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.
A selection of five eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the ruggersphere, now including a few thoughts added by myself (JLP).
“Jacques [Nienaber] is mainly a defensive mastermind and he has brought in a completely different defensive system and it is working. I can understand why South Africa were so successful under him.”
JLP : Going by the few interviews I’ve seen with Lowe over the years, it seems like he talks like he plays, to say “he doesn’t understate things” would itself be an understatement. But while the goals outlined his quote which is the title of the piece are yet to be fulfilled, the quote I chose speaks to the effect Neinaber has had on the Leinster set up. When a quality coach joins an already quality organisation, it’s not about reinvention, rather refining, and not only have we seen results on the pitch, it sounds like the lads have bought into his ways off it too. Obviously this will get tested even more as we go deeper into the business end of the season.
According to a report over the weekend from Afrikaans newspaper Rapport, Kitshoff met up with Stormers coach John Dobson about a potential return.
JLP : Always need a pinch of salt with this kind of story, but this certainly wouldn’t surprise me if true, although not for the reasons you might think. Many speculators are linking it with all that has been going on at Ulster Rugby, and it’s true that the Ravenhill garden has been close to rosy this season (bar one at the RDS on New Year’s Day of course, obvs I don’t like bringing it up but I know any Ulster fans reading are thinking it ha ha) but I’m not 100% sure it only has to do with his current environment. Moving can have a profound affect on people if it’s just up the road let alone across hemispheres. Many NIQ signings haven’t worked out, to Leinster fans I’d say “remember Steven Sykes?” only I’d wonder if they all actually would. Hey, maybe it’s just a Steven thing. Anyway – if SK does move on they’re going to need a decent loose head option so it would be interesting to see what happens next.
Herbst was penalized and sent to the sin bin during the 63rd minute…he reentered the game after only seven minutes
JLP : Look – mistakes happen. Ones like this absolutely shouldn’t, but they do. It’s just as a Leinster fan, it’s interesting to see that even 15 years after #bloodgate Harlequins are still going onto the pitch when they shouldn’t… 😜
He didn’t want to be that guy who tarnished his reputation by playing too long
JLP : Paul makes all the right points here; all the greats need to acknowledge when it’s time to step away from the highest level. What led me to include this story was the stat outlined in the tweet below…Russ Petty’s number-crunching offerings justify my continuing to endure the Musk-infested platform all on their own!
New Zealand 637 Tests (1903-2023), Sam Whitelock played in 24% of them
JLP : I would love to have the time to live my life, follow rugby enough to run this site AND follow other codes like the NFL as closely but that’s never going to happen. That’s not going to stop me opining on them though!!!! While I would hope that the positive reports on LRZ’s efforts are genuine, I can’t help but be sceptical that this is a pudding that still needs to be proven, for two reasons. First, signing with a franchise does not guarantee that you will actually take to the field when the season rolls around in September, even if it is the reigning champions. Plus, I have to wonder about the way the league has made such a big deal about this “international player pathway”. Why so keen to get players in from abroad? Are participation levels dwindling at home? With 32 professional rosters not to mention hundreds of college level ones to fill, could it be that the concussion element has had an effect on those taking up the sport? Hey, I’m a blogger, crackpot conspiracies are kinda my thing, but I wonder how crackpot this one is. Anyway, I wish LRZ all the best, although I was surprised to see the Chiefs list him as a running back, he will certainly need to work on his physique for that role.
Completely new experience for me when it came to the wrap – I actually got to watch the match sitting next to one of my guests with Nathan Johns beside me in the media box…obvs with him working and all we didn’t chat much (though since I forgot my headphones I may have bent his ear more than I should have done, sorry mate!).
He and Conor did a great job going back over the match, and a special mention to Harry Murphy of Sportsfile for the snap below which does a brilliant job of capturing the RDS experience for Leinster fans.
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.
THE LUKE MCGRATH CHALLENGE
Midterm break means kids are off which in turn means I don’t have time for a Quick Tap video this week, instead I’ll share this clip from the wrap pod where we discussed at length Luke McGrath’s challenge on Kurt-Lee Arendse. Obvs we don’t want to dwell TOO much on these things because it might put too much attention on one player and it goes without saying Luke himself is a major part of Leinster’s plans,
but we also must not forget the overall issue of player safety and the need to properly sanction these situations. On top of that is the whole assumption that because we’re a Leinster-centric pod then we’d rather ignore it so I reckon this bit of harpin’ dispels that myth pretty well.
LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE
Good news this week in that the “Unavailable for selection” portion of the update seems a hell of a lot lighter, but the heavy “further assessment required” section means it’s nigh on impossible to forecast a Leinster 23 for the Champions Cup knockouts…as you can see I have gone for the two extremes, one where any or all of those players are available (although I’m thinking neither Ringrose and Ngatai will make it whatever happens) and another (tactfully avoiding the word “worst”) where none of them are.
Harpin’ matchday 23 v Leicester
[BEST CASE]
Keenan, O’Brien J, Henshaw, Osborne, Lowe, R Byrne, Gibson-Park
Porter, Sheehan, Furlong, Molony, McCarthy, Baird, van der Flier, Doris
Kelleher, Healy, Ala’alatoa, Jenkins, Conan, McGrath, H Byrne, Frawley
[LEAST BEST CASE]
Larmour, Russell, Henshaw, Osborne, Lowe, R Byrne, Gibson-Park
Healy, Sheehan, Furlong, Molony, McCarthy, Baird, van der Flier, Doris
Kelleher, Milne, Ala’alatoa, Jenkins, Conan, Foley, H Byrne, Turner
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:
Cormac Foley: has returned to full training this week after returning 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
Luke McGrath: has entered the Graduated Return to Play Protocols and will be assessed further in the week
Robbie Henshaw: has entered the Graduated Return to Play Protocols and will be assessed further in the week
Ciarán Frawley: will be further assessed this week for a foot injury before a final decision is made on his availability
Hugo Keenan: will be further assessed this week for a hip injury before a final decision is made on his availability
Garry Ringrose: will be further assessed this week for a shoulder injury before a final decision is made on his availability
Andrew Porter: will be further assessed this week for a shoulder injury before a final decision is made on his availability
Charlie Ngatai: will step up his rehabilitation from a calf injury this week as he nears a return to action
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
Very frustrating watching Ireland on Sunday, they did so well right at the start and right at the end but the bits in between needed a lot of work. I still firmly believe it was absolutely the right thing to take the likes of Eve Higgins and Beibhinn Parsons, but at the RDS the team did have the look of one that has had players parachuted in and it might take time for them to gel to the standards required for the Six Nations. Maybe if they were together for the WXV as well the team would be better set, but look, we are where we are and now it’s imperative that we get ourselves ready for the Welsh in Cork on Apr 13, because with the Scots doing well and England being England, the schedule certainly does not get much easier from there.
Anyway like I always say you should probably take any analysis of mine on this with a pinch of salt so here’s a good thread on Ireland’s chances from friend of the pod @IrishWomens…
What strengths and weaknesses do this Irish side have, and what should we expect?
A 🧵
Let's start with strengths
— IrishWomensRugbySupportersClub (@IrishWomens) April 2, 2024
ROUND TWO
SCOTLAND 5-15 FRANCE
ENGLAND 46-10 WALES
IRELAND 21-27 ITALY
ROUND THREE
SAT APR 13
SCOTLAND V ENGLAND
IRELAND V WALES
SUN APR 14
FRANCE V ITALY
WHO’S THE FOOL?
Another April 1st has been and gone and the multitudes of Fake News articles thankfully has too. As one who loves to kid around, you’d think I’d be all in favour of this practice but I’m actually the exact opposite, pretty boring at this stage if I’m honest…rather than have them all concentrated on one day I’d much rather have these scattered throughout the year; I did like most of the East Terrace stuff.
I’m also ashamed to say I DID fall for one tweet, by regular commenter and Leinster fan Cian Ormond (although this doesn’t fall into the boring category because I meant from content-creators rather than individuals)…
The series resumes this weekend with the famous Hong Kong festival which as you can see has a lot of unsociable kickoff times and some tricky tests for both Irish genders. Still definitely worth a watch, remember they can all be played back via RugbyPass.tv.
NEXT IN THE SERIES…
HONG KONG
FRI APR 5
4:39AM MEN V SOUTH AFRICA
5:02AM WOMEN V SOUTH AFRICA
7:49AM MEN V SAMOA
8:35AM WOMEN V AUSTRALIA
SAT APR 6
3:39AM MEN V SPAIN
4:02AM WOMEN V FIJI
SINGAPORE MAY 3-5
MADRID MAY 31-JUN 2
🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE
Starting with the bottom of the table this week, Oyonnax look pretty much doomed and I have to say it’s starting to look worrying for Montpellier although they could well pick themselves up for a one game playoff if required. Back at the business end, Stade Français and Toulouse both won by 2 to stay top while Stu Lancaster & ROG stayed in the barrage picture although with 6 rounds still to go you could say everyone down to 10th is in with a shout. I’m going to go for Castres v La Rochelle as the pick of the next round although much will depend on their respective involvement in Europe at that stage.
Round 20
MONTPELLIER 10-12 STADE FRANÇAIS
PERPIGNAN 43-12 CASTRES
LA ROCHELLE 40-21 OYONNAX
LYON 27-10 BORDEAUX
RACING 92 26-10 CLÉRMONT
TOULOUSE 31-29 PAU
BAYONNE 10-46 TOULON
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
70% of the Premiership clubs have won 8 and lost 6 of their matches so far this season. Might need a moment to let that sink in…but we still need to be clear that however well their 7th and 8th placed teams may be doing, it’s still not exactly fair that they should gain entry into the Champions Cup when it’s so much more difficult to qualify from the URC and 🔝🐱🐴 . And I’m only pointing this out because it was the Premiership clubs/English media that was always pointing out European qualification injustice in the past. Anyway…Northampton remain top of the pile with a decent home win over Sarries not the worst preparation for the visit of Munster.
ROUND 14
NEWCASTLE 13-19 LEICESTER
NORTHAMPTON 41-30 SARACENS
GLOUCESTER 24-33 BRISTOL
HARLEQUINS 40-36 BATH
SALE SHARKS 41-5 EXETER
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
If I were a betting man I’d say the Women’s AIL final would likely be between Railway Union and UL Bohs and guess who play each other next in the regular season? Should be a fascinating encounter and might be the best chance of halting Bohs’ unbeaten run.
In the men, champions Terenure finally put their shaky start to the campaign behind them by reaching the summit after a convincing 29-15 win over Tarf at Lakelands with Leinster caps like John McKee and Aitzol King among the try scorers.
But while the top 4 teams are now set, the home semifinals are far from certain. Despite being in pole position, Nure will find their final match at Hinch anything but easy and should they slip up, both Cork Con and Tarf are ready to overtake them should they overcome Armagh and Trinity respectively. Although Dublin Univ face the drop to 1B they did have some glory with victory in the colours match over UCD, who had another Leinster player among their try scorers in Conor O’Tighearnaigh.
One last thing about Div 1A…while Trinners are down, the team finishing 9th must survive a playoff to avoid the drop and it is now a straight fight between City of Armagh (who host Cork Con) and Shannon (who go to Belfield Bowl) with the Ulster side having the points diff advantage should they remain level, although you could argue than maybe wins should be the first tiebreaker in which case Shannon would have the edge.
Then on the other end of that playoff, Old Wesley picked up a LBP at already-promoted St Mary’s to keep them in pole position but should they slip up at home to Queens in the final round, Garryowen and Highfield face each other with the winner likely to jump into 2nd. Still much to play for in that second tier.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S AIL
ROUND 16
SAT MAR 30
BALLINCOLLIG 5-42 BLACKROCK
OLD BELVEDERE 18-34 RAILWAY UNION
SUTTONIANS 22-19 GALWEGIANS
WICKLOW 29-19 COOKE
ROUND 17
SAT APR 6
GALWEGIANS V WICKLOW
BLACKROCK V COOKE
OLD BELVEDERE V BALLINCOLLIG
RAILWAY UNION V UL BOHS
MEN’S AIL 1A
ROUND 17
CORK CON 10-7 BALLYNAHINCH
LANSDOWNE 64-31 ARMAGH
TERENURE 29-15 CLONTARF
TRINITY 22-13 UCD
SHANNON 37-22 YOUNG MUNSTER
ROUND 18
SAT APR 6
BALLYNAHINCH V TERENURE
CITY OF ARMAGH V CORK CON
CLONTARF V TRINITY
UCD V SHANNON
YOUNG MUNSTER V LANSDOWNE
MEN’S AIL 1B
ROUND 17
HIGHFIELD 21-7 BLACKROCK
OLD BELVEDERE 3-28 GARRYOWEN
QUEENS 33-31 NAAS
ST MARY’S 34-29 OLD WESLEY
UCC 48-7 BUCCANEERS
ROUND 18
SAT APR 6
OLD WESLEY V QUEENS
NAAS V OLD BELVEDERE
GARRYOWEN V HIGHFIELD
BUCCANEERS V ST MARY’S
BLACKROCK V UCC
SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC UPDATE
Crusaders are finally off the mark, putting away the Chiefs handily enough on home soil but they still very much need a bye week to regroup for the remainder of the campaign and the schedule has obliged. The Hurricanes stay top after a big win in Otago with the Blues and Brumbies hot in pursuit. Unfortunately none of the Round 7 ties really jump out at you.
ROUND 6
CRUSADERS 37-26 CHIEFS
WARATAHS 21-27 REBELS
FIJIAN DRUA 31-13 WESTERN FORCE
MOANA PASIFIKA 8-47 BLUES
HIGHLANDERS 12-47 HURRICANES
REDS 19-20 BRUMBIES
ROUND 7
FRI APR 5
BLUES V WESTERN FORCE
REBELS V FIJIAN DRUA
SAT APR 6
CHIEFS V MOANA PASIFIKA
BRUMBIES V WARATAHS
MAJOR LEAGUE RUGBY UPDATE
Houston won the Texas derby (tho I doubt they call it that over there) to stay top in the West while New England survived their bye week to stay in 1st over in the East. My “adopted” team for this season Chicago Hounds dropped to their third defeat, this time at home to Seattle with Nick McCarthy, Conall Boomer and Luke Carty all starting while I forgot to mention Dave Kearney actually made his debut last week against New England although he didn’t feature this week. They won’t have it any easier this coming next week as they must travel to New Orleans.
ROUND 5
DALLAS 27-30 HOUSTON
CHICAGO 26-34 SEATTLE
ANTHEM RC 32-46 OLD GLORY DC
MIAMI 21-22 SAN DIEGO
ROUND 6
SAT APR 6
UTAH V ANTHEM RC
SEATTLE V DALLAS
NOLA GOLD V CHICAGO
CHALLENGE CUP UPDATE
Time to return to having this update in the column especially with two provinces involved and both having 🔝🐱🐴 away dates. If I had to say either assignment was “the easier” I’d have to say it was Ulster’s since Montpellier will most definitely be much more focused on their domestic situation (see update above) while despite Pau being in the playoff picture they might see this comp as a realistic chance of silverware. Quite an interesting draw this when you study it closely.
HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE
Although my actual performance this week was an improvement on the last round, I still gave up my long-standing 1st place status after Kino’s stats-based approach finally got the better of me in real “tortoise over hare” fashion although there is of course still quite a way to go and nobody can be ruled out of contention. Well, when I say “nobody”, I mean of course nobody except ‘No Picks Keego’…
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Champions Cup is next, hopefully for both of the next two weeks when it comes to Leinster but first we must of course focus on the visit of the Tigers to the Aviva Stadium. We’ll have our usual preview on Friday as well as our usual pod recording Sunday eve, and naturally we’ll continue to post our regular amount of content across all the different platforms.
As ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
29 March 2024; Jack Conan of Leinster dives over to score his side’s sixth try despite the tackle of Devon Williams of Vodacom Bulls during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Vodacom Bulls at the RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
Tough First Half. Bulls Ran. Out Of Steam. We Upped It Big Time . Great To See Them Back To Their Best. 👍🏉💪💙
Jay Long
I was mainly thinking
Ahem
Leeeeeiiinnnnsssttteeeerrrr
Leiiiiiinnnnnssstttttteeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrr
William Andrew
Good win , but scrums need attention. Lots of players came on hungry and contributing.
Farcical ending by the officials nothing for player safety
David Ryle
Was worried about this game. First half was poor but Leinster seemed to have found their mojo in the 2nd half.
Greg Kelly
Another testament to how competitive the URC has really become
Lucky with a couple of calls but well worth the win. If Bulls utilised their possession to get their wingers/Moodie on the ball as much as Lein do, they'd be far more dangerous team with attack play to match up front stuff. That said, some scintillating stuff by us 👌🏽 #LEIvBUL
May not get the headlines like some (yet) but Jamie Osborne is and will be vital to Lein and Ire success gpin forward….absolute gem of a player #LEIvBUL
— Marcas Mac Siacais 🇪🇺🇮🇪☘️ (@hoomanbear) March 29, 2024
Can’t let the non-red card or the disallowed try discourse distract us from the fact that was an all-time awful second half.
Need to be honest with ourselves over that performance. We’ve got a good run at home now – have to see improvement.
Leinster 14 came out after the break like they were determined not to leave this match up to the bench. Amazing attacking display all round, best of season, Harry, Jordan, Jack outstanding, perfect time of year to hit form like that. Good Friday? Great one!#LEIvBUL
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 