80+ column : March 12

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WRAP OF A WRAP

Hello and welcome to our latest 80+ column where I generally harp on things outside our normal remit, namely the latest match involving the Leinster/Ireland men’s team.

It may have been only the second defeat of the season for “my team” in our featured match, but that certainly did not make the pod any easier to record, especially given the nature of the defeat.  Still, fair play to both Kino and Hugo for taking a half each to harp on (Hugo got the thinner end of that wedge by a tad) and I reckon between us we covered the 80 minutes fairly.  

ICYMI click here to check it out on Spotify or you’ll also find us on Apple and most major platforms.

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FRONT FIVE

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CELTIC TIGER?

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GALTHIÉ AS CHARGED

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KIWI SUCCESSION

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LESS OF A CHALLENGE

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BE-NEATH THE SPORT

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HARPIN ON…TEST TICKET PRICES

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I thought it best not to subject Kino & Hugo to a bonus chat topic this week, they had done more than enough harpin’ on what happened last Saturday as it was.  However, Keego was willing to come on and expand on the tweet he posted shortly after the full-time whistle, so after one major recording SNAFU on my part we eventually put together this video.

Here’s the lead-in question : 

“Keego I’ll tell you what, it’s still just over a day since myself, Kino and Hugo wrapped the France match so I hope you don’t mind I won’t ask for your thoughts on that just yet because I’ve harped on it enough but what I would like to ask you about is your tweet from shortly after the full time whistle on Saturday: ‘IRFU we love you but when you price us out of the game, you do not get the noise you need. Every couch in the nation was there for the team, same in every pub. but we couldn’t afford to be there. You really need to revisit the pricing policy. Let us into the stadium.’ – just thought I’d give you the opportunity to expand on that?”

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IRELAND SQUAD UPDATE

I know I’ll stand accused of blue goggles here but I think Sam should start against Italy, if giving him the 10 jersey throughout this tournament was designed to give him confidence then IMO dropping him now, essentially implying that the result last weekend was his fault, would destroy that.  But to be clear, I have absolutely nothing against Crowley and if you look back at previous 80+ columns you’ll see I’ve selected him at 10 more than once in this segment.  You may also notice I’ve left out Peter O’Mahony in favour of Baird, again that sounds like a Leinster-centric call but to be honest I’d just as soon have Cian P or Izzy off the bench at a time we’ll be hoping to have opportunities to rack up a decent score. 

caveat : I have no “ITK” a la Thornley

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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.  

It would surely take an amazing level of trolling for the same message to feature in this section twice but for the week that’s in it I reckon this one, previously in our Feb 12 column, makes the grade.

Let’s just say I hope she really was so, so happy.

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Women’s Six Nations

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U20 Six Nations

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Celtic Challenge

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All Ireland Leagues

WOMEN’S AIL

MEN’S AIL 1A

MEN’S AIL 1B

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LEINSTER SCHOOLS SENIOR CUP

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SVNS

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Premiership

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🔝🐱🐴

ProD2

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Super Rugby Pacific

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RWC2027 QUALIFIERS

The RWC2027 tournament has expanded to 24 nations so with four extra spots up for grabs it makes for a fascinating qualifying process.

Rather than post the latest results and fixtures here however, I’d like to defer to the excellent work of frequent Harpin’ contributor Ciarán Duffy who has been keeping close tabs on the qualifying process over at his own site Post to Post Sport.

Follow this link to see how the Road to Australia is progressing..

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Japan League One

Major League Rugby 

Harpin Prediction League

This is the 4th season of our Superbru prediction league among Harpin’ pod contributors.  

Kristian is the reigning champion, but the real competition is in avoiding finishing last, which means you must wear The Jersey of Shame.  I had to wear it the first year, while Keego has had the honour the past two seasons.

As you can see our resident stats expert Rugby Kino is leading the way with room to spare but down at the foot of the table, the race to avoid the JoS is hotting up with Keego winning Round 12 and making the two above him anxiously looking over their shoulders.

We’ve also added a Cup (or Mug) competition to make things interesting.  Kino forgot to make his prediction for the final match in Round 12 but by Superbru rules he still picked up a point to edge Kristian out where he’ll face me in the seimifinals!  Still one quarterfinal to play however, the Westmeath/Meath derby between Mark and Tom.

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NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

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