🏉 Expectations for 24/25
🏉 Players to look out for
🏉 MUN, ULS & CON
🏉 Other top URC contenders
🏉 Possible team v Edinburgh
Our guests :
367: Leinster 24/25 URC preview
Author: jlpagano
Nevin Spence : A young man of immense talent & courage
On Nevin Spence’s anniversary here is a repost of an article written on our old Harpin’ site by Munster & Ireland fan Trevor Murphy, days after the tragedy happened .
I was preparing to write my regular piece on Saturday evening when the news of the tragic events on the Spence family farm started to filter through. Nevin along with his Dad Noel and older brother Graham were sadly taken from us in a farming accident. As a fan I felt for the loss felt by Ulster fans, teammates and fellow professionals that were lucky enough to have met and played with and against Nevin. As a father and brother I can’t begin to understand the loss felt by the Spence family. To the Spence family and friends I offer my heartfelt condolences.
To say he will be missed is a huge understatement. From what I have read about Nevin, it is evident he had an enthusiasm for the game which was unmatched. When teammates weren’t enjoying the prospect of training he was leading from the front. They say a picture paints a thousand words… I think this one says it all.
Nevin was pointed out by Gary Longwell as a definite future rugby professional while at the Ulster academy. This is quite a statement from a man acutely in the know. It is a big step up from academy to full time professional and it takes a special player to cope with the difference in levels. In 2011 his ability was acknowledged by his peers when he was awarded the IRUPA Young Player of the Year. Nevin was brave beyond words and this was evident from a try he scored against Bath in 2010 where he flipped over onto his head and then back. He gave his all for his team and teammates. His final act, in a life cut too short, again displayed his fearless side going to the aide of family members with no thought to his own safety.
As someone who watches and follows all the rugby available, I did not miss Nevins appearance on the scene. The measure of what I thought about Nevin as a player is simply this: When he was on the Ulster team sheet against Munster I knew he was a going to be a real threat. He was strong with a good change of pace. At a smidge under 15 stone he was a difficult man to stop on the gain line. I always thought Nevin was going to achieve 50+ caps for Ireland.
The outpouring of support in the wake of Nevin’s untimely passing is and was a small measure of what the wider rugby family thought about him. He will never be forgotten.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dilis.
80+ column : Sep 10
LINK REMINDER
RADIO RETURN
UPDATE : The return of the Harpin slot on Dublin South FM has been pushed to Friday, September 20.
SEASON 6 PREMIERE
Recording Sunday September 15, looking ahead to the 24/25 season for Leinster & Ireland
NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP
…12 nations will be split into a European Conference and Rest of the World Conference, with each team playing the six entrants in the opposite conference across the July and November Test windows.
London emerges as ‘strong possibility’ to host Nations Championship after Qatar bid turned down
Harry Latham-Coyle – UK Independent
RFU SAGA CONTINUES
The cuts are expected to affect all departments except for elite performance.
RFU to axe 42 staff – weeks after selling Twickenham naming rights for £100m
Gerard Meagher – The Guardian
KEEPING LOCALS HAPPY
Locals also complained that Lansdowne Rugby Club had ‘zero engagement’ with residents about its plans.
Rugby club planning row as residents object to motor dealer using grounds to park cars
Sean McCarthaigh – Extra.ie
LRZ IN NFL
It is very difficult to make an NFL roster and it’s difficult to be on the practice squad. There’s only so many spots.
‘Watch out!’ NFL experts make Louis Rees-Zammit feelings clear in live TV debate
Dylan James – Wales Online
CLICKBAIT OF THE WEEK
According to the Mail Online, Baena has sculpted his muscular torso with weightlifting sessions, rugby matches, and swimming.
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s rugby playing son looks identical to his Dad
Ruck.co.uk
LEINSTER SQUAD UPDATE
Click here to watch the Northampton v Leinster preseason friendly
(WALLA)ROOS NA RÚN
@RugbyBroadcast_
Follow RugbyBroadcast on x for latest news on upcoming rugby on TV
HALF A RINGFENCE (PREMIERSHIP)
🔝🐱🐴
ProD2
The Rugby Championship
RE Super Cup
Currie Cup
Harpin Prediction League
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Friday 5pm (after the news) – Dublin South FM segment
Sunday evening – Season Six Premiere pod recording, should be published by Monday morning.
Thanks for tuning in, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
80+ column : Sep 4
MISSING LINKS
24/25 POD SQUAD
150 AND COUNTING
Ireland teams will wear specially produced one-off jerseys (to) be released on 13th September
IRFU Launches 150th Year Celebrations For 2024/25 Season
IrishRugby.ie
CLIODHNA SPEAKS
Moloney made headlines in November 2021 when she was critical of the IRFU’s then-head of women’s rugby Anthony Eddy
Cliodhna Moloney: Ireland set-up now ‘worlds apart’ from old days
Neil Treacy – RTÉ.ie
CURRIE FAVOURED
Originally, the Stormers were due to take on the Bulls in Cape Town and the Sharks were to host the Lions in Durban on Saturday, September 21.
Currie Cup knocks URC into next year
Rugby365.com
GREATEST RIVALRY?
Eight matches – including three Tests, four contests against URC clubs and one match against SA “A”
It’s a go — Springboks and All Blacks to resume full tours in 2026
Craig Ray – Daily Maverick
HOGG WATCH
“Montpellier’s new full-back Stuart Hogg is accused of ‘domestic violence’ by his ex-wife Gillian”
The verdict is in on Stuart Hogg’s current ability weeks after shock return to rugby
Ruck.co.uk
A FINE BORDEAUX
Click here to watch the full Bordeaux v Leinster preseason friendly
Women’s Interpros
🔝🐱🐴
ProD2
The Rugby Championship
TROLL PATROL
CRYOVER FLYOVER
Currie Cup
[graphic was wrong in the video, apols!!!]
DAN SLAM (Squirrel clip)
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Wed Sep 11 : next 80+ column
ADMIN NOTES : New links for Harpin On Rugby
Hi, we’ve made a few changes in the offseason. For one thing this website has had a domain name change to harpinonrugby.blog but going forward we’re going to be promoting our content primarily through Linktree so you should see the above address replacing the old .com link we’ve featured for the past couple of years. I’ll explain a bit more on the next 80+ column video but if you’ve bookmarked the .com feel free to change now ahead of the new season, which isn’t too far away now!!!
Thanks as ever for following our stuff, looking forward to getting back to regular business soon!!!
Regards, Jeff
80+ column : July 24
80+ column : July 17
On this week’s column…
🏉 BIENVENUE RABAH
🏉 CROC ROLLS
🏉 WXV1 FIXTURES
🏉 HOGG WATCH
🏉 CLICKBAIT OF THE WEEK
🏉 WRAP OF A WRAP
🏉 HARPIN ON…FRAWLEY TIME
🏉 TROLL PATROL
🏉 RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP FIXTURES
🏉 UPDATES [INCL U20s, MLR]
🏉 THE HARPIN FORFEIT JERSEY
FRONT FIVE
A selection of five eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the ruggersphere, now including a few thoughts added by myself (JLP).
“We believe he will be a great addition to the group, not only providing competition for the first team but also helping some of our young front row players learn and develop.”
Leinster Rugby confirm signing of Rabah Slimani
Marcus Ó Buachalla – LeinsterRugby.ie
JLP : We already knew this was happening but had only heard from the French media side of things so an article on the LEINSTER website is the equivalent of the fat lady singing. Obviously we welcome him and hope he does exactly as Leo says in the quote. Nothing about length of contract about length of his contract but I understand it to be one with rumblings about him being keen to be involved on the coaching side of things. And you know on social media there will be those who spin it like this signing shows some kind of favouritism towards Leinster with the decision having been made to stop NIQ tightheads, as opposed to the more obvious explanation that this deal was already agreed before the new policy came into effect. Much like the way Gibson-Park and Lowe qualified under the 3-year residency rules just before they increased to five.
Marx suffered the injury in the second half of the Test against Ireland, during a horrific croc roll that earned captain Caelan Doris a yellow card
SARugbyMag
JLP : My official take on the Doris/Ryan croc rolls….to my eye, Doris attempts a croc roll but doesn’t shift him. Ryan also attempts one and succeeds, and in the process forces Doris into MVS’s leg (though even without Doris there it would of course have still been v dangerous). I’d have been inclined to yellow card Doris and red card Ryan. Irish goggles or no, this is a very dangerous manoeuvre that needs to be stamped out, whether or not the player gets injured.
However, as much as I dislike ‘whataboutery’, it’s not easy to avoid responding to all the pearl-clutching by South African fans when only a few weeks ago we had Jamison Gibson-Park ruled out of the final stages of the URC quarterfinal because apparently he was ‘fair game’ for this challenge by Akker van der Merwe.
BC Place in Vancouver will get proceedings underway…with Ireland set to face New Zealand in their opening fixture, having moved up the ranks from WXV 3
Ireland women’s rugby set for top tier action in upcoming WXV tournament
Mark Donlon – Extra.ie
JLP : I’m still not 100% sure about how this WXV tournament works but it seems Ireland’s improvement from last to third in the 2024 Six Nations earned them a place in the the top tier division for the second instalment and it also seems the draw has been relatively kind to us in that we avoid England. Not that the Black Ferns, USA & Canada will be easy by a long stretch but it will definitely be a much needed test for this squad. As ever with the women’s game we also have to hope that conditions back home will improve and I am already seeing talk about the 2024 Interprovincials which will be done and dusted before September this year so I’m not sure if the changes are happening quickly enough.
The rugby star is accused of behaviour that caused his estranged wife “fear and alarm” over a seven-year period between January 1st, 2017, and March 30th, 2024.
Trial of former Scottish rugby captain Stuart Hogg to take place in September
Nick Forbes – BreakingNews.ie (via PA Scotland)
JLP : We keep track of the Hogg story because several publications tend to be dismissive over his legal situation. That’s not to say I want to assume guilt, rather I want to keep it clear what he faces when he gets his day in court.
***CLICKBAIT OF THE WEEK AWARD***
Commentator are blasted for disgusting joke about a female physio performing a sex act on Jamie George
Ruck.co.uk
JLP : Going by the articles I have used for this feature so far it seems Ruck.co.uk is one of the more clickbaity sites out there and they came up trumps with this one for sure. Sometimes I share the link anyway but decided against it this time.
WRAP OF A WRAP
The second test was our final featured match of the season so definitely not a bad way to finish, and Conor and Rich did their usual excellent job going through the timeline with me. Below you see their final thoughts as shared on YouTube.
If you missed the pod, click here to catch it on Spotify otherwise we’re on Apple as well as most major platforms.
HARPIN ON…FRAWLEY TIME
I had a bonus chat planned for our pod recording where we were to talk about Andy Farrell and what we’ll be missing when he’s away with The Lions but I promised my 9 year old daughter I’d watch the second half of the Euros with her so when I saw our chat was going a bit long I made an “executive decision” to scrap the extra bit and instead I shared our chat on the eventful final stages of the match which as you can see I named “Frawley time”.
U20s UPDATE
Here’s what I said on the wrap pod about the Wolfpuppies…
Also in South Africa we had the semifinal of the World Under 20s, Ireland got off to a flying start against England but once the reigning Six Nations champions were able to show their incredible dominance in the scrum we struggled to keep up with them and if anything we did well to be behind by just 11 at the end. There’s still one more match for us that will be the 3rd place playoff kicking off at 3:30pm on Friday against New Zealand.
…and the only thing to add would be a shout out to the newly-formed women’s Under 20s who finished off their Summer Series with a convincing 37-7 win over Scotland which bodes well for the future.
ROUND 1
SOUTH AFRICA 57-7 FIJI
WALES 34-41 NEW ZEALAND
IRELAND 55-15 ITALY
AUSTRALIA 35-11 GEORGIA
FRANCE 49-12 SPAIN
ENGLAND 40-21 ARGENTINA
ROUND 2
IRELAND 22-16 GEORGIA
WALES 31-10 SPAIN
FRANCE 26-27 NEW ZEALAND
ENGLAND 48-11 FIJI
SOUTH AFRICA 12-31 ARGENTINA
AUSTRALIA 12-17 ITALY
ROUND 3
IRELAND cancelled AUSTRALIA (2pts each)
ARGENTINA 52-12 FIJI
FRANCE 29-11 WALES
GEORGIA 28-17 ITALY
SOUTH AFRICA 12-17 ENGLAND
NEW ZEALAND 45-13 SPAIN
SEMIFINALS
ENGLAND 31-20 IRELAND
NEW ZEALAND 31-55 FRANCE
5TH-8TH PLACE
AUSTRALIA 36-29 WALES
ARGENTINA 34-24 SOUTH AFRICA
9TH-12TH PLACE
ITALY 28-15 SPAIN
GEORGIA 40-36 FIJI
FRI JULY 19
FINAL
ENGLAND V FRANCE
3RD PLACE
IRELAND V NEW ZEALAND
5TH PLACE
AUSTRALIA V ARGENTINA
7TH PLACE
WALES V SOUTH AFRICA
9TH PLACE
ITALY V GEORGIA
11TH PLACE (RELEGATION)
FIJI V SPAIN
TROLL PATROL
They say it’s usually best not to engage trolls but often it can be a good thing when you can both knock them back and show your receipts. As I said earlier the column, there are those who took Leinster’s Slimani signing as “further proof” that the province gets preferential treatment so fair play to Kenny for putting this poster, who isn’t appearing in this section for the first time, to rights.
If you ever see an online contribution that seems worthy of inclusion here, by all means do share.
RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE
Just setting up the 2024 competition with the fixture list here so I can follow it through the summer months. It’s a shame that the travel distances involved prevent them from using a strict home and away schedule, I wonder if there’s a case to be made for holding the whole thing in AUS/NZ one year and in ARG/SA the next. But still plenty to look forward to nonetheless.
ROUND 1
AUGUST 10
AUSTRALIA V SOUTH AFRICA
NEW ZEALAND V ARGENTINA
ROUND 2
AUGUST 17
NEW ZEALAND V ARGENTINA
AUSTRALIA V SOUTH AFRICA
ROUND 3
AUGUST 31
SOUTH AFRICA V NEW ZEALAND
ARGENTINA V AUSTRALIA
ROUND 4
SEPTEMBER 7
SOUTH AFRICA V NEW ZEALAND
ARGENTINA V AUSTRALIA
ROUND 5
SEPTEMBER 21
AUSTRALIA V NEW ZEALAND
ARGENTINA V SOUTH AFRICA
ROUND 6
SEPTEMBER 28
NEW ZEALAND V AUSTRALIA
SOUTH AFRICA V ARGENTINA
“SVNS” UPDATE
By the time next week’s column posts the Irish men will be about to start their campaign so I will post the fixtures here again and wish both teams all the best. I really think we’re in with a shout of a medal or even two all going well.
OLYMPIC 7s
IREM7s
POOL STAGE
WED JULY 24 V SOUTH AFRICA 4:30PM
WED JULY 24 V JAPAN 8PM
THU JULY 25 V NEW ZEALAND 3:30PM
IREW7s
POOL STAGE
SUN JULY 28 V GREAT BRITAIN 2:30PM
SUN JULY 28 V SOUTH AFRICA 6PM
MON JULY 29 V AUSTRALIA 1:30PM
CURRIE CUP UPDATE
I still haven’t had the chance to catch a match from this season but it does seem that the Cheetahs are the form team, possibly because they get the chance to field their best possible team as opposed to the URC clubs. I plan to pick a team to follow throughout the season but haven’t landed on one just yet.
ROUND 2
GRIQUAS 34-31 SHARKS
PUMAS 21-75 LIONS
CHEETAHS 37-17 WESTERN PROVINCE
GRIFFONS 10-52 BULLS
ROUND 3
FRI JULY 19
LIONS V GRIQUAS
BULLS V CHEETAHS
PUMAS V SHARKS
SUN JULY 21
GRIFFONS V WESTERN PROVINCE
MAJOR LEAGUE RUGBY UPDATE
A one week break between regular season and playoffs I get. A two week break and I’m wondering if that’s long enough for people to forget the Laws of rugby, especially in the USA. All I can do is wish our adopted team for this season The Chicago Hounds the best of luck in their match in New Orleans.
PLAYOFFS
SAT JULY 20
NEW ENGLAND V OLD GLORY
SUN JULY 21
HOUSTON V DALLAS
NOLA GOLD V CHICAGO
MON JULY 22
SEATTLE V SAN DIEGO
HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE
Fair play to Keego for going above and beyond the Laws of the HPL which state “he who finishes in the last place on the table at the end of the season must post a photo on social media of them wearing the Harpin Forfeit Jersey”. As you can see, he only went and made a video!!!
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Over the off season we’re going to keep this 80+ column going week to week just to have some content, but as for the podcast we’re planning two more to bring our fifth season to a close, one to wrap up the Under 20s and one to wrap the entire campaign. No dates for them as of yet so keep up with all our social media channels and of course keep up with the usual amount of commenting, sharing, liking & subscribing.
And as ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
364 : RSAvIRE 2nd test wrap
🏉 Osbourne catches
🏉 10-point leads
🏉 Croc rolls
🏉 3 by 3
🏉 Frawley time
THIS WEEK’S GUESTS
FULL TIME TAKES
Alastair McDermott
One of the worst performances I’ve seen from South Africa in the first half and one of the worst performances I’ve seen from Ireland in the second. officials tried to screw us again but incredible finish
Dickson made quite a few 50-50 calls that always seemed to go in favour of the home team. From an Irish point of view, it felt almost endless.
But this happens in every game to every away team, so I don’t think it’s any particular conspiracy, it’s just the nature of sport!
Kevin Kelehan
Delighted Frawley got the chance to exorcise the ghost of Tottenham, ugly game but Farrell has built some team, 6 first choice players missing today, 5 of them in the back line and still got it done. Farrell is 80:20 win rate, Boks are 20:80 against the green machine in recent years!!
Sean MacDonnchadha
Very lucky I feel. Springboks only able to force penalties. We should’ve buried them in the first half with the energy, territory and possession we had. All the same, some balls from frawley
Paul Smith
Despite SA cheating and a horrendous performance by Dickinson, Ireland fully deserved the win and I’m absolutely delighted for Frawley who buried the memories of the Champions Cup last minute not once but twice with 2 superb drop goals.
John Willie Conroy
Osborne was unbelievable fair play to Andy Farrell for blooding. Questions need to be asked regarding Frawly not being picked at 10 at Leinster he’s a quality ball player and is head and shoulders above the Byrne brothers.
Brian Corr
So happy, what Irish team in the past could lose their starting scrum half, starting fullback, starting hooker and go to the world champions and get a result. 8 years since they’ve lost in Durban.
Delighted for Frawley to get the chance to make such a huge impact with two fantastic drop goals.
It’s said that tries win matches and that was the difference today
Hope the lads have a great celebration
Get in the conversation yourself by leaving
your own thoughts each week after the full time whistle
in Leinster & Ireland matches on our Facebook page
363 : #RSAvIRE 2nd test preview
Our guest : TOM COLEMAN
IRELAND : 15 J Osborne 14 C Nash 13 G Ringrose 12 R Henshaw 11 J Lowe 10 J Crowley 9 C Murray
1 A Porter 2 R Kelleher 3 T Furlong 4 J McCarthy 5 J Ryan
6 T Beirne 7 J vd Flier 8 C Doris (c)
16 R Herring 17 C Healy 18 F Bealham 19 R Baird 20 P O’Mahony 21 C Blade 22 C Frawley 23 S McCloskey
SOUTH AFRICA : 15 W le Roux 14 C Kolbe 13 J Kriel 12 D de Allende 11 K-L Arendse 10 H Pollard 9 F de Klerk
1 O Nche 2 B Mbonambi 3 F Malherbe 4 E Etzebeth 5 F Mostert 6 S Kolisi (c) 7 P-S du Toit 8 Kwagga Smith
16 M Marx 17 G Steenekamp 18 V Koch 19 S Moerat 20 RG Snyman 21 M van Staden 22 G Williams 23 S Feinberg-Mngomezulu
Castle Lager Incoming Series Second Test
Saturday, July 13, 2024
KO 4pm (Irish time) Kings Park Stadium
Live on: Sky Sports Main Event, Action
Referee: Karl Dickson (RFU)
Assistant Referee 1: Luke Pearce (RFU)
Assistant Referee 2: Craig Evans (WRU)
TMO: Ian Tempest (RFU)
80+ column : July 10
On this week’s column…
🏉 RASSIE & THE SA PRESS
🏉 WEATHER OR NOT
🏉 TOUR DE FARCE
🏉 CLICKBAIT OF THE WEEK
🏉 THE NEVER ENDING SEASON
🏉 THE 6N SUNDAY PROBLEM
🏉 TROLL PATROL
🏉 UPDATES [INCL 7s & Currie Cup]
FRONT FIVE
A selection of five eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the ruggersphere, now including a few thoughts added by myself (JLP).
“Some things make sense when you see it, and some don’t”
Rassie: Ireland don’t fear the Bomb Squad
SA RugbyMag
JLP : Ah, good ol’ Rassie. Master of 50-dimensional chess, always a thousand moves ahead of everyone else. You know what, I don’t actually blame him. Well, at least I don’t now. My biggest problem with him was after the first test of that Lions series, clearly trying to influence the officials when the same two sides still had to face each other. We’ll never know if he’d be doing something similar now had Ireland won the first test, but when it comes to the bulk of the “these two teams really don’t like each other” vibe, the bulk of the responsibility has to lie with the SA press. They’re the ones asking the lead-in questions, they’re the ones highlighting soundbites from individuals on Irish shows and podcasts making it look like theirs is the view of the entire fanbase, and most likely they’re the ones responsible for the kind of comments that made our Troll Patrol feature this week.
Ireland were pipped to the Six Nations title by England, with this weekend’s rematch at the DHL Stadium in Cape Town (3.30 Irish time) set to be another tight affair
Cian Tracey – Irish Independent
JLP : Obviously Tuesday’s postponement was less than ideal, and going by what I have heard about the Cape Town weather at this time of year, the scheduling of this tournament there was also so. At least it turned out ok from Ireland’s point of view as we get into the semifinals with the added benefit of a longer rest time in a competition designed to give all the participants the same 5-day turnarounds. All in all it was a good job we got that late try against Georgia! You can understand why the Australians would be annoyed but I reckon we just about deserve a place in the final four though it won’t be easy against England on Sunday.
“No discriminatory behaviour of any kind has a place in French rugby.”
France international suspended over racist comment
Callum Boyle – SportsJoe.ie
JLP : No long comment required here, just that clearly Jaminet is a dick. Didn’t know anything about him before this, now I do. As ever in these cases there are no amount of statements like “that’s not like me” to make up for it, not that there’s NO way back for him only that it would take a lot of time and a lot of evidence to the contrary. Well, at least as the French team’s tour goes it was the only thing bad to happen…
“An investigation is under way. They’re in a police station. Someone from the delegation went to see them to bring them some food.“
SkySports.com
JLP : ….wait, WHAT? OK one incident is careless. TWO seems to speak to the culture surrounding a travelling squad. Obviously investigations are pending in this case so we shouldn’t speculate too much but it certainly doesn’t look good.
:
***CLICKBAIT OF THE WEEK AWARD***
“We don’t really look at such things when we select the team, but this shows how blessed we are with the depth in the squad and the quality of the players we have.”
Ireland to face most capped starting XV in Springbok history
Jack Tunney – RugbyDump
JLP : The fact laid out in the headline is true, but it’s still a bit misleading. The Springbok 23 is exactly the same as it was last week, which was also the most capped lineup in history so with everyone now having one more cap, of course the record is broken. The real headline is the fact that its unchanged. The ‘most capped’ bit is an extremely moot point IMO and thus wins my latest COTWA.
WRAP OF A WRAP
Had to switch to Monday evening to record this week and myself, Ciarán Duffy and David Cordial harped our way through the timeline. Trying to tweak the format a little, previously I’d break the match up into quarters to give the guests equal time but now I think I’ll leave the match in halves and get one to talk through the timeline while the other offers analysis. Changes still in progress for this series, hope to have it finalised in time for next season.
If you missed it, click here to catch it on Spotify or on other major platforms, also please subscribe or leave reviews where you can.
HARPIN ON…THE NEVER ENDING SEASON
Opening question :
Here at Harpin On Rugby we’re now coming to the end of our 5th season of podcasts and our first recording was at the end of July 2023 which means we have practically had senior rugby to harp on for an entire calendar year. Of course there was a World Cup in among all of that but once next season rolls around we’ll be thinking about a Lions tour and that series will actually bring us all the way into August of 2025. World Rugby have been planning to revamp their global calendar for quite a while now and to be fair to them, COVID kind of delayed things a bit so it was only last October when they announced that they had “approved transformational reform of the global men’s and women’s rugby calendars from 2026” but starting with yourself David, given what we know of these reforms, are they going to do anything to stop these never-ending seasons?
THE 6N SUNDAY PROBLEM
Looks like the Six Nations is considering going to an “all Super Saturday” schedule due to poor viewing figures. Time for me to roll out my own suggestion that I’ve had on my mind for years now…how about spreading the matches across the seven weeks, with two matches every Saturday until the final, which could still be ”super”.
This way you actually eke out two extra weekends of Six Nations rugby for viewers and broadcasters while still giving each nation two rest weekends. I’m sure the domestic schedules could be fixed accordingly.
Just a thought. Below is a sample of how it could look if applied to the 2025 schedule.
| WEEK 1 | WEEK 2 | WEEK 3 | WEEK 4 | WEEK 5 | WEEK 6 | WEEK 7 |
| FRA V WAL | ITA V WAL | ENG V FRA | ENG V ITA | ENG V SCO | IRE V FRA | ITA V IRE |
| IRE V ENG | SCO V IRE | SCO V ITA | WAL V IRE | ITA V FRA | SCO V WAL | WAL V ENG |
| X | X | X | X | X | X | FRA V SCO |
WORLD U20s UPDATE
Already dealt with the unusual 3rd round developments in the Front Five section, here are the actual results…
ROUND 1
SOUTH AFRICA 57-7 FIJI
WALES 34-41 NEW ZEALAND
IRELAND 55-15 ITALY
AUSTRALIA 35-11 GEORGIA
FRANCE 49-12 SPAIN
ENGLAND 40-21 ARGENTINA
ROUND 2
IRELAND 22-16 GEORGIA
WALES 31-10 SPAIN
FRANCE 26-27 NEW ZEALAND
ENGLAND 48-11 FIJI
SOUTH AFRICA 12-31 ARGENTINA
AUSTRALIA 12-17 ITALY
ROUND 3
IRELAND cancelled AUSTRALIA (2pts each)
ARGENTINA 52-12 FIJI
FRANCE 29-11 WALES
GEORGIA 28-17 ITALY
SOUTH AFRICA 12-17 ENGLAND
NEW ZEALAND 45-13 SPAIN
SUN JULY 14
SEMIFINALS
ENGLAND V IRELAND
NEW ZEALAND V FRANCE
5TH-8TH PLACE
AUSTRALIA V WALES
ARGENTINA V SOUTH AFRICA
9TH-12TH PLACE
ITALY V SPAIN
GEORGIA V FIJI
CURRIE CUP UPDATE
Why add the Currie Cup to our update section I hear you say? Only one answer…why not???
ROUND 1
WESTERN PROVINCE 25-30 BULLS
CHEETAHS 82-20 GRIFFONS
SHARKS 25-26 LIONS
GRIQUAS 24-44 PUMAS
ROUND 2
FRI JULY 12
GRIQUAS V SHARKS
PUMAS V LIONS
SAT JULY 13
CHEETAHS V WESTERN PROVINCE
SUN JULY 14
GRIFFONS V BULLS
TROLL PATROL
There are two ways to look at Dylan Jack’s original post in this Twitter thread. Well, if the world were decent, there would only be one, but we are where we are. The first way is to say “oh dear that’s a terrible injury list for Ireland I hope the players involved are ok and will be back playing soon”. Then there’s the way a load of fans in the replies chose to take it : “SOUTH AFRICA IS THE BEST AND THE STRONGEST AND IRELAND COULDN’T HACK IT!!!!!!” complete with of course all the pseudo-macho chest pounding and other bullshit. Really, really sad. And to be clear, like I always try to be when writing things like this, I’d not saying ALL South African fans think this way, but here there are definitely more than you’d like to see.
If you ever see an online contribution that seems worthy of inclusion here, by all means do share.
“SVNS” UPDATE
Only update here is the announcement of dates and times for Ireland’s matches at the Olympics…
OLYMPIC 7s
IREM7s
POOL STAGE
WED JULY 24 V SOUTH AFRICA 4:30PM
WED JULY 24 V JAPAN 8PM
THU JULY 25 V NEW ZEALAND 3:30PM
IREW7s
POOL STAGE
SUN JULY 28 V GREAT BRITAIN 2:30PM
SUN JULY 28 V SOUTH AFRICA 6PM
MON JULY 29 V AUSTRALIA 1:30PM
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Short but sweet column this week – I plan to continue them on Wednesdays throughout the offseason while taking a break from the pods. Still the second test to cover though, so we’ll have a preview on Friday as well as a wrap recording on Sunday evening. Be sure to keep up with all our social media channels with the usual amount of commenting, sharing, liking & subscribing.
And as ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 