‘Cheap shot’ could have ended Jordi Murphy’s World Cup

Rotten, rotten luck.

All Jordi Murphy wants to do is play. As soon as it became clear that he wasn't first choice at Leinster, Jordi Murphy wasn't content. He was on the move. Leinster's pack at the time was unbreakable and this man wasn't going to hang around. There was a chance at Ulster and he was mad for it. Moved up north and put in a stormer of a season for Dan McFarland's side. Haunted by injury for years, that wasn't Murphy's first body blow. At the peak of his powers, he suffered the injury that haunts every sport star's nightmares. The Cruciate ligament. That set him back a few years. But he wasn't going to be down for long. The Ulster move got him going again. The majority of commentators felt he deserved a spot on Ireland's World Cup squad. Unluckily and perhaps debatably, Murphy missed out, Rhys Ruddock getting the nod ahead of him. But he was ready for the call. And with Jack Conan fracturing his foot, Schmidt called on his man. Arriving on Sunday, Murphy was straight into the fire. Named on the Ireland team to take on Russia on Monday. By Thursday, he was making his presence felt at the Kobe Misaki Stadium in Japan. Until some bad luck struck again. Stuck in a maul close to the Russian line, Murphy was unfairly taken out of it from the side by Russia's number five Bogdan Fedotko. On RTÉ commentary, Donal Lenihan called it a cheap shot. There's no doubt about that. Number five comes in from the side to hit Murphy when he's vulnerable and open. Murphy feels it straight away. Didn't want to give up the dream. Played on for five minutes. Had no option but to go off. You'd have to feel for the man.