FEATURE Murphy Walker: ‘It was the first time I have cried in front of the boys’

Murphy Walker’s fledgling career has been such a stop-start affair you could understand his emotions as he prepared for his first outing in a Glasgow shirt for 17 months last Saturday.

There were easier places to make a comeback than Pretoria’s storied Loftus Versfeld Stadium. Up at an altitude of 1300m on South Africa’s High Veldt. A 2pm kick-off local time, with the sun at its height and the mercury hovering around 30C. And opponents in Jake White’s Bulls intent on toppling the URC leaders and giving their own hopes of a top-four – or maybe top-two – finish a major boost.

No wonder Walker declared himself “very surprised” when Warriors head coach Franco Smith told him he would be starting a game of such importance, given how long had transpired between drinks.

“Yeah, 512 days since the last game, we worked out,” he reflected with a rueful smile. “It was a strange day because I didn’t know how to feel before the game. It was almost like a debut again. I didn’t know whether to get nervous, excited, scared… all these emotions were flushed into one.

“It was obviously a tough place to go, with the heat and the altitude. Bulls at home is always going to be a tough ask. But for a first game back, it was good to get chucked in there and I felt decent while I was playing.”

There were moments, inevitably, when the 24-year-old’s lungs burned as he reacquainted himself with the dubious pleasures and pain of the collisions at ruck and scrum-time.

“You did feel it – I won’t lie – and I was knackered in parts, but it was more the training we’d done for the last eight weeks, aimed at helping how quickly you can recover when you are absolutely blowing.

“There were times when I was struggling. But I think everyone on the park was at those points. It was good to get my first game back and I am very grateful for it.”

His comeback lasted a mere 31 minutes. Walker was part of a starting front-row trio including fellow prop Jamie Bhatti, making his own return after a couple of months out, and hooker Grant Stewart, on his first start since rejoining the club on a full-time basis last month.

I think most props will tell you about the neck stretching machine we have at Scotstoun, where you sit in this chair and it pulls your neck up. I had to sit in that contraption every day.

All three departed at the same juncture in a pre-determined plan to give the ring-rusty returnees some invaluable minutes before bringing on the more battled-hardened Zander Fagerson, Johnny Matthews and Nathan McBeth to take the fight to the Bulls.

If the starters were not necessarily party to the whole plan – “let’s just say Franco has got plenty of plans, so you can read into that what you wish,” said Walker– his relatively short return to the coalface did little to dampen his enthusiasm after so long away.

Saturday was only Walker’s 17^th game of senior rugby, spread over the last three seasons. Three of those were for Scotland. His Test debut, off the bench against Fiji in November 2022, came after just eight outings – and only three starts – for Glasgow.

Having built up a head of steam with Scotland Under-20s after joining the Warriors academy straight from school, he missed the entire 2020-21 season with a ruptured hamstring, delaying his Warriors debut until October 2021.

His burgeoning potential was sufficiently evident though that after only half-a-dozen games, Gregor Townsend took him on a South American tour in the summer of 2022, giving him 20-odd minutes off the bench in an ‘A’ international against Chile.

Walker was just hitting his straps last season – from October to late December he managed eight matches, including his first two Scotland caps in the autumn Tests – when his injury issues resurfaced.

“I did my neck in Franco’s first year as coach and fought back at literally this time last year. I think most props will tell you about the neck stretching machine we have at Scotstoun, where you sit in this chair and it pulls your neck up. I had to sit in that contraption every day.

“It helped me to get back fit but at that point we were looking for continuity in the squad and obviously it’s tough to put your hand up when you are getting to finals time and the boys are playing well. So I played a couple of A games.”

Although he hadn’t featured for Glasgow’s first team during the second half of the campaign, Walker’s brief return to fitness saw him included in Scotland’s initial World Cup training party. He started the opening warm-up Test against Italy but lost out to Javan Sebastian for the third tighthead spot in the final reckoning.

It was on his return to Scotstoun to start preparing for the new URC campaign that his misfortune plumbed new depths.

I did the meniscus in my right knee, and that was genuinely one of the toughest moments of my life. I think it was the first time I have cried in front of the boys and in front of Franco in the physio room.

“I tore my calf, then I was a week away from being fit to play against Leinster [in Glasgow’s opening game] but tore my quad in a line-out session, which is kind of unheard of in rugby where you don’t really tear quads. It is more of a footballers’ injury.

“Then eight weeks after that I was a week away from being fit to play against Munster [in early December], so they wanted to get me some game-time against Edinburgh A.

“Literally 15 minutes into that, I did the meniscus in my right knee, and that was genuinely one of the toughest moments of my life. I think it was the first time I have cried in front of the boys and in front of Franco in the physio room. That was definitely one of my toughest moments. All worth it now, I suppose.”

Walker is full of praise for how Warriors staff and team-mates rallied round in his darkest hour, particularly physio Michael Clark, who “set me little goals here and there which kept me driving on to get back fit.”

“The support system at Glasgow is amazing,” he said. “They have everything in line if you need to speak to someone. The boys got around me pretty well and my family as well. Deep down I know injuries are part of the job so it’s something I’ve just got to roll with. I kept saying that I am doing my dream job which I love, so as much as the injuries are frustrating, I can’t really complain that much.”

His reward for battling through the pain and frustration and endless hours in the gym was a new two-year contract, announced last week, and the chance to belatedly kick-start a career that has been on pause for most of the last 17 months.

“I am obviously very grateful that Glasgow wanted to keep me on. After the last couple of years, I felt within myself that I owe something not just to the coaches here but the fans and the boys, to show that I want to contribute.

“When you are sitting on the sidelines watching the boys go so well, you just want to be a part of it. Now that I am back, all I want to do is play well for Glasgow and show everyone that I am not just here to sit on the sidelines in the injury club.”

The immediate future is alive with possibilities. Having salvaged two bonus points with a stirring late comeback against the Bulls to keep their hopes of a top-two finish on track, Glasgow have moved on to Johannesburg for Saturday’s penultimate game of the regular season against the Lions. After a final home game against bottom dogs Zebre in a fortnight, the knockout stages will see Warriors desperate to improve on last year’s underwhelming quarter-final exit.

“I just can’t wait for the next few games now, especially with the play-offs coming up,” Walker said. “I haven’t played in a knock-out game for years – probably as a schoolboy would be the last time – so that really excites me, as it does the rest of the boys.”

It would be amazing to go on the summer tour and get that recognition, but at the same time I’ve only played half an hour in the past year, so it is nothing I am expecting.

Beyond that, another tantalising prospect. Scotland’s summer tour itinerary features Tests in Ottawa, Washington, Santiago and Montevideo on a month-long trip to North and South America.

Gregor Townsend has kept in touch during Walker’s extended period on the sidelines, as has Scotland scrum coach Pieter de Villiers, who he caught up with last week as he prepared for his comeback, tapping into the South Africa-born former France prop’s extensive knowledge of what might await him against the Bulls.

“The coaches tend to do that with a lot of the boys,” Walker said. “It has been good knowing that you are still able to chat to them. As a tighthead, it’s amazing doing scrum stuff with Pieter. I worked through some clips with him, which was pretty handy.”

Walker’s return is timely, with the venerable WP Nel calling time on his career once Edinburgh’s season is done, and Scotland in desperate need of more long-term back-up for Zander Fagerson in the tighthead department.

Sebastian has returned to more regular action with Edinburgh in recent weeks while Elliott Millar-Mills has kicked on impressively for Northampton after winning his first three caps off the bench during this year’s Six Nations.

But a fully fit and firing Walker over the next month would be a bonus option for Townsend, with Fagerson – a Lion in 2021 and a likely contender for next year’s tour of Australia – one front-liner who the head coach might ideally choose to rest for this summer’s jaunt to Canada, United States, Chile and Uruguay.

“Obviously it would be amazing to go on the summer tour and get that recognition, but at the same time I’ve only played half an hour in the past year, so it is nothing I am expecting,” added Walker.

“All I want to do is get back fit and get back playing well for Glasgow. If Scotland come calling then that’s just a bonus – a cherry on top of the cake.”