Rugby: Ireland's Muldoon hoping for some family support

Ireland rugby loose forward John Muldoon could have some long lost relatives supporting him when he comes up against the All Blacks on Saturday night.

From a New Zealand perspective, the flanker's surname makes him stand out in the Irish team sheet for the one-off test in New Plymouth.

Muldoon said he wasn't absolutely certain he was related to former New Zealand prime minister Sir Robert Muldoon, but had been told by different sources that there was a connection.

"It says in Wikipedia that I'm related, but obviously Wikipedia is factual to a certain degree so I'm not 100 per cent sure," he said.

"I asked an old relative of mine and she said that down the line somewhere she had heard that we were related but she was not 100 per cent sure."

Muldoon said a female New Zealand journalist based in Ireland had raised the issue with him.

The same journalist, who came from Taranaki, had given him a biography of Sir Robert and he had started reading it.

"I'm two chapters into it," he said.

"He seems to have been a bit of a dictator," he added with a laugh.

Muldoon, 27, will be on the blindside when he faces the All Blacks for the first time.

His two previous test appearances were against Canada and the United States during Ireland's mid-year tour last year.

His early sporting interest was the Gaelic game of hurling, and he took up rugby at 15 as a way of staying fit in the winter.

"I enjoyed it more than hurling, so I gave hurling up."

As part of Ireland's loose trio, Muldoon, who is noted as a tough tackler, will be in the thick of action at the breakdown, where the new law interpretations will be in operation.

The new interpretations were used in the Super 14 and are being introduced to test rugby from this month.

Muldoon said it might time a bit of time for the Irish to get used to the changes.

They had trained in accordance with them in the build-up to their loss to the Barbarians in Limerick last weekend and had done more work on them this week.

However, there was a difference between practice and the real thing.

"We will be briefed in a theoretical sense, but I suppose you will always go back to what you are used to when you are under a bit of pressure and the All Blacks will be putting us under a lot of pressure," Muldoon said.

"Hopefully we will be catch on pretty quickly and be able to keep the referee on our side."

While he saw the All Blacks as having an edge given their experience of the new interpretations in the Super 14, it was something the Irish would have to accept.

"On paper you might see it as an advantage, but I suppose we are old enough and wise enough now to be able to come to terms with it," Muldoon said.

"We wouldn't be playing international rugby if we couldn't adapt quickly and that's what we're going to have to do."

- NZPA