8 December 2024; Jordie Barrett of Leinster during the Champions Cup Round 1 match between Bristol Bears and Leinster at Ashton Gate in Bristol, England. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
First half was poor, but the second half was loads of fun and I especially enjoyed the two tries from Sam ‘Not A Running Threat’ Prendergast
Louis Hoffman
Could a scrum ‘expert’ explain to me, what all that nonsense was about? Was it the refs fault?
Kevin Kelehan
Dreadful ref, his scrum time nearly wrecked the game completely. The bench was ridiculously over strength but thankfully it worked a charm when introduced, a BP on the road is all that history will record in a game of two halves.
Jackie McEachern
Definitely a “game of two halves”. As others have said, our bench obviously made a huge difference. While the reffing was horrible, we showed good composure in the first half when we had two yellow cards to attack and score a try.
Brian Patrick Donnelly
match ruined by inept, pedantic, awful refereeing. We were good for 20 minutes and that was that.
Shane Mcdonald
Just watching it it now at half time but how on gods green earth did the ref linesman tmo miss the very very very obvious hands in the ruck when jvdf nearly got over in the corner
Stevie wonder could have seen that and tv kept showing it over over over 🤦
Greg Kelly
BP away to the 2nd placed team in England is not to be sniffed at. The officiating was poor. We got little change from the officials in the first half but credit to the lads they worked around it well. Not sure how the TMO doesn’t intervene to card Thacker for pulling the ball out of Joshs hands on the goal line in the first half but comes in to reverse a lineout🤷♂️
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LEINSTER :15 Ciaran Frawley 14 Jordan Larmour 13 Garry Ringrose 12 Robbie Henshaw 11 Jimmy O’Brien 10 Sam Prendergast 9 Jamison Gibson-Park
1 Jack Boyle 2 Ronan Kelleher 3 Rabah Slimani 4 Joe McCarthy 5 James Ryan 6 Max Deegan 7 Josh van der Flier 8 Jack Conan (c)
16 Gus McCarthy 17 Andrew Porter 18 Tom Clarkson 19 RG Snyman 20 Caelan Doris 21 Luke McGrath 22 Ross Byrne 23 Jordie Barrett
BRISTOL BEARS: 15. Rich Lane 14. Jack Bates 13. Kalaveti Ravouvou 12. Benhard Janse van Rensburg 11. Gabriel Ibitoye 10. AJ MacGinty 9. Harry Randall
1. Ellis Genge 2. Harry Thacker 3. Max Lahiff 4. James Dun 5. Joe Owen 6. Santiago Grondona 7. Fitz Harding (c)8. Viliame Mata
16. Gabriel Oghre 17. Jake Woolmore 18. Lovejoy Chawatama 19. Steven Luatua 20. Benjamin Grondona 21. Kieran Marmion 22. Joe Jenkins 23. Benjamin Elizalde
Double wrap pod weekend meant recordings Sunday and Monday evening, and there was an added wrinkle with a (totally understandable) late withdrawal on the Monday so I was very grateful in particular to Ciarán for stepping in but also to Tom, David & Rich for providing their usual top notch descriptions and insights.
BTW because of the whole “two wrap pod thing”, we decided not to do a bonus chat again, it should be back next week where we plan to harp on whether or not the Champions Cup is losing it’s lustre.
Porter, Kelleher, Slimani, J McCarthy, Snyman, Baird, van der Flier, Doris (c)
G McCarthy, Healy, Slimani, Ryan, Conan, McGrath, Prendergast, Barrett
caveat : I have no “ITK” a la Thornley
INJURY UPDATE – AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
Jordan Larmour, Jimmy O’Brien, Lee Barron and Jack Conan: all four players came through the game at the weekend with no issues after returning from injury.
Paddy McCarthy and Tommy O’Brien: both players have returned to full training.
Ryan Baird: has come through the Graduated Return to Play Protocols and is available for selection.
INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:
N/A
INJURY UPDATE – NOT AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
Will Connors: is unavailable for selection after picking up a hamstring injury at the weekend against Ulster Rugby.
Jamie Osborne: is unavailable for selection after picking up a groin injury during the Autumn Series.
Tadhg Furlong: is unavailable for selection after picking up a hamstring injury during the Autumn Series.
NO FURTHER UPDATES ON:
Dan Sheehan and Rob Russell.
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.
This week more Leinster on Munster trolling, maybe I’m leaning in to this genre a bit too much lately but when it’s this good I can’t help myself! Quality Dadjokery from James.
Irish Shield
Interprovincial A Championship
All Ireland Leagues
WOMEN’S AIL
MEN’S AIL
SVNS
NEXT ROUND
CAPE TOWN
SAT DEC 7
7:22AM WOMEN V SPAIN
9:44AM MEN V SOUTH AFRICA
1PM MEN V ARGENTINA
2:04PM WOMEN V FRANCE
NOTE THE CHANGE IN FORMAT FOR THE CAPE TOWN 7S
INSTEAD OF 3 POOLS OF 4 THERE ARE 4 POOLS OF 3
SO ONLY 2 POOL MATCHES EACH
THEN RANKING SEMIFINALS & FINALS
Premiership
🔝🐱🐴
ProD2
Harpin Prediction League
THIS SEASON THE HPL IS ADDING A NEW KNOCKOUT COMPETITION
CALLED “THE HARPIN MUG”
(BECAUSE THE PRIZE IS AN ACTUAL MUG SO WE COULDN’T CALL IT A ‘CUP’)
THE SEEDINGS ARE DETERMINED BY THE STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 6
I’m not too worried about the attack just yet. It took Catt a bit of time to sort that out when he took up the role so let’s hope Goodman makes improvements by the 6N.
However, our lineout is appalling and this is nothing new. Serious questions to be asked of O’Connell and what he’s doing there.
Big step up for Prendergast today and he’ll learn from it. Suddenly we now have options at 10 post Johnny. Crowley was really up for it when he came on too.
Another issue though seems to be the back row. We seem to get isolated an awful lot at the breakdown and giving away a lot of turnovers. Ruck clearance has definitely gone downhill this year.
Ronan McManus
I’m not sure that Prendergast’s more languid passing style helped us against the Aussie rush defence. They were in among us by the time the ball came into the centre.
Some real flashes of quality from him though.
Sort.out.the.lineout.
Kevin Kelehan
Bench was the difference between the sides, Dan Sheehan will be back once fit and Gus McCarthy should be on the bench, you need to win your own line outs, something that only happened once McCarthy came on. Jack Crowley also showed so much more accuracy and energy in his time, Prendergast just not up to the pace aged 21. Craig Casey also full of energy when introduced. Josh VDF also superb and was Doris as was Big Joe and Porter.
Sean MacDonnchadha
Can’t sweep this under the rug and say a win is a win and move on. That lazy mentality has only ever gotten us to the same QF exit in world cups. Lineout and attack are serious issues and can no longer be ignored – changes needed.
Jackie McEachern
Lineout needs to be sorted. Bench made a big impact (esp Crowley, Casey and McCarthy). Glad we got the win but that could easily have gone the other way.
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29 November 2024; Jordan Larmour of Leinster scores his side’s second try during the United Rugby Championship match between Ulster and Leinster at Kingspan Stadium in Belfast. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
After last year, I’m so happy to get 5 points in Belfast. But it’s frustrating that Byrne’s conversion misses wind up meaning Ulster get the LBP. JOB was great.
Gordy Graham (Ulster fan)
Amazing that Ulster got anything from that game considering the state of our scrum. Both sides had an error strewn first half, both a bit better the second but Leinster, as they often are, were clinical enough to get the win.
Sean MacDonnchadha
Slimani brought in for nights like these. A rock of solidity with the first line front rowers away. Built our win around scrum power 💪🏼 Also great to see Larmour perform so well. A leaders performance by Jack with a great steal at the end to seal the win.
Kevin Kelehan
5 points for Leinster, decent progress report for Ulster who could have been a lot further in front at half time if they converted better
Colin Mcconaghie (Ulster fan)
Hate to criticise officials but that was so poor. Reffed both teams differently
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your own thoughts each week after the full time whistle
Of course I’m always extremely grateful for my Harpin contributors giving their time to appear on the pods, but this week both Cian O’Muilleoir (34th cap) and Ciarán Duffy (24th) really went the extra mile. Ciarán wasn’t feeling well on the Sunday evening but both lads were able to switch to a Monday lunchtime recording going back over Ireland’s win over Fiji and as ever they were excellent.
BTW because of the later recording time, we decided not to do a bonus chat this week.
ICYMI click here to check it out on Spotify or you’ll also find it on Apple and most major platforms.
FRONT FIVE
A selection of eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the rugby media landscape
RUNNING THE WEEK
“The aim of that was for him to grab hold of that team and make sure that he treated it like his own, as though he was in charge,”
Barron, Boyle, McGuire, Spicer, Connors, McGrath, H Byrne, Cooney
Caveat : I have no “ITK”
INJURY UPDATE – AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
Lee Barron, Jack Conan, Jimmy O’Brien, John McKee and Jordan Larmour have all returned to full training after recovering from injury.
INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:
N/A
INJURY UPDATE – NOT AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
N/A
NO FURTHER UPDATES ON:
Dan Sheehan, Rob Russell, Paddy McCarthy and Tommy O’Brien.
VIRAL INFLECTION
So there I was all set to rewatch the Ireland v Fiji match on Saturday morning in preparation for our wrap pod. Then I’m reminded of a brief incident before kickoff I had spotted as I had been watching live the day before so I decided to clip it out and share it around, first on BlueSky where it instantly got good engagement before I decided to put it on all the platforms.
First point, the posting offered a bit of unofficial data on how the migration from X/Twitter to BlueSky is going. Even though I posted in the newer place about 4 hours before I did so in MuskTown, the latter offered tenfold more engagement, and looking through the list of “likes” they mostly appear to be actual accounts. That’s not to say I’m doing anything but recommend to everyone to make the switch, just that there’s a long way to go in the process.
Another thing I noticed was that while most seemed to easily work out that I just meant to share it as a lighthearted “look what almost happened” moment, some managed to take negative connotations. There were comments that “pushed back” on my apparent assertion that this somehow reflected poorly on referee Hollie Davidson and in particular her abilities as a referee, and a few went further to “agree” with this mistaken interpretation. So I felt I had to record a Tik Tok just to be sure there was no misunderstanding. To be fair, I possibly could have done better than use the words “big screen moment” as that may suggest she was somehow posing for the camera when that’s not what I meant at all.
Finally we had a content site called “Tight Five Rugby” blatantly stealing the clip and making it like it was their own. That’s pretty sad. I mean, it’s not like a “hat-tip” is worth anything, but they call it a “courtesy” for a reason. So I guess this column gives me the perfect chance to call them out and leave it at that.
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.
This week we stay in the Harpin’ community, just to make it clear that I’m not suggesting for a moment that Leinster/Ireland fans don’t ever hop on the trolling bus from time to time. And not all trolling is necessarily mean either, and this offering from RugbyKino inches nice towards the line, enough to call it “light” trolling….
Irish Shield
Interprovincial A Championship
All Ireland Leagues
WOMEN’S AIL
MEN’S AIL
SVNS
Best of luck to both Irish teams as the new 7s season gets underway.
DUBAI 7S
SAT NOV 30
5:44AM WOMEN V FIJI
6:28AM MEN V GREAT BRITAIN
8:43AM WOMEN V CHINA
10:14AM MEN V URUGUAY
1:35PM WOMEN V AUSTRALIA
4PM MEN V ARGENTINA
Premiership
🔝🐱🐴
ProD2
Harpin Prediction League
THIS SEASON THE HPL IS ADDING A NEW KNOCKOUT COMPETITION
CALLED “THE HARPIN MUG”
(BECAUSE THE PRIZE IS AN ACTUAL MUG SO WE COULDN’T CALL IT A ‘CUP’)
THE SEEDINGS ARE DETERMINED BY THE STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 6
AND YOU CAN SEE THE FULL BRACKET BELOW
THE FIRST KNOCKOUT CONTEST WILL BE DAVID V KRISTIAN
PLAYED ACROSS THEIR PREDICTIONS MADE FOR URC ROUND 7
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Thursday – ULSTER V LEINSTER PREVIEW FEAT MARK JACKSON
Sam P’s ability to pick out a late pass and put a player into a gap was otherworldly! Set up a number of clean breaks. Loved the fact he made a number of errors but the head didn’t do down and he just played on as if it didn’t matter. Great temperament.
Gus was also brilliant- another couple of games and he’ll be pushing Kelleher and of course Sheehan when he’s back! What a debut.
Lots of really good performances from more established players Henshaw, Aki, JVDF, Doris and loved Casey’s performances – much better then I’ve seen him play before.
Lastly a word for Frawley – he took some punishment and kept going and did very well!
Opposition was quite poor however and we need to keep that in mind.
Jackie McEachern
Bearing in mind that Fiji were poor, I think we can still take away positives. Great first time starts from Sam and Gus. And many of the veterns put in strong performances – Aki, Henshaw, Doris, VdF. I was also really impressed with Casey.
I think Crowley should definitely start next week and the #10 jersey is his. But I’m excited for what Sam will also bring as he matures and his skills grow.
Bert McLoughlin
Fijian discipline shocking. Gus McCarthy had a great debut 3 assists and a try👏. Sam had a mixed bag with the yellow and a few mistakes after he can back on, but his passing gains space for players around him and is definitely a playmaker 10.
Chris McDonnell
Casey played his best game, sam recovered from some silly mistakes and played well especially after frawley came on and took loads of the pressure off playing as a second play maker. Said before the game the balance on the bench with so many 12’s and no back 3 players was always going to go badly.
Eamon Saunders
A win is a win some great individual performances but for me Robbie Henshaw was back to his best but again great performances all over the pitch
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HARPIN' ON RUGBY 