FORMER LEICESTER TIGERS star Lewis Moody has paid tribute to Geordan Murphy, saluting his friend and long-time team-mate as “a fantastic rugby player of unmatched ability.”

Murphy, 35, confirmed today that he will retire at the end of the season when he will take up a coaching role with the Tigers’ backroom staff.

A famous alumnus of Newbridge College, Murphy joined Leicester in 1997 and went on to forge a club career that was as decorated as it was loyal, making more than 320 appearances in 16 seasons at Welford Road which included seven Premiership titles and two Heineken Cups.

“His natural talent and gifts to the game, the skill set he had was just remarkable, like nothing else I’ve ever seen on a rugby pitch,” Moody told TheScore.ie.

“It is awesome playing this sport with guys who are incredibly talented and with guys who have unique ability, but then one of those guys being your one of your closest mates as well is even better. It gives you added impetus to play for each other and rugby creates those sort of special moments.”

(©INPHO/Billy Stickland)

Playing alongside Murphy there was no shortage of special moments and from the very start,  Moody caught a glimpse of that exciting natural flair which his young Irish friend possessed in abundance.

“It was probably the first game I ever played with Geordan, against Coventry away in 1997 or ’98 I think. It was an old school game of rugby — dark, miserable, wet evening in Coventry.

“We had a scrum and the ball got passed back and missed the fly-half and somehow found its way to Geordan who was still at full-back. As the forwards were getting up from the scrum, Geordan decided to line up a drop goal from the half-way line.

I just remember Darren Morris as he struck the ball going ‘Noooooo’ and then half-way through its flight he turned and went ‘You little… good lad, good lad.’ The ball sailed straight through the posts and I think at that point we all realised that we were watching the arrival of someone quite special.

He adds: “There was one other game in particular I love to remember in Welford Road. I can’t remember the team we were playing, I think it was one of the Scottish teams, it might have been Glasgow.

“They took a crossfield kick out of their 22 to their winger and Geordan was playing full-back. As the ball was bouncing along the ground, Geordan was sprinting at it flat out and so was the opposing winger.

“I don’t think any of us knew what he was doing. We were thinking how the hell is he going to pick the ball up because he’s flat out, he’s going to run past it. At full sprint, he chipped the ball straight into his hands and went around the winger and offloaded to someone else.

“It was one of the most incredible pieces of skill I’ve ever witnessed on the pitch. Any of the players who saw it that day, they’ll never say that there was a more skillful player that they played with.

(©INPHO/Billy Stickland)

“The one thing that always impressed me was his consistency under a high ball. If you had a high ball in any game, wherever you were, he would always come down with it. Certainly at Leicester that was why he was picked week in week out and then he had the added bonus of pace, agility, the ability to find a gap and put someone else through it, and then the ability to do something mesmerising that would make you think: ‘Holy shit!’”

At international level, Murphy made his debut in 2000 and went on to win 72 caps for Ireland. But he was robbed of what could have been the crowning moment of his career — a place at the 2003 World Cup — by a cruel leg break in the final warm-up game against Scotland.

“I was sitting in the hotel, we were playing Wales in a warm-up game that afternoon. Having to watch one of your mates go through an injury like that just before you’re about to take the pitch is pretty horrific. I remember frantically calling his brother, his girlfriend, his family just to check if he was alright.

That was a tragedy because he was in absolutely scintillating form. Without wanting to overstate the point, I think he was probably one of the best full-backs in the world at that time and it was an absolute tragedy that the world missed out on an opportunity to see Geordan at the peak of his powers.

He added: “I always think in an Irish jersey, and the team he played in that time, we never really saw the best of him. Maybe in 2001 to 2003 we saw glimpses of it but he was never used enough because Ireland played a fairly restrictive game in the early 2000s which is why we never saw the same impact or skill level that we saw week in, week out at Leicester.”

(Joe Giddens/EMPICS Sport)

“There are sides of Geordan’s character that people don’t see. He’s an ultra-laid back bloke. He doesn’t take anything too seriously in life, he’s very relaxed about everything.

“That’s not to do him a disservice and say that he’s not professional because he’s incredibly professional when it comes to his training and his analysis on the game. I’ve never met anyone that has a better understanding of how the game works.

“He’s an intelligent rugby player and he’s an intellect of the game. He understands how the game works and how he can make a game work to suit the team which is why I’ve always tried to give him a bit of a nudge in the direction of coaching if it were possible.”

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