JLP : Massive news dump in Leinster/Ireland news since the weekend, so much so that two stories broke after our “emergency pod” you’ll see further down the column. Part of me thinks making all those announcements together was a bad idea from a PR standpoint, especially days after a weekend where Leinster became the only team left in European competition. But then again the whole idea of a “news dump” is to concentrate all the supposedly negative info into one news cycle so maybe this is what happened, we’ll never know for sure.
On the subject of central contracts, of course 10 for Leinster and just 1 each for the other three provinces is not the best look. But would making it an even 3 each or something like that be an answer based on where the talent is?
All I’m saying is that it’s not straight-forward. Yes, it’s part of the IRFU’s remit to oversee rugby in all four provinces, but when it comes to central contracts we have to remember what they are for, namely keeping our best players within the Irish system. I can’t see a way of building a need for parity across the provinces into the process, especially when we have absolutely no control over the offers coming in from abroad. Maybe as long as they are coming in for Leinster players, they are the ones we should be looking to hold onto for now. Plus, as I say on the emergency pod, it’s not like the test team is doing badly, World Cup QF aside.
Obviously none of that means I think the system is perfect, it’s just who else is going to push back on the over-simplistic “Leinster get everything while the other provinces get nothing” narrative we hear. There are areas where the ratios should be closer to 1 for 1 across the provinces. But there are others where they can’t help but be skewed more towards the balance of the so-called “demographic” differences. And finding the right levels is never going to be easy.
It seems to be a majority opinion that David Nucifora’s tenure as the puppet-master across the sport in Ireland was one which failed to find those correct levels, particularly when you factor in the women’s game (also club level for both genders) into the equation. If there is any “mitigation” it could be that it was a job that nobody had ever tried before, although it’s not like he didn’t have enough time to fix any errors as he went along.
Our only hope is that his successor David Humphreys can learn from those mistakes and find approaches that at least come a bit closer to pleasing everyone in the game here. I feel like there’s an opportunity that comes with this changing of the guard, one that if done the right way can build on the many successes the men have achieved to make it a sport for absolutely everyone, a trick I always felt was tragically missed by the FAI after the accomplishments of the Irish teams in the early 90s.
Since retiring, the former New Zealand Under-20 captain has been part of the…coaching team…(of) The Hurricanes (who) are currently first on the Super Rugby table…
JLP : Another announcement that missed the cut for our extra pod – as much as we’ll miss Andrew Goodman there’s definitely no harm getting someone over from the brains trust of the top team in Super Rugby right now.
To date the leagues have not agreed to EPCR’s request but there remains hope that change could still be introduced next season
JLP : We can’t have a Champions Cup weekend come and go without more talk about formats, which is fair enough but like I always say, if the league can agree on going back to two more weeks for the pool stages that might be an improvement on what we have at the moment, but for me it definitely won’t fix the tournament’s biggest problem, namely that the matches are peppered out throughout the season forcing coaches to prioritise between playing in this year’s comp and qualifying for next year’s, which will always lead to selection like Jake White’s last weekend.
The Irish Rugby Football Union has elected to use the funds to host additional women’s U18 and U20 camps and training matches to accelerate player development
JLP : We often harp on negative things to do with women’s rugby so I suppose it’s only fair to mention good news, obviously we’ll have to see if this investment is sufficient to increase our player pool but at least it is good to see that money generated from a women’s team is going directly to the lower levels, with the caveat that there is much more still to be done of course, especially with the clubs.
“It is not to cast aspersions on anyone, but the last time they played an away game, their boots had wooden studs.”
JLP : Ireland is small and doesn’t have a lot of big stadia. If we can sell out the Aviva Stadium and that’s not available for a given weekend, then we have to look at Croker. It’s as simple as that, and what’s sad about this is that SJ knows this full well, he’s just feeding into that ridiculous and inaccurate “neutral venue” spiel that’s going around.
But looking at this article another way, if Leinster/Ireland success is somehow making him “incandescent”, then I take that as more success.
WRAP OF A WRAP
Normally I try to keep the wrap pods under an hour but for this match/performance I reckon it was ok to make an exception. Tom & Mark earned the right to be the guests as they bravely stepped up to the plate after that Final Of Which We Much Never Speak last May, and they did their usual bang up job.
If you missed the wrap pod, here’s a link for Spotify but it’s also available on Apple and other platforms, please subscribe and/or leave a review if you can.
For a taste of the pod here’s a YouTube clip featuring their analysis of the “championship minutes” from the match.
QUICK TAP “EMERGENCY POD”
Normally I do a “Quick Tap”, aka a solo TikTok video, for this column but at the request of Keego and Kino, I instead set up an “emergency pod” recording on Tuesday to try and go over all the news that broke on the Monday…the Ross Molony news broke after I had set the whole thing up but still made the cut, while the Bleyendaal, JGP & Bank of Ireland sponsorship didn’t but I’ll touch on them in this column. BTW I know we already did a full pod on the La Rochelle win but we hadn’t heard from these two yet so let’s just say we didn’t mind going over it once last time…
Topics were
La Rochelle win
Croke Park
Dan Sheehan
Jodie Barrett
Ross Molony
Demographics?
I also put out a sample from the pod on YouTube, covering topics 3, 4 & 5…
LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE
Always tricky trying to anticipate who we plan to send to South Africa but I had a stab at Saturday’s 23 anyway. I reckon whether Ross B will be available to play against Northampton or not we should probably bring Harry anyway for some game time but as ever I should point out it’s with good reason that it’s not my decision to make!!!
Harpin’ matchday 23 v Lions
McErlean, Russell, Turner, Brownlee, A Osborne, Prendergast, Murphy
Barron, E Byrne, Ala’alatoa, O’Tighearnaigh, Ruddock, Foley, H Byrne, King
NB : the above matchday 23s are completely from my own mind, I’m certainly not suggesting I have any ITK a la Thornley
INJURY UPDATE – AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
Luke McGrath: came through the game at the weekend with no issues after his return from the Graduated Return to Play Protocols
INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:
Jimmy O’Brien: will be further assessed this week as he nears a return from a neck injury
Charlie Ngatai: will be further assessed this week as he nears a return from a calf injury
Garry Ringrose: will be further assessed this week for a shoulder injury as he nears a return
Ross Byrne: was withdrawn with a minor leg injury at the weekend and will be further assessed this week
INJURY UPDATE – UNAVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
Hugo Keenan: has been managing a hip injury the last few weeks which had a minor flare up in the Captain’s Run last week
NO FURTHER UPDATES ON:
James Ryan (arm), Tommy O’Brien (hamstring) and Alex Soroka (foot)
WOMEN’S SIX NATIONS
Here’s what I said on the wrap pod…
“…the incredible Irish women who recorded their first Six Nations win in two years with a convincing 36-5 victory over Wales at Musgrave park with tries from Higgins, Parsons, Jones, Corrigan & player of the match Aoife Wafer. The victory has actually moved Ireland up to 3rd on the table and although that could change after facing the all conquering English Red Roses next, we can definitely look at our final match against Scotland in Belfast with more confidence. Any for now, many congrats to all involved.”
Obviously the task against England is daunting to say the very, very least but what this convincing win over Wales has done is give us the confidence to look beyond to that final match with Scotland and the way the fixtures play out, 4th spot or possibly even 3rd are within our grasp which is an amazing position to be in.
ROUND THREE
SCOTLAND 0-46 ENGLAND
IRELAND 36-5 WALES
FRANCE 38-15 ITALY
ROUND FOUR
SAT APR 20
ENGLAND V IRELAND
ITALY V SCOTLAND
SUN APR 21
WALES V FRANCE
THE LAZY ABL NARRATIVE
I really don’t like harpin’ on this too much but still I have to give a hat-tip to contributor Kristian Ross for bringing this TikTok to my attention. I have spoken and written much bout what I call the ABL narrative and it has been trotted out much over the past couple of days in written social media posts, but this….well, if this guy was looking to audition to be the face and voice of ABL then congrats mate, you have it.
Putting aside the neutral venue misinformation I already mentioned further up the article wrt Stephen Jones, I never thought it would be humanly possible to fit more worn out tropes into one clip, but these lads managed it, including going to that picture of two “typical Leinster fans” which has to be at least 10 years old by now. For obvious reasons I won’t embed the thing on this page but if you want to check it out it’s here.
Only two French teams left in Europe, Toulouse who have to be well placed for a double and Clérmont, who I thought might be more focused on their relegation battle but instead put Ulster to the sword at the Michelin. Toulon v Toulouse looks like the pick of the bunch although it will be interesting to see how La Rochelle pick themselves up again as they must travel to Castres.
I also must hold my hand up and say I got a fact wrong the preview pod & radio slot, I was sure Clérmont played La Rochelle in this round, and, well, they’re not. Apologies.
NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND
Round 21
SAT APR 20
CASTRES V LA ROCHELLE
PERPIGNAN V LYON
OYONNAX V RACING 92
STADE FRANÇAIS V BAYONNE
PAU V MONTPELLIER
TOULON V TOULOUSE
SUN APR 21
BORDEAUX V CLÉRMONT
PREMIERSHIP UPDATE
All Leinster eyes will be on Franklin’s Gardens as our Croker opponents Northampton might be top but certainly can’t afford to slip up in their derby against Leicester. Bath v Exeter also catches the eye as both look to bounce back from Euro disappointment as well as stay in top 4 contention.
NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND
ROUND 15
SAT APR 20
SARACENS V GLOUCESTER
NORTHAMPTON V LEICESTER
EXETER V BATH
SUN APR 21
SALE SHARKS V HARLEQUINS
BRISTOL V NEWCASTLE
AIL UPDATE
UL Bohs just about held on to top spot in the Women’s AIL by beating Belvo as Railway Union won at Rock, at the time of writing I can’t seem to find details on their semifinals yet but the men’s definitely take place this weekend with both apparently being live-streamed, check out our Rugby On TV post on Thursday for details.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S AIL
ROUND 18
UL BOHS 19-10 BELVO
COOKE 12-19 GALWEGIANS
BLACKROCK 12-17 RAILWAY UNION
WICKLOW 20-10 SUTTONIANS
MEN’S AIL 1A
CHAMPIONSHIP SEMIFINALS
SAT APR 20
CORK CON V CLONTARF
TERENURE V LANSDOWNE
PROMOTION PLAYOFFS
SAT APR 20
OLD WESLEY V GARRYOWEN
SHANNON V OLD BELVEDERE
SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC UPDATE
Last week I pointed out that Tahs v Saders would be the match of the round, and boy I wasn’t wrong. Apparently the lead changed hands a dozen times and a last minute penalty put it into “golden point” extra time with Will Harrison nailing the game-winning drop goal to keep the Crusaders in danger of missing the playoffs, surely the unthinkable. They go to Perth next, with the unbeaten Hurricanes playing the Drua. Kudos to Moana btw for their 3rd win of the season (could be wrong but I don’t think they’ve done that before), this one over the Reds.
ROUND 8
MOANA PASIFIKA 17-14 REDS
WARATAHS 43-40 ET CRUSADERS
HURRICANES 36-23 CHIEFS
REBELS 47-31 HIGHLANDERS
ROUND 9
FRI APR 19
FIJIAN DRUA V HURRICANES
REDS V HIGHLANDERS
SAT APR 20
BLUES V BRUMBIES
WESTERN FORCE V CRUSADERS
MAJOR LEAGUE RUGBY UPDATE
Dave Kearney lined out at full back for Chicago Hounds as they got their second win in a row against the expansion side Anthem RC from Charlotte, North Carolina, and should fancy their chances for another W next week as they play the other new team, namely the reinvented Giltinis who are now just called “Rugby FC Los Angeles”. Meanwhile New England & Seattle lead the conferences and guess what – they meet each other next.
ROUND 7
DALLAS 22-20 UTAH
HOUSTON 35-47 NEW ENGLAND
SAN DIEGO 33-20 NOLA GOLD
CHICAGO 59-26 ANTHEM RC
LOS ANGELES 5-36 SEATTLE
ROUND 8
SAT APR 20
NEW ENGLAND V SEATTLE
NOLA GOLD V MIAMI
OLD GLORY V HOUSTON
SUN APR 21
SAN DIEGO V UTAH
CHICAGO V LOS ANGELES
CHALLENGE CUP UPDATE
I really thought we’d get at least one from Ulster & Connacht through to the final four but it was not to be. The remainder of the comp will take place in England since the semifinals cannot be in SA so the Sharks will host Clérmont at Twickenham Stoop.
QUARTERFINALS
GLOUCESTER 23-13 OSPREYS
CLÉRMONT 53-14 ULSTER
SHARKS 36-30 EDINBURGH
BENETTON 39-24 CONNACHT
SEMIFINALS
SAT MAY 4
SHARKS V CLÉRMONT
GLOUCESTER V BENETTON
HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE
The URC resumes this weekend which means so does the HPL and I have to regain my top spot somehow….meanwhile Keego has all but conceded the Jersey of Shame will be his for another year…
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Hopefully that’s the last I’ll have to harp on the ABL narrative for a while although I may have to stay off social media to make sure, anyway, the SA tour is next on our radar with the Lions up for Leinster next in Jo’burg. Don’t forget our slot after the 5 o’clock news on Dublin South 93.9 radio this Friday, we’ll also post our own preview that afternoon with a wrap pod to come on Sunday.
As ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
13 April 2024; Dan Sheehan of Leinster dives over to score his side’s fourth try despite the tackle of Jonathan Danty of La Rochelle during the Investec Champions Cup quarter-final match between Leinster and La Rochelle at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
Rewatched highlights. There was only 1 horse in it
I’m trying to figure out the La Rochelle game plan
Also trying to figure out why Leinster-jitzu didn’t work in the years previous
Today is a (nother) day my aul lad and others didn’t have. France were unbeatable and we were close to thinking the same about La Rochelle.
Today we showed what the story is. It’s actually unreal because it dismantled a he entire O’Gara La Rochelle gameplan
Paul McSweeney
I went to the game thinking that Leinster at their best might just squeeze a win in. How wrong can I be? That was an emphatic performance. Leinster needed this win way more than LR and it showed.
Now I’m just hoping that Croke Park is fully open and that tickets will be reasonably priced. I have my tickets for the final already…
Kevin Kelehan
Been watching Leinster since 1986 when they beat Munster in that years inter-pro, without hesitation that is by some distance the best Leinster performance I’ve ever seen, no Hugo Kennan, no Gary Ringrose and no James Ryan, yet they completely and utterly destroyed and humiliated the reigning champions in some style. Looking forward to the final in Tottenham and the cinquieme etoile!!!!
Greg Kelly
Usual story. Another 5 year French dynasty falls. The Leinster dynasty and brand continues. A few 50/50 calls saved LAR some extra pain but it feels like a sort of redemption. LARs false economy was built on Leinsters back and it falls to Leinsters sword.
LAR went to Cork looking to harness the local energy and they certainly harnessed some Munster European Energy 😉
William Andrew
Very well thought out performance by the players and coaches. Expected a slug fest with the selection but Leinster were moving LR around the park mercilessly.
I have had my reservations about Neinabar, but my goodness he delivered a class performance today.
Great to see secondary players delivering an emphatic game when it matters so much.
Chris McDonnell
I am not a Ross fan but he was excellent today. Credit where its due. Leo gambled with some calls today and got them right. Well done to them all.
Alan Murphy
A Test quality performance. Professional and tactical perfection. Delighted with the lads today. High pressure game with a lot of nonsense coming out of Cork during the week. Onwards and upwards.
Martin Lynch
Just So Lucky To Be A Leinster Fan. The Relief In The Stadium Was Palpable. Roll On Croker .
John O Halloran
Best performance in a long time, they stepped up . Well done.
Josephine Boyd
A fantastic performance from our boys in blue.💙👕🏈👍👏👏💪☘️
This is one of the great days.
Nothing won, but a fair fucking bit of pride reclaimed.
3rd times a charm for himself against LAR. If he can play like this week in week out . . . Jesus christ we'll be set! For Leinster AND Ireland 😉#LEIvLAE
I said at HT LAR only took what we gave them, then after the break we gave them NOTHING. Super display, great tries but don't forget the D – over 2 matches we've restricted the champions to ONE. TRY. We earned our home adv and used it. Now to make Croker our home. #LEIvLAR
JLP : Little bit of a nothing burger story to lead off with, but I do so for a number of reasons. First, the name Karl Dickson caught my eye simply because he is reffing Leinster’s big match at the Aviva this coming weekend. But this whole “come under fire” thing seems a complete misdirect because I don’t see why he should be judged on whether or not he speaks French. Obviously I think it has been good for refs like Wayne Barnes to parlez some Francais and the same goes for the French refs who speak English but for any of it to be mandatory is a bit of a stretch. Maybe with the vast majority of rugby nations being English speaking it should require the basic rugby terms to be known by all but we’re straying down the wrong road if we think it should be part of the job. Being good at a foreign language should not be a metric for deciding whether or not you’ll be good as a referee. Actually if this article has any relevance at all it’s in a negative way and leads me to my second Front 5 article this week…
“The perpetrator was subsequently convicted of one count of use carriage service to menace or harass via online communication.”
JLP : That Dickson headline was written that way for one reason and one reason only….LITERAL clickbait. It wanted readers who are inclined to disagree with refereeing decisions to give the article a hit thinking the “behaviour” of the official had something to do with a decision on the rugby pitch. So basically you are actively seeking to trigger the types who might end up leaning towards actions like those taken by this individual.
Obviously it is very good news that legal action has led to a conviction in this area and the hope is that the spread of this news will help deter other, but I’d argue that work needs to be done in other areas to stop the gaslighting as well. I’ll never say that we should never disagree with officials to be clear, just that a very clear line needs to be drawn where that criticism stops and I’m not sure that has been properly done as yet.
…a Qatar Airways partnership to fly the SA franchises for EPCR matches has caused yet more logistical issues for the Bulls…
JLP : Travel was always going to be up there with the top negatives with letting the SA teams into northern hemisphere competitions, and this Last 16-to-quarterfinal turnaround week was always going to be when it was most noticeable, not just for SA teams either seeing how many miles ROG & co have clocked up. For me, this is just further proof that the overall European calendar needs a major overhaul, but I won’t harp on that too much this time, I suppose when it comes to this particular case I have to wonder how an airline thinks they are being seen in a positive light being associated with a rugby club when it makes them endure eight flights instead of helping them travel more comfortably.
Menoncello…becomes the youngest winner in the award’s history, and only the second Italian winner following Andrea Masi
JLP : You might think I’d give a big “harrumph” that the player of the tournament didn’t go to the champions, let alone that it went to a team that finished 5th, but that would absolutely not be the case. For Italy to have a 50% record in a tournament where they’ve collected enough wooden spoons to stir a Mediterranean Sea full of bolognese over the years is enough to show they deserve some kind of honour and this is just the way to do it, with Tomasso being just the promising young player to be the one to get it. Interesting how the last Irish player to win was Jacob Stockdale…
“…if you look at the reality and just look at the size of Irish players in the Irish national side compared to other national sides around the world, in the tier one nations there isn’t a bigger, heavier side than Ireland.”
JLP : Finishing off with a straightforward Thorinho piece based on an interview, and any insight into the Nienaber revolution at Leinster is of course welcome.
WRAP OF A WRAP
Wouldn’t expect anything less that top podding from Messrs Jackson & O’Muilleoir and both were true to form. If you’ve been a long time listener to our wraps you probably noticed we have streamlined the format a LOT, taking out the Front Five (which moved to this column) and the bonus clip (which I got rid of altogether, both features were meant to try and cover non-Leinster/Ireland topics but basically that’s what this column is for). Now we get our recordings done in under an hour and it saves me a ton of time while still giving the match that full Harpin treatment.
If you missed the wrap pod, here’s a link for Spotify but it’s also available on Apple and other platforms, please subscribe and/or leave a review if you can.
QUICK TAP : CC+SR≠CWC
As soon as I saw this story my Quick Tap rant for the week had its topic. There are several other metrics where I feel this proposal looks bad but if I outlined them all the “tap” would have been anything but “quick”!!!!
One sign a new elite club comp isn't viable is when you have to cancel an existing elite club comp in a given year to make it happen.#ClubWorldCuppic.twitter.com/IpQ88vyV2A
I don’t see Ringrose returning and I reckon we should probably presume Healy is also out the way he limped off last Saturday. The way Jamie Osborne & Michael Milne have been playing of late I’m not too concerned about either tbh. What does interest me is what we will do in the pack. Many are saying Will Connors should start again as he did back in the pool match in December, but I’m wondering if instead we’ll add his tree-felling tackles to the final half an hour where they have shown many times they can really gather momentum. I’m pretty sure a 6/2 split is on the cards whichever way we go.
Harpin’ matchday 23 v La Rochelle
Keenan, Larmour, Henshaw, Osborne, Lowe, R Byrne, Gibson-Park
Porter, Sheehan, Furlong, Molony, McCarthy, Baird, van der Flier, Doris
NB : the above matchday 23s are completely from my own mind, I’m certainly not suggesting I have any ITK a la Thornley
INJURY UPDATE – AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
Robbie Henshaw: came through the game at the weekend with no issues after his return from the Graduated Return to Play Protocols
Hugo Keenan: came through the game at the weekend with no issues after his return from a hip injury
Luke McGrath: has come through the Graduated Return to Play Protocols and will return to full training this week
Ciarán Frawley: came through the game at the weekend with no issues after his return from a foot injury
Andrew Porter: came through the game at the weekend with no issues after his return from a shoulder injury
INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:
Jimmy O’Brien: will be further assessed this week as he nears a return from a neck injury
Charlie Ngatai: will be further assessed this week as he nears a return from a calf injury
Garry Ringrose: will be further assessed this week for a shoulder injury before a final decision is made on his availability
Cian Healy: will be further assessed this week for a leg injury picked up at the weekend before a final decision is made on his availability
INJURY UPDATE – UNAVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
N/A
NO FURTHER UPDATES ON:
James Ryan (arm), Tommy O’Brien (hamstring) and Alex Soroka (foot)
WOMEN’S SIX NATIONS
Big, big match for Ireland this weekend. It is essentially a wooden spoon playoff and we need to make every scrap of our home advantage count. Obviously the re-addition of Cliodhna Moloney to the squad (finally!) will be a huge boost but if they feel they need her and indeed the 7s players why didn’t they add them sooner? To my admittedly untrained eye I thought against Italy our biggest problem was that we lacked cohesion and adding new players could make that even more difficult, but we should still all get behind the girls on Saturday, although the direct clash of their second half with Leinster men’s first won’t make it easy.
NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND
ROUND THREE
SAT APR 13
SCOTLAND V ENGLAND
IRELAND V WALES
SUN APR 14
FRANCE V ITALY
THAT ROG ARTICLE
I couldn’t let this go…look, I know these comments were made many years ago and that may be important context but still it’s the first time I have heard them and I’m not so sure time does a whole lot to heal them. Was it OK to say those things in 2016? Maybe there was mischief in digging them up to start the week that was in it but I’m certainly not going to have a lot of sympathy with him over it. I’ve put a lot of words into the public domain myself over the years and if something comes back to haunt me now I’d have to own them.
But that’s enough on the matter as far as I’m concerned.
Lot of chatter about the way some Irish fans will be supporting La Rochelle this Saturday. I really don’t want to add to it on these pages, but it’s worth mentioning. Personally, I’m fine with it. I mean, actually wearing the jersey or merch to the matches might be a bit, er, OTT, but hey, you do you. There’s a reason many choose to hate on Leinster, and that’s repeated success. So instead of focusing on the hating, instead I focus on the reason, which for me, is a good thing. Moving on…
KINO CRUNCHES THE NUMBERS
When he’s not guesting on the pod, Cian ‘RugbyKino’ O’Muilloeir has been known to pore over some relevant rugby stats and he has done some interesting work here on the remaining Champions Cup teams and how they have performed in relation to the bookies’ point spreads…
Inspired by @SimonGleave's previous work on handicap under/overperformance, I've had a look at the Champions Cup quarter-finalists through the 5 rounds so far.
What jumped out at me was that Bulls are the top handicap overperformers, and Leinster the worst.
Both genders made it out of the pool phase but only the men went on to get some decent standings points thanks to an amazing Terry Kennedy hat-trick against the USA in the quarterfinals…it went to sudden death extra time and when a scrum in a brilliant position for us went a bit awry I thought we were in trouble until TK kicked it ahead and sprinted past pretty much everyone to get to it. As I watched, even though the rest of the house was in bed on a Saturday morning, from the moment he kicked it I whispered “no way” and then I kept saying it over and over until by the time he dotted down I was screaming it!!! Unfortunately the French were too good for us in the semis (despite being sans AD) but we recovered well to win the bronze medal to keep us in a solid second spot on the table. And to be fair to the women’s team, they have also secured a spot in the final tournament and don’t forget of the two Irish teams they are the only ones with a leg victory so overall it has been an excellent season for the sevens programme so far.
One final note – as you can see in the graphic below, the official SVNS site didn’t seem to be able to find a picture of Michael Hooper, you’d think there might be one or two rattling around the aul internet wouldn’t you…
HONG KONG SEVENS
WOMEN
POOL STAGE
V SOUTH AFRICA 20-7
V AUSTRALIA 0-35
V FIJI 5-21
QUARTERFINALS
V FRANCE 7-31
5TH-8TH PLAYOFF
V JAPAN 5-12
MEN
POOL STAGE
V SOUTH AFRICA 17-22
V SAMOA 12-7
V SPAIN 12-5
QUARTERFINALS
V USA 24-19 AET
SEMIFINALS
V FRANCE 10-26
3RD PLACE PLAYOFF
V AUSTRALIA 14-5
Under the new model, HSBC SVNS 2024 features seven regular season events plus a Grand Final. The top eight placed teams based on cumulative series points at the conclusion of the seventh round in Singapore will secure their opportunity to compete in the new ‘winner takes all’ Grand Final in Madrid, where the women’s and men’s HSBC SVNS 2024 champions will be crowned.
Madrid will also play host to the high stakes relegation play-off competition where teams ranked ninth to 12th will join the top four teams from the World Rugby Sevens Challenger, with the top four placed teams securing their place on HSBC SVNS 2025.
NEXT IN THE SERIES…
SINGAPORE MAY 3-5
MADRID (FINALS) MAY 31-JUN 2
AIL UPDATE
STOP THE PRESSES! UL BOHS LOST A MATCH!!! Railway got the better of them in Round 17, and the top four all lock horns again in the final round of matches this weekend, I’m assuming that was smart scheduling from the organisers to help them get into the knockout frame of mind. Still a shame this is all going on during the Six Nations, however.
Meanwhile in the men’s Div1A the final four was actually set with everyone at the top winning in the final series to leave to very interesting semifinals in Terenure v Lansdowne and Cork Con v Clontarf, they will take place the weekend after next.
Meanwhile down in 1B I always get confused with the promotion format, turns out it is actually four teams that get to fight for the right to join St Mary’s in the top flight, with 9th place Shannon from 1A among the contestants.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S AIL
ROUND 17
GALWEGIANS 21-22 WICKLOW
BLACKROCK 32-5 COOKE
OLD BELVEDERE 50-12 BALLINCOLLIG
RAILWAY UNION 43-22 UL BOHS
ROUND 18
SAT APR 13
UL BOHS V BELVO
COOKE V GALWEGIANS
BLACKROCK V RAILWAY UNION
WICKLOW V SUTTONIANS
MEN’S AIL 1A
ROUND 18
BALLYNAHINCH 15-34 TERENURE
CITY OF ARMAGH 24-40 CORK CON
CLONTARF 31-19 TRINITY
UCD 33-17 SHANNON
YOUNG MUNSTER 24-29 LANSDOWNE
CHAMPIONSHIP SEMIFINALS
SAT APR 20
CORK CON V CLONTARF
TERENURE V LANSDOWNE
PROMOTION PLAYOFFS
SAT APR 20
OLD WESLEY V GARRYOWEN
SHANNON V OLD BELVEDERE
MEN’S AIL 1B
ROUND 18
OLD WESLEY 52-15 QUEENS
NAAS 29-34 OLD BELVEDERE
GARRYOWEN 31-10 HIGHFIELD
BUCCANEERS 12-32 ST MARY’S
BLACKROCK 19-26 UCC
SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC UPDATE
Four massive home wins didn’t exactly make for an exciting round 7, but Tahs v Saders could catch the eye next weekend.
ROUND 7
BLUES 50-3 WESTERN FORCE
REBELS 41-20 FIJIAN DRUA
CHIEFS 68-12 MOANA PASIFIKA
BRUMBIES 40-16 WARATAHS
ROUND 8
FRI APR 12
MOANA PASIFIKA V REDS
WARATAHS V CRUSADERS
SAT APR 13
HURRICANES V CHIEFS
REBELS V HIGHLANDERS
MAJOR LEAGUE RUGBY UPDATE
Great win for Chicago in New Orleans which make them look like serious playoff contenders. Houston remain the only unbeaten team and the visit of East-leading New England looks like the tie of the next round.
ROUND 6
UTAH 44-19 ANTHEM RC
SEATTLE 34-32 DALLAS
NOLA GOLD 21-38 CHICAGO
OLD GLORY 22-22 LOS ANGELES
NEW ENGLAND 25-3 MIAMI
ROUND 7
DALLAS V UTAH
HOUSTON V NEW ENGLAND
SAN DIEGO V NOLA GOLD
CHICAGO V ANTHEM RC
LOS ANGELES V SEATTLE
CHALLENGE CUP UPDATE
I firmly believed both Ulster and Connacht could win their away ties in the round of 16 but to repeat that this weekend won’t be easy. Two matches in South Africa and two in France is quite a way to start your tenure as Ulster coach but we know Richie Murphy is up to the task and I certainly wouldn’t rule them out of contention at the Marcel Michelin. Meanwhile if the boys from the west can repeat their second half form from last weekend, while Benetton will be hot favourites, you just never know.
ROUND OF 16
PAU 30-40 CONNACHT
SHARKS 47-3 ZEBRE
MONTPELLIER 17-40 ULSTER
EDINBURGH 33-15 BAYONNE
OSPREYS 23-15 SALE SHARKS
BENETTON 27-17 LIONS
CLÉRMONT 27-22 CHEETAHS
GLOUCESTER 30-25 CASTRES
QUARTERFINALS
FRI APR 12
GLOUCESTER V OSPREYS
SAT APR 13
CLÉRMONT V ULSTER
SHARKS V EDINBURGH
SUN APR 14
BENETTON V CONNACHT
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
La Rochelle are obviously our focus this week, don’t forget our slot after the 5 o’clock news on Dublin South 93.9 radio this Friday, we’ll also post our own preview that afternoon with a wrap pod to come on Sunday.
As ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
6 April 2024; Jamison Gibson-Park of Leinster on his way to scoring his side’s third try during the Investec Champions Cup Round of 16 match between Leinster and Leicester Tigers at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Got the job done, next week facing into a La Rochelle battered by a round trip from west France to Cape Town and back where they botched their travel arrangements and now return to La Rochelle before moving to Dublin, it won’t be easy for them overcoming that round trip on top of a decent examination by the Stormers. Jamie Osborne really proved himself last night, given the age profile of the 3 best centres in Ireland that is a very positive development for the medium term.
John Hyland
That Leicester pack was good but the ref was astonishingly inconsistent at the set-piece. Only Leinster were asked to leave a lineout gap. Cole and Montoya were up to all kinds of skulduggery. I find that our front row doesn’t lack power but is short of guile at times. I hope Porter and Sheehan are ready for Atonio boring in as usual next week.
Niall Moonan
We have no 10, why will Leinster not give Frawley a consistent run at 10? Why keep trying Ross Byrne he’s proven time and time again he’s not up to it. He was anonymous tonight
Robert Cashell
A win but that performance won’t be good enough next week. Leicester should have exposed our narrow defence but botched it more than one.
Odran John OBrien
Leinster really needs a Five Eighth to win anything in my opinion
If I threw a rugby ball over my shoulder right now where I'm sitting I swear JGP would be there to catch it#LEINvLEIC
LEINSTER : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Jordan Larmour 13. Robbie Henshaw 12. Jamie Osborne 11. James Lowe 10. Ross Byrne 9. Jamison Gibson-Park
1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Tadhg Furlong 4. Ross Molony 5. Joe McCarthy 6. Ryan Baird 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Caelan Doris (c)
16. Rónan Kelleher 17. Cian Healy 18. Michael Ala’alatoa 19. Jason Jenkins 20. Jack Conan 21. Ben Murphy 22. Harry Byrne 23. Ciarán Frawley
LEICESTER TIGERS : 15 Jamie Shillcock 14 Freddie Steward 13 Dan Kelly 12 Solomone Kata 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins 10 Handré Pollard 9 Jack van Poortvliet
1 James Cronin 2 Julián Montoya 3 Dan Cole 4 Harry Wells 5 Kyle Hatherell 6 Hanro Liebenberg 7 Olly Cracknell 8 Jasper Wiese
16 Charlie Clare 17 Francois van Wyk 18 Will Hurd 19 Finn Carnduff 20 Emeka Ilione 21 Tom Whiteley 22 Phil Cokanasiga 23 Mike Brown
'Multiple TV markets to keep happy' notwithstanding, I have to believe there was a way to avoid Munster & Ulster's matches clashing on Sunday, just saying.
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 