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
JLP : On our podcasts, the superstition I like to call the “Gran’s Lamb Protocol” has been put in place where we don’t use the phrase which refers to 5 wins out of 5 on the pod until it either happens or no longer can happen. It’s partly genuine superstition, partly a bit o’ craic. That doesn’t mean I share opinions in the media from other countries however, and after that first round of matches Kitson’s assertion is pretty on the nose.
JLP : Hang on…a Leinster player praising his Munster captain? Surely not! Seriously though…this is great to see and doesn’t contradict a single thing we saw with our own eyes on the night. And as many have commented, during POM’s spell on the sideline Caelan Doris did a bang up job showing leadership as well.
JLP : Here’s a radical idea…how about extend the “mark” rule beyond the 22 all the way to the halfway line? Yeah that probably makes no sense, I literally just thought of it as I was typing, but whatever the solution I totally agree with Berch & Donal that the multiple bouts of kick tennis can be painful to watch.
JLP : When John was in his heyday I was just a wee lad myself so I can’t relate to the impact he had on the game at the time but certainly the anecdotal evidence showed what a superstar he was in Wales at the time. Sad though his passing of course is, one can hope that it might just help bring some unity across the principality that is badly needed with the sport he loved in such disarray. In a couple of weeks I will be speaking to author Seimon Williams about his book “Welsh rugby – What Went Wrong?” where we will of course have much to discuss.
JLP : Terenure v St Michael’s seems to be the pick of the bunch although Monkstown v Mary’s might actually be the closest tie, we’ll see how they pan out. From here on in all matches will be shown live on Premier Sports Ireland.
Note – views expressed in “Front Five” links do not necessarily reflect those of HarpinOnRugby
WRAP OF A WRAP
When I say how many “caps” a contributor has, it is generally with tongue in cheek, but it is worth mentioning when they reach a milestone like Conor Cronin did when he earned his 50th in wrapping the France match on Sunday evening. He and Mark Jackson, himself just back from a spell on the sidelines, did an excellent job poring over the timeline of the match, and for once I have actually remembered also to remember the preview which was done by Keego who accurately predicted an Irish win although nobody could have dreamed of a 21-point margin!!!
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…WARREN G, LINEOUTS & BONUS POINTS
Still playing around with the format for the bonus pod but this week’s changes were more on the graphic side of things – having gone with individual videos for my all-provincial panel last week I looked to retain it for this one and I’d say it worked pretty well. Conor focused on Gatland’s tactless post-match presser, Mark on Ireland’s lineout and I rehashed a bonus point theme I have been harping on for a while.
SCRUMS UP IN THE AIR
These TikTok rants are starting to go a bit longer than they probably should be, my original hope was that they should be no longer than two minutes. But that said I have to cut the cloth to suit the topic and I felt the extra bits were worth it for this one.
There was no way Racing could keep losing while holding on to 1st place in the 🔝🐱🐴 but despite slipping to 4th they’re still only a point off their Parisian rivals who have reached the summit. La Rochelle won’t feel so badly about being just six points off the pace given how their season has gone so far.
Meanwhile down at the bottom it is concerning to see names like Lyon and Montpellier in the relegation discussion but with 12 rounds to go and the way results in this league yoyo back and forth, for all we know they could still make the playoffs!
Most importantly, who’s idea was it to have a round on the opening 6N weekend? Crazy all round, and you could argue that it hurt the French Under 20s as well. But the 🔝🐱🐴 takes a breather next weekend.
Round 14
PERPIGNAN 26-5 RACING 92
OYONNAX 19-23 STADE FRANCAIS
CLÉRMONT 38-21 LYON
LA ROCHELLE 18-10 MONTPELLIER
PAU 33-44 CASTRES
TOULOUSE 46-26 BAYONNE
TOULON 32-37 BORDEAUX
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 could be wrong but I’m pretty sure I went looking for a dedicated website for the Celtic Challenge competition and it only seems to be operational in the past week or so. I also thought I was following this comp closely yet only now do I realise that it is not just a straight round robin format, in actual fact after 5 rounds the teams break into a top 3 and bottom 3 with two more matches for each to decide the placings.
All of which means the Wolfhounds v Clovers matchup on the weekend of the 24th will make for a decent final trial ahead of our upcoming 6 Nations campaign.
Now after my assertion in recent weeks that the Celtic Comp clashing with the AIL Cup wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, it will be interesting to see if these extra matches have an effect on the actual Women’s AIL which returns this weekend – as you can see the top four all avoid each other.
And in actual fact the same can be said of the men’s top division which also kicks back into gear this weekend, chances are the playoff spots there too will remain the same.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S CELTIC CHALLENGE
WOMEN’S AIL
NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND
Round 11
SAT FEB 10
SUTTONIANS V BALLINCOLLIG
COOKE V RAILWAY UNION
GALWEGIANS V UL BOHS
WICKLOW V BELVO
MEN’S AIL
NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND
ROUND 13
SAT FEB 10
CLONTARF V BALLYNAHINCH
TRINITY V CORK CON
SHANNON V LANSDOWNE
TERENURE V YOUNG MUNSTER
UCD V CITY OF ARMAGH
HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE
Kristian was keen to start up a fresh prediction league for the Six Nations so I obliged – no prizes or forfeits, just bragging right and as you can see three of us correctly predicted the three away wins from round 1.
1 Conor 5.00
2 Jeff 5.00
3 Kristian 5.00
4 Jay 4.00
5 Mark 2.00
6 Tom 1.50
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Italy are next on the agenda with the wrap pod moved to a Monday evening recording although the preview should post on Friday as normal.
As ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
Intensity ✅, performance very good but quite a few work ons eg scrum etc (perfect scenario for Faz & Co), our D Nienaberesque perhaps (happy to be proved wrong) it must have felt like a horrible cloying rash for the French, France were made to look like 💩 for long periods.
Players: the best compliment I can give Big Joe is he’s the kind of player you grudgingly admire but simultaneously hate if he’s playing against you, Jamo’s best performance for ages, Hugo continues to be class, ditto Doris and Bundee, pack as a whole performed, Robbie’s best outing for a while, Nash not really tested, Crowley solid ish but need loads of experience. JLo 🤌🏻
Bench ✅
Gavin Hegarty
Territory 49-51 and a scoreline of 17-38. Incredible.
Don’t know if France were that poor or if we just outplayed them.
And also that’s twice in two years Doris has played aldritt off the park. Simply unreal.
Kevin OCeallaigh
A terrific team performance, with some great individual efforts (Lowe, big Joe, Bundee) and good captaincy in dealing with some ‘interesting’ decisions. However, a result like that has to credited in large part to how the 10 controls the game. This was Crowleys best performance in green by a mile. Will stand to him for the rest of the 6N.
Josephine Boyd
A brilliant performance from our boys in green an excellent start to the championship.great game from our new lads on the team.☘️💚👏🏈🇮🇪.
Monica Keeler
The World cup final that should have been…hey ho..great start…keep it going lads..in my eyes the best in the world 💚
John Hyland
Watch the scrums again. Atonio was boring in and literally scrummaging vs Sheahan. Porter gets pinged again. The IRFU needs to grow a pair and present the video evidence to World rugby. Teams are obviously buying penalties against Porter. NZ got 4 key penalties in the World Cup because of it. Come on IRFU, GROW A PAIR!!
Colin McConaghie
80-85% superb. Got sloppy for 10 minutes. Biggest plus was the line out which was back to its best.
I think we can actually play better but won’t get too many better score lines than that
John O Halloran
Stunning performance, I said Ireland by5 this morning. The lineout and all round front 5 work was up a massive amount, the back 3 as abrasive as ever.
Crawley passed the pressure test ,individual decisions and discipline excellent. A lot of positives.
Wayne O’Brien
I thought we would lose narrowly. To win and by such a margin – unbelievable. Great attacking intent with room to improve by not letting teams in as was the case last night.
Jack Woods
Awesome performance. Great in defence at times. Very good start to the championship. France weren’t allowed to show their “flair” at times but it still came to the game at times.
William Andrew
Stunning win in France, ref was a homer but Ireland took him out by being so good, they made him irrelevant.
Oh if only our line out had functioned that well in the WC.
Ireland were full on for 80 and the bench came on like a pack of rabid dogs held back too long.
Celebrate those victories ✌️ they do not come around too often.
That was absolutely superb. Loads to harp on but all that needs to be said for now IMO is hats off to the whole set-up esp the new lads. #FRAvIRE#GuinnessSixNations
(2024 Guinness Under-20 Men’s Six Nations Championship):
Backs (14):
Oliver Coffey (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster) Tadhg Brophy (Naas RFC/Leinster) Will Wootton (Sale Sharks/IQ Rugby) Jake O’Riordan (UL Bohemian RFC/Munster) Jack Murphy (Clontarf FC/Leinster) Sean Naughton (Galway Corinthians RFC/Connacht) Hugo McLaughlin (Lansdowne FC/Leinster) Ethan Graham (Ballynahinch RFC/Ulster) Hugh Gavin (Galwegians RFC/Connacht) Rory Ellerby (Queen’s University Belfast RFC/Ulster) Wilhelm de Klerk (UCD RFC/Leinster) Finn Treacy (Galwegians RFC/Connacht) Stephen Kiely (Shannon RFC/Munster) Ben O’Connor (UCC RFC/Munster)
Forwards (17):
Alex Usanov (Clontarf FC/Leinster) Ben Howard (Terenure College RFC/Leinster) Danny Sheahan (Cork Constitution FC/Munster) Henry Walker (Queen’s University Belfast RFC/Ulster) Stephen Smyth (Old Wesley RFC/Leinster) Patreece Bell (Sale Sharks/IQ Rugby) Jacob Boyd (Queen’s University Belfast RFC/Ulster) Andrew Sparrow (UCD RFC/Leinster) Joe Hopes (Queen’s University Belfast RFC/Ulster) Billy Corrigan (Old Wesley RFC/Leinster) Evan O’Connell (UL Bohemian RFC/Munster) (capt) Alan Spicer (UCD RFC/Leinster) Bryn Ward (Ballynahinch RFC/Ulster) Sean Edogbo (UCC RFC/Munster) Josh Stevens (Queen’s University Belfast RFC/Ulster) Brian Gleeson (Garryowen FC/Munster) Luke Murphy (Shannon RFC/Munster)
IRELAND UNDER-20 MEN’S SIX NATIONS FIXTURES:
Saturday, February 3: France v Ireland, Stade Maurice David, Aix-en-Provence, 9.10pm local time/8.10pm Irish time Friday, February 9: Ireland v Italy, Virgin Media Park, 7.15pm Friday, February 23: Ireland v Wales, Virgin Media Park, 7.15pm Friday, March 8: England v Ireland, Recreation Ground, Bath, 7.15pm Friday, March 15: Ireland v Scotland, Virgin Media Park, 7pm
A selection of five eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the ruggersphere.
As he is Irish qualified, Burns would have additional appeal to Munster, who a few years ago had something of a logjam at ‘10′ Munster line up move for Ulster outhalf Billy Burns Gerry Thornley – Irish Times
Note – views expressed in “Front Five” links do not necessarily reflect those of HarpinOnRugby
WRAP OF A NON-WRAP
No Leinster or Ireland action last weekend so nothing to wrap which meant it was a good time for one of our “all provincial panels” where we look for some opinions on the Irish squad from outside the blue-jersey bubble. Joining me were two much-capped Harpists in Messrs Ian Frizzell & Pádraig Kelly and we also had an excellent debut from Patricia V who offered a Munster slant on things.
If you missed it, 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…CON, ULS & MUN SEASONS SO FAR
As I say in the intro, it would be rude not to have fans of the other provinces on without asking them to summarize how their respective seasons have gone so far, and thi made for a perfect bonus clip topic.
WONDERS OF THE 7s WORLD
The regular sevens update is below and this was quite a week for it, but I also wanted to harp on the code for my TikTok bit since I was a bit negative a while ago over the whole Duponte thing.
Harped last week about the Caulfield decision…as you can see in the Front Five segment the EPCR has taken up the case to restore my faith in the sport, at least until we see how the matter is finally resolved. To summarise, I reckon that since the referee can clearly be heard saying the stamp was “intentional”, IMO the final ruling has to somehow resolve this, either by cleaning it up by saying he mis-spoke or by applying the appropriate sanction because if a player intends to stamp like that on an opponents’ head, they should know this is not the port for them.
URC WRAP
Couple of extra matches down in SA throughout January which official brought the URC 23/24 regular season to the halfway stage, resuming with a top of the table clash at the RDS in mid-Feb.
ROUND 8
SHARKS 18-20 LIONS
ROUND 9
BULLS 30-28 LIONS
ROUND 10
FRI FEB 16
SCARLETS V MUNSTER
ZEBRE V EDINBURGH
SAT FEB 17
LIONS V BULLS
LEINSTER V BENETTON
SHARKS V STORMERS
CARDIFF V CONNACHT
GLASGOW WARRIORS V DRAGONS
SUN FEB 18
OSPREYS V ULSTER
“SVNS” UPDATE
Both genders got off to winning starts in Perth but then I tweeted about it which of course meant they both went on to lose their next matches so I decided it was best to stop doing that.
The rest, as you probably know, is history as both teams bounced back with two wins on the Saturday to put them in semifinals, the women overcoming Fiji and the men only falling to an Argentine squad which went on to win the whole thing and now tops the series table.
Let us be perfectly clear about what the Irish women achieved to win their final. Australia were not just firm favourites on account of being the home side. They have easily been the form team over the series so far and when Ireland weren’t able to capitalise on them putting their kickoff out on the full, Casslick’s try after 2 minutes to put them ahead seemed to be the beginning of the end for us.
But we stormed right back from the restart with great combinations that allowed Beibhinn Parsons to draw us level before a bizarre series at the end of the half when Ireland attacked their line as Australia shipped 5, yes, FIVE consecutive penalties before the referee flashed a card and even then we weren’t certain to capitalise although eventually skipper Lucy Mulhall got us an absolutely crucial score before the break.
The Aussies struck back to level things up as Levi stormed up the middle for their second converted try but some absolutely savage Irish defending around halfway forced a knockon putting us back in opposition territory before Eve Higgins nudged us back in front. This put the whole ball game on the restart and we won it back to kill the game and claim a famous victory.
We now sit in 4th on the women’s table with Australia still comfortably ahead at the top, while it’s Argentina who have the commanding lead on the men’s side and while over there Ireland are 5th, we’re actually a lot closer to second so there is a whole lot for both genders to play for when the series rolls around to Vancouver in February.
PERTH 7s
#IREW7s
POOL STAGE
USA 14-19 IRE
NZL 21-14 IRE
IRE 26-7 JPN
QF
FIJ 12-14 IRE
SF
IRE 31-7 GBR
F
AUS 14-19 IRE
#IREM7s
POOL STAGE
IRE 17-12 GB
IRE 7-26 USA
AUS 10-19 IRE
QF
IRE 21-14 FRA
SF
IRE 5-24 ARG
3rd place playoff
IRE 24-7 FIJ
NEXT IN THE SERIES…
VANCOUVER FEB 23-25
LOS ANGELES MAR 2-3
HONG KONG APR 5-7
SINGAPORE MAY 3-5
MADRID MAY 31-JUN 2
🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE
The big question here is how the hell are Racing still top when they keep losing? This time it was Toulouse overcoming them in Paris and now only 4 pts separate the top 5 with La Rochelle staying in touch with the playoff spots by their fingernails after a 7th loss of the campaign.
You might think the 🔝🐱🐴 might respect the 6mas tradition and take this coming weekend off but you’d be wrong, with Toulon v Bordeaux probably the pick of the seven matches.
Round 13
BORDEAUX 26-30 STADE FRANCAIS
BAYONNE 21-17 OYONNAX
CASTRES 20-23 CLÉRMONT
LYON 36-24 PERPIGNAN
MONTPELLIER 22-17 PAU
TOULON 25-23 LA ROCHELLE
RACING 92 20-27 TOULOUSE
Round 14
SAT FEB 3
PERPIGNAN V RACING 92
OYONNAX V STADE FRANCAIS
CLÉRMONT V LYON
LA ROCHELLE V MONTPELLIER
PAU V CASTRES
TOULOUSE V BAYONNE
SUN FEB 4
TOULON V BORDEAUX
PREMIERSHIP UPDATE
After such a successful Champions Cup pool stage, Northampton were able to ease back into the domestic comp with a handy home win over hapless Newcastle but the match everyone was walking about was the West Country derby where Bristol outlasted Bath in a shootout including a very un-Messi-like brainfart from Finn Russell towards the end.
The Saints now have a 7 point lead with 9 wins although there’s quite the chasing pack with SIX clubs all have the same won 7 lost 5 record so it’s all to play for in the next round…which doesn’t roll around until the end of March.
ROUND 11
HARLEQUINS 19-20 LEICESTER TIGERS
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS 38-13 NEWCASTLE FALCONS
BRISTOL BEARS 57-44 BATH
SARACENS 40-22 EXETER CHIEFS
GLOUCESTER 32-20 SALE SHARKS
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
Wolfhounds are on the verge of securing the Celtic Challenge title after a convincing win over the Thunder made it 4 wins from 4 and victory over the other Welsh club Gwalia Lightning next weekend will get the mostly Leinster/Ulster outfit over the line, while Edinburgh hosting the Clovers could be a contest for 2nd place although both are still mathematically in the title race.
Over in the Men’s AIL, Cork Con edged the big clash with Tarf by the point to narrow the North Dublin side’s lead at the top to just one point while Lansdowne, Terenure and Hinch all kept themselves in the playoff picture with victories.
The league takes a break for 6Mas weekend.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S CELTIC CHALLENGE
ROUND 4
GLASGOW WARRIORS 10-29 CLOVERS
WOLFHOUNDS 41-10 BRYTHON THUNDER
GWALIA LIGHTNING 19-20 EDINBURGH
ROUND 4
SAT FEB 3
EDINBURGH V CLOVERS
WOLFHOUNDS V GWALIA LIGHTNING
BRYTHON THUNDER V GLASGOW WARRIORS
MEN’S AIL
ROUND 12
BALLYNAHINCH 40-13 UCD
CITY OF ARMAGH 29-21 YOUNG MUNSTER
CORK CON 27-26 CLONTARF
LANSDOWNE 31-19 DUBLIN UNIV
SHANNON 5-31 TERENURE
ROUND 13
SAT FEB 10
CLONTARF V BALLYNAHINCH
TRINITY V CORK CON
SHANNON V LANSDOWNE
TERENURE V YOUNG MUNSTER
UCD V CITY OF ARMAGH
HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE
Just the one URC match last weekend which formally ended Round 9 – and while everyone predicted the Bulls to beat the Lions, it was actually only Keego who said it would be as close as it was so just this once he was one with bragging rights…until he saw the overall table of course. He’ll need a lot more forecasts to go his way over the second half of the season if he is to avoid retaining the Jersey of Shame.
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
It’s 6mas week and thus a busy one…on Wednesday I’ll post a special pod interview with Ball Handling Hooker looking at the latest crop of Irish Under 20 players ahead of their own Grand Slam defence, then with the big match being on Friday, our preview with Keego moves to Thursday but the wrap pod will stay in its usual slot, recording on Sunday.
As ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 