A WEEKLY COLUMN LOOKING AT TOPICS BEYOND THE SCOPE
OF OUR FEATURE MATCH OF THE WEEK
WRAP OF A WRAP
Sadly another defeat to harp on but still Messrs Mifsud & Long did a great job putting the match into perspective, even though with the Sunday kickoff we didn’t get to do a full rewatch before recording, although I’ not sure we really wanted to anyway!
The bonus clip is back this week and Rich, Jay and myself had a look an Leinster’s prospects for the coming season, especially when factoring all the changes in their leadership group.
STOP POLISHING THE 3RD
I harp on this every four years, this time I’m doing it in TikTok form.
For the record, here’s a list of the 3rd place playoffs there have been so far…
Needless to say this has taken a lot of oxygen on twitter since Saturday’s semifinal, and since there is an ongoing investigation I suppose I shouldn’t be throwing more fuel on the fire, but I do have queries…
“We can confirm that we are formally reviewing the allegation made by England’s Tom Curry’s in relation to the use of discriminatory language during the England versus South Africa Rugby World Cup 2023 semi-final on Saturday.”
So goes the World Rugby statement. HOWEVER…I think an important distinction needs to be made here. Does the word “allegation” mean just his question to the ref on the pitch that was picked up on the mic, or has he or England Rugby made a formal one since the match was over?
If it’s the latter, then to my mind things would be working as they should. BUT – if, as I suspect, this is only happening because the media picked up on something we just happened to overhear then we’re in a completely different territory.
Again, I have no idea what actually happened, and I freely admit that my on-pitch Springbok vernacular is more than rusty, but going by the information I have so far, AP Cronje’s suggestion seems a much more plausible explanation than that which the media is using to generate headlines and clicks.
Plus, as it turns out, in researching AP’s twitter timeline I have gotten an answer to my question above…
Whatever the outcome of the WR investigation (and from what I have seen I think the evidence is pretty clear), I think it’s important to remember two things:
1) Players should feel empowered to speak up if they feel they have been racially abused.
Speaking of Twitter/X, I got myself into a spot of bother last week.
With it being the first round of matches in this season’s URC, on Thursday and Friday we had the first round of matchday squad announcements from the 16 clubs. And one or two tried to get, let’s just say, maybe a little too creative with their graphic designs, Ospreys and Sharks in particular.
I can’t remember what exactly I was doing when I decided to give my opinion but whatever it was it clearly didn’t allow me to think clearly about how I was wording my response…
Dear club social media ppl…
Please. Just. List. The. Team.
No bells, no whistles, no patterns, no mad innovations…
There are plenty of other announcements to get creative with, here we just want the 23 names in a simple format so we can talk about that, not the graphic.
As you can see many agreed with me but still many others, mostly from AIL clubs (totally understandable they thought I was referring to them as I did not make it clear) took exception. And the most surprised to read my opinion was the Terenure College RFC social media folks, who must have wondered why I appeared to have done a 180 after praising their “Aertel” homage a few weeks ago.
Once more, this was all totally my fault for not making myself clear. Simply putting “URC” ahead of “clubs” would have avoided all the confusion. I must do better, and I mean that sincerely.
Just to be clear, I have ironically made a graphic of my own to show presentations I think are perfect and those I think are, well, not so much.
And going back to Terenure for a moment, I did like their response when they thought I was having a pop at them…
…just to be clear, I do know we’re only talking about graphics which is hardly the most important topic in the world but this column is for all kinds of topics that normally fall through the cracks when I focus mostly on Leinster & Ireland matches!!!!
LIONS DEN, AND NOW
With the World Cup almost over, the next rugby event on a 4-year cycle that is to start creeping into the headlines is of course the Lions, who go to Australia this time around.
Talk of banning or at least greatly reforming the tour has been going on for years and years now (at least a decade as this 2013 Harpin op-ed from @curates_egg shows) and while I always enjoy the debates and selections and matches when they happen, my views are pretty much in line with Hugh Gordon’s in his tweet below.
My vaguely controversial rugby take is that I think the B&I Lions tours, while fun, have had their day. It's a format that just entrenches playing the same teams all the time, many fans don't really feel much of a connection to it, and tbh I'd rather Ireland just do a summer tour
For me the best arguments in favour would be 1) it would be a shame to end the tours from the POV of the cross-border fan alliances that tend to travel, like the one that formed for the 2017 tour which had their adventures greatly described by Michelle Tobin here on Harpin, and also there’s an argument to be made that the game in Australia really needs this kind of exposure right now given all that is happening there on and off the pitch.
W.XV UPDATE
I covered Ireland’s latest WXV match on the pod, here’s the transcript…
When it comes to Ireland’s performance in this 64 to 3 win over Colombia, while the scoreline may not have reached the heights of last week’s century of points against Kazahstan, Scott Bemand’s side still dominated throughout with the back row of Grace Moore, Edel McMahon and Brittany Hogan particularly impressive as the ten tries were evenly spread throughout the team with only Neve Jones and Beibhinn Parsons getting more than one. As ever John Birch does an excellent job relating the particulars of the match for Scrumqueens.
And when it comes to Ireland’s standing in this WXV3 tournament in Dubai, while the two big wins certainly puts them in a strong position to finish 1st and earn promotion to the second tier for next year, they will surely find Spain a much bigger challenge in their final match next weekend.
But as ever is the case with the Irish women’s team of late, we still have to wonder about the broader picture and unfortunately even scoring over a point a minute in two matches raises at least many questions as it answers.
One of the top reasons for Ireland playing in the third tier of this competition is that we finished last in the 2023 Six Nations when many of our top players were sent to play Sevens instead, and while that did pay some dividends with Olympic Qualification plus a respectable 5th place finish in the World Series, you have to wonder if even that can generate as much interest in the women’s game as does putting out our strongest team in XVs.
And we’ll be in very much the same situation in 2024, with the Hong Kong Sevens falling right in the middle of the Six Nations, plus the decent chance of achieving a medal in the Paris Olympics, making for more big selection decisions to come.
But for now anyway, Ireland’s focus is only on that decider against Spain next weekend, it kicks off at 2pm on Saturday with free streaming available on RugbyPass.tv and hopefully the Irish rugby family will be able to give them our full support.
WXV3 – Round 2
KAZAKHSTAN 18-12 KENYA
SPAIN 26-19 FIJI
IRELAND 64-3 COLOMBIA
Round 3
FRI OCT 27
KAZAKHSTAN V FIJI
KENYA V COLOMBIA
SAT OCT 28
IRELAND V SPAIN (2PM IRISH TIME)
🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE
You certainly can’t blame the 🔝🐱🐴 for pushing a whole round of matches to the Sunday in the hope that there might be ongoing celebrations in the country from the night before, but alas like Ireland it was not to be for France so they return to their domestic programme after a quick burst of three matches towards the end of August.
Our “Eurowatch” series will return from next week where we keep an eye on all Leinster’s opponents and it’s different this year with the format change – instead of two we now have four teams to cover, and on the French side of things we certainly won’t have it easy against league leaders Stade Francais plus our old pals La Rochelle.
Round 4
SUN OCT 29
BAYONNE V STADE FRANCAIS
PERPIGNAN V PAU
LYON V CLÉRMONT
MONTPELLIER V RACING 92
TOULON V OYONNAX
LA ROCHELLE V CASTRES
TOULOUSE V BORDEAUX
PREMIERSHIP UPDATE
I was a bit hasty having a quiet chuckle about Saracens’ poor start to the season and rightly got what I deserved when Leinster went down in Glasgow (hopefully it isn’t some kind of Castore curse), still it is strange seeing them at the bottom of the Premiership even if it is only after two rounds.
Leinster’s Euro opponents played each other with Sale prevailing and things don’t get any easier for Leicester Tigers this week as they must go to the 100% leaders Bath.
ROUND 2
NEWCASTLE 14-18 GLOUCESTER
NORTHAMPTON 27-33 BRISTOL
SARACENS 16-25 BATH
LEICESTER 17-24 SALE
HARLEQUINS 22-14 EXETER
ROUND 3
FRI OCT 27
GLOUCESTER V SARACENS
SAT OCT 28
BRISTOL V HARLEQUINS
EXETER CHIEFS V SALE SHARKS
BATH V LEICESTER
SUN OCT 29
NEWCASTLE V NORTHAMPTON
AIL UPDATE
As of Tuesday morning the IrishRugby site was yet to update the AIL tables & results so I had to wing it a bit with the update this week, but for what I can gather the big winners in the Women’s AIL were UL Bohs, who overcame Champions Rock to stay top of the league, and Belvo, who despite having to play twice in just a few days managed a full 10 match points to climb into 3rd.
Meanwhile on the men’s side of things champions Terenure won’t be happy having been nilled at home by Cork Con while Lansdowne made it three 5-pointers out of 3 with a decent win at home over Hinch. And a very honourable mention must go to newly promoted City of Armagh who got themselves a fine first win in the top flight away to Shannon.
The Energia AILs take a weekend off before resuming on the weekend of November 4.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S AIL
Round 4
OLD BELVEDERE 31-5 SUTTONIANS
Round 5
UL BOHS 29-10 BLACKROCK
COOKE 0-44 SUTTONIANS
GALWEGIANS 19-33 OLD BELVEDERE
RAILWAY UNION 46-19 BALLINCOLLIG
UL BOHS P5 PTS19
RAILWAY UNION 4-20
BELVO 4-16
BLACKROCK 4-15
BALLINCOLLIG 5-15
SUTTONIANS 4-9
WICKLOW 4-1
COOKE 4-0
GALWEGIANS 5-0
Round 6
SAT NOV 4
BALLINCOLLIG V UL BOHS
BELVO V COOKE
SUTTONIANS V ROCK
WICKLOW V RAILWAY UNION
MEN’S AIL
ROUND 3
SHANNON 13-25 CITY OF ARMAGH
CLONTARF 43-19 UCD
DUBLIN UNIV 8-22 YOUNG MUNSTER
LANSDOWNE 45-19 BALLYNAHINCH
TERENURE 0-20 CORK CON
ROUND 4
SAT NOV 4
BALLYNAHINCH V SHANNON
CITY OF ARMAGH V DUBLIN UNIV
CORK CON V LANSDOWNE
UCD V TERENURE
YOUNG MUNSTER V CLONTARF
HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE
This year’s league expanded from 6 to 8 competitors as I defend my title and Keego hopes to get rid of The Jersey of Shame. And both “rookies” got the most results right in Round 1 of the URC with 7 out of 8 although it was Conor Cronin who’s margins were closer putting him in pole position to start the season.
After my earlier rant about 3rd place playoffs it is of course fitting that I find myself in the bronze medal position but I’m happy enough to sit there for the time being.
AFTER RD 1
1 CONOR 12.00
2 KRISTIAN 10.00
3 JEFF 9.00
4 KINO 8.50
5 JAY 8.00
6 MARK 6.50
7 KEEGO 6.00
8 TOM 4.00
WORLD LEAGUE
As I’m about to publish, news is just filtering through that World Rugby have decided to go ahead with the World League, complete with ringfencing in the top tier until 2030. A couple of weeks ago on this column I suggested they could at least allow relegation from the top tier from the start but it seems to elitism remains. We’ll harp more on this next week, and I have also booked Francisco Isaac for a bonus pod and I’m pretty sure it will come up so stay tuned!
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Leinster home opener this weekend!!!! The visit of the Sharks will of course be getting the full Harpin treatment with a preview on Friday, tweets and comment throughout and the wrap pod on Sunday evening. I’m also a guest on Caolán Scully’s pod recording on the Monday night.
As ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
22 January 2023; Tommy O’Brien of Leinster in action against George Horne of Glasgow Warriors during the United Rugby Championship match between Glasgow Warriors and Leinster at Scotstoun Stadium in Glasgow, Scotland. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
Hard to make anything of this with such young team that was put out. It’s a learning curve, more than anything. Glasgow deserved the win
Dave Murray
Lots of soft scores leaked. Can only get better as the weeks go on 🤞🤞🤞
Craig Grehan
Lack of ruthlessness and aggression.
Frawley should’ve been at 10.
Or Prendergast …
We didn’t use the backs enough when we hit the 5m line and got punished by sloppy rucking.
Tackles were soft at times.
Chris McDonnell
Cant play rugby with a 10, 12, 13 and not a single one prepared to make a tackle. We created very little with the ball and how many times do we have to lose scores from boxkicking. Lineout was good, scrum was awful.
Bert McLoughlin
We were well outplayed at times but not giving a try without conclusive evidence was a turning point
Jamie Donohoe
Evans the Referee was absolutely shocking & completely incompetent.
That said Leinster leaked a lot of soft scores
Jamie Bermingham
Defence was very poor today and we had a number of chances on the Glasgow try line and let them slip. The decision to not allow Turners try was shocking as there was no solid evidence he was in touch, in fact it looked like the Glasgow player was keeping him in play
Got away from us at the end, losing it off restart after TOB try was key. Great outing from Glasgow took every chance that was offered,and plenty was offered. Lots of work ons for young Leinster side going into next week.#GLAvLEI
A WEEKLY COLUMN LOOKING AT TOPICS BEYOND THE SCOPE
OF OUR FEATURE MATCH OF THE WEEK
WRAP OF A WRAP
Since we switched to a pod-based format here at Harpin Manor at the start of the 22/23 season, I make it that we have done 44 “match wrap pods” covering competitive matches for both Leinster and Ireland.
Of those, just FOUR have involved matches in which Leinster or Ireland finished on the losing side, and our wrap recorded on Sunday evening was the first involving the test side. So it probably goes without saying that even when you factor in the whole “QF hoodoo” nonsense, it had to be easily the most difficult podcast to produce, especially since the scheduled recording time was less than 24 hours after the final whistle.
But full credit to both Mark Jackson and Conor Cronin for being ready, willing and able to take part in a full show regardless, and offering their usual excellent and honest perspectives in the process. Credit also to Cian “RugbyKino” O’Muilleoir for offering yet another set of comments before kickoff, at halftime, and, obviously the most difficult, right after the fulltime whistle blew.
Let’s face it – very few Irish fans want to be reminded of Saturday night so the result was always going to affect our listening figures. But I still hope I don’t need to explain just how important it was for us to record the pod anyway. I haven’t been Harpin’ on Rugby since 2008 just because I want to celebrate victories for my teams. I’ve been doing it because I love supporting my teams. And to not do a show would have been in really poor taste IMO, plus there wasn’t even a tiny bit of hesitation from Mark, Conor and Cian to play their parts either.
So if you do ever get around to wanting to listen, here’s a link to Spotify and we’re also on most major platforms.
HARPIN ON…IRISH FULL TIME TAKES
One job I did spare the lads when we recorded the wrap pod was that of our weekly “bonus clip”, where we normally have an extra chat on a wider topic for sharing exclusively on YouTube.
Instead I chose to try and capture some of the fan reaction, with videos done by myself, Kino & Keego within an hour of the final whistle, plus we’ve displayed comments posted on our regular post-match post on our Facebook page. There’s also a clip from the actual wrap pod where Mark & Conor offer their final thoughts.
Again, I knew we wouldn’t get many viewers/listeners but I still feel it’s just as important to share our thoughts win or lose.
THANK YOU JOHNNY
Like many others I stressed that it was important for Irish fans to be mindful going online after a crushing defeat like that one, and while I did stay away for a while, when you run an online entity that focuses on fan opinion, you do have to take a peek at social media reactions eventually no matter how unpleasant.
And to be fair, when it comes to the predictable banter/slagging/taunting from fans of other nations, I totally get it. Much of it was OTT but pretty much all of it was pretty boring and for me anyway, part and parcel of sport and certainly not worth getting triggered over.
What did get me however was the contributions from some (a minority yes but still a significant one) Irish accounts (have trouble calling them fans) which seemed to fall into certain categories…
not really fans of the sport, might watch 2 or 3 matches a year yet “always knew we’d lose”
fans of the sport, know a good bit about the Laws etc, yet decided to use that knowledge by spending the last year or so doing loads of different tweets explaining why the team would “fail” so they could pick the one that looks the most accurate now and show how they “told us so”
the saddest lot for me – those who only seem to watch so they can see players from their province take part and complain about the ones who don’t, and when test the team loses they imply that it would have been different with those same missing players involved.
And what makes all that most difficult to take is that, and I’ve said this many many times over the past while but I don’t mind repeating again, Andy Farrell & co literally could not have done any more in the build up to the quarterfinal – Triple Crown, series win in NZ, long winning streak, world number 1, and, oh yeah – Grand Slam.
So maybe, just maybe, there’s a case to be made that rather than Ireland playing as underdogs against the All Blacks as we have done in World Cups past, what we had instead this time was two absolutely top notch teams going at it, and if they played each other ten times over ten weeks you could be pretty certain it would be something like 5 wins each, only on this night it was New Zealand who deserved to progress.
But another thing I have said often here is that it’s clear that different fans follow sport for different reasons. So I guess all I can do is hope that the begrudgers are happy in themselves having the kind of mindset that produces the comments I keep seeing. Luckily I have this column where I can vent rather than tumbling down a rabbit hole on social media.
Anyway…it goes without saying that a lot of the abuse was directed at Johnny Sexton (mostly that Crowley should have come on in the closing stages and we did suggest on the pod that it was an option though to say this is why we lost is just nuts) so I decided to do a quick tribute video which you see below.
Finally as I type I see Keith Earls has formally announced his retirement and of course we also appreciate his contributions to rugby over his career and indeed we have said so many times on the pod.
Safe to say the Irish women had a better weekend of it, with their absolute thrashing of Kazakhstan in their opening match in the third tier of the inaugural WXV tournament.
However much the result might look more like a strong opening spell of batting in the Cricket World Cup, the margin is not insignificant because it does appear that there is promotion from this level into next season’s WXV2 and with the format meaning we only have three matches to top a six-team pool where we don’t face all the other teams, the off the charts points difference will come in very handy indeed.
Best of luck to the girls in their second match against Colombia on Saturday, here’s to more of the same, you’ll be able to see it at 2pm Irish time via this link (after free registration).
Meanwhile the top tier doesn’t get underway until the second weekend and as you can see there are some interesting matchups, although the pick of the whole tournament surely has to be the repeat of the WRWC final in the final round when the Red Roses look for revenge against the Black Ferns.
WXV1 – Round 1
ENGLAND V AUSTRALIA
CANADA V WALES
NEW ZEALAND V FRANCE
WXV2 – Round 1
USA 36-26 SAMOA
SCOTLAND 31-17 SOUTH AFRICA
ITALY 28-15 JAPAN
Round 2
USA V SCOTLAND
ITALY V SOUTH AFRICA
JAPAN V SAMOA
WXV3 – Round 1
SPAIN 32-0 KENYA
IRELAND 109-0 KAZAKHSTAN
FIJI 67-13 COLOMBIA
Round 2
KAZAKHSTAN V KENYA
SPAIN V FIJI
IRELAND V COLOMBIA (OCT 21 2PM)
PREMIERSHIP UPDATE
For well over a decade pretty much the entire northern hemisphere has remarked on how Leinster go without our “elite” players at the start of the season and let me tell you, if we had ever shipped 65 points in our season opener whatever our lineup, it would be headline news.
So I don’t see why reigning Premiership champs Saracens should get any mitigation when they get tonked by Exeter in Round 1.
As for Leinster’s Champions Cup opposition, they had mixed fortunes as Sale overcame Northampton at home while Leicester fell short at Bristol, and the two of them actually play each other at Welford Road in Round 2.
One interesting team selection was that of Finn Russell on the Bath bench and it seems he played a part in their win over Newcastle at the Rec, which would make you wonder if he’ll start next weekend against Saracens, might be worth a watch if so.
ROUND 1
BRISTOL 25-14 LEICESTER
EXETER 65-10 SARACENS
BATH 34-26 NEWCASTLE
GLOUCESTER 29-28 HARLEQUINS
SALE 20-15 NORTHAMPTON
ROUND 2
FRI OCT 20
NEWCASTLE V GLOUCESTER
SAT OCT 21
NORTHAMPTON V BRISTOL
SARACENS V BATH
LEICESTER V SALE
HARLEQUINS V EXETER
AIL UPDATE
There remains three unbeaten teams in the Women’s AIL but something will have to give at Annacotty next weekend as UL Bohs host champions Blackrock in what won’t be a million miles away from a rerun of the recent Intepro final.
Also I hope it’s a mistake on the fixture list that both Old Belvedere and Suttonians are expected to play two league matches each in five days? Not an ideal turnaround at the best of times but when you only have eight matches altogether in a tournament it doesn’t really seem fair to me.
Over in the men’s Div1A, champions Terenure fell to Clontarf in the repeat of last season’s final so Tarf join Shannon and Lansdowne as the only 100% sides so far. City of Armagh seem to have done well to get so close in their first ever home match in the top flight while UCD took the honours in the first Colours Match.
Nure will look to return to winning ways in Round 3 as they host Cork Con while there’s to be another North/South Dublin derby at Castle Ave as this time UCD are the visitors.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S AIL
Round 4
BALLINCOLLIG 18-17 WICKLOW
BLACKROCK 55-5 GALWEGIANS
UL BOHS 57-5 COOKE
Round 4
TUE OCT 17
OLD BELVEDERE V SUTTONIANS
Round 5
SAT OCT 21
UL BOHS V BLACKROCK
COOKE V SUTTONIANS
GALWEGIANS V OLD BELVEDERE
RAILWAY UNION V BALLINCOLLIG
MEN’S AIL
ROUND 2
UCD 35-8 DUBLIN UNIV
BALLYNAHINCH 31-28 CORK CON
CITY OF ARMAGH 26-29 LANSDOWNE
CLONTARF 26-16 TERENURE
YOUNG MUNSTER 7-35 SHANNON
ROUND 3
SAT OCT 21
SHANNON V CITY OF ARMAGH
CLONTARF V UCD
DUBLIN UNIV V YOUNG MUNSTER
LANSDOWNE V BALLYNAHINCH
TERENURE V CORK CON
HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE RETURNS
The return of the URC also means the return of the HPL…for those new to this column, this will be the third season a group of Harpin contributors predict the full URC season on Superbru and while it’s only bragging rights available for finishing first (as you see below I enjoy those rights after last season!!!) there is a booby prize for finishing last and Keego had the “honours” last time around…
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Obviously it would have been ideal to have the dilemma of having to cover both Leinster and Ireland next weekend, but at least the URC kickoff is there to keep us busy and we will of course be giving Sunday’s opener in Scotstoun the full Harpin treatment with a lot more besides throughout the week so keep in touch on all the usual social media channels,
And as ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
IRELAND v New Zealand : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Mack Hansen 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Bundee Aki 11. James Lowe 10. Johnny Sexton (C) 9. Jamison Gibson-Park
1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Tadhg Furlong 4. Tadhg Beirne 5. Iain Henderson 6. Peter O’Mahony 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Caelan Doris
16. Ronan Kelleher 17. David Kilcoyne 18. Finlay Bealham 20. Jack Conan 21. Conor Murray 22. Jack Crowley 23. Jimmy O’Brien
NEW ZEALAND 15 B Barrett 14 W Jordan 13 R Ioane 12 J Barrett 11 L Fainga’anuku 10 R Mo’unga 9 A Smith 1 E de Groot 2 C Taylor 3 T Lomax 4 B Retallick 5 S Barrett 6 S Frizzell 7 S Cane (c) 8 A Savea 16 D Coles 17 T Williams 18 F Newell 19 S Whitelock 20 D Papali’i 21 F Christie 22 D McKenzie 23 A Lienart-Brown
Rugby World Cup 2023 Quarterfinal Saturday October 14 KO 8pm (Irish time) Stade de France TV : RTÉ2
Referee: Wayne Barnes (RFU) AR1: Matthew Carley (RFU) AR2: Christophe Ridley (RFU) TMO: Tom Foley (RFU)
Ireland Women v Kazakhstan : 15. Méabh Deely 14. Natasja Behan 13. Eve Higgins 12. Aoife Dalton 11. Béibhinn Parsons 10. Dannah O’Brien 9. Molly Scuffil-McCabe
1. Linda Djougang 2. Neve Jones 3. Christy Haney 4. Dorothy Wall 5. Sam Monaghan (captain) 6. Grace Moore 7. Edel McMahon 8. Brittany Hogan
A WEEKLY COLUMN LOOKING AT TOPICS BEYOND THE SCOPE OF OUR FEATURE MATCH OF THE WEEK
WRAP OF A WRAP
I have to be honest, those permutations had me nervous right up to kickoff on Saturday, especially the one where an 8-pt Scottish win put us out; my scrambled brain concocted a scenario where they led by 5 in the dying moments before the ref awards a contentious penalty that Russell slots to send us home…but that’s the life of a sports fan, logic rarely enters into the equation.
Let’s just say those thoughts had evaporated by the 2nd minute of the match!!!
And clearly by the time we sat down to do the wrap I was wondering what all the fuss was about, and this week it was the turn of Tom “@LeinsterRoyalty” Coleman and Ciarán “@PostToPostSport” Duffy to harp on the match as well as other events from the World Cup weekend, as ever they did a bang up job.
Just in case it needs pointing out, we here at Harpin Manor consider ourselves fans first and “experts” second. Sure, when you’ve played and followed a sport for so long, and especially when it comes to Leinster and Ireland you’ve watched every single match at least twice for over a decade, you pick up a few things, BUT it’s the fan element we like to promote more than anything else; we certainly aren’t trying to suggest we know more than the TV pundits.
Well, at least not ALL of them….
Anyway, for our bonus clip this week we wanted to lose the analytical hat for once and harp instead on what it’s like actually being a fan, and Tom & Ciarán helped me look at just how we get through a week before what is arguably the biggest test match in Irish rugby history.
IT CAN’T END IN TIERS
For this week’s TikTok opinion I had a look at how World Rugby handles the dilemma of navigating the space between the rock which is appeasing the corporate sponsors and the hard place which is fulfilling the mandate implied in their name.
On the one hand, we were always going to be chuffed here at Harpin Manor to have a TikTok reach over 10,000 views for the first time – over the past few weeks I’ve selected a portion of Ireland matches to focus on a particula positive aspect of Ireland’s play.
But….there’s another side to that coin. Obviously we’re not considered important enough to have our clips taken down by World Rugby???!!! In fact each time I put them up I’m EXPECTING them to be removed, but so far they all remain out there in TikTokLand so there you go!
Maybe I shouldn’t go focusing on the clouds when there’s such an obvious silver lining…
Following on from the Portugal point above, I’m hearing rumblings that despite Fiji’s loss there might be a chance they are admitted to an expanded Rugby Championship. I’m assuming World Rugby is looking for some kind of balance with the Six Nations so it’s possible Japan might be in with a shout as well, but we’ll have to see.
I’m mostly for moves like this, I just wish it was a more holistic approach to the game rather than admitting one or two nations to the top table every decade or so like it has been since the game went pro.
Again, a lot depends on what the plans are for this “World League”. I have a feeling it is not going to go down well with fans in general.
NEW MUNSTER POD
We’ve had Caolán Scully on the pod several times over the past year or so, and he has been hosting his own pod but it now seems he has put together a new project focusing on Munster for the upcoming season, best wishes to himself and Patricia for The Red Army Podcast, hopefully we’ll be able to get them on to harp about it at some point, possibly before the annual St Stephens Day match.
We will be coming to you each and every week with a range of guests so be sure to subscribe where you get your podcasts!! pic.twitter.com/CU4qooQBwi
— The Red Army Podcast (A Munster Fan's Podcast) (@RedArmyPod) October 9, 2023
W.XV KICKOFF
Speaking of World Leagues, the new Womens’ version gets underway this weekend. Ireland’s poor run of form puts them in a “third tier” but I THINK that promotion to the second one is possible.
Obviously I’m not happy with what I’ve been hearing from the Irish camp, about having to live in and around Dublin to name just one, and I’m definitely not happy about this tournament being held in Dubai for all the obvious reasons.
But, as fans when the green jersey is being worn we give them our support and for the next few weeks it’s important to get behind new coach Scott Bemand and his squad as they try to top this league.
The explanations of the format I’ve sought so far haven’t been great, but the way I think it works is that while the 6 teams in WXV3 have been separated into two groups of three, they actually only play the 3 in the opposite pool AND I’m pretty sure all six are presented in the same league table. It doesnt look like there are any playoffs, it’s just the team with the most points after 3 matches finishes first?
I will definitely update this if I learn any more, but best wishes to the squad nonetheless.
As for the top tier WXV1, I have to wonder about the timing…surely after already moving the Women’s World Cup to a different year to distinguish it from the men’s, the last day they’d want to launch this new product is the same weekend as RWC2023 semifinals?
Well I guess at least the Australian fans won’t have any conflict, amirite? Too soon?
WXV3 – Week 1
Fri Oct 13 FIJI V COLOMBIA IRELAND V KAZAKHSTAN (KO 4:30pm Irish time)
Sat Oct 14 SPAIN V COLOMBIA
PREMIERSHIP UPDATE
I know how we’re supposed to feel about English rugby but hopefully even the most hardcore Irish fans of the sport has to feel for the players, staff and fans of the clubs over there which have ceased operations over the past few years.
What’s left is an embarrassingly tiny Premiership of just ten clubs and in some ways maybe it makes sense that they’re kicking off on the same weekend that England are playing in a RWC quarterfinal.
The plan is to keep tabs on the results and such here this season much as we have done for other leagues.
ROUND 1
BRISTOL V LEICESTER EXETER V SARACENS BATH V NEWCASTLE GLOUCESTER V HARLEQUINS SALE V NORTHAMPTON
AIL UPDATE
After the women’s league has already had three rounds, the men got underway last weekend and by the looks of things defending champions Terenure didn’t have everything their own way against Ballynahinch yet still came out with a win to start the season.
New boys City of Armagh managed to get out of Cork with a losing bonus point while Tarf, Lansdowne and Shannon were the other winners from round 1.
Next up we have some interesting derbies, with top of the list being a repeat of last season’s final as Nure head to Castle Avenue as Young Munster host Shannon, all after the Friday Night Colours Match at Belfield Bowl.
Over in the women’s comp, Railway Union, UL Bohs and champions Blackrock all continued their perfect starts although Rock have only played twice over the three rounds so far. The trio have also been kept apart in Round 4.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S AIL
Round 3
SUTTONIANS 3-38 UL BOHS GALWEGIANS 5-63 RAILWAY UNION COOKE 15-24 BALLINCOLLIG WICKLOW 10-27 BLACKROCK
Round 4
SAT OCT 14 BALLINCOLLIG V WICKLOW BLACKROCK V GALWEGIANS OLD BELVEDERE V SUTTONIANS UL BOHS V COOKE
MEN’S AIL
ROUND 1
DUBLIN UNIV 24-34 CLONTARF LANSDOWNE 29-14 YOUNG MUNSTER SHANNON 27-22 UCD TERENURE 16-13 BALLYNAHINCH CORK CON 28-21 CITY OF ARMAGH
ROUND 2
FRI OCT 13 UCD V DUBLIN UNIV
SAT OCT 14 BALLYNAHINCH V CORK CON CITY OF ARMAGH V LANSDOWNE CLONTARF V TERENURE YOUNG MUNSTER V SHANNON
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Big, big week coming up, obviously we’ll be giving Ireland QF date with destiny the full Harpin treatment with a preview on Friday and a wrap pod on Sunday, and also take note that this time the team will be announced on Wednesday at noon Irish time.
So please comment, like, share & subscribe to our feeds & channels whenever the mood takes you.
And as ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 