Flood Hails Sustained Excellence Of ‘Amazing’ Murphy Crowe

RWC Sevens Format: Ireland’s Route To Final Rounds

Ireland Squads Named For Rugby World Cup Sevens In Cape Town

Murphy Crowe’s status as an out-and-out finisher and a regular match winner for the Ireland Women (sponsored by TritonLake) has certainly grown with her second Gilbert Top Try Scorer award success in three years.

She has added other strings to her bow, particularly her work at the breakdown and in defence, but on pure numbers alone, the 27-year-old’s try-scoring threat continues to give Ireland a huge boost.

She scored 36 tries in 34 World Series outings across the 2021/22 campaign, helping Aiden McNulty’s side to a historic fourth place finish overall. They were the third top scorers in the competition with 106 tries and 634 points.

Murphy Crowe’s World Series career statistics now show 134 tries in 165 games, ranking her sixth on the all-time list. This weekend sees her competing in her second Rugby World Cup Sevens.

Back in 2018 in San Francisco, Ireland defeated England and Russia to secure their best ever RWC Sevens finish of sixth, but Murphy Crowe, who touched down twice against the English, missed the final round with a hamstring injury.

Emphasising how influential the Clanwilliam RFC product is come match day and also away from the pitch, Flood said: “Amee-Leigh, on and off the field, is an amazing person and an amazing player. Her work-rate and effort in everything she does, she’s so diligent and so resilient.

It’s such an honour to play with her and to be able to have someone who, time and time again, can do what she does, I think we’re so lucky to have her.

“She’s just a great team-mate to have, thank God. I wouldn’t like to play against her!”

The Ireland Women got a taste for podium finishes with their silver medal success in Seville and by following up with bronze in Langford. Their summer run in Rugby Europe also saw them win the Krakow 7s title.

For Murphy Crowe, who is known as ‘Leigh’ to her team-mates, there have been big strides made collectively in 2022. The hope is that they can progress even more in Cape Town where Brazil are their round of 16 opponents later today (kick-off 1.54pm local time/12.54pm Irish time).

“We’ve grown a massive amount this season and it’s really shown through the results,” she told Irish Rugby TV. “We don’t want to get too hung up on those results, we just want to keep performing and that’s how we’ve thought throughout the whole season.

“Just keep the performances up, keep doing the little things right and we’ll get the wins that we want.”

On her try-scoring prowess at the highest level of the game, she modestly admitted: “It’s a phenomenal ‘team’ effort! Yeah, it’s been a great season for me personally, obviously picking up a few awards in Toulouse at the end of the World Series.

“I know I always say it, but it is down to the girls. It is down to the team, it is down to the staff who support me every single day. To my family and friends, they push me on and they motivate me.

“It’s nice to be able to achieve them for my team and for my family. We came back into training after a break really pumped, especially after watching the Commonwealth Games Sevens.

“All eyes are on the Brazil game. They’re a tough team, it’s straight knockout. You either go into the bottom eight or top eight. We know that if we put in the right performance, we’ll get the result that we want out there.”

With global TV coverage, and live streaming provided on the RTÉ Player, the Sevens World Cup offers another chance for this talented Irish squad to showcase their talents in front of an ever-growing audience.

Following up on record attendances and impressive TV viewing figures for the TikTok Women’s Six Nations, and the impact of Ireland’s recent summer tour to Japan, the players themselves know how important it is to promote the best of Women’s Sevens rugby and draw the next generation to the sport.

Mindful of the young girls who could be watching on, Flood, now one of the ‘Crusty Dustys’ after first playing Sevens in sixth year in school, insisted: “We want to be role models for people.

We want to see Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe, Lucy Mulhall, Beibhinn Parsons, Erin King’s names in the media because they deserve to be in the media. They should be in the media.

“You watch those girls play and you recognise that, and anyone who does watch can see it.

So, it’s about getting other people to watch and making sure the younger generation knows that it’s a viable option for them if they want to go full-time and play rugby, do it as a career. The more that’s out there the better.”

All of Ireland’s games are live on the RTÉ Player in the Republic of Ireland, while there will be coverage across Irish Rugby social media channels and on IrishRugby.ie. A full list of broadcasters is available here.

The last remaining tickets for the RWC Sevens are available here.