80+ column : Apr 30

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WRAP OF A WRAP

We’re very much creatures of habit here at Harpin Manor but the past week has been crazy.  Normally we have fixed content production for particular days of the week yet life has a canny knack of getting in the way eh? 

So first of all the wrap pod was just myself and Conor Cronin – I reckon we did an ok job of summarizing the match all things considered, had a bit of banter online with some Scarlets fans about it. Didn’t have time to do either the “final thoughts” or the “bonus chat” videos this week unfortunately, although I am seriously thinking aboyt scaling back the weekly content anyway as my routine involves.

One thing is for sure, with two matches per week on the Lions Tour coming up, for that period alone there will need to be a massive re-think! Anyway, we’ll cross that when we get to it.

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

A selection of eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the rugby media landscape

No video this week, see “Wrap of a wrap” segment above.

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THE SIOBHÁN CATTIGAN TROPHY

Like I mentioned earlier, I don’t have time to make the usual video and I wasn’t going to comment on my Front 5 choices either but I had to make an exception for this one.

Over the weekend there was a post on BlueSky that shed a completely new light over what should have been a story about the Women’s Six Nations clash between Scotland and Ireland.  

Apparently there was to be a trophy awarded to the winner to honour the memory of Siobhán Cattigan, and this seemed to be a perfectly fitting tribute until, well, there was an intervention and her poor family were left rightly confused and heartbroken.

It has apparently since been resolved but the whole thing just served to sully further what was already a very bad show by the SRU.  

Hat-tip to Ailbhe from the excellent MudderRucker podcast for helping me find the one and only article in the press about this, and indeed it was excellent gumshoe journalism by David Walsh from the Times who has followed the story since Siobhan’s tragic passing.

The article is behind a paywall and I want to respect that so I won’t go into more detail but I definitely recommend reading the full story if you can and I’m looking forward to watching the SIobhán Cattigan Trophy (or something similar, I don’t think the name has been confirmed) be awarded in the near future.

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WAS FEATURE NOW BUG

I think I need to write something here as well, I just discovered this article as I was putting together the column!  Nice to see the Premiership have finally admitted that theirs was a failed business model after years of claiming relegation was actually the main feature.

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WALL SIDELINED

Devastating blow for Dorothy personally of course but also the full Irish squad.

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SEALED WITH A KISS

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HOGGWATCH – EPILOGUE

While I’d never be happy about an injury to anyone, let’s just say I am a lot less gutted about this Achilles injury than I am Dorothy Wall’s.  Regular Harpin readers will know the Front Five column has been following Hogg’s off-field story closely over the past while, although to read this particular story you’d think it never happened.  I guess that’s their editorial choice, but I would have included a line like “Hogg, who was sentenced in January 2025 for abusing his estranged wife”, as I have here.

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LEINSTER SQUAD UPDATE

Excellent news on James Ryan and Rob Russell but I very much doubt the former will be ready in time for Saturday’s semifinal so for my selection I have tried to reward those who have impressed in recent weeks for the tight decisions.  Tommy O’Brien, Jack Deegan, Diarmuid Mangan and Max Deegan all fall into this category.

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.

Hat-tip to Rugby Kino for spotting this perfect follow up to last week’s Troll Patrol detainee, James has done it again as for the second week in a row, a player loaned by Leinster to Munster has ended up on the losing side, so he just reworked the same message at the same time, with a photo added for maximum effect.

I just hope the Munster fans don’t respond by finding some kind of correlation between the Leinster players’ involvement and the results…..

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Women’s Six Nations

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All Ireland Leagues

WOMEN’S AIL

MEN’S AIL 1A

MEN’S AIL 1B

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SVNS

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Challenge Cup

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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, Ciarán has the April update there now.

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Japan League One

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Major League Rugby 

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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 although Mark does seem to be gaining on him… meanwhile down at the foot of the table, a mini fightback from David sees the Jersey race up for grabs again.

We’ve also added a Cup (or Mug) competition to make things interesting, and congrats to Conor Cronin for defeating, well, me in the final last weekend.  Ironically for a Leinster-based site, it was Conor’s complete lack of faith in Munster winning in Cardiff which proved the difference, that match gave him a 1.5 point swing.

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NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

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