On this week’s column…
🏉 FRISCHGATE
🏉 ALONE IT STANDS…AGAIN
🏉 THE LEADING LYNAGH
🏉 WORDLESS WARREN
🏉 CLIVE’S CLAIM
🏉 WRAP OF A WRAP
🏉 FOUR PROUD PROVINCES
🏉 UPDATES [Incl 🔝🐱🐴 & Super Rugby]
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).
it remains to be seen if a France cap, which would render him a non-Irish qualified (NIQ) player, has any bearing on his future.
France call up Munster’s Irish-qualified centre Antoine Frisch to Six Nations squad
Nathan Johns – Irish Times
JLP : As much as I’d love to dive head first into the social media meleé over the past few days over this, I chose instead to harp on the wider topic in this week’s Quick Tap column which you’ll find further down the column.
Since the redevelopment of Thomond Park in 2008, Munster have hosted international opposition in the form of New Zealand, Australia, and the Māori All Blacks at the Limerick venue.
Munster To Play All Blacks XV In November
IrishRugby.ie
JLP : Now I know I said I’ve tried to stay out of Frischgate, but let’s just say this Tuesday morning story kind of pokes a hole in all the “Munster get nothing” narrative.
The Wallabies, two-time World Cup champions, now occupy 10th, meaning bragging rights in the Lynagh family reside firmly with Louis…
Italy overtake Australia in the men’s world rankings for the first time ever
Andy Wright – Rugby World
JLP : Quite the telling tale of rugby in the two jurisdictions, although I reckon a certain Mr Schmidt might have something to say about it very soon…
This left presenter Gabby Logan in an awkward position as she went to McLaughlan expecting Gatland to be there.
‘Incensed’ Gatland reportedly initially refuses post match interview
Phillip Bendon – Rugby World
JLP : Bad form of course, but also very in sync with all that sadly ails Welsh rugby right now. I wonder if Warren got wind that Gabby had borrowed Sinead Kissane’s notes from her famous interview with Eddie O’Sullivan in 2007…
“I honestly believe that Borthwick’s players had read my pre-match column”
Ex-England boss Clive Woodward tries to take credit for epic win against Ireland
Rob O’Halloran – Extra.ie
JLP : Only one comment required…HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Note – views expressed in “Front Five” links do not necessarily reflect those of HarpinOnRugby
WRAP OF A WRAP
Many thanks to Pádrag for contributing on the wrap this week, it was only the second one dealing with an Irish defeat but I reckon we managed our way through it well enough all things considered.
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.
FOUR PROUD PROVINCES
This might come across a bit “kumbaya” but still I think it needs saying once in a while, not that it’s going to stop the rage even a bit of course…
🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE
Wait. La Rochelle are 3rd? With a record of 9 wins, 9 losses?
THIRD??????????????????
We all know the home team tends to win in the 🔝🐱🐴 more often than most but these numbers are ridiculous IMO. 11 of the 14 clubs have a win-loss differential of ±2 or less! I mean it’s great when it comes to drama and with just 8 rounds to go there’s a whole lot that can change, but it’s still nuts.
One thing is for sure, whatever about how close things might be, Racing badly needed that win over Toulon on Sunday night, they were getting close to freefall, although their trip to Castres in the next round will be far from easy. Bordeaux v Toulouse on the Sunday seems to be tie of the round.
Round 18
LA ROCHELLE 23-3 STADE FRANÇAIS
CLÉRMONT 15-15 OYONNAX
LYON 34-19 CASTRES
MONTPELLIER 10-3 BORDEAUX
PAU 42-40 BAYONNE
PERPIGNAN 27-17 TOULOUSE
RACING 20-6 TOULON
Round 19
SAT MAR 23
TOULON V MONTPELLIER
OYONNAX V PERPIGNAN
CASTRES V RACING 92
CLÉRMONT V PAU
STADE FRANÇAIS V LYON
BAYONNE V LA ROCHELLE
SUN MAR 24
BORDEAUX V TOULOUSE
AIL UPDATE
UL Bohs go marching on, with their narrow win against Rock keeping their 100% record intact although the top four stays the same and they all avoid each other next week.
Men’s comp won’t be back until the following weekend.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S AIL
Round 14
BLACKROCK 15-17 UL BOHS
OLD BELVEDERE 72-12 GALWEGIANS
SUTTONIANS 24-3 COOKE
BALLINCOLLIG 10-63 RAILWAY UNION
Round 15
THU MAR 14
BLACKROCK V SUTTONIANS
FRI MAR 15
RAILWAY UNION V WICKLOW
SAT MAR 16
COOKE V OLD BELVEDERE
TUE MAR 19
UL BOHS V BALLINCOLLIG
MEN’S AIL
NO FIXTURES LAST WEEKEND
ROUND 16
SAT MAR 23
BALLYNAHINCH V LANSDOWNE
CITY OF ARMAGH V SHANNON
CORK CON V TERENURE
UCD V CLONTARF
YOUNG MUNSTER V TRINITY
SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC UPDATE
Do we need to talk about the Crusaders? Nah – they’ll be fine, especially with 8 of Super rugby’s 12 making the knockouts you’d still be mad to write them off. How bout instead we talk about their latest conquerors the Fijian Drua, what an amazing result for the game there and indeed the comp. After Sevu Reece opened the scoring they responded with two converted tries and two penalties to move them up the ladder.
Tie of Round 4 is easy to spot, Crusaders hosting the 100% Hurricanes.
ROUND 3
MOANA PASIFIKA 23-29 REBELS
WARATAHS 21-23 HIGHLANDERS
FIJIAN DRUA 20-10 CRUSADERS
BRUMBIES 22-19 WESTERN FORCE
HURRICANES 29-21 BLUES
REDS 25-19 CHIEFS
ROUND 4
FRI MAR 15
CRUSADERS V HURRICANES
REBELS V REDS
WESTERN FORCE V MOANA PASIFIKA
SAT MAR 16
HIGHLANDERS V BRUMBIES
CHIEFS V FIJIAN DRUA
WARATAHS V BLUES
MAJOR LEAGUE RUGBY UPDATE
No sign of Dave Kearney in Chicago’s lineups just yet, though Nick McCarthy has been starting as they fell to Utah. NOLA (which in case you didn’t know stands for New Orleans, Louisiana), Houston and Seattle are the only two with 100% records after 2 rounds.
Round 2
NEW ENGLAND 34-35 OLD GLORY
NOLA 34-19 ANTHEM RC
UTAH 29-15 CHICAGO
SEATTLE 29-15 MIAMI
DALLAS 23-30 SAN DIEGO
LOS ANGELES 12-27 HOUSTON
Round 3
SAT MAR 16
NEW ENGLAND V NOLA GOLD
OLD GLORY V CHICAGO
SUN MAR 17
HOUSTON V MIAMI
UTAH V SEATTLE
SAN DIEGO V LOS ANGELES
ANTHEM RC V DALLAS
RUGBY EUROPE CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE
Portugal can count themselves lucky to make the final and I will be very surprised if they manage to overturn the Lelos but we’ve seen bigger surprises than that in recent times so it should be a final worth watching on RugbyEurope.tv
FINAL
SUN MAR 17
GEORGIA V PORTUGAL
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
That’s it for this week, now it’s time to gear up for Paddy’s Weekend/Super Saturday, we will of course be focusing on the Championship/Triple Crown decider with a preview on Friday and a wrap pod recording Sunday evening.
Finally, as ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 