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James Colman Murphy-O'Connor (6 June 1925 — 10 August 2014) was an Irish international rugby union player.
| Full name | James Colman Murphy-O'Connor | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 6 June 1925 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Reading, England | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 10 August 2014 (aged 89) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Buckinghamshire, England | ||||||||||||||||
| School | Prior Park College | ||||||||||||||||
| Notable relative(s) | Cormac Murphy-O'Connor (brother) Jerome Murphy-O'Connor (cousin) William O'Neill (brother-in-law) | ||||||||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Doctor | ||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
The son of a doctor, Murphy-O'Connor was born in Reading, the eldest of six siblings. He attended Prior Park College with his four brothers. His youngest brother was the British cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor and he was also a cousin of priest and biblical scholar Jerome Murphy-O'Connor.[1]
Murphy-O'Connor studied medicine at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, where he was involved in Hospitals Cup rugby, and undertook further studies at the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin. He practised medicine in Slough.[2]
A 6 ft 6 in forward, Murphy-O'Connor captained Bective Rangers to the Leinster Senior Cup title in 1948. He was a Leinster representative player and was capped once for Ireland, against England at Twickenham in the 1954 Five Nations, with his penalty goal accounting for his team's only points in a 3–14 loss. His biggest contribution to rugby came through pioneering the kicking technique of striking the ball using his instep, instead of the toe.[3]
Murphy-O'Connor married the sister of Ireland prop William O'Neill.[4]
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