Euan Murray (born 7 August 1980) is a retired Scottish

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

footballer, whose last club was Pau in the French

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

. He started his career with Glasgow Warriors before playing for a number of clubs including

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. They were formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. James", ...

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 ...

and

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union club, based in Worcester, England, that is currently in Administration (law), administration and which has been suspended and will be relegated from Premiership Rugby, the top ...

. He also played for the Scotland national team. His usual position was

tighthead prop In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

and he was known as a strong scrummager. He is a fundamentalist Christian and throughout his career has decided not to play on Sundays.

Career

Club

Murray played most of his club rugby with Glasgow Southern (now known as

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after amalgamation with Hutchesons' Aloysians) before he went on to join

Glasgow Hawks Glasgow Hawks is an amateur rugby union team in Glasgow, Scotland. They were Premiership Division One champions for three consecutive seasons from 2003–04 to 2005–06. History In Paris on 27 August 1995 a meeting of the International Rugby ...

and then a professional contract with

Glasgow Warriors 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 became t ...

. He was named in the Pro12 Dream Team at the end of the 2006/07 season. Murray joined

in 2007. In December 2010, it was announced that Murray would be leaving Northampton by mutual consent and with immediate effect. He subsequently joined

. On 4 October 2012 Worcester Warriors announced that Murray would be joining them effective from November 2012. During the 2013/14 season, Murray seriously injured his thumb in a freak accident during a team-building exercise at Sixways. He rejoined Glasgow Warriors in June 2014 on a one-year contract. In June 2015, it was announced that Murray had signed a two-year contract with Pau in France.

International

In 1998 he played for Scotland under-18, and the following year he enjoyed a victory against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the

IRB Junior World Championship The World Rugby Under 20 Championship (known as the IRB Junior World Championship until 2014) is an international rugby union competition. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, World Rugby, and is contested by 12 men's junior nat ...

match at

Pontypridd () (colloquially: Ponty) is a town and a community in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Geography comprises the electoral wards of , Hawthorn, Pontypridd Town, 'Rhondda', Rhydyfelin Central/Ilan ( Rhydfelen), Trallwng (Trallwn) and Treforest (). The ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. Subsequently, between 1999 and 2001, he was capped 13 times in under-21 internationals. His senior Scotland career began with his debut against Romania in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

in 2005. He was a part of their

2007 Six Nations The 2007 Six Nations Championship was the eighth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the 113th series of the international championship. Fifteen mat ...

squad, and scored a try in their final game against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Murray was picked for the Lions tour to South Africa in 2009. He was one of only 2 Scottish players originally selected, the other being

Nathan Hines Nathan Hines (born 29 November 1976) is an Australian-born former rugby union and rugby league footballer. He played at international level for Scotland, winning 77 caps, and at club level for Edinburgh, Perpignan, and Clermont Auvergne among ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

captain

Mike Blair Michael Robert Leighton Blair (born 20 April 1981) is a Scottish rugby union coach who was formerly a professional player. He is the head coach of Edinburgh. He played at scrum-half for Glasgow Warriors, Newcastle Falcons, CA Brive and Edin ...

and fellow front rower

Ross Ford Ross William Ford (born 23 April 1984) is a Strength and Conditioning coach for the Scottish Rugby Academy. He was previously a Scotland international rugby union player who played as a hooker. He made 110 test appearances for Scotland, maki ...

were later called up as replacements. Murray retired from international rugby in May 2015, 4 months prior to the RWC, citing the close timing of the tournament with his wife expecting their third child. He amassed 66 caps for Scotland, and retired as Scotland's most capped tighthead prop. Murray also was on the Lions tour to South Africa in 2009 and played in four warm up games but had to withdraw from the tour ahead of the Test matches due to an ankle injury.

Personal life

In 2009, he announced he would no longer be playing on Sundays, out of his commitment to the

Christian Sabbath Sabbath in Christianity is the inclusion in Christianity of a Sabbath, a day set aside for rest and worship, a practice that was mandated for the Israelites in the Ten Commandments in line with God's blessing of the seventh day (Saturday) making it ...

, prompting comparisons to

Eric Liddell Eric Henry Liddell (; 16 January 1902 – 21 February 1945) was a Scottish sprinter, rugby player and Christian missionary. Born in Qing China to Scottish missionary parents, he attended boarding school near London, spending time when p ...

. Murray was educated at

Williamwood High School Williamwood High School is a non-denominational Comprehensive school, comprehensive secondary school in Clarkston, East Renfrewshire, Scotland, with a roll of around 1700 pupils. It was originally opened in the 1930s as Eastwood Senior Secondary ...

in Clarkston, East Renfrewshire. He is a qualified vet.
Daily Telegraph website

References

External links

profile
on Scottish Rugby website
ERC profile

profile
at glasgowwarriors.com (unofficial fansite) {{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Euan 1980 births Living people Northampton Saints players Glasgow Warriors players Newcastle Falcons players Worcester Warriors players SU Agen Lot-et-Garonne players Scottish rugby union players Scotland international rugby union players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Scotland Rugby union props Rugby union players from Glasgow People educated at Williamwood High School Scottish Baptists Glasgow Southern players