11PM – BORDEAUX V STADE FRANCAIS (REPLAY) – 🔝🐱🐴 – PREMIER SPORTS 2
SUNDAY, JANUARY 28
6AM – TOULON V LA ROCHELLE (REPLAY) – 🔝🐱🐴 – PREMIER SPORTS 2
11:15AM – MONTPELLIER V PAU (REPLAY) – 🔝🐱🐴 – PREMIER SPORTS 1
3PM – GLOUCESTER V SALE SHARKS – PREMIERSHIP – TNT SPORTS 1
8PM – RACING 92 V TOULOUSE – 🔝🐱🐴 – PREMIER SPORTS 2
MONDAY, JANUARY 29
2:45PM – ST MICHAEL’S V ST VINCENT’S – LEINSTER SCHOOL SENIOR CUP – PREMIER SPORTS 1
* paid streaming service
PRESS RELEASE
Leinster TV to stream a further five Round 1 games from Energia Park
Premier Sports coverage of the 2024 Bank of Ireland Leinster Schools Senior Cup kicks-off next Monday, 29 January 2024.
The broadcaster will show eight games live from the competition with the clash of St Michael’s College and St Vincent’s Castleknock College first up in Round 1.
The coverage gets under way from Energia Park at 2.45pm with interviews and analysis from Connor Morris and Bernard Jackman.
Leinster TV will also stream a further five Round 1 games live from Energia Park, starting with the meeting of Clongowes Wood College and Belvedere College on Sunday, 28 January 2024.
Thereafter, all four quarter-finals of the competition will be broadcast live on Premier Sports in the week commencing 18 February 2024, while both semi-finals will be scheduled live on the week beginning 3 March 2024, at the same venue.
All roads lead to the RDS Arena on St Patrick’s Day where Premier Sports will bring you live coverage of the 2024 Bank of Ireland Leinster Schools Senior Cup final – always a special occasion in the domestic rugby calendar.
“We’re delighted to continue our long standing relationship with the Bank of Ireland Leinster Schools Senior Cup” commented Premier Sports founder and owner Michael O’Rourke.
“It seems every year we get fantastic entertainment, drama and top quality matches in an ultra-competitive environment. I have no doubt this year will continue to deliver and viewers on Premier Sports will be there for the very best moments”.
Matthew Dowling, Chief Commercial Officer with Leinster Rugby said, “The Bank of Ireland Leinster Schools Senior Cup never disappoints but I think the drama that we have seen over the last few seasons has been exceptional.
“To have first time winners in Gonzaga College last year sets it up perfectly for others who will take inspiration from that and will know that they too can go on a similar journey and lift the trophy in the RDS.
“It is great to have partners such as Premier Sports on board again and delivering such a high quality offering with the level of talent they have in front of and behind the cameras. It promises to be another great season of action.”
Premier Sports is available on Sky (channels 412 & 419), Now, Virgin and Vodafone platforms.
In addition, Leinster Rugby have confirmed that five Round 1 games in the Bank of Ireland Leinster Schools Senior Cup will be available to purchase and that access can be purchased on a game by game basis or as part of a five-game bundle at www.irishrugbylive.ie.
The stream will be brought to Leinster supporters by Videos on the Net, the Wicklow based streaming and video providers, who also work closely with the IRFU.
The five additional games being streamed by Leinster Rugby are:
Sunday, 28 January 2024 Clongowes Wood College v Belvedere College at 2:30pm
Tuesday, 30 January 2024 CBC Monkstown v St Gerard’s School at 3pm
Wednesday, 31 January 2024 Newbridge College v Cistercian College, Roscrea at 3pm
Thursday, 1 February 2024 Kilkenny College v Terenure College at 3pm
Friday, 2 February 2024 St Mary’s College v Wesley College at 3pm
In a poll run by the NZ Herald…41% of readers [gave] the former Ireland head coach the thumbs up….Only 37% of readers voted for Robertson Kiwis snub Razor for Schmidt SA Rugby Mag
Note – views expressed in “Front Five” links do not necessarily reflect those of HarpinOnRugby
WRAP OF A WRAP
Thankfully we didn’t lose any actual rugby to Storm Isha but we nearly lost our wrap pod as Jay reported power outages in his area up to an hour to our recording time but he made it through and along with Rich they did a top job going back over the win at Welford Road.
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…JOE TO AUS, PREM IN CC & WHAT IS “RECKLESS”?
In our latest bonus clip we have Rich looking at some rare positive news for Australian rugby, Jay points out the success of the Premiership clubs in this season’s Champions Cup and below you see the transcript of my contribution where I harp on the continued misunderstanding when it comes to anti-concussion regulations.
RECKLESS DEFINITIONS
Well we’ve had to do a lot of rethinking of how we look at tackles over the past decade or so. From all the talk of zero tolerance which somehow reduced itself to zero over time to the bunker system trialled at the recent Rugby World Cup that seemed to work pretty well for the most part, the game’s powers that be have made several efforts to make the game safer.
And whenever I go to harp on this topic I always feel I have to point out that safety is the driving force behind these changes, because every time there’s a debate over the way a particular on-field decision is worked out, there still seems to be a lot of people out there who just can’t get that concept.
Without fail when a red card gets flashed you’ll find somebody somewhere using one of the most triggering phrases for me right now, namely “that’s a disgraceful call there’s no way that was intentional.” I really can’t get my head around just how this issue hasn’t been put to bed years ago.
Just this weekend we had at least two perfect examples of this in the final pool round of the Champions Cup, first there was a stamp by Bristol’s Josh Caulfield on the head of Connacht’s Finlay Bealham and then on Saturday evening Tom Ahern got the knee of Northampton’s Curtis Langdon to the head twice, with the second one leading to another red.
Now it might be wrong for me to choose these particular examples since in both cases the injured parties were players for Irish provinces which might make it look like I’m biased, but I have to look past that because the only way we can have a proper discussion about this is by taking the jersey colours out of the equation.
In Caulfield’s case the bulk of the disagreement stemmed from the referee’s use of the word “intentional” as he announced his final decision. This led to a flurry of reactions which implied that if there was no intent, then it couldn’t be red and that literally could not be further from the truth.
On the official list of criteria that citing commissioners use to assess foul play, there are 13 items listed in order of importance. At the top of that list is “intentional/deliberate”. But right behind it at number 2, or b to be precise, is the word “reckless”. I really hope the problem here is that people don’t know what that word means, rather than it’s that they don’t realise just how important recklessness is in determining a red card and further sanction. It’s just one below actual intent and it still leads to red.
Now the referee’s ruling for the Langdon dismissal at Thomond Park made this much, much clearer. He said QUOTE “The first contact was clearly accidental. The second one we can’t say it’s intentional, but it is reckless the player is definitely injured so it is red card.” END QUOTE Not even the French accent of Monsieur Trainini could mask this very clear explanation of the Laws and guidelines right there.
I really hope we can at least come to a point where the vast majority of those enjoying these top rugby matches appreciate what’s involved in these decisions, because while it’s bad enough to see those watching at home on their sofas not understanding, when we’re still getting it from ex-players in the media in the year 2024 it really does make you feel like you’re banging your head against a brick wall which of course leads to the very kind of injuries these sanctions are genuinely trying to avoid.
TRUST YOUR CAPTAIN
It really bugs me to see all the speculation over Peter’s contract, especially when I see it going to such lengths as to compare his situation to others suggesting there is some kind of conspiracy at work against him and/or his province. We don’t know enough, it’s none of our business, AND he is the ‘War God’ so let’s just trust him and get on with supporting the boys in green.
Nothing released at time of posting and Leinster are off until February anyway so might leave this segment aside for the next few week – besides, it’s time to start giving Irish team updates starting next Tuesday.
FOUL PLAY ‘✓’ RED CARD ‘✖’ ME ‘?’
Having referenced the Caulfield challenge in the bonus clip which was recorded Sunday, his actual hearing came just 24 hours later and the result was disappointing if not surprising.
Please don’t get me wrong – I don’t actually want to see any player banned for a long length of time but the fact remained the player was sent off for a stamp to the head which the referee clearly described as “intentional” so I was very curious to see how the final ruling would address this because if a player is judged to have intentionally stamped on the head of an opponent surely the only option is for a lengthy ban.
As you see below, instead, they just ignored that part of it altogether.
“Caulfield was sent off by the referee, Pierre Brousset (France), in the 13th minute of the match for stamping on the Connacht Rugby prop, Finlay Bealham, in contravention of Law 9.12.
The committee determined that Caulfield had committed an act of foul play, however, it found that the offence did not warrant a red card, and the red card decision was therefore overturned.”
I assumed they’d clean up the “intentional” remark like perhaps saying the ref mis-spoke and to be honest I prefer that much more to actually pretending it wasn’t said at all or at least wasn’t significant.
But on top of that, to determine it was both foul play AND not a red card is like saying 2+2=62,387 as far as I’m concerned.
How can they say this is foul play but not red card. If it’s not foul play and complete accident then play on. If It’s reckless and foul play then it has to be RC. For what it’s worth it’s a RC for me as it’s not a natural action of rucking and reckless. Glad I retired 🙈 https://t.co/VYHam8NtgL
The new look “SVNS” circuit gets back underway this weekend with the latest event in Perth. Significance of this one is that it’s over three days so teams won’t have more than two matches per day which should obviously help the fitness levels. After two rounds the women sit in 7th and the men 5th with both more than capable of moving up their respective ladders. As ever all the action will be streamed live via Rugbypass.tv.
IRELAND’S PERTH FIXTURES
FRIDAY, JANUARY 26
5:32AM – WOMEN V USA
7:51AM – MEN V GREAT BRITAIN
9:56AM – WOMEN V NEW ZEALAND
12:50PM – MEN V USA
SATURDAY, JANUARY 27
2:44AM – WOMEN V JAPAN
6:11AM – MEN V AUSTRALIA
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
Some big clashes at the top of the table as 1st plays 3rd and 2nd plays 4th in Round 13 (which is the halfway point of the regular season btw) but for me the match of the round is La Rochelle’s trip to Toulon – defeat for ROG’s men would be their 7th of the campaign and put them even further away from that elusive Brennus.
Round 13
SAT JAN 27
BORDEAUX V STADE FRANCAIS
BAYONNE V OYONNAX
CASTRES V CLÉRMONT
LYON V PERPIGNAN
MONTPELLIER V PAU
TOULON V LA ROCHELLE
SUN JAN 28
RACING 92 V TOULOUSE
PREMIERSHIP UPDATE
Northampton are arguably the form team in Europe right now and with winless Newcastle due to visit Franklin’s Gardens in round 12 they could well extend their lead at the top with many of the chasing pack playing each other.
ROUND 11
FRI JAN 26
HARLEQUINS V LEICESTER TIGERS
SAT JAN 27
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS V NEWCASTLE FALCONS
BRISTOL BEARS V BATH
SARACENS V EXETER CHIEFS
SUN JAN 28
GLOUCESTER V SALE SHARKS
AIL UPDATE
A lot of online chatter in women’s rugby has been about the postponements in the AIL Cup but to repeat an opinion I shared here a few weeks ago, I’m not altogether sure this represents another stick to beat the IRFU with necessarily.
Sure, it is far from a good look for senior clubs to be unable to field players in an official competition, but we need to remember why the competition exists in the first place.
Last season both the interpro series & WAIL were done and dusted before Christmas, definitely a “stick” as mentioned above. So this season, they turned the WAIL into a home-and-away competition AND with the expansion of the international Celtic Challenge to include an extra team, they made sure there were no league fixtures overlapping with it and instead used the cup to give the clubs some rugby in that time.
So while it is true that this ended up exposing the lack of available players, I would argue that it was done with the best intentions, while adding that it is certainly not MY intention to defend the IRFU for the sake of it.
In this case, just to be devil’s advocate if nothing else, I’d suggest maybe they tried to offer more competitive rugby but just overshot the mark.
Anyway…back to the Celtic Challenge, and after a week off it returns to action with the table-topping Wolfhounds hosting Brython Thunder while the Colvers must travel to Glasgow. Live coverage will be on RugbyPass.tv again.
Over on the men’s side, Tarf slipped up at home to Lansdowne allowing the chasing pack to catch up and with Hinch narrowly losing out to the Cookies it means the top four are starting to see some daylight. Pick of the next round is an easy one with the top two going at it down in Cork.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S CELTIC CHALLENGE
ROUND 4
SAT JAN 27
GLASGOW WARRIORS V CLOVERS
WOLFHOUNDS V BRYTHON THUNDER
SUN JAN 28
GWALIA LIGHTNING V EDINBURGH
MEN’S AIL
ROUND 11
CITY OF ARMAGH 13-37 TERENURE
CLONTARF 26-29 LANSDOWNE
TRINITY 38-9 SHANNON
UCD 24-34 CORK CON
YOUNG MUNSTER 26-25 BALLYNAHINCH
ROUND 12
SAT JAN 27
BALLYNAHINCH V UCD
CITY OF ARMAGH V YOUNG MUNSTER
CORK CON V CLONTARF
LANSDOWNE V DUBLIN UNIV
SHANNON V TERENURE
CHALLENGE CUP UPDATE
Even with the round of 16 pairing being decided after round 4 the highlight for me was the news from Tblisi as Black Lion may have fallen at the final hurdle and missed out on further progress but still that 17k attendance for the visit of Clérmont certainly caught the eye.
And while we’re at the bottom end of the competition we really have to mention the demise of the Scarlets this season, for a club that won a major title as relatively recently as 2017 it’s a real disappointment to see them struggling in both competitions now.
So anyway back to the competition itself, like I said there are now 16 left in contention with four dropping down from the Champions Cup which included both Ulster and Connacht, both of which face tricky challenges away to 🔝🐱🐴 opposition.
Personally I’m looking at that bracket and wondering if Benetton aren’t worth a sneaky bet to win it all?
ROUND 4
GLOUCESTER 35-5 CASTRES
SCARLETS 19-31 EDINBURGH
BLACK LION 3-36 CLÉRMONT
PAU 28-27 ZEBRE
OYONNAX 28-27 CHEETAHS
BENETTON 27-19 MONTPELLIER
PERPIGNAN 23-32 NEWC ASTLE
LIONS 28-38 OSPREYS
DRAGONS 9-29 SHARKS
Georgian Rugby on the up ⬆️
More than 17,000 fans were in attendance in Tbilisi, Georgia as Black Lion took on French giants Clermont in Challenge Cup on Saturday 🔥
Black Lion already beat the Scarlets away in round 2 by 23-7 💥
Time to hang up the blue jersey for a bit and go back to the green, in fact I’ll have to take the time to go change the logos on all the social media channels too. On Sunday evening with no wrap pod I will instead be having fans from Ulster, Connacht & Munster on to look at Ireland’s Six Nations chances, and while I have them it would probably be rude not to ask them to harp on their own provinces a bit too.
We should have some other content floating around as well so keep tabs with any or all of our social media channels and please comment, like, share & subscribe whenever the mood takes you.
As ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
20 January 2024; Joe McCarthy of Leinster celebrates after scoring his side’s first try during the Investec Champions Cup Pool 4 Round 4 match between Leicester Tigers and Leinster at Mattioli Woods Welford Road in Leicester, England. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
At this rate, Caelan Doris will be getting World Rugby Player of the Year…… Unbelievable in all aspects of his game currently. ☘️💪🏉👏
Jamie Bermingham
Good win and great going getting the BP at the end. We really seem at times to be pushing the physical game this season, as a way to show we can deal with it
Eamon Phelan
Good win harry byrne struggled in forts 10 mins when Leicester were on top after that class . Very good team with loads of options from a jealous Munster fan
Andrew Byrne
I can’t be the only person who is this excited to see just how high the ceiling is for Joe McCarthy…still just 22 years old and he’s playing like an old master. I feel like we are witnessing the start of something special here.
Michaela Monaghan
Can’t believe we’re playing Leicester again In round 16!!
Brian Corr
I thought they showed great determination to chase the bonus point, in the past they’ve kicked out on 80 mins happy with what they got, fair play to Leicester for also trying to get the losing bonus and the ref for not blowing up straight after their knock on.
Leinsters big squad is showing its true value and they’ve shown players stepping in and out doesn’t make much difference
Kevin OCeallaigh
The first time in a long time that I’ve seen true grit, determination and old-school grind by a Leinster side to get that bonus point on 85 minutes. Lowe was imperious in the air. Henshaw looked to be back to where we know he can be, and McCarthy just gets better and better. What a great game!
Bernie Cunningham
Great performance 27 unanswered points after going behind by 10. Lads were brill
I had to head out the door the second Doris got his iconic BP try and couldn’t tweet at the FT whistle like I normally do but Whiff of Cordite pretty much said what I would have…
Great away day stuff from Leinster. Doris’ turnover on 5m line broke Leicester. Counter ruck the difference, it’s really working for Leinster this season especially in these sorts of dogfights. Joe Mc, Lowe, Doris all with huge performances. Hope Harry’s ok – played well.
The news will be a big blow for both La Rochelle and France as the 26-year-old has been in impressive form since his return from the World Cup campaign. Pierre Bourgarit set to miss France’s Six Nations campaign Frank Nickson – Talking Rugby Union
Note – views expressed in “Front Five” links do not necessarily reflect those of HarpinOnRugby
WRAP OF A WRAP
Had a go at our new wrap format this weekend having switched the Front Five segment over to this column as you see above. It certainly gave us more time to harp on our feature match and as ever Conor & Tom did a bang up job getting it done.
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.
NEW LOOK BONUS CLIP
The bonus clip also got a mini makeover; instead of three of us harping on one topic we will now each bring our own chosen subjects for a brief rant. I’ve posted the transcript from my Duponte bit below FWIW.
A TONY BRIDGE TOO FAR?
2024 is an Olympic year and of course it has been great for rugby to have been included as a discipline even if it is the shortened sevens version of the game.
And from an Irish point of view we have both genders taking part in the tournament in Paris and going by the way both have played so far on the world circuit there’s every possibility for us to be in contention for a medal or two all going well.
But what I’d like to harp on here is the decision to include Antione Duponte in the French squad for the tournament. Obviously there are many benefits for this…France will certainly want to do well on their own patch especially given how the World Cup turned out. And anyone who watched the Ulster Toulouse game on Saturday evening will know he is still very much at the top of his game and given how he can create space from nothing on a pitch with 30 bodies on it, you can only imagine how he’d tear it up in sevens so when the Games are actually taking place at the end of July it should be a good advertisement for all forms of the sport.
For me though, none of those positives outweigh the downsides. Obviously for this I have to take off both my Leinster and Ireland hats because the fact that he will be unavailable for both the Six Nations and the business end of the Champions Cup certainly won’t hurt our chances at all. But with an overall rugby supporters hat on, you really do want the best players available for all the top matches and as exciting as all as the sevens code may be, surely the fifteens version has to trump it every time.
Then there’s the fact that Duponte parachuting into the French sevens squad means that someone who has been involved with sevens regularly for the past while is likely to miss out. I have also heard talk of Irish fifteens stars like Nick Timoney doing likewise and while the addition of talent like that would certainly help our chances, the actual Irish sevens men’ squad has become quite settled over the past few seasons and given these players are being denied the opportunity to achieve the honours afforded by playing for provinces, for any to also miss out on a medal chance just doesn’t sit well with me.
Of course on the women’s side the issue is even bigger since they don’t even need the Olympics to deprive the senior fifteens squad of the best available players. I could be wrong but you have to assume our last place finish in the 2023 Six Nations could have been avoided with the likes of Beibhinn Parsons and Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe involved.
At the end of the day there’s no disputing that seven into fifteen just doesn’t go evenly in every sense. The best way forward has to be to keep them apart and prioritise the version of the sport that came first.
FORMAT REFORM
I’m wary of doing these TikToks just to go along with popular views on rugby matters so this week I have gone with the (admittedly not exactly sexy) topic of Champions Cup format reform. Again I have included the transcript.
With the final round of Champions Cup pool matches coming up I suppose it’s time to have another crack at addressing the much debated issue of the format, but for this I actually don’t agree with what seems to be the popular opinion.
Having said that I should probably start by pointing out that I’m not exactly a fan of the current method either, I just disagree with what most people are finding wrong with it. Judging by comments on social media it seems that the biggest flaw of the current system is the fact that you can lose three of your four pool matches and still qualify for the knockouts.
Personally I don’t think that’s as ridiculous as you might think. For one thing, under the round robin pools of four everyone is saying we should go back to, you weren’t trying to get into the last 16 it was the last 8 and besides, teams still have qualified for the quarterfinals winning just 3 of their 6 pool matches for example in 2016 Exeter actually topped their pool despite three losses so it’s not like your record had to be all that perfect.
But more importantly we have to remember that the last 16 stage is actually replacing rounds 5 and 6 from the pools in the old method. So instead of up to 24 matches a lot of which are dead rubbers, we now actually have 8 matches all of which are straight knockout rugby and even if you did qualify with just one win, you most certainly aren’t guaranteed an easy task for getting any further.
But look like I said, I’m not wild about the current way myself so I won’t try to defend it anymore than that, what I will say is that we need to be clear on what is actually causing the problem. The domestic leagues, specifically the English & French ones, just don’t seem to be willing to give back the extra weekends required to go back to the old way so until that happens, we’re bound to be having this debate every season whatever way they structure this competition.
All I’m saying is that if there is to be a change it needs to one that fixes issues that were even there in the format during the so-called golden years, like the fact that teams have always been forced to choose between the continental and domestic fixtures when it comes to picking their strongest sides.
Until that happens it seems pointless arguing over the format, we might as well focus on the actual rugby-related questions like can anyone stop Toulouse and Bordeaux, can La Rochelle overcome their shaky start and, of course, can Leinster finally get that fifth star?
[Besides, debating formats is just boring]
LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE
It goes without saying the uncertainty over both Harry and Ciarán is a major concern for Leinster, nothing at all against Sam Prendergast but the hope is that at least one will be available for what could be a tricky outing at Welford Road. Elsewhere it was great to see the likes of Ryan, Lowe and Furlong get through the Aviva match unscathed, though the section at the bottom of the update still looks far from ideal.
Porter, Sheehan, Furlong, McCarthy, Ryan, Baird, van der Flier, Doris
Kelleher, Healy, Ala’alatoa, Molony, Conan, McGrath, Frawley/Prendergast/Tector, O’Brien T
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:
James Ryan: came through the game against Stade Francais with no issues and will be available for selection this week
INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:
Harry Byrne: picked up an ankle injury at training and will be further assessed this week before a final decision is made on selection
Ciarán Frawley: picked up a rib injury during the Stade Francis game and will be further assessed this week before a final decision is made on selection
INJURY UPDATE – UNAVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
Michael Milne: picked up a calf injury last week and will be unavailable for selection this week
NO FURTHER UPDATES ON:
Jimmy O’Brien (neck), Martin Moloney (bicep), Alex Soroka (foot), Charlie Ngatai (calf), Cormac Foley (shoulder), Ross Byrne (arm) and Jamie Osborne (shoulder)
LRZ TO USA
News is only breaking as I’m posting this column so haven’t had much time to react with any more than the tweet blow plus the realization that Welsh rugby seems to be in an even worse state than once thought. If they had won a RWC or Grand Slam in the past year or so I wonder if he’d be even considering “doing a Christian Wade”. Interesting POV from Harpin contributor Mark Jackson too.
I knew LRZ had a shot at starting for the Lions, I just didn't think it could be Detroit.
The Leinster-heavy Wolfhounds won in Glasgow to keep them at the top of the Celtic Challenge table as the competition goes into a bye weekend. The Clovers made it another Irish double as they edged the Lightning.
Meanwhile in the men’s AIL the top 5 were kept apart in Round 10 and all won which has of course opened up something of a gap in the middle of the table. The Dublin derby at Castle Avenue between Clontarf and Lansdowne has to be the pick of round 11.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S CELTIC CHALLENGE
ROUND 3
GLASGOW WARRIORS 12-40 WOLFHOUNDS
CLOVERS 19-17 GWALIA LIGHTNING
BRYTHON THUNDER 17-22 EDINBURGH
ROUND 4
SAT JAN 27
GLASGOW WARRIORS V CLOVERS
WOLFHOUNDS V BRYTHON THUNDER
SUN JAN 28
GWALIA LIGHTNING V EDINBURGH
MEN’S AIL
ROUND 10
LANSDOWNE 30-26 UCD
BALLYNAHINCH 36-10 CITY OF ARMAGH
SHANNON 20-24 CLONTARF
TERENURE 26-17 DUBLIN UNIV
CORK CON 23-13 YOUNG MUNSTER
ROUND 11
SAT DEC 23
CITY OF ARMAGH V TERENURE
CLONTARF V LANSDOWNE
TRINITY V SHANNON
UCD V CORK CON
YOUNG MUNSTER V BALLYNAHINCH
CHALLENGE CUP UPDATE
No second win for Black Lion yet and it looks like they’ll need to beat Clérmont in round 4 to make the knockout stages but anything is possible. Gloucester & Montpellier remain the only unbeaten sides with the latter’s trip to Benetton seeming to be the pick of the ties for the next round, unless of course the Top 14 outfit decide their home match against Pau the following weekend is more important, which I have a feeling they will.
ROUND 3
NEWCASTLE 18-57 BENETTON
OSPREYS 25-3 PERPIGNAN
SHARKS 38-7 OYONNAX
CLÉRMONT 38-17 SCARLETS
ZEBRE 20-17 DRAGONS
CASTRES 28-6 BLACK LION
EDINBURGH 20-21 GLOUCESTER
MONTPELLIER 13-3 LIONS
CHEETAHS 20-33 PAU
ROUND 4
FRI JAN 19
GLOUCESTER V CASTRES
SCARLETS V EDINBURGH
SAT JAN 20
BLACK LION V CLÉRMONT
PAU V ZEBRE
OYONNAX V CHEETAHS
BENETTON V MONTPELLIER
SUN JAN 21
PERPIGNAN V NEWC ASTLE
LIONS V OSPREYS
DRAGONS V SHARKS
HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE
No URC matches for a few weeks but given I’m still top of the league I don’t mind if I keep publishing the table any chance I get!!!
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Next up for us is of course Leinster’s trip to Leicester next weekend, Kino will join me for a preview on Friday then the wrap pod will be recorded Sunday evening. Keep up with all the latest happenings on our social media channels and please help us by commenting, liking, sharing & subscribing wherever you can.
As ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
13 January 2024; James Lowe of Leinster dives over to score his side’s first try during the Investec Champions Cup Pool 4 Round 3 match between Leinster and Stade Francais at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
Wasn’t the strongest display V poorish opposition tbh. The pure world class of each individual player was clear but as a collective it lacked overall. I’m forever impressed by the strength, skill and athleticism of Baird, McCarthy and especially Doris…… Next week away V Tigers SHOULD be a proper test of where we are currently.
Jamie Bermingham
Looks like the team are still adjusting to a new play style, seeing flashes of great plays but also a lot of silly mistakes and errors. I’m going to hold judgement till later in the season, that being said we may just be holding back till the business end.
Gav Heg
Quite disappointed that we didn’t nil them. We should easily have topped 60 here but we’re let down by stupid and unforced mistakes. It could be put down to an adjustment period but we lacked the ability to just finish moves off.
Ringrose should have been motm but Doris also deserving. I felt sorry for Baird that he didn’t go over after that colossal run.
Can’t help but feel that a decent would have picked is apart. For Leicester we need a far better performance.
Johnny McGovern
Frawley in Leinster is jinxed …Is he robust enough for professional rugby ? I could say unlucky but he just isn’t …happening too often – he actually took two knocks during the game tonight and seemed to have effected his vision. The physios checked one eye and the second issue was the heavy tackle he took . I didn’t see the end of the tackle but he was in bits . Leo said he got a knee in the back which then spasmed but the tackler must have connected with his kidneys . Not a great Leinster performance given a very poor SF team .
Andrew Bailey
Let’s not get carried away. Given the selections – the result was a formality ((When is the last time there has been a decent contest in the Aviva group game). Sloppy game punctuated by mistakes and aimless kicking. The return of Lowe a huge positive. Lineout improvement once Ryan on the pitch marked. Just worry about sluggish performances by so many
Was really pulling for a zero there because the D deserved it but while far from perfect against a second string Stade that was a decent enough job done. Still much to work on but biggest concern Frawley's injury. Doris rightful PotM, congrats to Luke on 200. #LEIvSTF
A selection of five eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the ruggersphere.
“If it wasn’t for O’Mahony’s age profile and rumours of a departure, they would be neck and neck in the race; but you would have to favour the lanky Leinster lock to pip it at the death” Farrell’s New Year Headache is Selecting A New Captain Caolán Scully – CaolánSRugby
Note – views expressed in “Front Five” links do not necessarily reflect those of HarpinOnRugby
NEW WRAP UNWRAPPED
As you can see above, we’ll be doing things a little differently at Harpin Manor in 2024. The wrap pod from now on will be just that…a pod wrapping the latest Leinster & Ireland fixture and the “Front Five” feature will return to a written format, appearing at the tart of this column each week.
I started the Front 5 way back in July 2014 and it was a daily post which helped with regular content and also helped keep me up to date with issues outside my chosen remit. I chose to keep it when I switched to a pod format but I reckon it’s better to launch straight into the subject matter so this seems to be a logical resting place for it, although with more and more publications putting themselves behind firewalls we’ll see how long interesting links remain accessible!
HARPIN’ ON…MOST VIEWED VID OF 2023
We will still have a “bonus clip” segment in our wrap recordings except rather than me choosing a topic I’m going to let my guests harp on things they’d like to discuss.
The videos will remain in this portion of the 80+ column so for this week I will share the video which got by far the most views over the past year, namely my thoughts on the Jean Kleyn situation which I’m assuming got shared around the Springbok fan base.
SENSIBLE V SILLY TIK TOK
Since I’ve had a TikTok account I have seen a lot of different types of post; some I find hilarious but others kind of make me cringe. One of the latter for me is the “talking to myself” style so to announce the return from my “mini break” I decided to make my own. You probably think it is just as cringeworthy as any other and I wouldn’t argue as that is kind of the point!
The scene is meant to be between two versions of myself, a “sensible” one and a “silly” one – and this is actually symbolic of my general approach to content production, part of me wants to be a straight laced presenter while another can’t resist dad jokes and such. So in a way this format worked, but as I say, it will more than likely be the first AND last time I ever use it. I’m also a bit annoyed I fucked up the subtitles in a couple of places but let’s just say I’m not losing any sleep!!!
Thanks for all who gave positive feedback anyway though!
“Number of months” are obviously the last words you want to see in an injury update, particularly at the midpoint of a season which could very well mean yours is all but over. Jimmy O’Brien and Martin Moloney both got that horrible news over the holidays, the former would have of course been heavily involved in the plans for both Leinster and Ireland while Moloney is probably cursing his luck even more as he has yet to appear for Leinster after returning from a previous spell on the sidelines which began just as he broke into the team.
The “no further updates” section is also full of players who would feature heavily in Leinster’s plans but as you can see from the “x” below there was some extra good news announced after the update was published…
Good news for Leinster and Ireland – James Lowe and Tadhg Furlong are both in line to return against Stade Francais on Saturday.
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 – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:
James Ryan: was withdrawn before the game against Ulster Rugby as a precaution and will be further assessed this week before a final decision is made on selection
INJURY UPDATE – UNAVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
Jimmy O’Brien: has picked up a neck injury and will be unavailable for a number of months
Martin Moloney: has picked up a bicep injury and will be unavailable for a number of months
Alex Soroka: picked up a foot injury in training last week and will be unavailable for selection this week
NO FURTHER UPDATES ON:
Charlie Ngatai (calf), Cormac Foley (shoulder), Ross Byrne (arm) and Jamie Osborne (shoulder)
THE MIDDLE AISLE
This is the “middle aisle” portion of the column where I will briefly harp on issues of the day, or at least it will be from next week – that TikTok involved so much work I really don’t have the time right now to delve into much else!
URC IRISH SHIELD UPDATE
I know there will be no more URC interpros until May, but I thought I’d post the state of play one last time before that as it is so well poised.
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 Sevens circuit is still on a break but I’ll still post the update to remind us all how things stand. Big year for the Irish programme of course with the Olympics in July also on the schedule.
NEXT IN THE SERIES…
PERTH JAN 26-28
VANCOUVER FEB 23-25
LOS ANGELES MAR 2-3
HONG KONG APR 5-7
SINGAPORE MAY 3-5
MADRID MAY 31-JUN 2
🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE
From a Leinster POV the drab draw for Stade catches the eye and makes me wonder just how much they will prioritise their Champions Cup campaign over the coming weeks after 2 defeats from 2 and a trip to 2nd place Bayonne next up at home.
Racing held off Castres in a shootout to stay top while La Rochelle moved closer to the playoff spots by winning at Pau, and have to overcome Premiership opposition over the next two weeks if they are to also revive their Champions Cup hopes.
Round 12
SAT JAN 6
PAU 20-29 LA ROCHELLE
PERPIGNAN 27-12 OYONNAX
BORDEAUX 24-23 BAYONNE
STADE FRANCAIS 14-14 CLÉRMONT
RACING 92 34-30 CASTRES
TOULOUSE 45-0 LYON
MONTPELLIER 27-17 TOULON
Round 13
SAT JAN 27
BORDEAUX V STADE FRANCAIS
BAYONNE V OYONNAX
CASTRES V CLÉRMONT
LYON V PERPIGNAN
MONTPELLIER V PAU
TOULON V LA ROCHELLE
SUN JAN 28
RACING 92 V TOULOUSE
PREMIERSHIP UPDATE
Northampton stay top after an impressive win at Exeter, and will probably stay their after the next round with lowly Newcastle coming to Franklin’s Gardens. Sale fell out of the playoff places after getting done at home by Bristol. After 11 rounds, 70% of the league have more wins than losses so there are many twists and turns left.
ROUND 11
SALE SHARKS 14-22 BRISTOL BEARS
NEWCASTLE FALCONS 3-24 HARLEQUINS
EXETER 36-42 NORTHAMPTON SAINTS
LEICESTER TIGERS 19-10 SARACENS
BATH 17-10 GLOUCESTER
ROUND 11
FRI JAN 26
HARLEQUINS V LEICESTER TIGERS
SAT JAN 27
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS V NEWCASTLE FALCONS
BRISTOL BEARS V BATH
SARACENS V EXETER CHIEFS
SUN JAN 28
GLOUCESTER V SALE SHARKS
AIL UPDATE
Both Irish clubs were victorious in round 2 of the Celtic Challenge but the Welsh franchise Gwalia Lightning are top of the table and visit the Clovers next. The Leinster-heavy Wolfhounds side will aim to keep their 100% record intact when they travel to Glasgow and all games are available to watch for free on RugbyPass.tv
Meanwhile the new competition has put pressure on the Women’s AIL clubs – while there are no league fixtures while it’s on, there is an “All-Ireland Women’s Cup” and Old Belvedere of all teams found themselves unable to put out a side to face Galwegians in Round 1 and had to concede the match points.
I like to consider myself an ally to those pushing for the IRFU bringing the standards up to where they should be but in this one case I’m not sure it really counts as another stick to beat them with. The Celtic Challenge seems to be a net positive and given it has to be run in conjunction with other unions, there was always going to be a chance it would affect the clubs. Last year, the complaints were that the clubs didn’t have enough matches (and this was correct as the AIL was done and dusted by Christmas) so while the Belvo concession clearly demonstrates there is still a long way to go, I’d still hope at least we’re heading in a decent general direction.
Meanwhile the men’s AIL is back this week while the Bateman Cup final was retained by Terenure (who had arguably their best social media team announcement yet see below) after they overcame Young Munster and with lowly Trinity visiting Lakelands next in the league, they have every chance to climb further.
Ballynahinch will need another win over their Ulster rivals City of Armagh to stay in touch with the top four while leaders Clontarf make the trip to Shannon.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S CELTIC CHALLENGE
ROUND 2
EDINBURGH 17-27 WOLFHOUNDS
CLOVERS 20-5 BRYTHON THUNDER
GWALIA LIGHTNING 36-19 GLASGOW WARRIORS
ROUND 3
SAT JAN 13
GLASGOW WARRIORS V WOLFHOUNDS
SUN JAN 14
CLOVERS V GWALIA LIGHTNING
BRYTHON THUNDER V EDINBURGH
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
BATEMAN CUP FINAL
TERENURE 22-15 YOUNG MUNSTER
ROUND 10
FRI JAN 12
LANSDOWNE V UCD
SAT DEC 16
BALLYNAHINCH V CITY OF ARMAGH
SHANNON V CLONTARF
TERENURE V DUBLIN UNIV
CORK CON V YOUNG MUNSTER
Bully’s got a special prize in store this week… but you’re going to have to be in Lakeland’s tomorrow to see what it is 👀🏆 Here’s your 23 man squad who will take to the field at 2:30 on Saturday on a quest for back to back Bateman Cups 🎯 #Onwardspic.twitter.com/zmGX54AVuy
Not many eyes in the wider rugby world fall on the Challenge Cup but those that do will no doubt be on Black Lion’s progress…the 5 match points they already have could well be enough to see them into the knockouts but who’s to say they won’t get more? This weekend they go to Castres who could well be putting more focus on their domestic standing.
ROUND 3
FRI JAN 12
NEWCASTLE V BENETTON
SAT JAN 13
OSPREYS V PERPIGNAN
SHARKS V OYONNAX
CLÉRMONT V SCARLETS
ZEBRE V DRAGONS
CASTRES V BLACK LION
EDINBURGH V GLOUCESTER
MONTPELLIER V LIONS
SUN JAN 14
CHEETAHS V PAU
HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE
Just the one URC match last weekend and the only HPL combatants to predict that the Lions would win at the Sharks were Kristian, who leapfrogged Kino into 3rd, and…wait for it…KEEGO!!! Still can’t see him making up the gap to avoid keeping the Jersey of Shame though, even if we aren’t quite yet at the halfway stage of the season.
I’m considering adding a “cup competition” to the HPL starting in Round 10 but I’ll let you know when it gets closer to the time.
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Right that’s it for now, great to be back to whatever “normal” is. The Rugby on TV feature returns as it’s regular stand alone post on Thursday, then Keego will join me for Friday’s preview of the visit of Stade while our new-look wrap pod will feature Tom & Conor recording on Sunday evening.
As ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 