WRAP OF A WRAP
Of course I’m always extremely grateful for my Harpin contributors giving their time to appear on the pods, but this week both Cian O’Muilleoir (34th cap) and Ciarán Duffy (24th) really went the extra mile. Ciarán wasn’t feeling well on the Sunday evening but both lads were able to switch to a Monday lunchtime recording going back over Ireland’s win over Fiji and as ever they were excellent.
BTW because of the later recording time, we decided not to do a bonus chat this week.
ICYMI click here to check it out on Spotify or you’ll also find it on Apple and most major platforms.
FRONT FIVE
A selection of eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the rugby media landscape
RUNNING THE WEEK
“The aim of that was for him to grab hold of that team and make sure that he treated it like his own, as though he was in charge,”
What it means for an Irish out-half to ‘run the week’
Cian Tracey – Irish Independent
JORDIE’S KNEE
“He was a little nervous but he had a scan, so that’s what we want — get him in the door and see how he looks running around”
Jordie Barrett set to join Leinster, injury fears eased
Frank Nickson – Talking Rugby Union
AROUND THE PROVINCES
“He seems pretty happy to me and Galway loves him as much as he loves Galway so I hope that continues.”
Connacht doing ‘everything possible’ to keep Bundee Aki and Mack Hansen, says Pete Wilkins
Michael Glennon – RTÉ.ie
RFU PRIORITIES
…is the RFU’s top priority the success of Steve Borthwick’s side?
RFU’s annual report shows a worrying decline. Has it lost its purpose?
Gerard Meagher – The Guardian
CLICKBAIT OF THE WEEK
NO QUOTE NEEDED
Ireland international centre jailed for three years
Ruck.co.uk
LEINSTER SQUAD UPDATE
HARPIN’ 23 v Ulster
Larmour, J O’Brien, Turner, Tector, A Osborne, R Byrne, Foley
Milne, McKee, Slimani, O’Tighnearaigh, Deeny, Deegan, Penny (c), Conan
Barron, Boyle, McGuire, Spicer, Connors, McGrath, H Byrne, Cooney
Caveat : I have no “ITK”
INJURY UPDATE – AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
Lee Barron, Jack Conan, Jimmy O’Brien, John McKee and Jordan Larmour have all returned to full training after recovering from injury.
INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:
N/A
INJURY UPDATE – NOT AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
N/A
NO FURTHER UPDATES ON:
Dan Sheehan, Rob Russell, Paddy McCarthy and Tommy O’Brien.
VIRAL INFLECTION
So there I was all set to rewatch the Ireland v Fiji match on Saturday morning in preparation for our wrap pod. Then I’m reminded of a brief incident before kickoff I had spotted as I had been watching live the day before so I decided to clip it out and share it around, first on BlueSky where it instantly got good engagement before I decided to put it on all the platforms.
First point, the posting offered a bit of unofficial data on how the migration from X/Twitter to BlueSky is going. Even though I posted in the newer place about 4 hours before I did so in MuskTown, the latter offered tenfold more engagement, and looking through the list of “likes” they mostly appear to be actual accounts. That’s not to say I’m doing anything but recommend to everyone to make the switch, just that there’s a long way to go in the process.
Another thing I noticed was that while most seemed to easily work out that I just meant to share it as a lighthearted “look what almost happened” moment, some managed to take negative connotations. There were comments that “pushed back” on my apparent assertion that this somehow reflected poorly on referee Hollie Davidson and in particular her abilities as a referee, and a few went further to “agree” with this mistaken interpretation. So I felt I had to record a Tik Tok just to be sure there was no misunderstanding. To be fair, I possibly could have done better than use the words “big screen moment” as that may suggest she was somehow posing for the camera when that’s not what I meant at all.
Finally we had a content site called “Tight Five Rugby” blatantly stealing the clip and making it like it was their own. That’s pretty sad. I mean, it’s not like a “hat-tip” is worth anything, but they call it a “courtesy” for a reason. So I guess this column gives me the perfect chance to call them out and leave it at that.
TROLL PATROL
Now it’s time for Troll Patrol where we ‘detain’ a social media commentator and charge them with gaslightery and general online mayhem.
This week we stay in the Harpin’ community, just to make it clear that I’m not suggesting for a moment that Leinster/Ireland fans don’t ever hop on the trolling bus from time to time. And not all trolling is necessarily mean either, and this offering from RugbyKino inches nice towards the line, enough to call it “light” trolling….
Irish Shield
Interprovincial A Championship
All Ireland Leagues
WOMEN’S AIL
MEN’S AIL
SVNS
Best of luck to both Irish teams as the new 7s season gets underway.
DUBAI 7S
SAT NOV 30
5:44AM WOMEN V FIJI
6:28AM MEN V GREAT BRITAIN
8:43AM WOMEN V CHINA
10:14AM MEN V URUGUAY
1:35PM WOMEN V AUSTRALIA
4PM MEN V ARGENTINA
Premiership
🔝🐱🐴
ProD2
Harpin Prediction League
THIS SEASON THE HPL IS ADDING A NEW KNOCKOUT COMPETITION
CALLED “THE HARPIN MUG”
(BECAUSE THE PRIZE IS AN ACTUAL MUG SO WE COULDN’T CALL IT A ‘CUP’)
THE SEEDINGS ARE DETERMINED BY THE STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 6
AND YOU CAN SEE THE FULL BRACKET BELOW
THE FIRST KNOCKOUT CONTEST WILL BE DAVID V KRISTIAN
PLAYED ACROSS THEIR PREDICTIONS MADE FOR URC ROUND 7
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Thursday – ULSTER V LEINSTER PREVIEW FEAT MARK JACKSON
Friday – IRELAND V AUSTRALIA PREVIEW FEAT KEEGO
LEAVE YOUR FULLTIME ULSvLEI COMMENTS ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE
Saturday – LEAVE YOUR FULLTIME IREvAUS COMMENTS ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE
Sunday – ULSvLEI WRAP POD RECORDING
Monday – IREvAUS WRAP POD RECORDING
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 