On this week’s column…
🏉 LOWE ON NIENABER
🏉 KITSHOFF OFF?
🏉 BLOODGATE CALLBACK
🏉 WHITELOCK STAT
🏉 LRZ CHIEF CONCERNS
🏉 WRAP OF A WRAP
🏉 LUKE’S CHALLENGE
🏉 WHO’S THE FOOL?
🏉 LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE
🏉 COMP UPDATES [Incl W6N & SVNS]
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).
“Jacques [Nienaber] is mainly a defensive mastermind and he has brought in a completely different defensive system and it is working. I can understand why South Africa were so successful under him.”
James Lowe: ‘The only way you measure a season is trophies’
Johnny Watterson – Irish Times
JLP : Going by the few interviews I’ve seen with Lowe over the years, it seems like he talks like he plays, to say “he doesn’t understate things” would itself be an understatement. But while the goals outlined his quote which is the title of the piece are yet to be fulfilled, the quote I chose speaks to the effect Neinaber has had on the Leinster set up. When a quality coach joins an already quality organisation, it’s not about reinvention, rather refining, and not only have we seen results on the pitch, it sounds like the lads have bought into his ways off it too. Obviously this will get tested even more as we go deeper into the business end of the season.
According to a report over the weekend from Afrikaans newspaper Rapport, Kitshoff met up with Stormers coach John Dobson about a potential return.
Two-Time World Cup Winner Ready To Leave Ulster After One Season
Jonathan Browne – Balls.ie
JLP : Always need a pinch of salt with this kind of story, but this certainly wouldn’t surprise me if true, although not for the reasons you might think. Many speculators are linking it with all that has been going on at Ulster Rugby, and it’s true that the Ravenhill garden has been close to rosy this season (bar one at the RDS on New Year’s Day of course, obvs I don’t like bringing it up but I know any Ulster fans reading are thinking it ha ha) but I’m not 100% sure it only has to do with his current environment. Moving can have a profound affect on people if it’s just up the road let alone across hemispheres. Many NIQ signings haven’t worked out, to Leinster fans I’d say “remember Steven Sykes?” only I’d wonder if they all actually would. Hey, maybe it’s just a Steven thing. Anyway – if SK does move on they’re going to need a decent loose head option so it would be interesting to see what happens next.
Herbst was penalized and sent to the sin bin during the 63rd minute…he reentered the game after only seven minutes
RFU apologises for sin-bin error in Premiership game between Harlequins and Bath
Matthew Wood – Talking Rugby Union
JLP : Look – mistakes happen. Ones like this absolutely shouldn’t, but they do. It’s just as a Leinster fan, it’s interesting to see that even 15 years after #bloodgate Harlequins are still going onto the pitch when they shouldn’t… 😜
He didn’t want to be that guy who tarnished his reputation by playing too long
Sam Whitelock retiring instead of shock All Blacks comeback is the right decision
Gregor Paul – NZ Herald
JLP : Paul makes all the right points here; all the greats need to acknowledge when it’s time to step away from the highest level. What led me to include this story was the stat outlined in the tweet below…Russ Petty’s number-crunching offerings justify my continuing to endure the Musk-infested platform all on their own!
…maybe (he will have to) change his body type slightly so that he could then be ready to the physical challenges of playing American football.
Dylan James – WalesOnline
JLP : I would love to have the time to live my life, follow rugby enough to run this site AND follow other codes like the NFL as closely but that’s never going to happen. That’s not going to stop me opining on them though!!!! While I would hope that the positive reports on LRZ’s efforts are genuine, I can’t help but be sceptical that this is a pudding that still needs to be proven, for two reasons. First, signing with a franchise does not guarantee that you will actually take to the field when the season rolls around in September, even if it is the reigning champions. Plus, I have to wonder about the way the league has made such a big deal about this “international player pathway”. Why so keen to get players in from abroad? Are participation levels dwindling at home? With 32 professional rosters not to mention hundreds of college level ones to fill, could it be that the concussion element has had an effect on those taking up the sport? Hey, I’m a blogger, crackpot conspiracies are kinda my thing, but I wonder how crackpot this one is. Anyway, I wish LRZ all the best, although I was surprised to see the Chiefs list him as a running back, he will certainly need to work on his physique for that role.
WRAP OF A WRAP
Completely new experience for me when it came to the wrap – I actually got to watch the match sitting next to one of my guests with Nathan Johns beside me in the media box…obvs with him working and all we didn’t chat much (though since I forgot my headphones I may have bent his ear more than I should have done, sorry mate!).
He and Conor did a great job going back over the match, and a special mention to Harry Murphy of Sportsfile for the snap below which does a brilliant job of capturing the RDS experience for Leinster fans.
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.
THE LUKE MCGRATH CHALLENGE
Midterm break means kids are off which in turn means I don’t have time for a Quick Tap video this week, instead I’ll share this clip from the wrap pod where we discussed at length Luke McGrath’s challenge on Kurt-Lee Arendse. Obvs we don’t want to dwell TOO much on these things because it might put too much attention on one player and it goes without saying Luke himself is a major part of Leinster’s plans,
but we also must not forget the overall issue of player safety and the need to properly sanction these situations. On top of that is the whole assumption that because we’re a Leinster-centric pod then we’d rather ignore it so I reckon this bit of harpin’ dispels that myth pretty well.
LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE
Good news this week in that the “Unavailable for selection” portion of the update seems a hell of a lot lighter, but the heavy “further assessment required” section means it’s nigh on impossible to forecast a Leinster 23 for the Champions Cup knockouts…as you can see I have gone for the two extremes, one where any or all of those players are available (although I’m thinking neither Ringrose and Ngatai will make it whatever happens) and another (tactfully avoiding the word “worst”) where none of them are.
Harpin’ matchday 23 v Leicester
[BEST CASE]
Keenan, O’Brien J, Henshaw, Osborne, Lowe, R Byrne, Gibson-Park
Porter, Sheehan, Furlong, Molony, McCarthy, Baird, van der Flier, Doris
Kelleher, Healy, Ala’alatoa, Jenkins, Conan, McGrath, H Byrne, Frawley
[LEAST BEST CASE]
Larmour, Russell, Henshaw, Osborne, Lowe, R Byrne, Gibson-Park
Healy, Sheehan, Furlong, Molony, McCarthy, Baird, van der Flier, Doris
Kelleher, Milne, Ala’alatoa, Jenkins, Conan, Foley, H Byrne, Turner
NB : the above matchday 23s are completely from my own mind, I’m certainly not suggesting I have any ITK a la Thornley
INJURY UPDATE – AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
Cormac Foley: has returned to full training this week after returning from a shoulder injury
INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:
Jimmy O’Brien: will be further assessed this week as he nears a return from a neck injury
Luke McGrath: has entered the Graduated Return to Play Protocols and will be assessed further in the week
Robbie Henshaw: has entered the Graduated Return to Play Protocols and will be assessed further in the week
Ciarán Frawley: will be further assessed this week for a foot injury before a final decision is made on his availability
Hugo Keenan: will be further assessed this week for a hip injury before a final decision is made on his availability
Garry Ringrose: will be further assessed this week for a shoulder injury before a final decision is made on his availability
Andrew Porter: will be further assessed this week for a shoulder injury before a final decision is made on his availability
Charlie Ngatai: will step up his rehabilitation from a calf injury this week as he nears a return to action
INJURY UPDATE – UNAVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
N/A
NO FURTHER UPDATES ON:
James Ryan (arm), Tommy O’Brien (hamstring) and Alex Soroka (foot)
WOMEN’S SIX NATIONS
Very frustrating watching Ireland on Sunday, they did so well right at the start and right at the end but the bits in between needed a lot of work. I still firmly believe it was absolutely the right thing to take the likes of Eve Higgins and Beibhinn Parsons, but at the RDS the team did have the look of one that has had players parachuted in and it might take time for them to gel to the standards required for the Six Nations. Maybe if they were together for the WXV as well the team would be better set, but look, we are where we are and now it’s imperative that we get ourselves ready for the Welsh in Cork on Apr 13, because with the Scots doing well and England being England, the schedule certainly does not get much easier from there.
Anyway like I always say you should probably take any analysis of mine on this with a pinch of salt so here’s a good thread on Ireland’s chances from friend of the pod @IrishWomens…
ROUND TWO
SCOTLAND 5-15 FRANCE
ENGLAND 46-10 WALES
IRELAND 21-27 ITALY
ROUND THREE
SAT APR 13
SCOTLAND V ENGLAND
IRELAND V WALES
SUN APR 14
FRANCE V ITALY
WHO’S THE FOOL?
Another April 1st has been and gone and the multitudes of Fake News articles thankfully has too. As one who loves to kid around, you’d think I’d be all in favour of this practice but I’m actually the exact opposite, pretty boring at this stage if I’m honest…rather than have them all concentrated on one day I’d much rather have these scattered throughout the year; I did like most of the East Terrace stuff.
I’m also ashamed to say I DID fall for one tweet, by regular commenter and Leinster fan Cian Ormond (although this doesn’t fall into the boring category because I meant from content-creators rather than individuals)…
“SVNS” UPDATE
The series resumes this weekend with the famous Hong Kong festival which as you can see has a lot of unsociable kickoff times and some tricky tests for both Irish genders. Still definitely worth a watch, remember they can all be played back via RugbyPass.tv.
NEXT IN THE SERIES…
HONG KONG
FRI APR 5
4:39AM MEN V SOUTH AFRICA
5:02AM WOMEN V SOUTH AFRICA
7:49AM MEN V SAMOA
8:35AM WOMEN V AUSTRALIA
SAT APR 6
3:39AM MEN V SPAIN
4:02AM WOMEN V FIJI
SINGAPORE MAY 3-5
MADRID MAY 31-JUN 2
🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE
Starting with the bottom of the table this week, Oyonnax look pretty much doomed and I have to say it’s starting to look worrying for Montpellier although they could well pick themselves up for a one game playoff if required. Back at the business end, Stade Français and Toulouse both won by 2 to stay top while Stu Lancaster & ROG stayed in the barrage picture although with 6 rounds still to go you could say everyone down to 10th is in with a shout. I’m going to go for Castres v La Rochelle as the pick of the next round although much will depend on their respective involvement in Europe at that stage.
Round 20
MONTPELLIER 10-12 STADE FRANÇAIS
PERPIGNAN 43-12 CASTRES
LA ROCHELLE 40-21 OYONNAX
LYON 27-10 BORDEAUX
RACING 92 26-10 CLÉRMONT
TOULOUSE 31-29 PAU
BAYONNE 10-46 TOULON
Round 21
SAT APR 20
CASTRES V LA ROCHELLE
PERPIGNAN V LYON
OYONNAX V RACING 92
STADE FRANÇAIS V BAYONNE
PAU V MONTPELLIER
TOULON V TOULOUSE
SUN APR 21
BORDEAUX V CLÉRMONT
PREMIERSHIP UPDATE
70% of the Premiership clubs have won 8 and lost 6 of their matches so far this season. Might need a moment to let that sink in…but we still need to be clear that however well their 7th and 8th placed teams may be doing, it’s still not exactly fair that they should gain entry into the Champions Cup when it’s so much more difficult to qualify from the URC and 🔝🐱🐴 . And I’m only pointing this out because it was the Premiership clubs/English media that was always pointing out European qualification injustice in the past. Anyway…Northampton remain top of the pile with a decent home win over Sarries not the worst preparation for the visit of Munster.
ROUND 14
NEWCASTLE 13-19 LEICESTER
NORTHAMPTON 41-30 SARACENS
GLOUCESTER 24-33 BRISTOL
HARLEQUINS 40-36 BATH
SALE SHARKS 41-5 EXETER
ROUND 15
SAT APR 20
SARACENS V GLOUCESTER
NORTHAMPTON V LEICESTER
EXETER V BATH
SUN APR 21
SALE SHARKS V HARLEQUINS
BRISTOL V NEWCASTLE
AIL UPDATE
If I were a betting man I’d say the Women’s AIL final would likely be between Railway Union and UL Bohs and guess who play each other next in the regular season? Should be a fascinating encounter and might be the best chance of halting Bohs’ unbeaten run.
In the men, champions Terenure finally put their shaky start to the campaign behind them by reaching the summit after a convincing 29-15 win over Tarf at Lakelands with Leinster caps like John McKee and Aitzol King among the try scorers.
But while the top 4 teams are now set, the home semifinals are far from certain. Despite being in pole position, Nure will find their final match at Hinch anything but easy and should they slip up, both Cork Con and Tarf are ready to overtake them should they overcome Armagh and Trinity respectively. Although Dublin Univ face the drop to 1B they did have some glory with victory in the colours match over UCD, who had another Leinster player among their try scorers in Conor O’Tighearnaigh.
One last thing about Div 1A…while Trinners are down, the team finishing 9th must survive a playoff to avoid the drop and it is now a straight fight between City of Armagh (who host Cork Con) and Shannon (who go to Belfield Bowl) with the Ulster side having the points diff advantage should they remain level, although you could argue than maybe wins should be the first tiebreaker in which case Shannon would have the edge.
Then on the other end of that playoff, Old Wesley picked up a LBP at already-promoted St Mary’s to keep them in pole position but should they slip up at home to Queens in the final round, Garryowen and Highfield face each other with the winner likely to jump into 2nd. Still much to play for in that second tier.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S AIL
ROUND 16
SAT MAR 30
BALLINCOLLIG 5-42 BLACKROCK
OLD BELVEDERE 18-34 RAILWAY UNION
SUTTONIANS 22-19 GALWEGIANS
WICKLOW 29-19 COOKE
ROUND 17
SAT APR 6
GALWEGIANS V WICKLOW
BLACKROCK V COOKE
OLD BELVEDERE V BALLINCOLLIG
RAILWAY UNION V UL BOHS
MEN’S AIL 1A
ROUND 17
CORK CON 10-7 BALLYNAHINCH
LANSDOWNE 64-31 ARMAGH
TERENURE 29-15 CLONTARF
TRINITY 22-13 UCD
SHANNON 37-22 YOUNG MUNSTER
ROUND 18
SAT APR 6
BALLYNAHINCH V TERENURE
CITY OF ARMAGH V CORK CON
CLONTARF V TRINITY
UCD V SHANNON
YOUNG MUNSTER V LANSDOWNE
MEN’S AIL 1B
ROUND 17
HIGHFIELD 21-7 BLACKROCK
OLD BELVEDERE 3-28 GARRYOWEN
QUEENS 33-31 NAAS
ST MARY’S 34-29 OLD WESLEY
UCC 48-7 BUCCANEERS
ROUND 18
SAT APR 6
OLD WESLEY V QUEENS
NAAS V OLD BELVEDERE
GARRYOWEN V HIGHFIELD
BUCCANEERS V ST MARY’S
BLACKROCK V UCC
SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC UPDATE
Crusaders are finally off the mark, putting away the Chiefs handily enough on home soil but they still very much need a bye week to regroup for the remainder of the campaign and the schedule has obliged. The Hurricanes stay top after a big win in Otago with the Blues and Brumbies hot in pursuit. Unfortunately none of the Round 7 ties really jump out at you.
ROUND 6
CRUSADERS 37-26 CHIEFS
WARATAHS 21-27 REBELS
FIJIAN DRUA 31-13 WESTERN FORCE
MOANA PASIFIKA 8-47 BLUES
HIGHLANDERS 12-47 HURRICANES
REDS 19-20 BRUMBIES
ROUND 7
FRI APR 5
BLUES V WESTERN FORCE
REBELS V FIJIAN DRUA
SAT APR 6
CHIEFS V MOANA PASIFIKA
BRUMBIES V WARATAHS
MAJOR LEAGUE RUGBY UPDATE
Houston won the Texas derby (tho I doubt they call it that over there) to stay top in the West while New England survived their bye week to stay in 1st over in the East. My “adopted” team for this season Chicago Hounds dropped to their third defeat, this time at home to Seattle with Nick McCarthy, Conall Boomer and Luke Carty all starting while I forgot to mention Dave Kearney actually made his debut last week against New England although he didn’t feature this week. They won’t have it any easier this coming next week as they must travel to New Orleans.
ROUND 5
DALLAS 27-30 HOUSTON
CHICAGO 26-34 SEATTLE
ANTHEM RC 32-46 OLD GLORY DC
MIAMI 21-22 SAN DIEGO
ROUND 6
SAT APR 6
UTAH V ANTHEM RC
SEATTLE V DALLAS
NOLA GOLD V CHICAGO
CHALLENGE CUP UPDATE
Time to return to having this update in the column especially with two provinces involved and both having 🔝🐱🐴 away dates. If I had to say either assignment was “the easier” I’d have to say it was Ulster’s since Montpellier will most definitely be much more focused on their domestic situation (see update above) while despite Pau being in the playoff picture they might see this comp as a realistic chance of silverware. Quite an interesting draw this when you study it closely.
HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE
Although my actual performance this week was an improvement on the last round, I still gave up my long-standing 1st place status after Kino’s stats-based approach finally got the better of me in real “tortoise over hare” fashion although there is of course still quite a way to go and nobody can be ruled out of contention. Well, when I say “nobody”, I mean of course nobody except ‘No Picks Keego’…
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Champions Cup is next, hopefully for both of the next two weeks when it comes to Leinster but first we must of course focus on the visit of the Tigers to the Aviva Stadium. We’ll have our usual preview on Friday as well as our usual pod recording Sunday eve, and naturally we’ll continue to post our regular amount of content across all the different platforms.
As ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 