You have to hand it to Geordan Murphy here.
When your boss and your boss’s boss have both walked the plank in the past couple of months, and you’ve got a family to look after, most people would be tempted to keep schtum. Not the former Ireland fullback.
Murphy is backs coach with the Premiership side – a side he represented in fine style for well over a decade – but he admits he is unsure about his future at Welford Road.
With a background of Leicester axing director of rugby Richard Cockerill and head coach Aaron Mauger in recent weeks, Murphy spoke to The Hard Yards about what happens next [from 11:20 below].
https://soundcloud.com/thehardyardssportsjoe/episode-10-rog-on-joining-irish-setup-joey-carberys-potential-and-the-art-of-working-a-referee
Murphy is helping Tigers prepare for a league game against Bath this weekend, a match that will help get former Leinster coach Matt O’Connor settled into his new role at the club. Murphy said:
“It’s been the biggest amount of upheaval I’ve experienced in 20 years of professional rugby. We’ve lost three coaches this season.
“At the start of the season we lost our defence coach, we lost Richard Cockerill who went to Toulon and is head coach but he’s going to Edinburgh next season, and Aaron Mauger was replaced by Matt O’Connor who just arrived in. It has been a crazy season.”
Despite the chaos unfolding all around them, Murphy praised the Tigers playing staff for managing to keep standards high. They are in the Premiership top four and still chasing silverware. Murphy said:
“Fans’ expectations are high and the board are right on our case, pretty hard.
“At the moment, I’m still there. I’ve another year on my contract and I’m talking to them about extending it at the moment and they seem to be okay, although contracts in Leicester don’t seem to be worth the paper they are written on at the moment.
“It has been a hell of a season for me and a hell of a learning curve.”
There must be something in the water in the city of Leicester these days.
As Claudio Ranieri would tell you, it is not safe to be a coach in Leicester but Murphy is not backing down from the challenge.
