RUGBY: JOHNE MURPHY INTERVIEW
Murphy looking for Naas to make quick start to league season
By Daire Walsh
Naas player-coach Johne Murphy is hoping that the high intensity of their pre-season can help them to hit the ground running against Buccaneers in their All-Ireland League Division 1B opener at Dubarry Park on Saturday.
The Forenaughts men were given a rigorous examination by top-flight opposition in the Leinster Senior League and Murphy believes it has placed them in good stead for the beginning of a crucial campaign.
“We’re probably in better shape than we were this time last year. We’ve had a tough pre-season in the fact that we’re the eighth-ranked Leinster side. We’ve played all of the Division 1A clubs in the Leinster League,” the former Munster and Leicester star remarked.
“We’ve had a couple of tough hit outs against Terenure, UCD and St Mary’s – who’ve popped back down to our league. They’re used to playing at a higher intensity than we would be, but we put it up to all three sides. Hopefully now we can bring that kind of intensity into this week against Buccaneers.”
The Athlone-based Buccaneers will be returning to the second-tier, having gained promotion to the Division 1A as recently as April 2017. This means Naas will be facing familiar foes on the road this weekend and Murphy stressed that they must make every point count if they have aspirations for another promotion challenge.
“We finished second behind Buccs when they won the league two years ago, so there would be that bit of rivalry. We would know each other pretty well in that context. Hopefully we can get a result there. This year is probably going to be even more competitive than it was last year.
“Every single point counts, so we have to make sure we get the maximum we can out of every single game. If that’s one point, two points, or whatever. We have that kind of goal now where we assess where we are the last 10, 15 minutes and try and push for whatever is the best result really.”
Outside of Buccaneers, Naas will pit their wits against three Dublin clubs (Old Belvedere, St Mary’s College and Old Wesley), as well as the Ulster quintet of Ballymena, Ballynahinch, Banbridge, City of Armagh and Malone.
Recent campaigns have seen Naas coming face-to-face with some of the northern province’s finest young talents and Murphy is expecting more of the same in the coming months.
“The thing about playing the Ulster sides is that, depending on what Ulster team play the night before or that day, they could have a good few pros playing. Which is kind of what we want. We want to test ourselves against those guys. Over the last couple of years, we’ve played against Alan O’Connor, Jacob Stockdale, these guys that have gone on to play for Ireland.
“It just proves what the AIL is all about really. With those three trips up to Dublin, they’re only half and hour, 40 minutes in the car. The travel is not going to be that bad, but it is important. Our form on the road last year wasn’t fantastic, so we need to try and drum up something out of it this year.”
In the three years since he brought his professional career to a halt, Murphy has consistently combined the playing and coaching aspects of the amateur game.
This has been made possible through the assistance of Dan van Zyl and Johan Taylor – though he admits that this will more than likely be his final season as a member of the first-team squad.
“I’d say it’s probably going to be my last year playing. We’ve got three little kids at home, so it’s important to just get this year underneath and try and move on. Develop maybe further as a coach into the future after next year.
“The two lads, Dan and Johan, they’re extremely experienced. They’ve both been player-coaches as well and they’ve coached at a very high level. It’s great, at such an early stage in my coaching career, to have the likes of those guys on my side and developing as a coach off the pitch,” Murphy explained.