9 May 2026; Hugo Keenan of Leinster scores his side’s third try despite the tackle of Morne van den Berg of Lions during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Lions at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
When Sam came off he didn’t take any hands from his team mates and he sat away from them. He knows himself things aren’t going well. I think a break from the game will do him good. We all love rugby but we can’t let it bring us down. He is a fantastic young man and hope things work out for him.
Lorcán Murphy
I get changes are necessary but it’s still more of the same disjointed performances. How we’re top 3 and in an EPCR final shows the quality we have but it’s hard to imagine any silverware will be won this year.
Christy O’Connor
Mangan was the highlight of the whole game. If the coaches don’t learn from this that Prendergast cannot be involved in the final in 2 weeks, then they need to step down. I’m not having a go at Sam, I feel sorry for him, he was thrown in at the deep end from early in his career and it hasn’t worked out for him yet.
Gavin Hegarty
It speaks volumes that we are that bad yet still in a euro final and 3rd in the URC.
This was a woeful game. So many idiotic mistakesfrom players that should know better.
Sebastian Brennan Tkacz
That was the most boring performance from Leinster I’ve ever seen. Loads of people started leaving the stadium at around 55 minutes. I agree with previous comments, Sam cannot be included for the final, his defence was extremely poor today again, and I really like his ball management. It’s between Byrne and Frawley now.
BORDEAUX BEAT BATH, BILBAO BOUND, BUT BOTH BRILLIANT & BEATABLE
LEINSTER SQUAD UPDATE
TROLL PATROL
COMPETITION UPDATES (incl Super Rugby)
NEXT HARPIN’
WRAP OF A WRAP
My cough which has haunted me for the past few weeks seems to have mostly gone, at least when I’m recording podcasts which is the main thing. Both preview & wrap recordings went well, although when I met some friends in the pub after the match on Saturday it seemed to be back. “There’s a bug going round” as the saying goes so I won’t look for too much sympathy. Anyway Tom Coleman was on for the wrap pod offering his usual superb technical analysis from a coaches’ standpoint. On WhatsApp during the match he said we had the beating of him, even when we were in card trouble, and he was right. Just. But still right. Click here if you missed it.
RANDLE SCANDAL HANDLED
One step forward, two steps back. That’s the way this season has panned out for Munster.
Always the right option IMO. I know many are dwelling on how “accusations like this made against a young man can stay with you for your entire life”, and this is true, but I might push back by saying “sexual assault can stay with a young woman for the rest of her life too”. If we are to constantly bring up that the legal case was dropped and he denies it all, we must also bring up that the victim has not publicly withdrawn the allegations.
But from a purely rugby standpoint, this story is about Munster who most certainly did not need this matter at all and I don’t know what they were thinking trying to pursue it. Was the agreed approach “ah, sure, it’ll be grand”???
Anyway. The matter has been dealt with and they have to try and salvage something from their season. Results have improved it’s true but concern over a Tadhg Beirne injury looms large. As the URC table stands right now there would be a Leinster/Munster quarterfinal which maybe, just MAYBE, will cause a bit of hype…
2 May 2026; Josh van der Flier of Leinster dives over to score his side’s second try during the Investec Champions Cup semi-final match between Leinster and RC Toulon at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Ken Tancred PT Think those last two tries booked Frawleys ticket to the final Jonathan Leonard Soroka made a good impact. Bit worried how Josh and Conan limped off. Hope Henshaw is alright. Win is a win. Roll on Bilbao. Gavin Hegarty First half our mistakes kept them in it. Second half we pulled away but then took the foot off and let them back in. I thought Clarkson really stood up, as did Cahir when he came in. Not a good game but a final is a final regardless of how you get there. The match started with the dreaded words that no Irish rugby fan wants to see Match TMO Ian Tempest. How can this keep on happening? Every time he clearly has an agenda against anyone Irish. He forced Pearce to review footage from 4-5 phases before jgps disallowed try. The rules state two phases is the max. This is the same guy who couldn’t find footage of a bite that was already circulating on WhatsApp. Christy O’Connor Not having Frawley in the squad almost cost us. Reiko showed up today and made two very important tackles. Did nobody tell the TMO he was allowed to check things against Toulon, seemed only interested in finding Leinster mistakes Karen Mooney Brilliant I was on radio.. when they came out 13 down they really show how good they are… Mike Whelan We won – we are in the final. It’s the only outcome required. The rest is noise. John Jones Frawley on the bench for the final and hopefully Baird back would make a difference Louis Hoffman Phew Harry Byrne was dreadful. Whole empty pitch to kick into and boots it out on the full 🙄 Bernie Cunningham Gosh we nearly threw away a 18pt lead, Bordeaux or Bath wont give us a 18pt lead. But final again its a 50/50 chance of 5th star, Lenister need to really to be at full strength. 🤞 Oran Burns Frawley has to get some game time at 10 and start in the final Clive Young Prendgast in for 10 mins , cost a try and nearly another , not up to it , Frawley on the bench Colin Campbell Bilbao nothing else 💙💙💙💙 Cuan Mulligan having coached kids from u6 – u16, Pendergast looks like someone who has never been taught how to tackle, he is trying to tackle with his finger tips. I think he could do with some time out of the limelight in the AIL…let him play week in week out and focus on the fundamentals. James Murphy Wow, lucky Pendergast is a real liability Even more so on the wing. We look wrecked with 10 to go Chris McDonnell Great to be in the final but the Pendergast debacle has to stop.
It was an unusual weekend for content producing here at Harpin Manor – first, I was unavailable Friday to record the preview with Keego once the team was named so we did a “drop-in” version where he recorded his bit and I added mine but the video wasn’t ready until Saturday morning.
Then a family event on Saturday evening meant I had to miss both the Leinster and Ireland women’s matches. I did a reasonable job avoiding the Leinster score until the Sunday morning, I did catch a glimpse of a scoreline where the boys in blue were leading 14-5 but didn’t know what stage of the match that was. Turns out it was just before halftime and I let out an almighty roar of frustration when we shipped that needless penalty right at the death.
Anyway, whatever the outcome it was great to have Jay Long back on the pod to mull it over, click here if you missed it.
CLOSING THE GAP
There is still a gap between these two sides. Albeit it has shrunk to the point that this is now a proper rivalry.
Friend of the pod Nathan hits the bullseye with this account of Ireland’s defeat in Clérmont on Saturday evening. Continuously losing to both England and France does not necessarily mean the squad isn’t improving. You could argue that at this stage a lot of the difference between the sides was down to Irish lack of accuracy as opposed to actually not being good enough. Like I said earlier I didn’t get to watch this match live but I did switch over for a couple of minutes towards the end of the first half and Ireland had a penalty which Dannah O’Brien tried to put to touch in the corner but it ended up going dead. A couple of plays later the French were back down the other end of the pitch scoring. Fix that, improve the depth and we can definitely close the gap even further and I’d definitely have faith in the squad to do just that.
As I explained on the pod, there was no Facebook post this week so here are some reactions from the full time whistle in the Harpin WhatsApp group, including my own from Sunday morning when I watched the match myself for the first time…
David Cordial So many moments where we did all the hard work and were inches away and it was only fitting the last pass that cost us
Ciarán Duffy Honestly not good enough from Leinster. It’s been a season of not waking up. Sleepwalking. We’ve had enough kicks up the arse at this stage to switch on, have to learn from this ahead of next week.
Conor Cronin
Heads in next week without earning the right to play there
Richard Mifsud
The reality is we’ve been poor and disjointed all season and this coaching ticket requires a massive shake up because the voices in that dressing room are clearly stale and stagnant Which means we’ll probably go on and win the double 🤣
Get in the conversation yourself by leaving
your own thoughts each week after the full time whistle
The cough I had last week is still hanging around which meant for more challenging editing but thankfully my latest guest Rich Mifsud wasn’t put off as he offered a great analysis of Leinster’s win over Ulster, a result particularly satisfying as a running joke in our WhatsApp group had been that Leinster tended to lose whenever he was on, and this particular week it felt like that trend would return. If you missed the latest pod you’ll find it here.
You may notice a theme of sorts among this week’s Front Five, namely that of women, and not just in terms of them playing rugby.
THE RANDLE SCANDAL
“I’ve known Roger for a long time. I think he’s an outstanding human, well-loved by family and people that have worked alongside him for a long period of time.”
We’ve been down this road before when it comes to rugby players accused of abuse, and each case has its own context that deserves to be considered separately. But in this instance, I genuinely cannot understand how this appointment could be seen as a good fit for Munster in any way, shape, or form.
The appointment has reignited scrutiny of a 1997 rape allegation made while Randle was with the Hurricanes in Durban. The charge was withdrawn when the complainant declined to proceed, but she maintained her allegation, and the incident has resurfaced repeatedly. Randle has always denied the accusation, yet its re‑emergence has prompted backlash from supporters and even resignations from members of Munster’s Professional Game Board.
Given that the incident dates back to 1997 and we are relying on archived reporting and second‑hand summaries, we should be careful about the conclusions we draw. But one thing is clear: the line that “there has been no conviction” does not end the discussion — not even close. It is entirely plausible that the case was withdrawn because the complainant felt her evidence wouldn’t secure a conviction, which is very different from proof of innocence.
This brings us to the core question for a platform like Harpin’ On Rugby: is this a worthwhile appointment from a PR standpoint for Munster Rugby? I would argue no — even without the difficulties they’ve faced on and off the pitch this season, and certainly not with them.
To my eye, the whole thing reeks of a kind of internal conspiracy: everyone involved must have known the appointment would be controversial, which means they needed a rhetorical strategy to present it to the public. And although this is a hot take, I suspect part of that strategy was timing the announcement after Munster’s visit to Durban — the location of the alleged incident — in March.
And honestly, if you find yourself needing to “close ranks” with public statements like McMillan’s above in order to justify hiring someone with a chequered past, then the answer should already be no.
This leads me to believe McMillan may have issued an ultimatum along the lines of “he joins us or I leave.” Even if that were true — and again, this is speculation — I would still argue that the net benefit to Munster would be for Randle not to come. And even if you dismiss that theory entirely, there are still multiple other plausible scenarios that raise the same red flags.
The fact that individuals within Munster Rugby were reportedly willing to resign over this suggests they may know more about the case than the public does. Overall, it’s a horrible situation that doesn’t belong in the Irish rugby story — especially given how similar cases have been handled in the past. Others have been forced to leave these shores (and I agreed with those decisions), so surely the only consistent resolution here is to reverse the appointment.
Anyone who knows me will tell you it gives me no pleasure to see this happening at Munster, or indeed anything that has happened there this season. We’ve said repeatedly on our podcasts that we want four strong provinces. And if the opinion of a Leinster fan isn’t enough, there’s an interesting thread among Munster supporters on BlueSky — mainly contrasting views from Three Red Kings and IWRSC. Below is a sample but click here for the whole thing.
17 April 2026; Stuart McCloskey of Ulster is tackled by Sam Prendergast, left, and Robbie Henshaw of Leinster during the United Rugby Championship match between Ulster and Leinster at Affidea Stadium in Belfast. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
I was not expecting such a good performance. The defence was great, caught them behind the gain line so many times. Clarkson magnificent all round, carried aggressively and dominated the scrum. I think Angus Bell getting injured was a big blow for Ulster. His replacement was not at the races but Leinster still had to turn that scrum dominance into tries and they did that. The sending off was disappointing but luckily we had enough of a cushion to see it out with 14 men.
Christy O’Connor
The first half took a long time to get going. Not helped by the lengthy injury stoppages. We got a good flow going either side of the half. Delighted for Sam to put in a good shift, he just needs to continue doing the basics, no need to force the game.
Craig Walker
Thought Sam looked good there – played with confidence. And Ulster were smothered in the first half by the Leinster defensive line so couldn’t get anything going – well played Leinster (from an Ulsterman) #SUFTUM
Greg Kelly
Finally a bit if Mojo back. Some questions answered.
The biggest question for me is how exactly Deegan can avoid getting sent off? There is literally nothing he can do. His very existence is rendered a sending off offence. He is looking at the ball and positioning to field it until Koch jumps straight into him 🤷♂️
Bert McLoughlin
Are we starting to click at the right time of the season?
Cormac Mannion
Very happy with the first 60mins. Very cohesive performance. The red card was a joke. Deegan had his eye on the ball and barely got into the air yet was red carded.
Kok puzzles me. All action but not a lot to show for it. Still strikes me as a Sevens player.
Despite that, lots to be happy about although we got burned badly out wide for a couple of tries but onwards and upwards for the rest of the season
Eamon Saunders
A very good performance and some good tries scored Ulster had a very good spell in the second half but We held out and answered a few questions 👍
Chris McDonnell
Great result, especially considering the squad selected. Ulster blew a great chance. I’d say it’s an away quarter final for them now
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 