Murray's on a wing - and a prayer ...

BLAIR Murray began the week ‘in a state of shock’ at having gone from nowhere on one side of the world to the starting grid for the autumn Tests on the other.

- PETER JACKSON

Once he gets to grips with the dizzying rise in status, the 22-year-old New Zealander could do worse than consider the fates of those of a similar shape summoned by Wales in optimistic search for another Shane Williams. Theirs has proved almost as elusive as the old maestro in his mercurial pomp.

The wider rugby public beyond Murray’s high school in New Plymouth had never heard of him until he appeared as a second-half substitute for New Zealand Schools against their Fijian counterparts. The new boy announced himself with a solo try from almost 80 metres good enough to draw comparison with Christian Cullen at the same age.

Despite such gushing acclaim, Murray’s apprenticeship in wizardry back home never really took off. The serial-winning Crusaders went about their Super Rugby business without him, leaving Blair to bid for a place with Canterbury in the less rarefied atmosphere of what used to be the NPC (National Provincial Championship).

The Scarlets, according to head coach Dwayne Peel, saw enough from limited appearances of a player ‘who can break a game open with his speed and vision’. Murray also had another priceless gift, Welsh eligibility provided by his mother who emigrated to New Zealand from Tonyrefail in the Rhondda.