80+ column : Jan 10

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On this week’s column…

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FRONT FIVE

A selection of five eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the ruggersphere.

“If it wasn’t for O’Mahony’s age profile and rumours of a departure, they would be neck and neck in the race; but you would have to favour the lanky Leinster lock to pip it at the death”  Farrell’s New Year Headache is Selecting A New Captain Caolán Scully – CaolánSRugby

“It is understood an agreement has been reached in principle, with a final green light awaited.” Ireland’s Six Nations jerseys set to feature player names RTÉ.ie

“He was such an influencer in that regard, mixing immaculate ball skills with granite defence. Rugby had never seen a full-back like him.”  My Lions team-mate JPR was the best full-back the game has ever seen – full stop Ian McGeechan – Irish Independent (via Daily Telegraph)

“The more people think it’s acceptable to make a derogatory comment…on social media or electronically, I think people think it’s also OK to say it in person.”  RFU increases sanction for abuse of officials as survey finds 49% targeted Gerard Meagher – The Guardian

“…this one feels as though it might be more of a move that will work out for him and his family and from a rugby point of view just to change things up.” Brian O’Driscoll Has Interesting Theory On Owen Farrell’s Rumoured France Move Gary Connaughton – Balls.ie

Note – views expressed in “Front Five” links do not necessarily reflect those of HarpinOnRugby

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NEW WRAP UNWRAPPED

As you can see above, we’ll be doing things a little differently at Harpin Manor in 2024.  The wrap pod from now on will be just that…a pod wrapping the latest Leinster & Ireland fixture and the “Front Five” feature will return to a written format, appearing at the tart of this column each week.

I started the Front 5 way back in July 2014 and it was a daily post which helped with regular content and also helped keep me up to date with issues outside my chosen remit.  I chose to keep it when I switched to a pod format but I reckon it’s better to launch straight into the subject matter so this seems to be a logical resting place for it, although with more and more publications putting themselves behind firewalls we’ll see how long interesting links remain accessible!

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HARPIN’ ON…MOST VIEWED VID OF 2023

We will still have a “bonus clip” segment in our wrap recordings except rather than me choosing a topic I’m going to let my guests harp on things they’d like to discuss.

The videos will remain in this portion of the 80+ column so for this week I will share the video which got by far the most views over the past year, namely my thoughts on the Jean Kleyn situation which I’m assuming got shared around the Springbok fan base.

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SENSIBLE V SILLY TIK TOK

Since I’ve had a TikTok account I have seen a lot of different types of post; some I find hilarious but others kind of make me cringe.  One of the latter for me is the “talking to myself” style so to announce the return from my “mini break” I decided to make my own.  You probably think it is just as cringeworthy as any other and I wouldn’t argue as that is kind of the point!  

The scene is meant to be between two versions of myself, a “sensible” one and a “silly” one – and this is actually symbolic of my general approach to content production, part of me wants to be a straight laced presenter while another can’t resist dad jokes and such.  So in a way this format worked, but as I say, it will more than likely be the first AND last time I ever use it.  I’m also a bit annoyed I fucked up the subtitles in a couple of places but let’s just say I’m not losing any sleep!!!

Thanks for all who gave positive feedback anyway though!

@harpinonrugby

We’re back Wednesday with a new 80+ column

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

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LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE

“Number of months” are obviously the last words you want to see in an injury update, particularly at the midpoint of a season which could very well mean yours is all but over.  Jimmy O’Brien and Martin Moloney both got that horrible news over the holidays, the former would have of course been heavily involved in the plans for both Leinster and Ireland while Moloney is probably cursing his luck even more as he has yet to appear for Leinster after returning from a previous spell on the sidelines which began just as he broke into the team.

The “no further updates” section is also full of players who would feature heavily in Leinster’s plans but as you can see from the “x” below there was some extra good news announced after the update was published…

Good news for Leinster and Ireland – James Lowe and Tadhg Furlong are both in line to return against Stade Francais on Saturday.

— Cian Tracey (@CianTracey1) January 9, 2024

NB : the above matchday 23 is completely from my own mind, I’m certainly not suggesting I have any ITK a la Thornley

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THE MIDDLE AISLE

This is the “middle aisle” portion of the column where I will briefly harp on issues of the day, or at least it will be from next week – that TikTok involved so much work I really don’t have the time right now to delve into much else!

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URC IRISH SHIELD UPDATE

I know there will be no more URC interpros until May, but I thought I’d post the state of play one last time before that as it is so well poised.

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“SVNS” UPDATE

The Sevens circuit is still on a break but I’ll still post the update to remind us all how things stand.  Big year for the Irish programme of course with the Olympics in July also on the schedule.

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🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE

From a Leinster POV the drab draw for Stade catches the eye and makes me wonder just how much they will prioritise their Champions Cup campaign over the coming weeks after 2 defeats from 2 and a trip to 2nd place Bayonne next up at home.

Racing held off Castres in a shootout to stay top while La Rochelle moved closer to the playoff spots by winning at Pau, and have to overcome Premiership opposition over the next two weeks if they are to also revive their Champions Cup hopes.

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PREMIERSHIP UPDATE

Northampton stay top after an impressive win at Exeter, and will probably stay their after the next round with lowly Newcastle coming to Franklin’s Gardens.  Sale fell out of the playoff places after getting done at home by Bristol.  After 11 rounds, 70% of the league have more wins than losses so there are many twists and turns left.

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AIL UPDATE 

Both Irish clubs were victorious in round 2 of the Celtic Challenge but the Welsh franchise Gwalia Lightning are top of the table and visit the Clovers next.  The Leinster-heavy Wolfhounds side will aim to keep their 100% record intact when they travel to Glasgow and all games are available to watch for free on RugbyPass.tv

Meanwhile the new competition has put pressure on the Women’s AIL clubs – while there are no league fixtures while it’s on, there is an “All-Ireland Women’s Cup” and Old Belvedere of all teams found themselves unable to put out a side to face Galwegians in Round 1 and had to concede the match points.

I like to consider myself an ally to those pushing for the IRFU bringing the standards up to where they should be but in this one case I’m not sure it really counts as another stick to beat them with.  The Celtic Challenge seems to be a net positive and given it has to be run in conjunction with other unions, there was always going to be a chance it would affect the clubs.  Last year, the complaints were that the clubs didn’t have enough matches (and this was correct as the AIL was done and dusted by Christmas) so while the Belvo concession clearly demonstrates there is still a long way to go, I’d still hope at least we’re heading in a decent general direction.

Meanwhile the men’s AIL is back this week while the Bateman Cup final was retained by Terenure (who had arguably their best social media team announcement yet see below) after they overcame Young Munster and with lowly Trinity visiting Lakelands next in the league, they have every chance to climb further.  

Ballynahinch will need another win over their Ulster rivals City of Armagh to stay in touch with the top four while leaders Clontarf make the trip to Shannon.

#SupportYourLocalClub

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Bully’s got a special prize in store this week… but you’re going to have to be in Lakeland’s tomorrow to see what it is 👀🏆 Here’s your 23 man squad who will take to the field at 2:30 on Saturday on a quest for back to back Bateman Cups 🎯 #Onwards pic.twitter.com/zmGX54AVuy

— Terenure College RFC (@terenurerugby) January 5, 2024

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CHALLENGE CUP UPDATE

Not many eyes in the wider rugby world fall on the Challenge Cup but those that do will no doubt be on Black Lion’s progress…the 5 match points they already have could well be enough to see them into the knockouts but who’s to say they won’t get more?  This weekend they go to Castres who could well be putting more focus on their domestic standing.

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HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE

Just the one URC match last weekend and the only HPL combatants to predict that the Lions would win at the Sharks were Kristian, who leapfrogged Kino into 3rd, and…wait for it…KEEGO!!! Still can’t see him making up the gap to avoid keeping the Jersey of Shame though, even if we aren’t quite yet at the halfway stage of the season.

I’m considering adding a “cup competition” to the HPL starting in Round 10 but I’ll let you know when it gets closer to the time.

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NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Right that’s it for now, great to be back to whatever “normal” is.  The Rugby on TV feature returns as it’s regular stand alone post on Thursday, then Keego will join me for Friday’s preview of the visit of Stade while our new-look wrap pod will feature Tom & Conor recording on Sunday evening.

As ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are.  JLP

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