80+ column : July 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, now including a few thoughts added by myself (JLP).

“Some things make sense when you see it, and some don’t”

Rassie: Ireland don’t fear the Bomb Squad

SA RugbyMag

JLP : Ah, good ol’ Rassie.  Master of 50-dimensional chess, always a thousand moves ahead of everyone else.  You know what, I don’t actually blame him.  Well, at least I don’t now.  My biggest problem with him was after the first test of that Lions series, clearly trying to influence the officials when the same two sides still had to face each other.  We’ll never know if he’d be doing something similar now had Ireland won the first test, but when it comes to the bulk of the “these two teams really don’t like each other” vibe, the bulk of the responsibility has to lie with the SA press.  They’re the ones asking the lead-in questions, they’re the ones highlighting soundbites from individuals on Irish shows and podcasts making it look like theirs is the view of the entire fanbase, and most likely they’re the ones responsible for the kind of comments that made our Troll Patrol feature this week.

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Ireland were pipped to the Six Nations title by England, with this weekend’s rematch at the DHL Stadium in Cape Town (3.30 Irish time) set to be another tight affair

Ireland U-20s qualify for Junior World Cup semi date against England after match cancelled but Aussies are not happy

Cian Tracey – Irish Independent

JLP : Obviously Tuesday’s postponement was less than ideal, and going by what I have heard about the Cape Town weather at this time of year, the scheduling of this tournament there was also so.  At least it turned out ok from Ireland’s point of view as we get into the semifinals with the added benefit of a longer rest time in a competition designed to give all the participants the same 5-day turnarounds.  All in all it was a good job we got that late try against Georgia!  You can understand why the Australians would be annoyed but I reckon we just about deserve a place in the final four though it won’t be easy against England on Sunday.

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“No discriminatory behaviour of any kind has a place in French rugby.”

France international suspended over racist comment

Callum Boyle – SportsJoe.ie

JLP : No long comment required here, just that clearly Jaminet is a dick.  Didn’t know anything about him before this, now I do.  As ever in these cases there are no amount of statements like “that’s not like me” to make up for it, not that there’s NO way back for him only that it would take a lot of time and a lot of evidence to the contrary.  Well, at least as the French team’s tour goes it was the only thing bad to happen…

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“An investigation is under way. They’re in a police station. Someone from the delegation went to see them to bring them some food.“

France rugby players Oscar Jegou and Hugo Auradou arrested on Argentina tour over sexual assault claims

SkySports.com

JLP : ….wait, WHAT?  OK one incident is careless.  TWO seems to speak to the culture surrounding a travelling squad.  Obviously investigations are pending in this case so we shouldn’t speculate too much but it certainly doesn’t look good.

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***CLICKBAIT OF THE WEEK AWARD***

“We don’t really look at such things when we select the team, but this shows how blessed we are with the depth in the squad and the quality of the players we have.”

Ireland to face most capped starting XV in Springbok history

Jack Tunney – RugbyDump

JLP : The fact laid out in the headline is true, but it’s still a bit misleading.  The Springbok 23 is exactly the same as it was last week, which was also the most capped lineup in history so with everyone now having one more cap, of course the record is broken.  The real headline is the fact that its unchanged.  The ‘most capped’ bit is an extremely moot point IMO and thus wins my latest COTWA.

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WRAP OF A WRAP

Had to switch to Monday evening to record this week and myself, Ciarán Duffy and David Cordial harped our way through the timeline.  Trying to tweak the format a little, previously I’d break the match up into quarters to give the guests equal time but now I think I’ll leave the match in halves and get one to talk through the timeline while the other offers analysis.  Changes still in progress for this series, hope to have it finalised in time for next season.

If you missed it, click here to catch it on Spotify or on other major platforms, also please subscribe or leave reviews where you can.

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HARPIN ON…THE NEVER ENDING SEASON

Opening question :  

Here at Harpin On Rugby we’re now coming to the end of our 5th season of podcasts and our first recording was at the end of July 2023 which means we have practically had senior rugby to harp on for an entire calendar year.  Of course there was a World Cup in among all of that but once next season rolls around we’ll be thinking about a Lions tour and that series will actually bring us all the way into August of 2025.  World Rugby have been planning to revamp their global calendar for quite a while now and to be fair to them, COVID kind of delayed things a bit so it was only last October when they announced that they had “approved transformational reform of the global men’s and women’s rugby calendars from 2026” but starting with yourself David, given what we know of these reforms, are they going to do anything to stop these never-ending seasons?

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THE 6N SUNDAY PROBLEM

Looks like the Six Nations is considering going to an “all Super Saturday” schedule due to poor viewing figures.  Time for me to roll out my own suggestion that I’ve had on my mind for years now…how about spreading the matches across the seven weeks, with two matches every Saturday until the final, which could still be ”super”.

This way you actually eke out two extra weekends of Six Nations rugby for viewers and broadcasters while still giving each nation two rest weekends.  I’m sure the domestic schedules could be fixed accordingly.

Just a thought.  Below is a sample of how it could look if applied to the 2025 schedule.

WEEK 1	WEEK 2	WEEK 3	WEEK 4	WEEK 5	WEEK 6	WEEK 7
FRA V WAL	ITA V WAL	ENG V FRA	ENG V ITA	ENG V SCO	IRE V FRA	ITA V IRE
IRE V ENG	SCO V IRE	SCO V ITA	WAL V IRE	ITA V FRA	SCO V WAL	WAL V ENG
X	X	X	X	X	X	FRA V SCO

According to the Guardian, Six Nations organisers are considering Saturday-only games (men's) from 2026.

Friday and Sunday fixtures could be scrapped and it is hoped that staggered kick-offs could boost TV ratings.

Unsurprisingly, the 3 Six Nations games with the lowest TV…

— Rugby Broadcast (@rugbybroadcast_) July 10, 2024

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WORLD U20s UPDATE

Already dealt with the unusual 3rd round developments in the Front Five section, here are the actual results…

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CURRIE CUP UPDATE

Why add the Currie Cup to our update section I hear you say?  Only one answer…why not???

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TROLL PATROL

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There are two ways to look at Dylan Jack’s original post in this Twitter thread.  Well, if the world were decent, there would only be one, but we are where we are.  The first way is to say “oh dear that’s a terrible injury list for Ireland I hope the players involved are ok and will be back playing soon”.  Then there’s the way a load of fans in the replies chose to take it : “SOUTH AFRICA IS THE BEST AND THE STRONGEST AND IRELAND COULDN’T HACK IT!!!!!!” complete with of course all the pseudo-macho chest pounding and other bullshit.  Really, really sad.  And to be clear, like I always try to be when writing things like this, I’d not saying ALL South African fans think this way, but here there are definitely more than you’d like to see.

If you ever see an online contribution that seems worthy of inclusion here, by all means do share.

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“SVNS” UPDATE

Only update here is the announcement of dates and times for Ireland’s matches at the Olympics…

OLYMPIC 7s

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NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Short but sweet column this week – I plan to continue them on Wednesdays throughout the offseason while taking a break from the pods.  Still the second test to cover though, so we’ll have a preview on Friday as well as a wrap recording on Sunday evening. Be sure to keep up with all our social media channels with the usual amount of commenting, sharing, liking & subscribing.

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

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