O'Sullivan. "Now we recognise his future could be at full back or on the wing. It's easy to go from full back to wing. It's very hard to go from wing to full back. Geordan is such a fine footballer you've got to find a place for him. He runs good lines, hits the line very well and has good hands. If he has to play full back on Saturday so be it. I won't have any concern."
Coming off the bench against Scotland for Horgan was a difficult match to feed into. With Ireland 13 points ahead and Scotland knocking, it was Murphy's try that helped turn the match. He found himself slightly offside, with a hopping ball and a top-of-the-ground pace that few can match. Some sprinters have power. Others glide. Murphy, wispy and light, is a glider. So he didn't dive on the ball, he kicked it. The prop was easy, but Scottish right wing Kenny Logan was also burnt away.
"I think I was marginally offside," he says. "I said to the referee, 'Am I alright?' And he said, 'Play away.' When I kicked the ball someone hit my leg, so I was off balance. But my first instinct was to kick it and start running. I was up against a prop and I managed to make it past him fairly early. I thought he could have done a better job of blocking me. It's probably not where you'd want one of your props to be, out in the middle of the field with a winger chasing him.
"Then I saw Kenny Logan coming across so I was under a bit of pressure to control the kick. I needed it to go straight. Any other direction he might have picked up on it. Thankfully, once I got my toe on it, I knew I was there."
Because of the condensed Six Nations, adaptable players such as Horgan and Murphy are precious commodities. Murphy replaced Dempsey othe tour to New Zealand last summer before again coming in for him against Fiji in November to add two more tries to the tally. But Murphy knows Dempsey's brilliance under a high ball, his positioning and understated bravery will be hard to crack. Still, Murphy is keeping English international Tim Stimpson out of full back at the club.
"Did you hear the one about Best in the Las Vegas hotel room with Miss World and a magnum of champagne?" a journalist asks as he's leaving the room. Murphy smiles and puts up his hand to stop the punchline.
"Yeah, yeah, you set it up for me and I'll be there," he says. Cheeky too.
