ON THIS WEEK’S COLUMN…

• WRAP OF A WRAP
• EXAMINING THE REC-AGE
• ROSS AT GLOS
• CHUMP MORE LIKE
• THE CUT OF THEIR GIB
• RWC2027 DRAW RIGGED?
• HARPIN’ ON…LEINSTER’S SEASON SO FAR
• WRAP OF A WRAPPED
• LEINSTER SQUAD UPDATE
• TROLL PATROL
• COMPETITION UPDATES (incl Challenge Cup)
• NEXT HARPIN’

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WRAP OF A WRAP

I like to think that our Harpin’ group of contributors is a good mix for the podcast.

For the past couple of years I have had two guests per “wrap pod” but this year I trimmed it down to one not only to allow the guest a higher percentage of the time to harp, but also to allow myself to join the conversation more.

We now have a panel of 9 to choose from, with Keego exclusively doing the preview shows (although Mark Jackson’s Premiership insights have seen him step in both last week and this) and the others taking part in a voluntary rotation of sorts.

And by a “mix” I mean a combination of those who currently coach rugby and thus can offer more tactical knowledge, and out and out fans who have followed Leinster & Ireland for years and love to share their thoughts.

On Sunday I was joined by one of the coaches mentioned above, Tom Coleman who looks after the Balbriggan Women’s team and has also helped out with Leinster. In our wrap of the Harlequins match he offered a great analysis of the style of attack the province is trying to bring this season under Tyler Bleyendaal.

ICYMI click here to check out the pod.

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Having studied opinions on Leinster Rugby for almost two decades I notice some interesting patterns. There is a realm with a narrative that tends to be negative no matter how well the team is doing, and when we do VERY well, they would go silent altogether, only to re-emerge again the next time the form takes a dip.

Last season was a classic example. Leinster won virtually every match apart from their South African trip before getting ambushed by the Northampton Saints, and when that happened all the “Cullen out” brigade came spilling out of the woodwork, before seeming to retreat “Homer into the bushes” style when the team recovered to win the URC title.

It seems that may not be just a Leinster thing. Munster got off to a flying start this season culminating in an ambush of their own on us at Croker. 5 wins out of 5 suggested Clayton McMillan’s arrival was paying dividends from the off, and when they scored 3 first half tries against the also-100% Stormers at Thomond Park, it really looked as though they’d be unblemished going into Europe.

But since that second half kicked off, things haven’t gone quite so well, and all it has taken is that 40 minutes plus a humbling against their old boss Johann van Graan in Bath to bring about an article like this one.

Don’t get me wrong – I have nothing against criticism of the province. Only this weekend I defended the commenters on our Facebook page who were mostly going negative about the display against Leinster after I got a comment which led to this exchange…

Things took a bit of a dark turn from there – I have redacted his name for this page but if you want to see the full exchange it’s here.

Anyway, my point is that while I wouldn’t go as far as to censor any opinions I considered overly negative, a bit like that commenter I wouldn’t fully understand it. And in the case of this article about Munster’s defeat in Bath, for the most part I can appreciate where the author is coming from, until the very end where it seems like he almost forgets to blame the whole thing on the “IRFU blazers” and their supposed pro-Leinster bias.