Cadan Murley Exclusive: ‘I see myself as part of a new core group of younger leaders at Harlequins’
.jpg "Murley signed a contract extension with Harlequins earlier this month")
Murley signed a contract extension with Harlequins earlier this month
©Harlequins/Shutterstock
“I think there is going to be a lot of boys probably leaving this year and moving on, and a new core group of younger leaders stepping up.”
You get the sense that on Tuesday evening, Cadan Murley knew what was coming.
The 25-year-old was reflecting on recently putting pen to paper on a new deal with Harlequins and while the talented winger sees himself as part of a new generation of leaders at The Stoop, one of the club’s figureheads is about to bid a fond farewell.
On Wednesday, after 15 years of service, Joe Marler announced his retirement from the game and his last dance will come on Friday night against Bristol Bears.
Head coach Danny Wilson described the 34-year-old as “one of rugby’s big characters” and it is hard to argue with that sentiment but the Quins boss has a core group of hungry players who are already becoming - or have become - leaders in their own right.
And Murley certainly falls under that bracket.
“I've been a childhood supporter of Quins growing up. All I wanted to do was play for the club, play over 100 times, and captain them. It is an absolute honour,” Murley tells TRU.
“But I still think we've got more from this group and a new core group of younger leaders stepping up so that's where I see myself, Alex Dombrandt and Marcus Smith. All still relatively young in our careers.
“We [Harlequins] haven't hit our best yet so hopefully in the next few years that I've signed for, we can hit our straps and win some more silverware.”
As Murley references, he has already surpassed a century of appearances for the club and was part of the Premiership title win in 2021 as well as being the league's top try scorer in 2022-23 with 15.
It has also been a whirlwind few months for Murley.
After captaining his club in their 36-19 victory away at Exeter Chiefs at the end of October, he was called up yet again for the England A side to face Australia A two weeks ago.
Following a hat-trick for England A against Portugal in their thumping 91-5 win back in February, Murley put in another impressive performance, scoring a brace in their 38-17 success over Australia A at The Stoop.
“Bridging the gap between playing for the [Under] 20s and your age group and then that senior involvement is really good,” Murley added.
“I think that the England A group really bought into it [the environment] and tried to copy what the seniors were doing. It's a good step up to challenge ourselves, especially playing against some of those Aussie boys who are physical and came out hard.”
Following his performance for the A side, Murley was called into Steve Borthwick’s 36-man wider training squad ahead of England’s final Autumn Nations Series Test against Japan.
“Anytime you get to pull on the rose in any shape or form is always special,” Murley continues.
“Being around the boys in the camp, some of them have played hundreds of games for England, but some of them are relatively new as well. It's good to pick their brains and see how to test yourself against the best.
“I did have a chat with Steve about what he wants to see from me so hopefully, in these next few games for Quins and heading into Europe as well, I can show what I can do.”
Murley’s ambitions as a player - for both club and country - are evident but adding to his rugby diet this season has been his involvement within National League Rugby.
In August, National One club Richmond announced Murley would be joining the coaching staff and he explained how much he has been enjoying his role.
“I love it down there,” he says. “It's a great group of boys. It's a great club with a lot of history. I come as and when I can and it's brilliant to be involved just adding input where I can.
“Obviously it's nice to have someone who is involved in the professional game giving them some tips and stuff so I massively enjoy it.”
Murley also added how he thinks the role is helping him improve his own game as a player.
“I think it lets me see the games through a coach’s lens so then with my relationship with the coaches here at Harlequins, it has really helped with my sort of questioning around what I'm seeing in the game and what I know they're seeing, and our understanding and working together on that.”
Richmond currently sit top of National One with 10 wins from 11 games, the only blip being a 31-31 draw away to 10th-placed Dings Crusaders back in October.
Next up, they face Rams RFC on December 6th who sit second in the standings but are level on points with Richmond.
“Ultimately, these are the small margins that it comes down to in that league,” Murley adds. “There are so many teams fighting at the top. Us, Rams, Rosslyn Park (4th) around there and Rotherham (3rd) as well. So these games playing against the top teams are ones we want to play, but I back the boys.”
Richmond face all three of their fellow top four sides between now and the Christmas break and Murley is no stranger to the quality and demands of National One rugby having played for current third-tier side Esher during his first season at Quins.
“I played for Esher in Nat One in my first year so 2017/18. We've got some Quins boys on loan at Richmond at the moment [Lucas Schmid and Frank McMillan as examples] who go down there on Tuesday and Thursday night.
“Because that step up from schoolboy rugby can be quite tough, the level of physicality changes so those leagues are massive for the development of young players.
“During my time at Esher, I had Tommy Williams, who was Quins Academy coach, so being under his eye down at Esher definitely helped me develop and then I ended up playing Prem in my second year.
“So a lot goes to that club, and I know how much those boys care. It kind of brought my love back. Not that I didn't have my love for the game, but you see those boys coming down, working nine till five and still coming along and grafting, wanting to get better, always willing to learn. It definitely brought my love back for the game in that way.”
With Richmond not in action until next Friday night, Murley’s full attention will be on this coming Friday when Harlequins face Bristol at The Stoop.
After a slow start to the season - including narrow defeats away at Sale Sharks and at home to Bath - a bonus-point victory for Quins (5th) would move them level on points with fourth-placed Saracens.
“It's absolutely massive, not only for the result but to put in a good performance,” Murley says. “The boys went brilliantly in the Premiership Cup [beating London Scottish and Ealing before a tight 28-26 loss to Saracens], so there's a lot of competition for places.
“We're excited to go out there, put our best foot forward, and show what we can do against Bristol.
“They’re a side scoring tries for fun at the moment, so we're excited by the challenge of it and making The Stoop a fortress is what we're aiming to do.”
Quins will be out to stop one of the most prolific finishers in the league, Gabriel Ibitoye, when Bristol rock up to the capital on Friday while from their own perspective, Marler will start his 286th and final game in the Quarters.
Murley is one of seven players in the starting XV who have been away with their respective nations during the autumn and after this week, he and Quins will turn their thoughts to Europe as they begin their Investec Champions Cup campaign with two difficult fixtures against Racing 92 away and then Stormers at home.
“We take Europe as it comes,” Murley says. “We know on our day, we can beat anyone. I think we showed last year that we shocked a bit of the rugby world by going down to Bordeaux and beating them and beating Glasgow at home, obviously the URC champions.
“We love that competition. We love running out at The Stoop in front of our home fans, listening to the European music and showing what we can do. We never set any standards for ourselves in Europe, but we set the bar quite high with last year's run, so we're looking forward to that.”
