Jordi Murphy (born 22 April 1991) is a former Irish international

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player. He played for provincial and

United Rugby Championship The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

side

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

as a loose forward, and played for the

Ireland national rugby union team The Ireland national rugby union team is the men's representative national team for the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team represents both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Ireland competes in the annual Six Nations Champio ...

Early life

Murphy was born in

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to Irish parents, Conor Murphy and Nicola Carroll. He was named after Catalonia's patron saint St. Jordi, a decision which was influenced by the nurses on duty the night of his birth as the following day was the St Jordi's Day festival. Murphy moved to

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

at the age of nine where he attended Willow Park primary school. Murphy played rugby with

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and was part of a successful junior side which won the

Leinster Schools Junior Cup The Leinster Schools Junior Challenge Cup is an under-age rugby union competition for schools affiliated to the Leinster Rugby, Leinster Branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union, IRFU. Background The Leinster Schools Junior Cup competition is ...

in 2006 against

Gonzaga College Gonzaga College SJ is a voluntary Catholic boys' secondary school in Ranelagh, Dublin, Ireland. Founded in 1950, Gonzaga College is under the trusteeship of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order), one of five Jesuit secondary schools in Ir ...

. He later went on to captain the senior side who won the Leinster Senior Cup in 2009. Blackrock triumphed over

Terenure Terenure (), originally called ''Roundtown'', is a middle class suburb of Dublin in Ireland. It is located in the city's D6 and D6W postal districts. The population of all electoral divisions labelled as Terenure was 17,972 as of the 2022 ce ...

in the final with an 18–9 victory making it their 66th senior title.

Professional

Murphy was part of the Leinster Academy and played for Leinster A on 18 occasions representing them in

British and Irish Cup The British and Irish Cup was an annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs and the reserves or developing teams from professional clubs from Great Britain and Ireland. It took place for the first time in the 2009� ...

and against the other three provinces. At the beginning of the 2011–12 Pro 12 League season Leinster had 14 players unavailable for selection as they were representing

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

in the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The World Rugby, International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japa ...

. With a depleted squad and some impressive displays this led to Murphy getting his first senior appearance in their third game of the season. The match was a 19–23 home defeat against Scottish side

Glasgow Warriors The Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and beca ...

with Murphy coming on as substitute in the 45th minute replacing

Dominic Ryan Dominic Ryan (born 28 March 1990) is an Irish former professional rugby union player who last played for Leicester Tigers. He was a back row player, playing at predominantly openside or blindside flanker. During his first year in the Leinster ac ...

. In the following league match on 24 September 2011 he made his first competitive start for Leinster in 15–10 away victory against

Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby c ...

in which Fijian

Isa Nacewa Isakeli "Isa" Nacewa (born 22 July 1982) is a former rugby union player and coach. Born in New Zealand of Fijian descent, he represented the Fiji national rugby union team, Fiji national team, winning one cap in 2003. Nacewa was a utility back ...

scored all of the Leinster points. The match was Scarlets 5000th game in the region's 139-year history. Murphy scored his first try for the province against

Cardiff Blues Cardiff Rugby () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms Park. Originally formed in 1876, from 2003 to 2021 the first team was known as the Cardiff Blues before rebranding back ...

in a nine try victory. In the same match he also picked up the man-of-the-match award. On 15 December 2012, he made his

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

debut late on against Clermont Auvergne, replacing injured team-mate

Shane Jennings Shane Jennings (born 8 July 1981) is an Irish former professional rugby union player. He played at openside flanker for Leinster Rugby and Ireland. He was also registered to St Mary's College. Club career Jennings impressed for Leinster in the ...

. Towards the end of the season he was named Powerade Young Player of the Year at Leinster Rugby's Annual Awards Ceremony held at the Mansion House in Dublin. Only a matter of days later Murphy captained Leinster 'A' to victory over

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

in the final of the

. Murphy moved to Ulster for the 2018–2019 season. In his first season with the province he made 18 appearances and 227 tackles, with a 94% tackle success rate. He made 16 appearances in 2019–2020. He sustained in injury in May 2021 during a

Pro14 Rainbow Cup The Pro14 Rainbow Cup (also known as the Guinness Brewery, Guinness Pro14 Rainbow Cup for sponsorship reasons) was a professional rugby union end-of-season cup competition played in 2021 that consisted of two separate tournaments: the Rainbow C ...

match against

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

, which kept him out until February 2022. In April 2023, Murphy announced his retirement from professional rugby at the end of the 2022–23 season.

International

Murphy represented Ireland at Under-18, Under-19 and Under-20 levels. In the summer of 2013 Murphy was selected for an

Emerging Ireland Emerging Ireland is an Irish international rugby union team that represents Irish Rugby Football Union, Ireland in selected matches, tours and competitions. Composed of Ireland qualified players only, mostly uncapped or at the beginning of their c ...

squad for the

2013 IRB Tbilisi Cup The 2013 IRB Tbilisi Cup was the inaugural edition of this international rugby union tournament, created by the International Rugby Board and was played from 7 to 16 June 2013 at the Avchala Stadium in Tbilisi. The hosts Georgia national rugby u ...

. He went on to play in all three matches against

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, South Africa President's XV and

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. Ireland ended the competition as runners-up with Murphy providing an assist in the final match for a

Niall Annett Niall Annett (born 7 May 1991) is an Irish professional rugby union player who plays for Bath, having previously played for Worcester Warriors and Ulster Rugby. His favoured position is hooker. In the 2011 junior Rugby Championships, Annett capta ...

try. He gained his first senior cap for Ireland as a second-half replacement against England at Twickenham in the 2014 RBS 6 Nations on 22 February 2014, winning further caps that year against Italy (8 March) and Argentina (7 June and 14 June). He was a member of Ireland's successful 2015 Six Nations squad, starting in two test matches (Italy, England) and coming on as a replacement against France, Wales and Scotland during that campaign. In September 2015 he was selected as a member of the 31-man Ireland squad for the

2015 Rugby World Cup The IRB 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was ...

. Murphy scored Ireland's first try in the historic 40–29 defeat of

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– then back-to-back world champions – on 5 November 2016 at

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, Chicago, but was stretchered off later in the game with what proved to be an ACL injury to his left knee. Despite returning to the national team, scoring a try in the final warm-up game (against Italy) prior to the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup () was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening matc ...

, coach Joe Schmidt did not select Murphy as part of the squad for

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, opting instead to fill the final back-row slot with Murphy's former Leinster teammate,

Rhys Ruddock Rhys Ruddock (born 13 November 1990) is a professional rugby union player. He played for Leinster Rugby, Leinster and Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland. He plays in the backrow, at 6 or 8. In the 2009/2010 season, he captained the Irish ...

. However he was subsequently drafted into the squad, arriving in Japan on 29 September, following the broken foot that

Jack Conan Jack Edward Conan (born 29 July 1992) is an Irish professional rugby union player who plays as a number eight for United Rugby Championship club Leinster and the Ireland national team. He has twice been selected for the British & Irish Lions. ...

suffered in training. Murphy slotted straight into the No. 8 role for Ireland's 35–0 win over

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, but was taken off after 27 minutes, with Ireland up 14–0, following a dislocated rib, and was replaced by

CJ Stander Christiaan Johan Stander (born 5 April 1990) is a South African-born Irish former rugby union player. Stander's career began in his native South Africa, where he played for the Blue Bulls in the Currie Cup between 2010 and 2012 and for the Bul ...

Personal life

Murphy studied business at

Dublin Institute of Technology Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT, ) was a major third-level institution in Dublin, Ireland. On 1 January 2019 DIT was dissolved and its functions were transferred to the Technological University Dublin, as TU Dublin City Campus. The insti ...

. In 2009 he received Blackrock's sports personality of the year award presented to him by Ireland captain

Brian O'Driscoll Brian Gerard O'Driscoll (born 21 January 1979) is an Irish former professional rugby union player. He played at outside Centre (rugby union), centre for the Irish provincial team Leinster Rugby, Leinster and for Ireland national rugby union te ...

. He is the grandson of Irish Olympian, Noel Carroll. Murphy became a father with the birth of his daughter, Lily, on 11 December 2020.

Career statistics

Honours

;Schoolboys *

(1): 2006 *

Leinster Schools Rugby Senior Cup The Leinster Schools Senior Challenge Cup is the premier rugby union competition for secondary schools affiliated to the Leinster Branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), and was first held in 1887. Attendances are high for a schoolboy ...

(1): 2009 ;Ireland under–20 *

Six Nations Under 20s Championship The Six Nations Under 20s Championship is an international rugby union tournament. It is the under-20s equivalent of the Six Nations Championship. Originally the tournament was in an under-21 format but changed to under-20s in 2008. England ...

(1):

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

;Leinster *

(1):

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Pro14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

(3):

, 2013–14, 2017–2018 *

European Rugby Champions Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pr ...

(1): 2017–2018 ;Ireland * Six Nations (3):

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

;Individual * Leinster Young Player of the Year (1): 2012–13 * Pro14 Dream Team (1): 2013–14

References

External links

Ulster Rugby profileUnited Rugby Championship profile
*
Ireland profileLeinster profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Jordi 1991 births Living people Sportspeople from Barcelona Rugby union players from Catalonia Rugby union flankers Ireland international rugby union players Leinster Rugby players Blackrock College RFC players Lansdowne Football Club players Ireland Wolfhounds international rugby union players People educated at Blackrock College Ulster Rugby players Irish rugby union players Rugby union number eights 2015 Rugby World Cup players 2019 Rugby World Cup players