Noel Arthur Augustine Murphy (born 22 February 1937) is a former Irish

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who represented

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 ...

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 ...

, the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

and the

Barbarians A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

as a flanker. He also played club rugby for both

Cork Constitution The Cork Constitution (CC) is a rugby union club based in Cork, playing in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League. It was founded by staff of the '' Cork Constitution'' newspaper. Since the paper did not publish on Sundays, the staff were lo ...

and Garryowen. Since retiring as a player, Murphy has remained involved in rugby union, both as a coach and administrator.

Family

Murphy is a member of one Ireland's most renowned rugby families. Both his father, Noel Sr, and his son Kenny Murphy have also represented

at rugby. They are the first, and to date, only family to have a father, son and grandson capped at senior level.

Rugby international

Ireland

Between

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the thir ...

and

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

, Murphy won 41 caps for

. He also scored 5 tries (15 points) and was Ireland captain on five occasions. He made his international debut on 18 January 1958 in a 9–6 win against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium (, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for the Aviva Stadium on ...

. He then went on to play for Ireland in all four games during the

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

and

1960 Five Nations Championship The 1960 Five Nations Championship was the thirty-first series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the sixty-sixth series of the northern hemisphere rug ...

s. He scored his first Ireland try against

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

on 12 March 1960 in a 10–9 defeat at Lansdowne. Murphy also played in all four games in the

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

and 1969 Five Nations Championships and scored further tries against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1964, and against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in 1965 and 1967. Murphy captained Ireland for the first time on 21 January 1967 in a 15–8 win at Lansdowne against Australia and was subsequently captain during the

1967 Five Nations Championship The 1967 Five Nations Championship was the thirty-eighth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the seventy-third series of the northern hemisphere r ...

. He scored his final Ireland try against England in a 17–15 win at Lansdowne on 8 February 1969. He then made his final appearance for Ireland on 8 March 1969 against

. His Ireland career ended in controversial circumstances when he was involved in a punch up with Welsh lock Brian Price

British and Irish Lions

Murphy also toured twice with the

and was a member of their squad for both the

and 1966 tours of Australia and New Zealand. He made his Lions debut on 30 May 1959 against

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and marked the occasion with a try. He played in 18 games during the 1959 tour and a scored further four tries, one each against

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

and

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty () is a large bight (geography), bight along the northern coast of New Zealand's North Island. It stretches from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaway in the east. Called ''Te Moana-a-Toitehuatahi'' (the Ocean ...

Thames Valley The Thames Valley is an area in South East England that extends along the River Thames west of London towards Oxford. The area is a major tourist destination and economic hub on the M4 corridor, with a high concentration of technology companies ...

and two against North Auckland. He made his Test debut for the Lions against

on 13 June 1959. During the same tour he also played in three further Tests against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. Murphy also played 17 games and scored 3 tries on the 1966 tour. Two of his tries came in the opening game against

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

on 7 May. He played in four Test games, two against Australia and two against New Zealand. He scored his third try of the tour in the second test against Australia on 4 June 1966.

Coach and administrator

After retiring as a player, Murphy coached

and then

between 1977 and 1980. He also coached the

on their 1980 South Africa tour. He has also served as president of

, the Munster Branch and the

IRFU IRFU or Irfu may refer to: * Irish Rugby Football Union, The Irish rugby football union (IRFU), is the national rugby association of Ireland *Interprovincial Rugby Football Union, a four-team league that merged with the Westerm Interprovincial Rugb ...

. He is currently one of Ireland's representatives on the

International Rugby Board World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international competit ...

and is on the organising committee of the

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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Noel 1937 births Living people Rugby union players from County Cork Irish rugby union players Ireland international rugby union players Ireland national rugby union team captains British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Ireland Cork Constitution players Garryowen Football Club players Barbarian F.C. players Munster Rugby players Irish rugby union coaches Munster Rugby non-playing staff Rugby union flankers British & Irish Lions coaches Ireland national rugby union team coaches People educated at Christian Brothers College, Cork