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FRONT FIVE

A selection of five eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the ruggersphere, now including a few thoughts added by myself (JLP).

Béibhinn Parsons, Eve Higgins and Aoibheann Reilly were among those who were part of Ireland’s historic title win, beating Australia in the final. Ireland name Sevens tournament winners in 34-strong squad BBC.com JLP : I’m delighted to see this.  Fifteens must take precedent, Olymic year or no, especially after a wooden spoon the previous campaign. Expecting more from this one.

The Swiss army knife within the Ireland and Leinster squads, Ciarán Frawley can play a handful of positions… The contenders to replace Hugo Keenan at full-back for Ireland Brendan McGilligan – Rugby World JLP : The number one point of this article is that Hugo Keenan has made himself irreplaceable.  But of course with test rugby being so attritional, you have to have a plan B when he’s not available and IMO even though I’m hearing reports that he could actually be available this weekend against Wales, I’m wondering if it might be better to rest him anyway to be sure he’s ok for Twickenham and also to try out alternatives.  This piece makes a decent case for Frawley, Larmour & Stockdale but I reckon there are those like Mike Haley who will feel hard done by.  To be fair, it does make sense to have the alternate a more versatile player across different positions, but if Hugo were ever out long term I reckon a more specialist option might be better.

During the draw, the 24 participating teams will be divided into six pools, each consisting of four teams. 2027 Rugby World Cup draw gives Wales pool of death Ruck.co.uk JLP : Missed this earlier…it looks like after decades of complaints they are finally tweaking both the RWC format and the timing of the draw, I’m not sure that two years out is much of an improvement on three, but I suppose it is something.  The seedings for a tournament to be held in late 2027 being determined by the world rankings two years earlier can still lead to a lop sided draw from where I’m standing, but we’ll see how it pans out.

“I’m focused on getting into the Reds team, and playing some good rugby.  I won’t be looking too far ahead.” Castle Avenue to Queensland – Meet the Irishman ready to take on Super Rugby Neil Treacy – RTÉ.ie JLP :  This article backs up Conor’s portion of the bonus clip which you’ll see below.

…spread the word and add to the #IrelandWeek initiative, ahead of the big Six Nations clash at the Aviva next Saturday. Irish & Welsh Rugby Fans Take On The Alt-Right On Twitter Colman Stanley – Balls.ie JLP : Brilliant idea from Welsh fan Ed Jenkins, has to be said.  I can’t say I’m a fan of his overall twitter approach but that goes straight to the backburner for this, whatever our differences on rugby and social media, we can easily put them aside when it matters.  I mean…stopping a hateful hashtag from trending may be a very small form of protest but the medium is not the point, that would be the spirit.

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

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WRAP OF A WRAP

I actually did the preview all on my lonesome this week for the first time since I did them in written form, made the experience very different but it was still fun putting it together.  Then Conor & Rich joined me for the wrap on Sunday evening and it was as ever an enjoyable task, obviously helped by the Leinster BP win!

If you missed the wrap pod, here’s a link for Spotify but it’s also available on Apple and other platforms, please subscribe and/or leave a review if you can.

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HARPIN’ ON…SUPER RUGBY, THE ORIGIN ROUND & FIXTURE CLASHES

Mixed bag of topics for the bonus clip, I reckon this format is better with three different topics rather than one because often we can repeat each other’s points.  The transcript for my bit is below.

“CLASH OF THE CLASHES”

As you probably know Ireland’s third match of the 2024 Guinness Six Nations takes place at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, February 25 when our opponents are Wales, and across the Irish Sea the days leading up to the match is known as “#IrelandWeek”.  Before I get to my topic I’d just like to encourage you to get on Twitter and use the hashtag it’s a great idea by Wales and Ivory Coast fan Edward Jenkins – the idea is that the more we use this tag the less chance other less desirable ones beginning with Ireland can be trending.

Anyway…as part of Ireland Week I plan to interview Seimon Williams, also a Welsh fan and as well as writing for the website gwladrugby he has written a book titled “Welsh Rugby – What Went Wrong” which having read it does exactly what it says on the tin.  While there are many different factors going into our Celtic brothers numerous rugby issues, one of the biggest ones is the relationship between the over 200 different clubs across the principality, and the Union when the game went pro, especially when the regions were established.

The reason I bring that up is not just to promote our bonus podcast which should post on Wednesday morning, but also to highlight my point for this rant, which is that although the transition from the amateur game definitely went a whole lot smoother on these shores, that’s not to say we’re without some, well, what would I call them, maybe tensions? between the clubs and provinces.

And in my humble opinion, we got a perfect example of these tensions just last weekend in Dublin 4.  Obviously if you’re watching this video you know perfectly well that there was a top of the table clash at the RDS on Saturday between Leinster in 1st place in the URC and Benetton who were 2nd, we actually did a whole podcast on it.  But as Hollie Davidson got the match underway, just up the road at the Aviva Stadium back pitch, there was also a senior rugby match with important playoff connotations.  

This was in Round 14 of the 18-round regular season in the Men’s All Ireland League Division 1A with 3rd place Lansdowne hosting 4th place and reigning champions Terenure.  As well as being a crucial fixture in the league it was also of course a Dublin derby.   And as if that wasn’t already enough to sell this match, there were also a lot of names Leinster fans will recognise from the fringes of the Leinster set up past and present like Temi Lasisi, Adam LaGrue, Harrison Brewer and Jordan Coughlan.  You could say a match like this if nothing else does a decent job of replacing the British and Irish Cup matches many Leinster fans enjoyed going to during the 2010s.

So simply put, if you’re a serious fan of going out and watching Leinster Rugby, this AIL fixture would definitely be of interest to you.  So why did it kick off a mere half an hour before things got underway just a stone’s throw up the road?

Already I can hear the voices screaming at their screens.  “The AIL always kicks off at 2:30!!!” or “The URC has to set its matches according to broadcasters” or “Why should one side move when it’s clearly the other that’s the problem???” But I’m not here to point fingers, because in my view, the finger pointing is a large part of the problem.  Wherever the blame lies, the net result is the same, and Saturday certainly isn’t the only time we’ve seen multiple matches which would interest the same group of fans take place at the same time.

All I am saying is that someone has to give at some point, and at a time when clubs are trying everything to get bums on seats at their games and buying pints and lunches in their clubhouses, while those innovative social media team naming tweets are definitely entertaining and share-worthy, for me a lot of that is lost when over 15,000 potential bums are within reach, so to speak.  

Obviously I’m not suggesting that a kickoff time of, say, 12:30pm together with maybe a a discount for producing your RDS match ticket would definitely get them all across, but it certainly would have been a cracking double header for many fans and surely it would have been worth some kind of outside the box thinking.

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WOMEN’S RUGBY : CANCELLED CULTURE

Happy to eat my words…a few weeks ago I said in this column that maybe the cancellations in the Women’s All Ireland Cup weren’t as bad a look as some were making out, but at the time I was unaware that there was to be a clash between the playoff rounds of the Celtic Challenge and the Women’s AIL itself, which is literally a whole different ball game for me, hence this week’s TikTok offering.

@harpinonrugby

This is part of our latest 80+ column which posts Tuesday afternoons at HarpinOnRugby.com #IrelandWeek

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

👇👇👇👇👇👇👇 https://t.co/aKrjt2uXfH

— IrishWomensRugbySupportersClub (@IrishWomens) February 16, 2024

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LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE

The only update is that there’s no update…I thought we might see one what with Leinster playing Saracens on the Friday night but we’ll see if one pans out before then, if so I will post it here along with my suggested matchday squad.

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THAT BENETTON IMAGE

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Look – I appreciate the spirit behind this image.  We want to see the URC promoted as much as possible, especially in Italy where the 1st v 2nd nature of Saturday’s match made it important for Benetton to do all they could to hype the fixture.

But this is just not the way to do it.  Do other countries still use the leprechaun trope for Irish people?  I guess so.  And does the presence of a “Leprechaun Museum” in the centre of Dublin help banish the nasty stereotype?  Perhaps not.  Still, I know it’s Benetton’s logo but what exactly is so Italian about a lion????  So maybe it would have been better to ignore the national identity and maybe utilise the fact that Leinster use a lion theme too?  Maybe have two facing each other down?

Anyway here at Harpin’ Manor we workshopped a possible image using the reverse of the thinking used for the one above…

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WELSH RUGBY – WHAT WENT WRONG?

I just finished reading Seimon Williams’ book, which is just as well because about seven hours after I’m typing this I will be chatting to the author himself about it!  It would be a bit much to say I “enjoyed” reading it, given it is an account of a series of communication failures between different levels of the game over decades, but it is definitely put together extremely well and is a worthwhile read.  The podcast will also count as part of our “Opposition View” as it would be rude not to talk about the match at the weekend.

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URC IRISH SHIELD UPDATE

No more matches until May I know but I haven’t posted the state of play for a while so here it is.

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“SVNS” UPDATE

The weekend festivals return this weekend with both Irish teams hoping to build on successful outings in Perth.  The Vancouver event lasts just two days instead of three which means three matches per day instead of two, I’d say that makes quite a difference when it comes to preparation.

Also while the matches have been all streamed live on RugbyPass TV up to now, I see TNT Sport has the rights for this one so we’ll see if the stream will still be there, I’ll try to find out for our Thursday Rugby on TV post.

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VANCOUVER 7S

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🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE

Eye-popping result of the round has to be Montpellier overturning Racing in Paris, certainly doesn’t do their relegation struggle any harm but definitely a worry for Stu Lancaster’ side, they will need a big result in the derby match next weekend.  Stade and Toulouse now opening up a bit of a gap at the top.  Meanwhile there’s yet another defeat for La Rochelle although they’re still within just two points for the playoff spots so I wouldn’t dream of ruling them out of contention just yet.   

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PREMIERSHIP UPDATE

This comp is on a prolonged break until the end of March but I thought I’d update it here anyway since Leinster face Sarries on Friday evening in a friendly, no doubt to help them make up for the loss of fixtures after some clubs unfortunately went to the wall.

NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND

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AIL UPDATE 

The Wolfhounds could have clinched the Celtic Challenge title with a win in Edinburgh but just fell short in what sounds like a thrilling 26-all draw which means their final match on Saturday against the Clovers is more than just a Six Nations trial match.

Question…are draws in women’s rugby like “kissing your brother”???

Anyway – as for the WAIL, well I said quite a bit in the TikTok already but with UL Bohs being awarded the 5 points they stay top with an unbeaten record and the rest of the top four stays the same as well.

Over in the men’s side and the top two both won although Tarf just got past Armagh, and in the big Dublin derby (check out my YouTube bit above on the timing btw) Terenure edged Lansdowne to keep the top four placings tight.  The league takes a break next weekend.

Finally congrats to St Mary’s 13 wins from 14, already clinched promotion which means Div 1A rugby will be back within my reach next season!

#SupportYourLocalClub

WOMEN’S CELTIC CHALLENGE

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WOMEN’S AIL

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MEN’S AIL

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RUGBY EUROPE CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE

Please, please, PLEASE spare a thought for Belgium.  After an historic win over Portugal in Round 1, not only are they overtaken in the standing by Os Lobos, they don’t even qualify for the semifinals despite winning 2 out of 3!!!!!  Absolutely cruel.

A big win in Romania sets up an Iberian derby for Portugal in the final four while the Oaks must go to Georgia.  It’s looking to all intents and purposes like a GEOvPOR final but we’ll see.

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HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE

Added another “yellow cap” to my collection in Round 10 to pull away a bit, although Those Pesky Birds the Ospreys denied me a perfect round with that late drop goal against Ulster.  Although the only prize in our league is of the ‘booby’ variety, we can only really focus on the race at the top since last place is pretty much done and dusted courtesy of Neil ‘No Picks’ Keegan…

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NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Keep an eye out for that bonus pod on Wednesday morning then it is of course all about the Welsh at the weekend, preview as ever will be Friday, wrap pod as ever will record Sunday evening, stay tune as ever to all our social media channels!

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

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