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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.

“If it wasn’t for O’Mahony’s age profile and rumours of a departure, they would be neck and neck in the race; but you would have to favour the lanky Leinster lock to pip it at the death”  Farrell’s New Year Headache is Selecting A New Captain Caolán Scully – CaolánSRugby

“It is understood an agreement has been reached in principle, with a final green light awaited.” Ireland’s Six Nations jerseys set to feature player names RTÉ.ie

“He was such an influencer in that regard, mixing immaculate ball skills with granite defence. Rugby had never seen a full-back like him.”  My Lions team-mate JPR was the best full-back the game has ever seen – full stop Ian McGeechan – Irish Independent (via Daily Telegraph)

“The more people think it’s acceptable to make a derogatory comment…on social media or electronically, I think people think it’s also OK to say it in person.”  RFU increases sanction for abuse of officials as survey finds 49% targeted Gerard Meagher – The Guardian

“…this one feels as though it might be more of a move that will work out for him and his family and from a rugby point of view just to change things up.” Brian O’Driscoll Has Interesting Theory On Owen Farrell’s Rumoured France Move Gary Connaughton – Balls.ie

Note – views expressed in “Front Five” links do not necessarily reflect those of HarpinOnRugby

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NEW WRAP UNWRAPPED

As you can see above, we’ll be doing things a little differently at Harpin Manor in 2024.  The wrap pod from now on will be just that…a pod wrapping the latest Leinster & Ireland fixture and the “Front Five” feature will return to a written format, appearing at the tart of this column each week.

I started the Front 5 way back in July 2014 and it was a daily post which helped with regular content and also helped keep me up to date with issues outside my chosen remit.  I chose to keep it when I switched to a pod format but I reckon it’s better to launch straight into the subject matter so this seems to be a logical resting place for it, although with more and more publications putting themselves behind firewalls we’ll see how long interesting links remain accessible!

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HARPIN’ ON…MOST VIEWED VID OF 2023

We will still have a “bonus clip” segment in our wrap recordings except rather than me choosing a topic I’m going to let my guests harp on things they’d like to discuss.

The videos will remain in this portion of the 80+ column so for this week I will share the video which got by far the most views over the past year, namely my thoughts on the Jean Kleyn situation which I’m assuming got shared around the Springbok fan base.

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SENSIBLE V SILLY TIK TOK

Since I’ve had a TikTok account I have seen a lot of different types of post; some I find hilarious but others kind of make me cringe.  One of the latter for me is the “talking to myself” style so to announce the return from my “mini break” I decided to make my own.  You probably think it is just as cringeworthy as any other and I wouldn’t argue as that is kind of the point!  

The scene is meant to be between two versions of myself, a “sensible” one and a “silly” one – and this is actually symbolic of my general approach to content production, part of me wants to be a straight laced presenter while another can’t resist dad jokes and such.  So in a way this format worked, but as I say, it will more than likely be the first AND last time I ever use it.  I’m also a bit annoyed I fucked up the subtitles in a couple of places but let’s just say I’m not losing any sleep!!!

Thanks for all who gave positive feedback anyway though!

@harpinonrugby

We’re back Wednesday with a new 80+ column

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

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LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE

“Number of months” are obviously the last words you want to see in an injury update, particularly at the midpoint of a season which could very well mean yours is all but over.  Jimmy O’Brien and Martin Moloney both got that horrible news over the holidays, the former would have of course been heavily involved in the plans for both Leinster and Ireland while Moloney is probably cursing his luck even more as he has yet to appear for Leinster after returning from a previous spell on the sidelines which began just as he broke into the team.

The “no further updates” section is also full of players who would feature heavily in Leinster’s plans but as you can see from the “x” below there was some extra good news announced after the update was published…

Good news for Leinster and Ireland – James Lowe and Tadhg Furlong are both in line to return against Stade Francais on Saturday.

— Cian Tracey (@CianTracey1) January 9, 2024

NB : the above matchday 23 is completely from my own mind, I’m certainly not suggesting I have any ITK a la Thornley

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THE MIDDLE AISLE

This is the “middle aisle” portion of the column where I will briefly harp on issues of the day, or at least it will be from next week – that TikTok involved so much work I really don’t have the time right now to delve into much else!

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URC IRISH SHIELD UPDATE

I know there will be no more URC interpros until May, but I thought I’d post the state of play one last time before that as it is so well poised.

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“SVNS” UPDATE

The Sevens circuit is still on a break but I’ll still post the update to remind us all how things stand.  Big year for the Irish programme of course with the Olympics in July also on the schedule.

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🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE

From a Leinster POV the drab draw for Stade catches the eye and makes me wonder just how much they will prioritise their Champions Cup campaign over the coming weeks after 2 defeats from 2 and a trip to 2nd place Bayonne next up at home.

Racing held off Castres in a shootout to stay top while La Rochelle moved closer to the playoff spots by winning at Pau, and have to overcome Premiership opposition over the next two weeks if they are to also revive their Champions Cup hopes.

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PREMIERSHIP UPDATE

Northampton stay top after an impressive win at Exeter, and will probably stay their after the next round with lowly Newcastle coming to Franklin’s Gardens.  Sale fell out of the playoff places after getting done at home by Bristol.  After 11 rounds, 70% of the league have more wins than losses so there are many twists and turns left.

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AIL UPDATE 

Both Irish clubs were victorious in round 2 of the Celtic Challenge but the Welsh franchise Gwalia Lightning are top of the table and visit the Clovers next.  The Leinster-heavy Wolfhounds side will aim to keep their 100% record intact when they travel to Glasgow and all games are available to watch for free on RugbyPass.tv

Meanwhile the new competition has put pressure on the Women’s AIL clubs – while there are no league fixtures while it’s on, there is an “All-Ireland Women’s Cup” and Old Belvedere of all teams found themselves unable to put out a side to face Galwegians in Round 1 and had to concede the match points.

I like to consider myself an ally to those pushing for the IRFU bringing the standards up to where they should be but in this one case I’m not sure it really counts as another stick to beat them with.  The Celtic Challenge seems to be a net positive and given it has to be run in conjunction with other unions, there was always going to be a chance it would affect the clubs.  Last year, the complaints were that the clubs didn’t have enough matches (and this was correct as the AIL was done and dusted by Christmas) so while the Belvo concession clearly demonstrates there is still a long way to go, I’d still hope at least we’re heading in a decent general direction.

Meanwhile the men’s AIL is back this week while the Bateman Cup final was retained by Terenure (who had arguably their best social media team announcement yet see below) after they overcame Young Munster and with lowly Trinity visiting Lakelands next in the league, they have every chance to climb further.  

Ballynahinch will need another win over their Ulster rivals City of Armagh to stay in touch with the top four while leaders Clontarf make the trip to Shannon.

#SupportYourLocalClub

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Bully’s got a special prize in store this week… but you’re going to have to be in Lakeland’s tomorrow to see what it is 👀🏆 Here’s your 23 man squad who will take to the field at 2:30 on Saturday on a quest for back to back Bateman Cups 🎯 #Onwards pic.twitter.com/zmGX54AVuy

— Terenure College RFC (@terenurerugby) January 5, 2024

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CHALLENGE CUP UPDATE

Not many eyes in the wider rugby world fall on the Challenge Cup but those that do will no doubt be on Black Lion’s progress…the 5 match points they already have could well be enough to see them into the knockouts but who’s to say they won’t get more?  This weekend they go to Castres who could well be putting more focus on their domestic standing.

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HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE

Just the one URC match last weekend and the only HPL combatants to predict that the Lions would win at the Sharks were Kristian, who leapfrogged Kino into 3rd, and…wait for it…KEEGO!!! Still can’t see him making up the gap to avoid keeping the Jersey of Shame though, even if we aren’t quite yet at the halfway stage of the season.

I’m considering adding a “cup competition” to the HPL starting in Round 10 but I’ll let you know when it gets closer to the time.

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NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Right that’s it for now, great to be back to whatever “normal” is.  The Rugby on TV feature returns as it’s regular stand alone post on Thursday, then Keego will join me for Friday’s preview of the visit of Stade while our new-look wrap pod will feature Tom & Conor recording on Sunday evening.

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

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WRAP OF A WRAP

As pointed out in the social media posts leading readers here, this is the first of two 80+ columns to bookend a mini-break from content-producing here at Harpin Manor what with the URC taking this coming weekend off.

Our schedule was thrown out of whack by the holiday period but for the most part we gave Leinster’s interpros the full Harpin treatment although Keego swapped from the previews to the wraps with both Jay Long and Conor Cronin doing top work stepping in for the preview shows.

If you didn’t catch the Ulster wrap pod itself, here’s a link to Spotify and we’re also on Apple and most major platforms.

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HARPIN’ ON…LOOKING AHEAD TO 2024

Last week’s bonus clip was a look back to 2023 so it made sense to switch to crystal ball mode for the year ahead this time around. Keego & myself offered suggestions as to what might happen as well as outlining what rugby is in store for both Leinster & Ireland.

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LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE

It’s very possible we won’t get a new update until next week’s column but I will still have a go at selecting a team for the Stade match based on the info I have.

NB : the above matchday 23 is completely from my own mind, I’m certainly not suggesting I have any ITK a la Thornley

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UPCOMING RUGBY ON IRISH TV 

We normally do this as a separate post but like last week I’ll include it here.  I can’t find any 🔝🐱🐴 , normally it’s on Premier Sports Ireland but they seem to be concentrating on the FA Cup – I’ll update if anything shows up.

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URC IRISH SHIELD UPDATE

Obviously Ulster’s win at the RDS threw the race for the shield wide open with the May 18 rematch in the Kingspan looking like it’s going to be the decider. I’m also still amazed how close all the matches have been – if it wasn’t for a last-gasp interception try at the Sportsground, all 8 matches so far will have been decided by 7pts or less.

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🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE

Racing slipped up getting just a losing BP at lowly Bayonne yet still remain top while Leinster’s next opposition Stade F came away from Toulon with nothing although despite being 5th they’re still within striking distance of their Parisian rivals. Meanwhile La Rochelle’s relatively comfortable dispatching of Toulouse had me wondering if the LAR>LEI>TLS>LAR cycle has finally been broken! ROGs lot can get even closer to the top six with a win at Pau in the next round.

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PREMIERSHIP UPDATE

Not often the top team in all three main Euro domestic leagues lose in the same weekend, however Sale were the only one to see themselves knocked off their perch as defeat to Northampton moved the Saints up to the summit with Exeter climbing to second.  Leicester Tigers scoffed a decent home win over Bath although their schedule doesn’t get much easier with just the 9 Champions Cup between their next three opponents Saracens, La Rochelle and of course Leinster.

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AIL UPDATE 

No action in the AIL but the women’s Celtic Challenge did kick off with the two newly-created Irish teams Wolfhounds & Clovers meeting at Musgrave Park. The Leinster/Ulster based side overturned a halftime deficit to finish on top, round 2 is this coming weekend all the matches will be streamed live on RugbyPass.tv the links are in the TV section further up the page.

#SupportYourLocalClub

WOMEN’S CELTIC CHALLENGE

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WOMEN’S AIL

NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND

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MEN’S AIL

NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND

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HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE

The Welsh regions have been good to me in this round but still my lead at the top has been whittled down to just 1.5pts with a group forming right down to 6th ready to pounce.  Round 9 is unusual as it includes two extra fixtures for the Lions in January so we’ll see how the lads get on remembering their picks!  If they’re lucky I might even remind them in the WhatsApp group…

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NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

We’re going to take full advantage of the URC off week here at Harpin Manor to do absolutely NOTHING content-related for a few days.  The plan is to be back with another 80+ column which will be back on it’s regular day, which I guess means I’ll actually see you next Tuesday!!! 😜

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

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WRAP OF A WRAP

First things first….not one but TWO Harpin contributors have had milestone birthdays in the last week, best wishes to both Tom Coleman and Conor Cronin I hope the celebrations went well!

Well that match certainly didn’t go like we thought it would, did it?  On the preview with Keego, we were trying to be nice about the Sale lineup but truth be told it really did look like a comprehensive Leinster win was on the cards but although we did get the bonus point win, this Sale squad really put it to us and both Tom and Kino made this point perfectly clear as they wrapped the 80 minutes.

If you didn’t catch the wrap pod itself, here’s a link to Spotify and we’re also on Apple and most major platforms.

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HARPIN’ ON…ANDY FARRELL APPRECIATION

After skipping the bonus clip the previous week, we recorded one to honour Andy Farrell’s much-deserved gong at the RTÉ Sports Awards.

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CHALLENGES FACING IRISH WOMEN’S RUGBY

It’s pretty clear the point I’m making with the editing wizardry in the TikTok below but I’m still actually saying stuff in the speeded up bits so here is a transcript…

1. CLUB RUGBY We start with club rugby. The principal club competition is of course the Women’s AIL which for the past couple of seasons has consisted of a ringfenced top division of 9 clubs.  Last year the league was done and dusted by this stage of the season in mid-December so now they’ve increased it to a home and away schedule extending the regular season to April.  Problems still remain at this level however and just one look at the league table shows that in reality there are only four clubs in real contention for the title, with the other five sometimes struggling to put a team out like Wicklow in the last round who had to concede a walkover due to injuries, something that really should not be happening at senior level, and just to be perfectly clear, I certainly would not lay a whole lot of blame at the door of the club in question.

2. INTERPROS Next we have the interprovincial championship, where the women’s game surely has much scope to resonate with Irish rugby fans already well used to cheering for one of the four provinces.  The problem with this level is that like the clubs they also are badly in need of more games and this season’s title had already been won by Leinster before the men’s World Cup had even kicked off.

3. THE CELTIC CHALLENGE Then we have the Celtic Challenge, a new competition along the lines of the original men’s Celtic League with teams from Ireland Scotland and Wales competing for the prize.  They started last season with one team from each nation and have expanded to two each this year with Ireland fielding newly formed clubs called the Clovers who represent Munster and Connacht, and the Wolfhounds who will draw players from Leinster and Ulster and the two will meet each other in the opening round at Musgrave Park on December 29.  It would of course be awesome for this level to succeed but from an Irish perspective I can’t really see these manufactured teams capturing much attention, so hopefully it won’t be long before all four provinces can afford to field teams and the competition can find a sustainable place on the rugby calendar.

4. SEVENS This brings us to sevens rugby, and this year the World Series has rebranded itself to make sure both men and women play the same amount of rugby at all of the events.  However for the Irish programme there is still a profound difference between the genders in that the men can field a dedicated sevens squad while the women need to draw many of the best players out of the XVs pool, a decision which has certainly brought rewards like qualification for the Paris Olympics, but also which can’t avoid hurting the chances for the full test team in the process, for example the Hong Kong Sevens event takes place right in the middle of the Women’s Six Nations.

5. TEST RUGBY Which of course brings us to the test team itself.  Whatever we say about the levels below, if there is to be significant fan engagement it is critical that the Irish women’s programme finds a way to drastically improve on their disastrous last place finish in the 2023 Six Nations.  Victory in the 3rd tier of the new WXV competition is definitely a start but there is still a long way to go, and like I already said losing key players like Beibhinn Parsons to the sevens programme certainly doesn’t help, nor does a reliance solely on players who are able to be on call for training and such in and around the greater Dublin area.  It surely would be much easier to attract our top female athletes to the sport if there were at the very least proper training bases at each of the four provinces.

6. WHAT CAN FANS DO Finally, there’s the issue of what we can do as fans.  At a practical level offering financial or volunteer support to your local club is one of the best ways to help out but actual engagement with the top teams is also critical.  Ironically one of the most important things you can do in that regard is not listen to me!  While we’d encourage you to keep up with the IRFU site for latest news and fixtures and such, I’d also suggest following dedicated websites like Scrumqueens and twitter accounts like @IrishWomens and @JC200022 to get a sense of what more needs to be done.

@harpinonrugby

To read the rant at normal speed check out our latest 80+ column which posts every Tuesday at harpinonrugby.com #rugbytiktoks🏉

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

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LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE

Update didn’t arrive until Wednesday afternoon this week, it looks like the news on Charlie Ngatai isn’t as bad as we first feared, fingers crossed. As you can see from my 23 I’m holding out hope we’ll see James Lowe back for the trip to Thomond but he can of course take as long as he feels he needs…

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NO TO CO CAPTAINS

When Leinster are losing there are many who take great pleasure from pointing out what we’re doing wrong, but when that stick isn’t there to beat us with, the scramble to find an alternative can be entertainment in itself.  

This latest one is more twig than stick but still it has to be said that the “co-captain” experiment hasn’t gotten off to an ideal start at the province, and judging by the feedback from refs in the opening two weeks in Europe, we might have to rethink the  policy very soon.

My completely hot take is that this was a decision made to appease their respective agents?  Having the Leinster captain on your books would be quite the feather in the cap so (remember I have ZERO info on this, all speculation) I can imagine a situation where pressure is exerted from representatives for both players with this being a compromise.  If so, or indeed whatever led to the decision, here’s hoping they can quickly go back to the drawing board because one captain at a time is definitely the way to go.

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SEXTON AS COACH

Really mischievous headline here “IRFU Don’t Rule Out Possible Ireland Return For Johnny Sexton” and I suppose I can’t blame the media for cranking up the old outrage-baiting headline generator for this one.  And to be honest, if anyone who has ever played the game could make the difficult transition from player to coach work quickly, it’s Johnny since I’d argue that he has essentially been an extra coach most his career.  But even with that, I very much doubt there’s much chance of him going straight to the Irish job replacing Mike Catt.  Right now I reckon Mike Prendergast looks a good fit FWIW.

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LOS PUMAS TURN TO DR. PHIL 

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Monday was a “fast news day” for sure, including the announcement that Felipe Contepomi had been appointed to head coach of the Pumas, which of course means it’s more than likely he’ll be leading them when they come to play the Lions at the Aviva Stadium in 2025.  It goes without saying that we wish him every success unless it’s against us at a World Cup!!!!

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TOP SHELF IRISH WHISKEY

Have to admit I didn’t even know this was on the cards but I’m delighted to learn that Jamison Gibson-Park has earned his Irish citizenship, great news for him, and of course for both Leinster & Ireland rugby.   I always got the sense when he started playing at the province that he wasn’t wild about the kicking game and when Andy Farrell opted for a more pass-focused high-tempo style that was when he came into his own and fingers crossed he has many seasons left to do it.

☘️ Congratulations to @IrishRugby & @leinsterrugby scrumhalf @JamisonGPark who received his Irish Citizenship today 👏 #SaoránachÉireannach2023 #IrishCitizens2023 💪 pic.twitter.com/ENVcfTQVmT

— Department of Justice 🇮🇪 (@DeptJusticeIRL) December 18, 2023

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URC IRISH SHIELD UPDATE

No harm leaving this in the column with the interpros on the horizon…

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AIL UPDATE 

No action at AIL level for the women this week, though as you see in the TikTok rnt segment I had a comment or two to make there.

Over on the men’s side there were some close derbies as UCD out scored Lansdowne in a 44-40 shootout at Belfield Bowl and the Cookies edged out Cork Con, and that result allowed Clontarf to extend their lead at the top after dispatching Shannon at Castle Ave.  In the other two local tussles Hinch won at Armagh while Terenure heaped more misery on Trinity.  Division 1A is now at its halfway stage and Round 9 fixtures get reversed for the next round in mid January.

#SupportYourLocalClub

WOMEN’S AIL

NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND

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CHALLENGE CUP UPDATE

Obviously Black Lion stole the headlines in the Challenge Cup but Tom harped on that for the pod.  4 of the 18 teams have gotten off to perfect starts including two from SA, the Lions and the Cheetahs, who overcame the Sharks in the local encounter.   From the Round 3 schedule you’d have to pick out Black Lion who will have no fear travelling to Castres as the home side could well have one eye on their domestic standing, but I also wouldn’t mind checking out Embra v Glaws could be a decent contest.

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HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE

Still in first, so still going to include here.  All will likely change over the festive interpros!!!

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NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Right – that’s it, will give this column a well earned break until after the holiers.  We will of course be covering Leinster’s matches against Munster & Ulster, stay tuned to the social media channels for more details.

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

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