My Life in Rugby – Kieran Murphy: Insulted in French, but I couldn’t understand!

WHEN I first arrived at the Scarlets in 2011 everyone thought I was Irish. But I’m not, I’m the son of an Englishman, my mum is Scottish and, after a year in the States, I was brought up in Wales because they were both lecturers at Swansea University and we lived there as a family for a while. With that background, it’s no wonder my rugby career was kind of nomadic!

My big break with the Scarlets came the year David Lyons left and they were looking for back-row cover in a World Cup year. I was playing at Llandovery at the time and went down and did an eight-week trial and, luckily, I got picked up from there. It was a massive catalyst for me wanting to be a pro rugby player.

I scored twice on debut in a 31-3 win over Leicester Tigers in the LV= Cup and also in my first PRO14 match against Leinster. It wasn’t all good, however. My try celebration against the Tigers left a lot to be desired and I still regret it to this day. I did this kind of weird chest banging thing and followed it up with a double kiss into the camera. If I could go back and talk to my 23-yearold self, I would have been incredibly annoyed with him.

When Brive came in with a good offer a couple of years down the line, I just thought ‘go for it’. As I said previously, I’ve never really been a homebird, I liked to travel around, and I thought it would be an amazing opportunity to experience a different culture. What a mad two seasons that was!

I was pretty quiet when I was at the Scarlets but I was forced to come out of my shadow a little more when I moved to France and then when I came to London as well to join London Welsh. I didn’t speak any French at all beyond the standard ‘bonjour’ and ‘merci’ and I couldn’t understand a word the coaches were shouting at me when I first went there. After about six months I started to pick it up a bit better and discovered that some of the stuff they’d be yelling at me, I was better off not knowing! The Top 14 is an incredibly physical league, I don’t know guys spend 10-12 years in it.

I met Katie, my wife (as of Sunday) at London Welsh. She worked in the office and is now marketing manager at London Irish. I really enjoyed my time there although it was sad the way it all ended with the financial problems. We had a really good close-knit team and the coaches were amazing and I won my first silverware – the B&I Cup – while I was there.

To see what everyone went through at the end was a really humbling experience. It was so difficult to see a lot of good friends struggle to find where their next paycheque was coming from but in terms of a wake-up call it set me on a more focused path of being prepared for retirement and what comes next – in my case wealth management.

After a hectic few weeks assessing my options, I was very fortunate that Ealing came in for me. It was around November/December time, in 2016, and I stayed there until the end of this season. When I first came to Ealing, the club was building an identity and it’s great to be part of the journey. We were stuck with the mercenary tag for a bit but I think the perception has changed and people would recognise what a hard-working environment it is. Ben Ward epitomises that: he is first in and last out.

I really enjoyed my time working with Wardy. I haven’t always agreed with his selection deci- sions and it was tough to handle being left out of the second leg of the Championship play-off final against Saracens.

Below: With Ealing

But I hadn’t played well the week before and it’s not his job to be sentimental. When people ask me about my last game (a 60-0 drubbing), I might gloss over that bit!

I may not have got the fairytale ending I’d have liked but I feel like I will be supporting Ealing for the rest of my days. The club is definitely heading up in the right direction in terms of being a top, top club.

I’m excited to see where this group is going to go in the next two to three seasons but also in the next five, ten, 15 years where this club could be.

There is massive potential and to have played a part in that in any way is brilliant. It’s been an amazing journey for me. I have really enjoyed my time and it has come to a point where it’s naturally the right time to walk away from rugby.

– as told to Jon Newcombe