Author: jlpagano

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WRAP OF A WRAP

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.

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FRONT FIVE

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

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LEINSTER SQUAD UPDATE

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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.

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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.  

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….

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Irish Shield

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Interprovincial A Championship

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All Ireland Leagues

WOMEN’S AIL

MEN’S AIL

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SVNS

Best of luck to both Irish teams as the new 7s season gets underway.

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Premiership

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🔝🐱🐴

ProD2

Harpin Prediction League

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NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

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WRAP OF A WRAP

I try to keep tabs on the amount of pod appearances my contributors have made over the years so technically I had two relative “newbies” helping me wrap the Argentina test in Jay Long (13th) and Hugo Gordon (3rd) but you certainly wouldn’t know it as they gave excellent insight to even that dodgy second half.

ICYMI click here to check it out on Spotify or you’ll also find it on Apple and most major platforms.

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FRONT FIVE

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IRISH NOMINEES

If he is picked, he would become the fourth Irish winner of the top World Rugby award

Caelan Doris nominated for World Rugby player of the year alongside THREE Springboks

Mark Donlon – Extra.ie

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BREAKAWAY LEAGUE-AL?

1. Would World Rugby sanction the competition, and would their authorisation be required?
2. Would players remain eligible to play international rugby if they joined the breakaway league?
3. What would happen to players’ existing contracts?

Rugby’s Breakaway League: A Legal Perspective

Ben Cisneros – Rugby and the Law

Harpin appearance by Ben C as mentioned in video

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1ST NATION NOT 1ST NOTION

“It was a matter of how do we will pull those ideas together to make a very special game in a massive tour?”

Lions could play indigenous Australian team for first time on 2025 tour

Rob Freeman – The Independent (UK)

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WINLESS WARREN

 I don’t know why everyone is looking for the one right answer and the one right question that makes the headline. Is that what we’re looking for?

First odds released on Warren Gatland successor as he’s tipped to go after Saturday

Tom Coleman – WalesOnline

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THE IRFU-MINATI

While the ultimate decision about who will be Ireland’s No 10 on a long-term basis lies at the door of Farrell, you can be sure that the man who owned that shirt for the last decade is having an influence.

Andy Farrell is preparing the ground for the Sam Prendergast era

Rúaidhrí O’Connor – Irish Independent

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HARPIN ON…THE IRISH COACHING SETUP

For this week’s bonus chat the panel has a quick look at the overall Irish coaching setup, how it looks now and how it might operate when Andy Farrell is away with the Lions.

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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.  

As you’ll see in the Front Five video, there’s an 80+ column first this week as the same article wins both the Clickbait of the Week Award and Troll Patrol.  Rúaidhrí really goes the extra mile with the message in his tweet sharing the article, throwing even more fuel on the fire he’s creating by suggesting Sexton is some shadowy figure in the back pushing an “only Leinster players should wear the Irish green” agenda.

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Interprovincial A Championship

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All Ireland Leagues

WOMEN’S AIL

MEN’S AIL

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SVNS

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Premiership

🔝🐱🐴

ProD2

Harpin Prediction League

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NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

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WRAP OF A WRAP

With such a large pool of quality contributors for me to choose from it’s not often I get the same pairing within a few weeks but after harpin’ on the Leinster v Lions match recently I was able to reunite Tom & Rich once more. Obviously the subject matter wasn’t quite as pleasant, and apologies to Rich for once again assigning him what turned out to be “the shittier half” but they still did sterling work analyzing the timeline from the previous Friday.

ICYMI click here to check it out on Spotify or you’ll also find it 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

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HARPIN ON…NEW LAW VARIATIONS

For our bonus chat this week the panel looked over the different law variations to see if they help or hinder.

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BLUE SKY’S AHEAD

Like many many others, ever since Elon Musk took over the birdhouse I have been more than open to finding an alternative, after been bitten once by poor engagement on Mastodon I then cautiously dipped my toe in the BlueSky pool, and that too seemed less than promising, that is until last week when the Mango Mussolini’s re-election clearly (also ironically) forced a mass migration and my follower numbers have been increasing steadily for the past few days.  

It is becoming increasingly clear (again ironically given the blue sky motif) that having up to 1000 highly engaged followers on this platform should be more beneficial than 10k over in Muskville where most them are probably bots.  So I’m seriously considering making BlueSky my social media centre of choice for the next while, why don’t you join the conversation over there and see for yourself how it’s going.

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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.  

This week’s detainee is from our YouTube channel.  Despite the obvious disappointment from defeat on Friday night, I for one found comfort in the reactions from fans outside Ireland, hitting us with all the same kind of schadenfreude vibes we used to do when it was the All Blacks falling from grace in days gone by.  I didn’t appreciate the levels of “living rent free” Andy Farrell’s side had earned themselves in the past few years.

Here is just one example, there were many more and a lot of it more ridiculous but I chose this because I really, really wanted to reply with a joke attacking the misspelling (fowl play?  Did an Irishman run on the pitch with a chicken?) but thankfully I was saved by TaTa who simply pointed out the overall silliness.

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COMPETITION UPDATES

All Ireland Leagues

WOMEN’S AIL

MEN’S AIL

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SVNS

Not long before the circuit goes back into full swing so here’s the schedule, after us harpin’ for years about the possibility of Ireland getting a leg at some stage, this time there isn’t even one in Europe!!!  We’ll still be keeping tabs of things regardless, always look forward to it.

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Premiership

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🔝🐱🐴

ProD2

Harpin Prediction League

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NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’