Munro thrilled to be in shop window

USING Bristol’s Will Hurrell as an inspiration, Ealing centre Joe Munro hopes that a series of good performances in the Championship play-offs, starting against Carnegie, will lead to bigger things.

Bristol thought so highly of Hurrell that they bought him out of his Doncaster contract following his displays against them in last year’s final, and Munro, right, would love to follow suit and play at the highest level.

While Munro’s ambitions to play Premiership rugby cannot be fulfilled at Ealing, the 26-year-old knows that the play-offs are an ideal opportunity to display his talents. “As a young ambitious player, these are moments when you have to step up. If you do play well, you never know what might happen,” he told TRP. “Will Hurrell is a good example of that. The fact that he is in my position and it happened to him, is massively encouraging.” Munro first played Championship rugby with Moseley while at Loughborough University, and it was during his time that he got a brief taste of a Premiership environment.

Kevin Maggs’ connections with London Irish enabled him to play a few A-League games for the Exiles, but a full-time move never materialised and he has been chasing the Premiership dream ever since.

After three full seasons with Nottingham, Munro moved on to Ealing in time for the 2015/16 season.

Powerfully built but with good hands to match, Munro endured a difficult debut season but has been one of the standout centres in the Championship in a campaign where Trailfinders have reached the play-offs for the first time.

“I put a massive emphasis on pushing on this season because I was held back last year,” he said.

“I had a shoulder and foot operation in my third full season at Nottingham and my foot still wasn’t fully fixed by the time I got to Ealing and that held me back. This year, though, it’s been all good.”