A WEEKLY COLUMN LOOKING AT
TOPICS BEYOND THE SCOPE OF OUR
FEATURE MATCH OF THE WEEK
WRAP OF A WRAP
First things first….not one but TWO Harpin contributors have had milestone birthdays in the last week, best wishes to both Tom Coleman and Conor Cronin I hope the celebrations went well!
Well that match certainly didn’t go like we thought it would, did it? On the preview with Keego, we were trying to be nice about the Sale lineup but truth be told it really did look like a comprehensive Leinster win was on the cards but although we did get the bonus point win, this Sale squad really put it to us and both Tom and Kino made this point perfectly clear as they wrapped the 80 minutes.
If you didn’t catch the wrap pod itself, here’s a link to Spotify and we’re also on Apple and most major platforms.
HARPIN’ ON…ANDY FARRELL APPRECIATION
After skipping the bonus clip the previous week, we recorded one to honour Andy Farrell’s much-deserved gong at the RTÉ Sports Awards.
CHALLENGES FACING IRISH WOMEN’S RUGBY
It’s pretty clear the point I’m making with the editing wizardry in the TikTok below but I’m still actually saying stuff in the speeded up bits so here is a transcript…
- CLUB RUGBY We start with club rugby. The principal club competition is of course the Women’s AIL which for the past couple of seasons has consisted of a ringfenced top division of 9 clubs. Last year the league was done and dusted by this stage of the season in mid-December so now they’ve increased it to a home and away schedule extending the regular season to April. Problems still remain at this level however and just one look at the league table shows that in reality there are only four clubs in real contention for the title, with the other five sometimes struggling to put a team out like Wicklow in the last round who had to concede a walkover due to injuries, something that really should not be happening at senior level, and just to be perfectly clear, I certainly would not lay a whole lot of blame at the door of the club in question.
- INTERPROS Next we have the interprovincial championship, where the women’s game surely has much scope to resonate with Irish rugby fans already well used to cheering for one of the four provinces. The problem with this level is that like the clubs they also are badly in need of more games and this season’s title had already been won by Leinster before the men’s World Cup had even kicked off.
- THE CELTIC CHALLENGE Then we have the Celtic Challenge, a new competition along the lines of the original men’s Celtic League with teams from Ireland Scotland and Wales competing for the prize. They started last season with one team from each nation and have expanded to two each this year with Ireland fielding newly formed clubs called the Clovers who represent Munster and Connacht, and the Wolfhounds who will draw players from Leinster and Ulster and the two will meet each other in the opening round at Musgrave Park on December 29. It would of course be awesome for this level to succeed but from an Irish perspective I can’t really see these manufactured teams capturing much attention, so hopefully it won’t be long before all four provinces can afford to field teams and the competition can find a sustainable place on the rugby calendar.
- SEVENS This brings us to sevens rugby, and this year the World Series has rebranded itself to make sure both men and women play the same amount of rugby at all of the events. However for the Irish programme there is still a profound difference between the genders in that the men can field a dedicated sevens squad while the women need to draw many of the best players out of the XVs pool, a decision which has certainly brought rewards like qualification for the Paris Olympics, but also which can’t avoid hurting the chances for the full test team in the process, for example the Hong Kong Sevens event takes place right in the middle of the Women’s Six Nations.
- TEST RUGBY Which of course brings us to the test team itself. Whatever we say about the levels below, if there is to be significant fan engagement it is critical that the Irish women’s programme finds a way to drastically improve on their disastrous last place finish in the 2023 Six Nations. Victory in the 3rd tier of the new WXV competition is definitely a start but there is still a long way to go, and like I already said losing key players like Beibhinn Parsons to the sevens programme certainly doesn’t help, nor does a reliance solely on players who are able to be on call for training and such in and around the greater Dublin area. It surely would be much easier to attract our top female athletes to the sport if there were at the very least proper training bases at each of the four provinces.
- WHAT CAN FANS DO Finally, there’s the issue of what we can do as fans. At a practical level offering financial or volunteer support to your local club is one of the best ways to help out but actual engagement with the top teams is also critical. Ironically one of the most important things you can do in that regard is not listen to me! While we’d encourage you to keep up with the IRFU site for latest news and fixtures and such, I’d also suggest following dedicated websites like Scrumqueens and twitter accounts like @IrishWomens and @JC200022 to get a sense of what more needs to be done.
LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE
Update didn’t arrive until Wednesday afternoon this week, it looks like the news on Charlie Ngatai isn’t as bad as we first feared, fingers crossed. As you can see from my 23 I’m holding out hope we’ll see James Lowe back for the trip to Thomond but he can of course take as long as he feels he needs…
Harpin’ matchday 23 v Munster
Larmour, O’Brien T, Turner, Henshaw, Russell, Prendergast, McGrath
Healy, Kelleher, Ala’alatoa, Molony, Deeny, Conan, Penny (c), Deegan
Barron, Boyle, Clarkson, Ryan, Culhane, Murphy, Tector, Lowe.
NB : the above matchday 23 is completely from my own mind, I’m certainly not suggesting I have any ITK a la Thornley
INJURY UPDATE – AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
Luke McGrath: has returned to full training after returning from a knee injury
Tommy O’Brien: has returned to full training after returning from an ankle injury
INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:
Harry Byrne: will be further assessed this week as part of the Graduated Return to Play Protocols
Jason Jenkins: was withdrawn at half-time against Sale Sharks with a minor back issue and will be further assessed this week
INJURY UPDATE – UNAVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
Charlie Ngatai: picked up a calf injury against Sale Sharks and will be unavailable for selection this week
NO FURTHER UPDATES ON:
Cormac Foley (shoulder), Ross Byrne (arm), Jamie Osborne (shoulder) and John McKee (hamstring)
NO TO CO CAPTAINS
When Leinster are losing there are many who take great pleasure from pointing out what we’re doing wrong, but when that stick isn’t there to beat us with, the scramble to find an alternative can be entertainment in itself.
This latest one is more twig than stick but still it has to be said that the “co-captain” experiment hasn’t gotten off to an ideal start at the province, and judging by the feedback from refs in the opening two weeks in Europe, we might have to rethink the policy very soon.
My completely hot take is that this was a decision made to appease their respective agents? Having the Leinster captain on your books would be quite the feather in the cap so (remember I have ZERO info on this, all speculation) I can imagine a situation where pressure is exerted from representatives for both players with this being a compromise. If so, or indeed whatever led to the decision, here’s hoping they can quickly go back to the drawing board because one captain at a time is definitely the way to go.
SEXTON AS COACH
Really mischievous headline here “IRFU Don’t Rule Out Possible Ireland Return For Johnny Sexton” and I suppose I can’t blame the media for cranking up the old outrage-baiting headline generator for this one. And to be honest, if anyone who has ever played the game could make the difficult transition from player to coach work quickly, it’s Johnny since I’d argue that he has essentially been an extra coach most his career. But even with that, I very much doubt there’s much chance of him going straight to the Irish job replacing Mike Catt. Right now I reckon Mike Prendergast looks a good fit FWIW.
LOS PUMAS TURN TO DR. PHIL
Monday was a “fast news day” for sure, including the announcement that Felipe Contepomi had been appointed to head coach of the Pumas, which of course means it’s more than likely he’ll be leading them when they come to play the Lions at the Aviva Stadium in 2025. It goes without saying that we wish him every success unless it’s against us at a World Cup!!!!
TOP SHELF IRISH WHISKEY
Have to admit I didn’t even know this was on the cards but I’m delighted to learn that Jamison Gibson-Park has earned his Irish citizenship, great news for him, and of course for both Leinster & Ireland rugby. I always got the sense when he started playing at the province that he wasn’t wild about the kicking game and when Andy Farrell opted for a more pass-focused high-tempo style that was when he came into his own and fingers crossed he has many seasons left to do it.
URC IRISH SHIELD UPDATE
No harm leaving this in the column with the interpros on the horizon…
NOV 4 CONNACHT 22-20 ULSTER
NOV 10 ULSTER 21-14 MUNSTER
NOV 25 LEINSTER 21-16 MUNSTER
DEC 2 CONNACHT 22-24 LEINSTER
DEC 22 ULSTER V CONNACHT
DEC 26 MUNSTER V LEINSTER
JAN 1 CONNACHT V MUNSTER
JAN 1 LEINSTER V ULSTER
MAY 11 MUNSTER V CONNACHT
MAY 18 ULSTER V LEINSTER
MAY 31 LEINSTER V CONNACHT
JUNE 1 MUNSTER V ULSTER
AIL UPDATE
No action at AIL level for the women this week, though as you see in the TikTok rnt segment I had a comment or two to make there.
Over on the men’s side there were some close derbies as UCD out scored Lansdowne in a 44-40 shootout at Belfield Bowl and the Cookies edged out Cork Con, and that result allowed Clontarf to extend their lead at the top after dispatching Shannon at Castle Ave. In the other two local tussles Hinch won at Armagh while Terenure heaped more misery on Trinity. Division 1A is now at its halfway stage and Round 9 fixtures get reversed for the next round in mid January.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S AIL
NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND
Round 11
SAT FEB 10
SUTTONIANS V BALLINCOLLIG
COOKE V RAILWAY UNION
GALWEGIANS V UL BOHS
WICKLOW V BELVO
MEN’S AIL
ROUND 9
UCD 44-40 LANSDOWNE
CITY OF ARMAGH 18-29 BALLYNAHINCH
CLONTARF 38-21 SHANNON
DUBLIN UNIV 14-31 TERENURE
YOUNG MUNSTER 22-21 CORK CON
ROUND 10
FRI JAN 12
LANSDOWNE V UCD
SAT DEC 16
BALLYNAHINCH V CITY OF ARMAGH
SHANNON V CLONTARF
TERENURE V DUBLIN UNIV
CORK CON V YOUNG MUNSTER
CHALLENGE CUP UPDATE
Obviously Black Lion stole the headlines in the Challenge Cup but Tom harped on that for the pod. 4 of the 18 teams have gotten off to perfect starts including two from SA, the Lions and the Cheetahs, who overcame the Sharks in the local encounter. From the Round 3 schedule you’d have to pick out Black Lion who will have no fear travelling to Castres as the home side could well have one eye on their domestic standing, but I also wouldn’t mind checking out Embra v Glaws could be a decent contest.
ROUND 2
SCARLETS 7-23 BLACK LION
GLOUCESTER 28-17 CLÉRMONT
OYONNAX 14-21 ZEBRE
EDINBURGH 34-21 CASTRES
BENETTON 29-7 PERPIGNAN
LIONS 35-13 NEWCASTLE
PAU 24-21 DRAGONS
CHEETAHS 32-29 SHARKS
MONTPELLIER 38-5 OSPREYS
ROUND 3
FRI JAN 12
NEWCASTLE V BENETTON
SAT JAN 13
OSPREYS V PERPIGNAN
SHARKS V OYONNAX
CLÉRMONT V SCARLETS
ZEBRE V DRAGONS
CASTRES V BLACK LION
EDINBURGH V GLOUCESTER
MONTPELLIER V LIONS
SUN JAN 14
CHEETAHS V PAU
HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE
Still in first, so still going to include here. All will likely change over the festive interpros!!!
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Right – that’s it, will give this column a well earned break until after the holiers. We will of course be covering Leinster’s matches against Munster & Ulster, stay tuned to the social media channels for more details.
And as ever, be sure to enjoy your seasonal rugby wherever you are. JLP
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 