Former Glasgow Warriors coach Peter Murchie was announced as part of Steve Tandy’s coaching staff earlier this week
New Wales defence coach Peter Murchie(Image: YouTube/Glasgow Warriors)
Peter Murchie probably isn’t a name that too many in Welsh rugby are familiar with.
The three-cap former Scotland full-back is approaching a decade in coaching, but this summer will see him take the next step on his own journey. Having been working in club coaching for a number of years, the time to move to Test rugby has arrived for the 40-year-old.
There are no easy jobs in international rugby. But taking on the defensive duties for a side that has conceded 46 tries in seven matches, in a nation that still happens to pine for a certain Wiganer currently based in France, could be seen as a pretty testing role.
Or, depending on your point of view, it could be the chance to affect some major change.
You’d imagine Murchie – and Steve Tandy – are banking on the latter.
The ex-Glasgow player and coach is a familiar figure to the Wales head coach. Perhaps, had Murchie not swapped Glasgow for Japan last year, he might have replaced Tandy in Scotland’s set-up when the Welshman announced he was coming home.
As it is, he’ll be Wales’ full-time defence coach starting this summer – ending a run of three straight campaigns with an interim in the job.
Again, Murchie perhaps isn’t the big name some fans might want. But beyond convincing Shaun Edwards to turn his back on chasing Grand Slams to return, who really is that big name?
Murchie represents a burgeoning coach, with an already impressive CV, who is trusted by Tandy. When Glasgow Warriors won the United Rugby Championship title in 2024, they conceded the fewest tries in the league – while managing to score the third-highest amount themselves.
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Scoring 77 and conceding just 35, no team boasted a better difference between those two figures than Glasgow’s 42.
Now, if you were being cynical, you could argue that playing in the Scottish/Italian Shield perhaps didn’t test their defence as much as others.
While they would play the Irish, South African and Welsh sides just once, they would play Benetton, Zebre and Edinburgh home and away.
Yet, looking at the statistics, only Munster, Bulls and Lions managed to get a four-try bonus point against them that season. On five different occasions through the year, they kept the opposition from crossing the whitewash.
And, even if there were any doubts about Glasgow’s defence under Murchie, then the play-offs proved them wrong.
Keeping the Stormers to just two tries in the quarter-final, they then went away to Limerick to beat Munster in the semi-final before beating the Bulls in Pretoria in the final.
In both of those games, they conceded just one try. Both serve as a perfect example of what Murchie wants from his defence.
Wales assistant coach Matt Sherratt has often spoken about his team’s identity, saying if they were playing in plain jerseys outside your window, the real test would still being able to identify them.
That’s perhaps true of this Glasgow defence, too. “They’re a team that spends a lot of time in the tackle,” says Cardiff centre Harri Millard, having gone up against Murchie’s Glasgow defence in recent seasons.
“They’ll slow the ball down a lot. They’re not overly aggressive. But they’re very well connected.”
That’s obvious from this early example in the semi-final against Munster. It’s worth remembering that Glasgow picked up two yellow cards in that game, yet still kept the Irish province at bay for much of it.
From a kick return, Glasgow are probably on the back-foot a little as Munster look to play around midfield. Numbers-wise, the home side seem to have the edge – with plenty of options out the back.
But in midfield, Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones remain connected despite the threat of options both out the back and in the frontline, with Munster fluffing their lines as they can’t get to the outside.
With neither centre biting, Munster inside centre Alex Nankivell tries to run a harder line just outside Antoine Frisch but it’s messy and Kyle Steyn is quickest to react for the opening try.
A little later on, you see just how committed Glasgow are to two-man tackles. Munster reach the one edge around halfway and look to play back across the pitch.
But Glasgow are able to get forwards up in the line quickly. Even with Munster pulling one pass back before tipping another one, moving the point of contact twice, Glasgow are able to double up in the tackle behind the gainline.
On the next phase, Munster look to isolate lock Scott Cummings in a bit of space. Frisch draws him in for the tip-on pass, but Glasgow are connected enough that Tuipulotu and Johnny Matthews are able to make another double tackle.
It’s perhaps not the most effective – not only being behind the gainline, but not managing to slow Munster’s speed of ball down.
However, as they reset, Glasgow have worked harder around the corner – with Munster then making little inroads as they reach the other edge.
“They’ll definitely drill two in the tackle a lot,” adds Millard. “They love two in there, holding people up and looking for rips and chokes.
“Then, it lets people set around them. It let’s people get width and come off the line connected.”
Already, there’s similarities between Murchie’s philosophies and what Wales managed to get right against Scotland on the weekend.
Perhaps due to their inexperienced midfield among other factors, Wales were cut open a lot on the weekend – but scrambled well once they got back to force errors and turnovers on later phases.
Even as well a connected defence as Glasgow’s can be cut open by offloads and smart ball movement.
But, once back scrambling, the double tackle in the 22 certainly halts momentum. “One will go low and the other will go high for the hold-up,” adds Millard.
“That slows down the opposition, which is what every team wants.”
And, perhaps pleasingly for Wales if they can continually get two men into the tackle, it can create breakdown opportunities. We saw that on the weekend, with Nicky Smith, Alex Mann and James Botham all winning jackal penalties.
However, the criticism of Wales so far under Tandy has been the lack of a fetcher – with Tommy Reffell left out of consecutive squads.
While the double-tackle is more about slowing down speed of ball, if the ruck support drops off for a second, then there’s going to be jackal opportunities.
In this instance, Munster push an offload in the face of a two-man tackle, only to meet another two-man tackle. Their clearout support can’t get there in time and Glasgow get the jackal penalty.
It was a similar story against the Bulls in Pretoria, fighting back from 13-0 down to win. Perhaps the most pleasing passage of play was a defensive set roughly 10 minutes from time.
The Bulls hammered away for 15 phases or so, but rarely looked like making any dents in the Glasgow defensive line.
The two-man tackles not only stopped them on the gainline, but made their speed of ball and presentation difficult to preserve.
By the time the Bulls were penalised for a desperate clearout, Glasgow had pretty much driven them out of their 22.
There’s a lot to like looking at the defensive work of Murchie at Glasgow.
Crucially, a lot of it aligns with the steps forward we saw last Saturday.