Ahead of Ireland v Wales and in the latest from our Opposition View series, I spoke to Seimon Williams, author of “Welsh Rugby – What Went Wrong?” about the most frustrating issues from the past decades, the best way forward and of course how he feels Saturday’s match will go.
The 2022-23 season may just be the bleakest in Welsh rugby history. Accusations of misogyny, sexism, racism and homophobia against the Welsh Rugby Union led to resignations, independent inquiries, Senedd intervention and rushed governance reform. Budget cuts, strike threats, uncertainty for players, embarrassing defeats and the dismissal of the national coach presaged another poor Six Nations campaign.
This book looks at the issues which have seen Welsh rugby stumble from crisis to crisis over the past 40 years. At how a nation which led the rugby world in the 1970s declined into the fractured, riven, divided rugby nation of today. At how occasional successes at club, regional and Test level were achieved despite the system, not because of it, and did little more than paper over the cracks. At, fundamentally, what went wrong.
A selection of five eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the ruggersphere, now including a few thoughts added by myself (JLP).
Béibhinn Parsons, Eve Higgins and Aoibheann Reilly were among those who were part of Ireland’s historic title win, beating Australia in the final.
Ireland name Sevens tournament winners in 34-strong squad
BBC.com
JLP : I’m delighted to see this. Fifteens must take precedent, Olymic year or no, especially after a wooden spoon the previous campaign. Expecting more from this one.
The Swiss army knife within the Ireland and Leinster squads, Ciarán Frawley can play a handful of positions…
JLP : The number one point of this article is that Hugo Keenan has made himself irreplaceable. But of course with test rugby being so attritional, you have to have a plan B when he’s not available and IMO even though I’m hearing reports that he could actually be available this weekend against Wales, I’m wondering if it might be better to rest him anyway to be sure he’s ok for Twickenham and also to try out alternatives. This piece makes a decent case for Frawley, Larmour & Stockdale but I reckon there are those like Mike Haley who will feel hard done by. To be fair, it does make sense to have the alternate a more versatile player across different positions, but if Hugo were ever out long term I reckon a more specialist option might be better.
During the draw, the 24 participating teams will be divided into six pools, each consisting of four teams.
JLP : Missed this earlier…it looks like after decades of complaints they are finally tweaking both the RWC format and the timing of the draw, I’m not sure that two years out is much of an improvement on three, but I suppose it is something. The seedings for a tournament to be held in late 2027 being determined by the world rankings two years earlier can still lead to a lop sided draw from where I’m standing, but we’ll see how it pans out.
“I’m focused on getting into the Reds team, and playing some good rugby. I won’t be looking too far ahead.”
JLP : Brilliant idea from Welsh fan Ed Jenkins, has to be said. I can’t say I’m a fan of his overall twitter approach but that goes straight to the backburner for this, whatever our differences on rugby and social media, we can easily put them aside when it matters. I mean…stopping a hateful hashtag from trending may be a very small form of protest but the medium is not the point, that would be the spirit.
Note – views expressed in “Front Five” links do not necessarily reflect those of HarpinOnRugby
WRAP OF A WRAP
I actually did the preview all on my lonesome this week for the first time since I did them in written form, made the experience very different but it was still fun putting it together. Then Conor & Rich joined me for the wrap on Sunday evening and it was as ever an enjoyable task, obviously helped by the Leinster BP win!
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.
HARPIN’ ON…SUPER RUGBY, THE ORIGIN ROUND & FIXTURE CLASHES
Mixed bag of topics for the bonus clip, I reckon this format is better with three different topics rather than one because often we can repeat each other’s points. The transcript for my bit is below.
“CLASH OF THE CLASHES”
As you probably know Ireland’s third match of the 2024 Guinness Six Nations takes place at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, February 25 when our opponents are Wales, and across the Irish Sea the days leading up to the match is known as “#IrelandWeek”. Before I get to my topic I’d just like to encourage you to get on Twitter and use the hashtag it’s a great idea by Wales and Ivory Coast fan Edward Jenkins – the idea is that the more we use this tag the less chance other less desirable ones beginning with Ireland can be trending.
Anyway…as part of Ireland Week I plan to interview Seimon Williams, also a Welsh fan and as well as writing for the website gwladrugby he has written a book titled “Welsh Rugby – What Went Wrong” which having read it does exactly what it says on the tin. While there are many different factors going into our Celtic brothers numerous rugby issues, one of the biggest ones is the relationship between the over 200 different clubs across the principality, and the Union when the game went pro, especially when the regions were established.
The reason I bring that up is not just to promote our bonus podcast which should post on Wednesday morning, but also to highlight my point for this rant, which is that although the transition from the amateur game definitely went a whole lot smoother on these shores, that’s not to say we’re without some, well, what would I call them, maybe tensions? between the clubs and provinces.
And in my humble opinion, we got a perfect example of these tensions just last weekend in Dublin 4. Obviously if you’re watching this video you know perfectly well that there was a top of the table clash at the RDS on Saturday between Leinster in 1st place in the URC and Benetton who were 2nd, we actually did a whole podcast on it. But as Hollie Davidson got the match underway, just up the road at the Aviva Stadium back pitch, there was also a senior rugby match with important playoff connotations.
This was in Round 14 of the 18-round regular season in the Men’s All Ireland League Division 1A with 3rd place Lansdowne hosting 4th place and reigning champions Terenure. As well as being a crucial fixture in the league it was also of course a Dublin derby. And as if that wasn’t already enough to sell this match, there were also a lot of names Leinster fans will recognise from the fringes of the Leinster set up past and present like Temi Lasisi, Adam LaGrue, Harrison Brewer and Jordan Coughlan. You could say a match like this if nothing else does a decent job of replacing the British and Irish Cup matches many Leinster fans enjoyed going to during the 2010s.
So simply put, if you’re a serious fan of going out and watching Leinster Rugby, this AIL fixture would definitely be of interest to you. So why did it kick off a mere half an hour before things got underway just a stone’s throw up the road?
Already I can hear the voices screaming at their screens. “The AIL always kicks off at 2:30!!!” or “The URC has to set its matches according to broadcasters” or “Why should one side move when it’s clearly the other that’s the problem???” But I’m not here to point fingers, because in my view, the finger pointing is a large part of the problem. Wherever the blame lies, the net result is the same, and Saturday certainly isn’t the only time we’ve seen multiple matches which would interest the same group of fans take place at the same time.
All I am saying is that someone has to give at some point, and at a time when clubs are trying everything to get bums on seats at their games and buying pints and lunches in their clubhouses, while those innovative social media team naming tweets are definitely entertaining and share-worthy, for me a lot of that is lost when over 15,000 potential bums are within reach, so to speak.
Obviously I’m not suggesting that a kickoff time of, say, 12:30pm together with maybe a a discount for producing your RDS match ticket would definitely get them all across, but it certainly would have been a cracking double header for many fans and surely it would have been worth some kind of outside the box thinking.
WOMEN’S RUGBY : CANCELLED CULTURE
Happy to eat my words…a few weeks ago I said in this column that maybe the cancellations in the Women’s All Ireland Cup weren’t as bad a look as some were making out, but at the time I was unaware that there was to be a clash between the playoff rounds of the Celtic Challenge and the Women’s AIL itself, which is literally a whole different ball game for me, hence this week’s TikTok offering.
The only update is that there’s no update…I thought we might see one what with Leinster playing Saracens on the Friday night but we’ll see if one pans out before then, if so I will post it here along with my suggested matchday squad.
THAT BENETTON IMAGE
Look – I appreciate the spirit behind this image. We want to see the URC promoted as much as possible, especially in Italy where the 1st v 2nd nature of Saturday’s match made it important for Benetton to do all they could to hype the fixture.
But this is just not the way to do it. Do other countries still use the leprechaun trope for Irish people? I guess so. And does the presence of a “Leprechaun Museum” in the centre of Dublin help banish the nasty stereotype? Perhaps not. Still, I know it’s Benetton’s logo but what exactly is so Italian about a lion???? So maybe it would have been better to ignore the national identity and maybe utilise the fact that Leinster use a lion theme too? Maybe have two facing each other down?
Anyway here at Harpin’ Manor we workshopped a possible image using the reverse of the thinking used for the one above…
WELSH RUGBY – WHAT WENT WRONG?
I just finished reading Seimon Williams’ book, which is just as well because about seven hours after I’m typing this I will be chatting to the author himself about it! It would be a bit much to say I “enjoyed” reading it, given it is an account of a series of communication failures between different levels of the game over decades, but it is definitely put together extremely well and is a worthwhile read. The podcast will also count as part of our “Opposition View” as it would be rude not to talk about the match at the weekend.
Version 1.0.0
URC IRISH SHIELD UPDATE
No more matches until May I know but I haven’t posted the state of play for a while so here it is.
NOV 4 CONNACHT 22-20 ULSTER
NOV 10 ULSTER 21-14 MUNSTER
NOV 25 LEINSTER 21-16 MUNSTER
DEC 2 CONNACHT 22-24 LEINSTER
DEC 22 ULSTER 20-19 CONNACHT
DEC 26 MUNSTER 3-9 LEINSTER
JAN 1 CONNACHT 22-9 MUNSTER
JAN 1 LEINSTER 21-22 ULSTER
MAY 11 MUNSTER V CONNACHT
MAY 18 ULSTER V LEINSTER
MAY 31 LEINSTER V CONNACHT
JUNE 1 MUNSTER V ULSTER
“SVNS” UPDATE
The weekend festivals return this weekend with both Irish teams hoping to build on successful outings in Perth. The Vancouver event lasts just two days instead of three which means three matches per day instead of two, I’d say that makes quite a difference when it comes to preparation.
Also while the matches have been all streamed live on RugbyPass TV up to now, I see TNT Sport has the rights for this one so we’ll see if the stream will still be there, I’ll try to find out for our Thursday Rugby on TV post.
VANCOUVER 7S
FRIDAY FEB 23
8:36PM WOMEN V SOUTH AFRICA
10:14PM MEN V GREAT BRITAIN
SATURDAY FEB 24
1:30AM WOMEN V BRAZIL
3:18AM MEN V NEW ZEALAND
7:21PM WOMEN V NEW ZEALAND
9:05PM MEN V SOUTH AFRICA
NEXT IN THE SERIES…
LOS ANGELES MAR 2-3
HONG KONG APR 5-7
SINGAPORE MAY 3-5
MADRID MAY 31-JUN 2
🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE
Eye-popping result of the round has to be Montpellier overturning Racing in Paris, certainly doesn’t do their relegation struggle any harm but definitely a worry for Stu Lancaster’ side, they will need a big result in the derby match next weekend. Stade and Toulouse now opening up a bit of a gap at the top. Meanwhile there’s yet another defeat for La Rochelle although they’re still within just two points for the playoff spots so I wouldn’t dream of ruling them out of contention just yet.
Round 15
LYON 28-17 LA ROCHELLE
BORDEAUX 10-20 PAU
RACING 92 20-44 MONTPELLIER
STADE FRANCAIS 32-19 PERPIGNAN
TOULOUSE 61-34 OYONNAX
BAYONNE 21-13 CLÉRMONT
CASTRES 25-17 TOULON
Round 16
SAT FEB 24
MONTPELLIER V BAYONNE
PERPIGNAN V LA ROCHELLE
CASTRES V BORDEAUX
LYON V OYONNAX
PAU V TOULON
RACING V STADE FRANCAIS
SUN FEB 25
CLÉRMONT V TOULOUSE
PREMIERSHIP UPDATE
This comp is on a prolonged break until the end of March but I thought I’d update it here anyway since Leinster face Sarries on Friday evening in a friendly, no doubt to help them make up for the loss of fixtures after some clubs unfortunately went to the wall.
NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND
ROUND 13
FRI MAR 22
BRISTOL V NORTHAMPTON
LEICESTER TIGERS V GLOUCESTER
SAT MAR 23
BATH V SALE SHARKS
EXETER CHIEFS V NEWCASTLE
SARACENS V HARLEQUINS
AIL UPDATE
The Wolfhounds could have clinched the Celtic Challenge title with a win in Edinburgh but just fell short in what sounds like a thrilling 26-all draw which means their final match on Saturday against the Clovers is more than just a Six Nations trial match.
Question…are draws in women’s rugby like “kissing your brother”???
Anyway – as for the WAIL, well I said quite a bit in the TikTok already but with UL Bohs being awarded the 5 points they stay top with an unbeaten record and the rest of the top four stays the same as well.
Over in the men’s side and the top two both won although Tarf just got past Armagh, and in the big Dublin derby (check out my YouTube bit above on the timing btw) Terenure edged Lansdowne to keep the top four placings tight. The league takes a break next weekend.
Finally congrats to St Mary’s 13 wins from 14, already clinched promotion which means Div 1A rugby will be back within my reach next season!
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S CELTIC CHALLENGE
FIRST PLAYOFF ROUND
GLASGOW 17-24 BRYTHON THUNDER
EDINBURGH 26-26 WOLFHOUNDS
SECOND PLAYOFF ROUND
SAT FEB 24
GWALIA LIGHTNING V GLASGOW WARRIORS
WOLFHOUNDS V CLOVERS
WOMEN’S AIL
Round 12
UL BOHS (5PTS) W/O SUTTONIANS (-5PTS)
BALLINCOLLIG 36-10 COOKE
BLACKROCK 24-10 WICKLOW
RAILWAY UNION 83-7 GALWEGIANS
Round 12
SAT FEB 17
UL BOHS V SUTTONIANS
BALLINCOLLIG V COOKE
BLACKROCK V WICKLOW
RAILWAY UNION V GALWEGIANS
MEN’S AIL
ROUND 14
BALLYNAHINCH 19-15 TRINITY
ARMAGH 12-15 CLONTARF
CORK CON 38-24 SHANNON
LANSDOWNE 20-27 TERENURE
YOUNG MUNSTER 31-24 UCD
ROUND 15
SAT MAR 2
CLONTARF V YOUNG MUNSTER
TRINITY V CITY OF ARMAGH
LANSDOWNE V CORK CON
SHANNON V BALLYNAHINCH
TERENURE V UCD
RUGBY EUROPE CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE
Please, please, PLEASE spare a thought for Belgium. After an historic win over Portugal in Round 1, not only are they overtaken in the standing by Os Lobos, they don’t even qualify for the semifinals despite winning 2 out of 3!!!!! Absolutely cruel.
A big win in Romania sets up an Iberian derby for Portugal in the final four while the Oaks must go to Georgia. It’s looking to all intents and purposes like a GEOvPOR final but we’ll see.
ROUND 3
GEORGIA 38-3 SPAIN
ROMANIA 24-49 PORTUGAL
BELGIUM 31-10 POLAND
NETHERLANDS 39-13 GERMANY
SEMIFINALS
SAT MAR 2
GEORGIA V ROMANIA
SUN MAR 3
PORTUGAL V SPAIN
HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE
Added another “yellow cap” to my collection in Round 10 to pull away a bit, although Those Pesky Birds the Ospreys denied me a perfect round with that late drop goal against Ulster. Although the only prize in our league is of the ‘booby’ variety, we can only really focus on the race at the top since last place is pretty much done and dusted courtesy of Neil ‘No Picks’ Keegan…
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Keep an eye out for that bonus pod on Wednesday morning then it is of course all about the Welsh at the weekend, preview as ever will be Friday, wrap pod as ever will record Sunday evening, stay tune as ever to all our social media channels!
Finally, as ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
17 February 2024; Liam Turner of Leinster evades the tackle of Ignacio Mendy of Benetton, right, on his way to scoring his side’s third try during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Benetton at the RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile
Great result considering how well Benetton are doing this season and all the missing internationals.
Love Prendergast’s cool under pressure ability, he took a wrong option and was immediately swamped by the defence but had the ability to keep calm and place the ball back so well.
Lots of rusty performances and mistakes due to weather and no recent games.
Delighted to see Byrne get a chance to rinse the spiderwebs off his game and McErlean get a solid game behind him, again pity the weather was so naff for his first tog out.
Greg Kelly
Leinster sticking 47 points on the 2nd placed team tells you all you need to know about the URC
Craig Grehan
Good to see that mixture of players running well. Few fumbles here & there. But very good
Eamon Saunders
Good win nice to see a Wexford man get a try #Brian Deeny
Christy O’Connor
Very scrappy at times from both sides. Have to hand it to Benetton, they fought really well and I don’t think the scoreline does them justice
Dave Murray
Not a spectacular performance but good 5 points.
Benetton fell off after the break but we took our chances well, bench too good, handy 5 points, Jamie worth PotM, on to Cardiff, nuff said.#LEIvBEN
JLP : The quote might be tongue in cheek but although I wasn’t there myself the reports I heard were that it was a very subdued Aviva crowd, with suggestions it might have to do with a “prawn sandwich” element who were able to afford the ticket price without necessarily being totally invested in the actual rugby.
“This is not about Scottish Rugby being belligerent.”
JLP : I harped on this in the bonus clip as you’ll see below, but although I believe the officials came to the correct decision, I can’t really blame the SRU for getting an extra news cycle out of the incident. This might have an air of “John Delaney asking for Ireland to be 33rd team” about it, but the call was so goddam close and decisive that you can see how they’d lash out, once they are also aware that the Scots did have plenty of chances before that to win the game as well….
The change should create more room for counterattackers as the defending team will all be offside until put back onside by the kicker, or kick-chasers.
JLP : I wondered why I had red about this red/green think years ago yet Wales/Ireland matches weren’t affected. I would have thought that if it was definitely a problem for a portion of fans which had been officially identified by the sport’s governing body then surely the thing to do would be to make the change right away, but I suppose these things take time?
“There was 11 offloads for Ireland today, that is significant. There was only three last week.“
JLP : The quote pretty much tells the story, only thing I’d add is that most of that 11 weren’t just offloads, they were Marks & Spencer offloads…high risk but even higher confidence.
Note – views expressed in “Front Five” links do not necessarily reflect those of HarpinOnRugby
WRAP OF A (DELAYED) WRAP
Nobody likes a set weekly routine more than myself but when our feature match is on a Sunday afternoon there’s just no way I can prepare a wrap pod to my liking in time so we waited until the Monday. Tom “LeinsterRoyalty” Coleman became our latest member of the 50-cap club joining Keego and Conor Cronin, and he and Jay did their usual bang-up job reviewing the whitewashing of Italy, although Tom did cause my first 2024 use of the “Gran’s Lamb Protocol” where we vow not to use a certain phrase depicting 5 Irish wins until it is either achieved or no longer possible, so I had to deploy a “beep” sound at one point after he dropped the “S word” 😜.
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.
BONUS CLIP
A mixed bag of chosen topics this week, I have added the transcript from my bit below.
“A GROUNDING IN TMOs”
Now it’s time for my bit and after Tom harping on the kicking duel at the end of the first half of Scotland v France, I’d like to focus on an even more controversial incident from the end of the second in the same match.
Now when I say “controversial” I’m a bit torn on the use of this word. It seems a bit sensationalist especially when you consider that I actually agree with the way the officials reached their decision.
But what I suppose does make it controversial was the fact that it was a call about a score that would have literally changed the result of the entire match as there was no time left on the clock. Throw in the fact that the decision went against the home team and you have what must be up there with the top nightmares faced by referees in all sports.
Still I have to go back and explain why I agree with the officials so let’s look at the incident. And to do this we need to take all the situational stuff out of it. Forget it’s at Murrayfield, forget it’s Scotland, forget they were four points behind with the clock in the red.
On the 9th phase of a series Sam Skinner carried the ball over the line where he ran into some French defenders. There was the predictable mass of bodies all around the ball but from referee Nic Berry’s angle, the ball was held up and that is how he called it. This is the most critical information of the entire incident for me, but there is of course a lot more.
Berry ensured the Scots that the decision would be reviewed, which put matters into the hands of TMO Brian MacNeice. OK, now you might think I’m defending his decision because he’s Irish but I suppose all I can do is hope that you appreciate that my actual motivation is for the correct decision to be reached where possible.
Anyway what MacNeice had to do was look over as many available angles as he could to see if there was a grounding – and that word grounding is the second most important aspect to all of this. For this he had to hope for there to be a decent gap among all the other moving parts in the way…arms, legs, heads, boots, even the occasional arse, to catch a glimpse of the ball.
And as many have been at pains to point out, it does look to all intents and purposes that the ball actually does make its way to the Murrayfield grass. In fact, many of those fans also went to great pains to screengrab the image the TMO was looking at as though it offered some “proof” that it should have been awarded as a try.
And to be fair, during the early part of MacNeice’s dialogue as he watched, it really did sound as though he wanted to award the try. But there was a problem you see, one that those understandably eager screengrabbing Scottish fans probably missed.
It might seem like a contradiction but the fact remains that the ball touching the ground is not all we need to see in order to call it a grounding. There is absolutely no evidence that Skinner or indeed any other Scotsman has their hand on the ball as it touches down. And you need both. He could have let it go. There may have been separation. And remember, even when it comes to the ball touching the ground, we were never 100% because we couldn’t actually see it.
All of which led MacNeice to say to Berry : “I cannot see for certain, I don’t have ball on ground Nick”
So what happens now? It’s very simple. With no conclusive way to overturn his original decision, Berry was only left with that decision. It is definitely unfortunate, maybe even cruel, but having watched it over and over again I can only come back to the same conclusion.
Now of course what I did at the time was to share my opinion on twitter, and we all know what happened next, I got replies stating categorically that it was a nailed on try, many with that screengrabbed so-called “evidence”. So to avoid falling down a social media rabbit hole, I chose not to reply and instead waited until now to make my case.
To be absolutely clear…I was 100% shouting for Scotland, they are and have always been my second favourite Six Nations team. Like I said, we have to take our allegiances out of the equation when discussing these calls otherwise there’s really no point discussing them.
I have always been in favour of using TMOs but only in a support capacity to the onfield referee. In my view they should always make a decision themselves, which the guy in the booth must only overrule if they have 100% certainty and it’s only when this is accepted that we can appreciate that once in a while we can have a decision that looks both horribly unfair and absolutely correct in equal measure.
STEVIE’S CALLING
I hadn’t time for a TikTok rant this week but even if I had it wouldn’t be worthy of posting instead of this…he needs no introduction from me but I’m still happy to namecheck Stevie Mulrooney he’s definitely a star in the making.
Absolutely brilliant! 👏 Stevie Mulrooney, the star of the Toy Show, sings Ireland’s Call in front of a sold out Aviva Stadium. Fantastic. 💚 IREvITA GuinnessSixNations SixNationsRugby IrishRugby Rugby
This week’s update did have good news with Jamie & Ross on the road to recovery but since neither were listed under “available for selection” I’m left struggling to put a Leinster backline together for Saturday without dipping into the academy, and with Hugo Keenan now not able to face Wales I’m wondering if we will even be able to avail of Ciarán Frawley’s services at all.
NB : the above matchday 23 is completely from my own mind, I’m certainly not suggesting I have any ITK a la Thornley
INJURY UPDATE – AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
N/A
INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:
Jamie Osborne: has increased his training load and will be further assessed this week as he makes his way back from a shoulder injury
Ross Byrne: has increased his training load and will be further assessed this week as he makes his way back from an arm injury
INJURY UPDATE – UNAVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
N/A
NO FURTHER UPDATES ON:
Martin Moloney (bicep), Alex Soroka (foot), Charlie Ngatai (calf), Cormac Foley (shoulder) and Jimmy O’Brien (neck)
RUGBYPASS TV UPS & DOWNS
Just a quick note on a couple of things I’ve seen on RugbyPass.TV – I was going to do my TikTok on this had I enough time (for a 3 minute video I need at least an hour that just wasn’t there this week!).
First there was Whistleblowers which I would strongly recommend. Essentially it was “Full Contact for Referees” and definitely had a decent stab at humanising the officials from RWC2023. I would definitely recommend it, but since they’re not paying me to say that I should also point out a video I didn’t like as well 😁.
This was Boks Office which was essentially a Springbok view of the Six Nations. Now to be fair, this kind of input would be invaluable, coming as it does from outside the bubble, and with a panel of test capped stars (host Hanyani Shimange chatting to Jean de Villiers & Schalk Burger) you would definitely be interested.
But this particular episode featured a review of Round 1 so obviously they would have been focusing on Ireland’s win in Marseilles. They were full of praise for Andy Farrell’s men, but what ground my gears a tad was their assertion that Paul Willemse’s red card was the wrong call.
I mean if that is what they honestly believed then I can’t really fault them for expressing their true opinion and I certainly wouldn’t want that opinion banned, I suppose I’m just disappointed that senior players feel that way and are clearly either ignorant of the spirit of the guidelines surrounding head contact or are actually opposed to them. And the real irony was that I watched this chat right after I had watched Whistleblowers which noted the online abuse that referees can receive, meaning the lads’ views certainly do not help the matter.
That’s not to say I wouldn’t watch Box Office again, however, and they are certainly not alone when it comes to former-players-turned-pundits having these views.
🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE
After a weekend off the top four all find themselves at home in Round 15 so it’s likely for that end of the table to be just as tight, with both Oyonnax and Montpellier likely to be in even deeper relegation trouble as well.
NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND
Round 15
SAT FEB 17
LYON V LA ROCHELLE
BORDEAUX V PAU
RACING 92 V MONTPELLIER
STADE FRANCAIS V PERPIGNAN
TOULOUSE V OYONNAX
BAYONNE V CLÉRMONT
SUN FEB 18
CASTRES V TOULON
AIL UPDATE
I have yet to find confirmation of this but I’m assuming that the way the Celtic Challenge works, the top three play each other and the results go to the final overall standings. If so, the Wolfhounds can probably clinch the title with victory in Edinburgh this weekend, while their final match against the Clovers the following week is essentially a Six Nations trial.
While that comp took a weekend off, the Women’s AIL returned to action, with the result that came nearest to an “upset” being Belvo defeating Wicklow by “only” 13pts. UL Bohs continued their 100% start, the gap between the top four and the rest grew wider, and that same four all avoid each other yet again in the next round.
It wa a similar case in the men’s top division with the top four all victorious, although Cork Con seemed to have a bit of a scare at bottom of the table Trinity. Tie of the round this weekend is definitely the 3rdv4th/Dublin derby that is Lansdowne v Terenure.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S CELTIC CHALLENGE
NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND
WOMEN’S AIL
Round 11
SAT FEB 10
SUTTONIANS 0-22 BALLINCOLLIG
COOKE 5-29 RAILWAY UNION
GALWEGIANS 5-58 UL BOHS
WICKLOW 12-25 BELVO
Round 12
SAT FEB 17
UL BOHS V SUTTONIANS
BALLINCOLLIG V COOKE
BLACKROCK V WICKLOW
RAILWAY UNION V GALWEGIANS
MEN’S AIL
ROUND 13
CLONTARF 45-24 BALLYNAHINCH
TRINITY 17-19 CORK CON
SHANNON 13-28 LANSDOWNE
TERENURE 25-10 YOUNG MUNSTER
UCD 32-22 CITY OF ARMAGH
ROUND 13
SAT FEB 17
BALLYNAHINCH V TRINITY
ARMAGH V CLONTARF
CORK CON V SHANNON
LANSDOWNE V TERENURE
YOUNG MUNSTER V UCD
RUGBY EUROPE CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE
I was kicking myself that I forgot to include an update for this comp last week, as I firmly believe it’s important to keep up on how these countries are doing what with the “6N promotion/expansion” returning every time Italy concedes a try and/or Georgia scores one.
There has of course already been one historic result in the 2024 Championship with Belgium defeating Portugal in round 1, although Os Lobos took out their frustrations on poor Poland last weekend with a 50🍔 while the Belgians couldn’t repeat their heroics in Bucharest. However if Portugal are to sneak into the semifinals they will have to win in the Romanian capital on Saturday, especially if Belgium can also overcome the Poles. Meanwhile in Pool A Georgia host Spain with both already safely through to the last four.
ROUND 1
POLAND 8-20 ROMANIA
GERMANY 17-28 GEORGIA
BELGIUM 10-6 PORTUGAL
NETHERLANDS V SPAIN
ROUND 2
SPAIN 27-5 GERMANY
PORTUGAL 54-7 POLAND
ROMANIA 33-18 BELGIUM
GEORGIA 31-10 NETHERLANDS
ROUND 3
SAT FEB 17
GEORGIA V SPAIN
ROMANIA V PORTUGAL
BELGIUM V POLAND
SUN FEB 18
NETHERLANDS V GERMANY
HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE
Kristian had a super round 2 and a bit like Ireland has opened a commanding lead atop the 6N league, although myself and Jay are also 6 for 6 when it comes to predicting winners. With the URC back in action this weekend that means so does the HPL so I have also included that table. Well, yeah, ok, the fact that I’m first in that one might have play a part in my decision…….
1 Kristian 12.00
2 Jeff 9.00
3 Jay 8.50
4 Mark 7.50
5 Conor 7.00
6 Tom 1.50
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Back to the URC this weekend, with a top of the table clash at the RDS no less as Benetton will be coming to D4. Keego will join me for a preview on Friday while the wrap recording returns to its usual Sunday evening slot.
As ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
Two Six Nations games, two new records (biggest away win against France and first time holding Italy to zero points). The future’s looking pretty good right now…
Kevin Kelehan
Dan Sheehan may well end up as top try scorer. Job done 5 points and on to stiffer tests ahead.
Hubert Gallagher
Feel underwhelmed and unfulfilled after that! In some respects a great result with 6 changes and holding Italy to zero – and they were lucky to even get that – but at same time we were a bit disjointed, looked less fluent than French game and left a lot of points out there! Having said that no-one player badly but I think a lot could play better. Crowley, Henshaw, Keenan, Conan, Lowe and McCarthy were notably good.
Christy O’Connor
Glad I didn’t get tickets for this. Atmosphere was awful. I know we were expected to win, but the Irish rugby fans have to be one of the worst. I’ve seen more life in a funeral parlour.
Some great performances from Lowe, Conan and big Joe. Crowely is doing well, made some silly mistakes but it’s great that it doesn’t phase him.
Greg Kelly
Italy just parked the bus. Fairly poor spectacle for the 6 nations overall.
Ireland were a bit error strewn at times but tough to really hit your straps when the opposition don’t light a fire under you.
Eamon Saunders
A workman like performance but a win is a win ,some mistakes but a win none the less 👏👏
Full-time: Ireland 36-0 Italy 🇮🇪🇮🇹
A really tough afternoon for Gonzalo Quesada’s men in Dublin. Ireland too strong and secure a convincing bonus point win. Italy scoreless but today was always a big ask for this side.
— Fratelli d'Rugby – Italian Rugby Podcast (@ItalianRugbyPod) February 11, 2024
Generally quite good.
Another mixed bag from Crowley but the good stuff is *very* good
Disappointed for Casey. Don't think Ryan didn't anything remarkable enough to warrant a recall to the starting XV when McCarthy is playing so well.#IREvITA
Really fizzled out at the end, Italy deserved the duck egg, Ireland left multiple tries behind, but I'll take it. Lowe worthy PotM but Keenan ignited many attacks, hope he's ok. On to Round 3.#IREvITA#GuinnessSixNations
IRELAND : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Calvin Nash 13. Robbie Henshaw 12. Stuart McCloskey 11. James Lowe 10. Jack Crowley 9. Craig Casey
1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Finlay Bealham 4. Joe McCarthy 5. James Ryan 6. Ryan Baird 7. Caelan Doris (captain) 8. Jack Conan
16. Ronan Kelleher 17. Jeremy Loughman 18. Tom O’Toole 19. Iain Henderson 20. Josh van der Flier 21. Jamison Gibson-Park 22. Harry Byrne 23. Jordan Larmour
Italy : 15 Ange Capuozzo 14 Lorenzo Pani 13 Juan Ignacio Brex 12 Tommaso Menoncello 11 Monty Ioane 10 Paolo Garbisi 9 Stephen Varney
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 