Murphy to Retire at the End of the Season
Geordan Murphy, the former full back for the Ireland Rugby Team and the current captain of the Aviva Premiership Rugby Union side the Leicester Tigers has revealed that this current season of the Aviva Premiership will be his last as a player as he plans to hang up his boots at the end of the season. Earlier in the year, Murphy made the announcement about his international retirement so that he could concentrate on his club career with The Tigers.
Having played for The Tigers for the last 16 years, Murphy was extremely emotional when he made his intentions about retiring public. He is extremely pleased at being able to turn out for the club from Welford Road for so long, having been with the club when it embarked on a run of success in the newly formed professional league with the Aviva Premiership, a title that Murphy has won 7 times during his long stay at the club.
Speaking to Radio BBC Leicester, Geordan Murphy confirmed that this would be his last contracted season with the Leicester Tigers. He added that if he felt that he could continue playing at the same level that he has done for the last 16 years, then he would be baying Richard Cockerill, the Director of Rugby for The Tigers for a new contract, but he has come to a point where he feels that he cannot continue and there is no use holding down a spot in the team.
Murphy has also played in four Heineken Cup finals for the Leicester Tigers, and earned a whopping 72 caps with the Ireland Rugby team. Debuting for The Tigers as a teenager in 1997, the full back has gone on to play more than 300 times for the team and is certain to go down as a club legend.