Ireland U20 head coach Richie Murphy silences talk of Grand Slam hat-trick
He has already overseen some big successes at this grade, but Ireland U20s head coach Richie Murphy has insisted securing a third consecutive Grand Slam title isn’t a topic of conversation with his current squad of hopefuls.
Having guided the Green Army to a clean sweep of U20 Six Nations honours two years ago, the Wicklow native was also at the helm when Ireland put together a five-game winning run in the 2023 edition of the tournament.
Yet just five players from last year’s set-up are back again for the forthcoming campaign – Joe Hopes, Brian Gleeson, Hugh Gavin, Danny Sheahan and team captain Evan O’Connell – and for this reason Murphy is purely focused on his side’s opening round clash away to France on Saturday, February 3.
“Even last year, I answered this question the same way. They’re not connected because there’s nearly a whole new team. One of the first questions I asked the group when they got together was how many of them have won a Grand Slam? Hardly any people put their hand up,” Murphy remarked at yesterday’s squad announcement in Dublin.
“So they haven’t won anything as a team. It’s very much the boring old thing about playing on the day that you’re in, trying to get through France. If we get through France, we move on to Italy [in Musgrave Park] and hopefully we’ll run out of games at the end of it.
“It’s the only way I know to keep the players focused and motivated on getting better. Being a performance-based team rather than results.”
From the 26 newcomers that Murphy has named in his squad, the name of Ben O’Connor is one that is sure to stick out. An All-Ireland minor hurling championship winner with Cork in 2021, the St Finbarr’s man added an All-Ireland U20 title to his list of GAA honours in June of last year.
However, he subsequently joined the Munster Academy in the wake of that triumph over Offaly and already has four appearances under his belt for Graham Rowntree’s senior side – including back-to-back outings against Bayonne and Exeter Chiefs in the European Champions Cup.
Although he urged patience with a player that won’t turn 20 until later on this year, Murphy acknowledged O’Connor is an exciting prospect for this grade.
“These guys are 19 years of age, so there are loads of things they need to do better as rugby players over the next number of years. Ben is one of these guys who has come in, has a real fight and will to win.
“You can see that he’s a real competitor. There are areas of his game that are very strong, his aerial skills are excellent, good with the ball in hand,” Murphy added.
“There are other areas of his game he needs to improve, like everyone else. We’re looking forward to seeing Ben because he has had a little bit of a taste of senior rugby. He came back last week when we played Leinster and had a big impression on the game.”