Written off at a young age for being too slow and too small, Cadan Murley has since proved the critics wrong and then some.
The Harlequins flyer is not only one of the quickest players in the Premiership but was also without peers as a finisher for two seasons in the Premiership.
Murley, still only 24, scorched home for 15 in the 2021/22 campaign, one fewer than Max Malins, and then became the first Harlequins player to be top Premiership try scorer the season after having matched his tally from the previous year.
Such form brought him to the attention of Eddie Jones and Steve Borthwick and Murley was involved in three England training camps until injury ruled him out of contention for what would have been a first cap in this year's Six Nations.
Murley has no fears that he may be another Paolo Odogwu and is confident that if he returns to the form of 2021-23, his England chance will eventually come.
“Fraser Dingwall was in loads of squads and he got an opportunity that he thoroughly deserved so hopefully if I can get back to form I can hopefully get a cap,” he said.
Murley announced his return to fitness with a hat-trick in England A's demolition of a callow Portugal team at Welford Road in February and followed it up by starting Harlequins' last two Premiership games – the 52-7 defeat to Saracens and the 40-36 win over Bath.
“It was a frustrating start to the season, I did the MCL on my left knee and then came back and did the syndesmosis on my ankle. But I had three years before that with virtually no injuries at all.
“These things usually come around and when you do one you are normally more vulnerable to doing another. But I am back fit and that little time off during the Six Nations although it was frustrating to not be involved, it was actually really good to get my body right.”
Born in Frimley, Surrey but raised for a number of years in Cornwall and then Wiltshire, joining a West Country club would have been the most obvious outcome for Murley, the son of a Lieutenant Colonel in the British Army, who was also posted in Germany for a while.
“It was a bit lucky that I got in (at Quins). I didn't get selected by my county, Dorset & Wilts, and that was the route into the academy back then so I never really got a sniff at Bath, I got told I wouldn't make it, that I was too small, not quick enough, but then I did a 7s tournament in Newbury and I got scouted from there. I went for a trial at Quins and they gave me a shot and I have never looked back really,” he explained.
“It was definitely a good decision and I am very grateful to Quins for giving me that opportunity. We had quite a good year group, I am in the same year group as Marcus Smith and below me, there's the Hugh Tizzards and Jack Cunninghams of this world. We had a very good U18s group, we won the academy league, so I have grown up with some good players and we are all coming through now.”
Murley sees himself as a hard-working winger who tracks play, much like born-and-bred Cornishman Jack Nowell – but with more tries in him.
While Murley likes the freedom to roam on the pitch and doesn't see himself as “a stand-on-theedge winger”, his military upbringing means he has a different approach to life away from the pitch.
“I would say I have got a lot of traits from the military, I do like my structure and I do like my routines but I never had that much of an interest in joining the Army myself. A lot of people can bring it home in the Army, but my Dad tried to leave it at the door and he was never pushing for me to sign,” he said.
“Back when he was 17, growing up in a fisherman's family in Cornwall, it was the best thing he could do to travel the world and get out of Cornwall. But he never had much interest in me joining.
“Literally, every single member of my family apart from my Mum and Dad, who live in Salisbury, are down there, right down by Land's End so it's a good place to visit – in summer. My parents went to school with Jack Nowell's parents and Luke Cowan-Dickie's parents so they all know each other.”
Murley also credits growing up in an Army family for giving him the resolve to not quit at the first knockback.
“Again, credit to my Dad, I think he always instilled in me that resilience and control the controllables. I remember him saying, ‘that is only one person's opinion', you have just got to prove to someone else that you can do it and push on from there. Luckily, that's what I did and look at me now kind of thing,” he said.
“It is always tough at a young age to hear that (to be told you're not good enough). What I always say to kids who are not getting selected, that it is one person's opinion and you have to keep your head down and keep working.
“There are so many different pathways into rugby now.”
