We’ve been taking a couple of weeks off since the end of the 2022/23 season, obviously as a Leinster fan it didn’t exactly end up the way we wanted but overall as our first season with our new podcast based format we still had a lot of quality rugby to harp on going back to the beginning of last September and we look forward to getting back to it soon.
But I just thought I’d check back in with a TikTok today because there has been a lot of debate on Twitter over the past 24 hours or so since news broke that Jean Kleyn might be returning to the South African squad after being pretty much out of the Irish test picture since the 2019 World Cup.
Look. One thing I’ve learned doing this over the years is that while we all share a love of rugby, the fact remains we all love it for different reasons. We’re all looking for something different from it. And that doesn’t necessarily mean any of us is right about what we want from it, it’s just different. For me, yes, I’m a Leinster supporter, I’m happy when we win, disappointed when we lose. But I’m also an Ireland supporter, also happy when we win, also disappointed when we lose. And to be an Ireland supporter I believe you have to be able to put the provincial stuff behind you, it’s an absolute necessity.
Now when it comes to Kleyn, of course I appreciate that there’s a fear among Munster fans that if he ends up taking advantage of the new rules to play for the Springboks, there’s a chance he might not be able to play for the province again. And no team wants to lose their best players, especially one that played a large part in their winning their first trophy in over a decade. That’s totally understandable.
You can probably tell I’m about to say but, right? So here goes….BUT….
What exactly are we trying to say is happening when Kleyn is left out of the Irish training squad ahead of the World Cup? Does it mean Andy Farrell thinks he’s not up to test standard? Does it mean Farrell has something against him? Does it mean he’s blaming him for Ireland’s performance in 2019? Does it serve as further proof that there’s an anti-Munster or pro-Leinster bias in the Irish coaching ticket?
OR…could it mean that going back to the squad he picked ahead of the 2021 Autumn Nations Series it seems perfectly obvious that he is a coach that knows the way he wants play, selects the players he wants to fit that style regardless of what province they hail from, and since that time, has only been on the losing side twice, once in Paris against a French side on its way to a Grand Slam, and next in Auckland against an All Black side he went on to beat twice in the following weeks?
Just to be clear….I am aware that just because you win a bunch of games in a row that doesn’t guarantee you success in the immediate future, if you’ll recall I already mentioned I’m a Leinster supporter so I know this all too well.
But seriously….what does a test coach have to do to get a bit of leeway when it comes to his decisions? We all know that no matter what squad he picks, someone is going to be left out, right? We all know that those players who don’t quite make it are going to hail from one of the four provinces no matter what, right? And we all know that a test coach probably shouldn’t make his decisions based on whether or not that means a player is going to stay at a particular province, right?
I could go into a defence of the players who have made the squad ahead of Kleyn, I could also go into a defence of Farrell’s tendency to go for more versatile position players on the fringes of his squad, but really it’s not about that. If this was just about a debate over the composition of the squad I wouldn’t be doing this video because we’ll always disagree on selections. It’s just that there’s an extra element to this Kleyn debate that goes too far and probably would have if it involved a player from any of the other three provinces too.
It’s perfectly natural for Munster fans to still be on a high after their win in Cape Town, I know I would be if Leinster had found the extra points needed to turn our last couple of results around. And like I already said, it’s perfectly natural to be concerned about losing a key player. But I guess all I’m saying here is that maybe those two factors are leading some people to conclusions that are ignoring a lot of other facts.
The Irish test squad is in a really really good place right now. And from what I’ve seen it really looks like one of the many things Farrell is good at is giving the players he does select the belief they need to overcome pretty much any mental obstacle that can be thrown at them, from the whole “never won a test series in New Zealand” thing to the whole “no matter who he picks one set of provincial fans is going to complain” thing.
So this has me wondering…since the URC doesn’t kick off again until the World Cup has just four nations left, maybe we can take a break from the provincial stuff for a few months and just be Irish supporters?
Anyway…like I said, a lot of us seem to want different things from following rugby but just so you know, here at Harpin’ Manor we’ll be taking another week or two off from the regular content, I mean there’s still a lot going on like the Irish sevens in both genders taking part in the European series, the Top 14 and Super Rugby playoffs, but we won’t be going back into full swing until Irish Under 20s start their Junior World Championships and then it will be all about the World Cup so be sure and stay tuned to all our social media channels and in the meantime, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are, stay safe everyone, slán. JLP
Welcome to my 80+ column, a weekly post featuring final thoughts from the week season of rugby just gone.
WRAP TO WRAP ALL WRAPS
Well it didn’t exactly end how I wanted as a Leinster fan, but I still have to say this was by far and away the most enjoyable season of Harpin’ On Rugby yet.
Of course the Grand Slam in the midst of it all helped a lot, but even without it the switch from article- to podcast-based content went really well, mostly because it meant I was working a lot more with fellow fans over the course of the campaign.
So here’s the part where I offer thanks to all the amazing contributors who appeared on the pods for Season 4 going right the way back to Sunday, August 21. Here’s a list of the ‘main group’ including their total Harpin caps to date…
Neil ‘Keego’ Keegan (57)
Tom Coleman (38)
Conor Cronin (38)
Mark Jackson (37)
Rich Mifsud (26)
Cian ‘RugbyKino’ O’Muilleoir (21)
with very honourable mentions to Ciarán Duffy, Nathan Johns, ‘Big’ Joe Sheppard, Padraig Kelly, Caolan Scully, Peter Lockhart, Ian Frizzell, Stephen Murphy, @IrishWomens, Michelle Tobin, Sandy Smith, Francisco Isaac, Justin Middleton, AP Cronje, Brian Moylett, Lee Griffith, Rhys John, Illtud Dafydd & David Arnott.
One thing I knew from the outset was that I couldn’t possibly hope to produce 2, often 3 pods per week without much commitment from others and while it goes without saying, I’ll do it anyway, I am extremely grateful to all of the above for volunteering their time this season.
Just in case you missed our final pod here’s a link – if you’re a Leinster fan you may have intentionally missed it but still I reckon Tom, Mark & Kino did a bang up job going over the HCC final as well as Leinster’s season as a whole so why not check it out.
HARPIN ON…OUR YOU TUBE CHANNEL HIGHLIGHTS
While our main content this season has been via podcast, we also set out to develop a presence on both YouTube and TikTok. Being perfectly honest I didn’t exactly knock myself out in those areas but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with some of the feedback so it’s definitely something we’ll be doing more over the coming season.
For the YouTube the idea was to have a preview show with one guest every Friday, and this was mostly Keego logging on to a Zoom call just an hour after the Leinster or Irish team was named. Then for the Sunday night pod recording I’d include a “bonus chat” outside the main topic of conversation for sharing as a video and these have done pretty well if I do say so myself. Since we didn’t do a 80+ last week I instead posted a “top 5” videos of sorts from across the season, check out the link below and if you haven’t already, please do subscribe to make sure you get all our stuff in future.
For the most part I have tried to use TikTok as a means to promote the pods, and as the season wore on it became something of a challenge to select the most appropriate quote to use for it. Originally my intention was to produce brief “Squidge-type” (OBVS nowhere near as good but at least with my own spin) videos of my favourite moments from matches but they took a while to produce, although the one I did for what I felt was the critical moment the URC final did get the most views of the entire season so you may see more next season. I’ll post that one below as well as some links to others that got decent engagement throughout the season, if you’re not already following us please do it can help us get closer to 500 followers – that might be a humble total in the grand scheme of things but we had no idea we’d be anywhere near that by this stage, truth be told.
You may think I’m stalling to get to the Munster appreciation but, but look back over these columns throughout the season and they always start with the segments you see above!
But anyway again I am more than happy to offer congrats to our southern cousins, if it can’t be Leinster winning the URC, it has to be good for Irish rugby for another province to do it and not only have they been waiting a long, long time for this, but what a way for them to do it!!!!
After suffering some early season defeats which had us wondering if they’d even make it into the playoffs, they ended up pulling off not one, not two but THREE AWAY KNOCKOUT wins which has to be a record at this level of the game and proves that once you’re there or thereabouts come the beginning of May, literally anything is possible.
Obviously the next step for them on the road to returning to further glories will be to follow up with a higher regular season finish plus a deeper run in the HCC, but even if they replicate their 5th place finish, nobody will be ruling them out.
Just a quick word on the Stormers to round things off – I definitely expected a lot more from them. As well and all as Munster played you can’t deny we have seen the South African side play a lot better. Assuming both they and Leinster aim to get back to the top next season that should make for an exciting third instalment of the URC, as if the first two weren’t enough.
THE ABL NARRATIVE
For our first podcast of the season we had a chat about what I call the “ABL” or “Anyone But Leinster” in the ruggersphere and after Leinster won so many matches in the first two thirds of the season as well as supplying a large chunk of Ireland’s 100% test season, it was pretty easy to prove it’s existence week-in week-out on social media.
Naturally the way the season ended up for Leinster, there were always going to be those looking to stick the knife in, pushing a false narrative that as fans we somehow “assumed we were going to win everything” and for the most part it has been easy enough to stay away and tune it all out – the above tweet was posted from the Aviva Stadium press box moments after full time.
Fellow Leinster fans it has been an awesome season regardless, though we'll all feel these two one point defeats.
Just go easy on the social media plenty will aim to trigger you.
One thing you can be sure I’m NOT going to do however, is post a few screenshots of the abuse being levelled at Leinster and their fans over the past few weeks, because to my mind that gives an impression that ALL fans of a particular team do this kind of thing, when the reality is that being an asshole is no peculiar to any one jersey.
There was one tweet that pissed me off, however, because rather than come from a random fan this was by an actual member of the Munster squad. Only thing I will add to posting it below is this : imagine the uproar if it were a Leinster squad player after the boys in blue won a trophy. Articles would be written about it. Hang on never mind articles….PLAYS would be written.
While we’re on the subject of senior players who should know better behaving badly, much has been said of this “incident” involving Johnny Sexton after the Champions Cup final.
Before I go on, I’d like to divide this segment in two parts.
PART 1 – ASSUMING IT HAPPENED
If Johnny Sexton walked up to Jaco Peyper and called him a “f*cking disgrace” as is alleged, then there definitely needs to be some kind of action, but only after a proper enquiry. I’m no fan of that carry on, whatever the person’s colours.
PART 2 – GUILTY BEFORE ANYTHING PROVEN
But can we please call this incident for what it is. People were calling for Johnny’s head long before there was anything even remotely close to “evidence” available, and remember, even the video you see in the tweet below doesn’t tell us what was actually said (and ironically, Karl Dickson has something of a track record when it comes to bad hearing).
All of which means is that with these kind of levels of bias out there against Sexton (including a host of South African commenters keen to conflate the whole thing with RassieGate from the Lions tour – hilarious!) there is literally nothing we can say until there has been a full investigation. And if there isn’t one, then we have to assume that there’s “no there there”, although naturally that won’t stop the Sexton haters from forming conspiracy theories, in which I say let ‘em.
On a lighter note – on those dissing his outfit, I really don’t think they even have a case there. Not exactly my style, but still the comments are just another example of the hating IMO.
After the whistle went Sexton changes direction to approach the refereeing group. Dicko sees him coming and tries to block him but Johny won't be stopped from having at least a say pic.twitter.com/ij6Sl8J4Fl
Normally my update on the Harpin URC Prediction League comes towards the end of my 80+ column, but it won’t take you long to work out why I moved it up.
Last season, I finished dead last, which meant I had to wear The Jersey Of Shame on social media. I’ve already posted it here so I’ll just link to it rather than do it again. The main reason I lost was that I just could not discipline myself to post my predictions on Superbru week in week out, leaving me stranded in 6th place come the end of the campaign.
Well this time around I was determined to at very least we sure of kicking the “no picks” habit. And a few rounds into the season I was doing pretty well.
But gradually I gave way to Cian ‘RugbyKino’ O’Muilleoi,r who generally takes a stats-based approach to predictions, and it really did seem to do well over the course of a season, since having taken over top spot at Round 5 he proceeded to stay there all the way through the Six Nations and the gap never looked like closing…
…until I actually closed it towards of the regular season and thought I was on Cloud 9…
…only for Mark Jackson to nip ahead of us both and he seemed to have the title done and dusted with only the URC Final left.
Well folks, I only had one possible strategy when it came to predicting Stormers v Munster. With the South Africans the favourites (being reigning champions and having home advantage), I had to assume that both Mark and Kino ahead of me on the table would go for them so that meant my only hope would be to take a punt on Munster (and let’s be honest the way they’ve been playing it was hardly a “Hail Mary”). Just in case someone else also went for it, I made my prediction a double-digit win so that I’d have a chance of getting extra points if I got it right. Turns out I didn’t need that cushion as I was the only one and hey presto my four points pole vaulted me back into first!!!
Obvs I’d swap it for even one let alone two trophies for Leinster, but having also done well in the Six Nations prediction comp I’d say I’m pretty pleased with my showing this season.
Down at the other end of the table, the Jersey of Shame is wrapped and ready to send to Neil “No Picks Keego” Keegan and hopefully we’ll have a pic to share of him sporting it soon. Also hopefully we’ll get another few contributors into the HPL for the 23/24 campaign when I’ll be defending my crown.
HARPIN PREDICTOR LEAGUE 2022/23 FINAL STANDINGS
NOT ACTING IN GOODE FAITH
The tweet pretty much says it all, but one thing I’ll add is that I am actually ELEVEN YEARS OLDER than Andy Goode who’s whinging about a girl making what I thought was a very light hearted correction. You’d swear it was the other way around. I have no idea what makes these guys think pearl-clutching (and that’s definitely what this is) is somehow masculine…
Normally this section is for Leinster’s injury report, so since it’s the end of the season I’ll instead feature the end of season business from Leinster Rugby, starting with the awards…
Best Menswear Development School of the Year: St Mary’s CBS, Portlaoise
JUST EAT Tackle of the Year: Liam Turner (v DHL Stormers)
The Irish Times Try of the Year: Garry Ringrose (v Racing 92)
DigitalWell Junior Club of the Year: Mullingar RFC
Energia Senior Club of the Year: Old Belvedere RFC
BDO Supporters Player of the Year: Garry Ringrose
Guinness Hall of Fame: Gerry Murphy
BearingPoint Women’s Young Player of the Year: Aoife Dalton
Laya Healthcare Men’s Young Player of the Year: Scott Penny
Band of Ireland Women’s Player of the Year: Jenny Murphy
Bank of Ireland Men’s Player of the Year: Caelan Doris
Certainly can’t complain about the names honoured above, that’s for sure. And now the bad news, the list of players leaving the province…
Johnny Sexton (189 caps / 1,646 points)
Dave Kearney (186 / 275)
James Tracy (141 / 90)
Nick McCarthy (62 / 25)
Tadgh McElroy (4 / 0)
Charlie Ryan (0 / 0)
Seán O’Brien (3 / 0)
Max O’Reilly (11 / 10)
Marcus Hanan (4 / 0)
Andrew Smith (2 / 0)
Best wishes to all, and with all due respect to the other nine guys I’m sure we all agree that the best of best wishes go to yer man at the top when it comes to a certain egg-chasing tournament happening in France in September…
ALL EYES ON RWC2023
What’s that you say? My tweet looks like I’m being sarcastic??? Whatever could you mean???
Good to see the squad, congrats to all and I for one can't wait to see the fans of the four proud provinces come together and agree whole heartedly with the selections looking ahead to #RWC2023 😎
Look, some were always going to miss out. And yes, with Munster’s win freshest in the mind it’s obvious to notice if one or two names don’t get on the list, yet while no coach is ever perfect, if Andy Farrell hasn’t earned himself some street cred at this stage then nobody can.
Here’s my personal ideal matchday 23 from the group (assuming all players fully fit), we’ll see how it evolves over time.
Porter, Sheehan, Furlong, Henderson, Ryan, O’Mahony, van der Flier, Doris
Kelleher, Healy, Bealham, Beirne, Conan, Murray, Crowley, Aki
SEVENS UPDATE
With no 80+ column last week I didn’t get to update the London Sevens, where the men’s series came to an end after the women had finished in Toulouse. Apparently this last tournament of the season is done differently to all the others…the top 12 on the points table compete for the final standings while the others take part in a qualifying competition for next year’s circuit.
The Irish men’s squad may not have qualified for the Olympics directly as the women did, but still overall a 6th place finish in London wasn’t the worst outcome. Also while 8th place overall is definitely something we can improve on, reaching that final in Dubai was a highlight for sure and having watched them quite a bit over the course of the season I’d say they have done us proud.
I’ll be even more proud once I hear the announcement of an Irish leg on the calendar, get on it people!!!!!
MLR UPDATE
I hope the actual fans of the New England Free Jacks aren’t superstitious (although from what I know of sports in that neck of the woods I’m pretty sure they are) because as a Leinster fan who saw his team rack up easy wins throughout the season including multiple “50-burgers” only to fall agonisingly short in playoffs twice, they may not be so keen to know that I have adopted them as my team for the 2023 version of Major League Rugby.
We had no 80+ column last week so there are two weeks of results to catch up on and as you can see the Free Jacks have, to say the very least, consolidated their position at the top of the Eastern Conference, stretching their lead to 20 points and guaranteeing them a home “semifinal” in the playoffs after big wins over New Orleans and Toronto respectively.
They will have one tough opponent to get them ready however as they must travel in round 17 to face Seattle, who themselves are locked in a battle with the San Diego Legion for 1st place and in fact it’s kind of set up for the Western Conference to have a thrilling finale as the two rivals meet in Round 18.
This could be a problem for the Free Jacks as while they have the comfort of knowing their fate, both the Legion and the Seawolves will have multiple tough encounters between now and the championship game, assuming they do make it there of course.
But still it has been an interesting season and let’s face it, the way last year’s version ended up with two teams folding just before the playoffs, any kind of finish which involves only action on the pitch will be a positive.
ROUND 14
NEFJ 50-3 NOLA
SEA 35-13 CHI
UTAH 34-28 HOU
ATL 19-27 DAL
TOR 29-29 OGDC
ROUND 15
SD 36-13 NYI
UTAH 28-12 ATL
HOU 40-33 CHI
OGDC 19-41 SEA
NEFJ 57-20 TOR
ROUND 16
ATL V NEFJ
NOLA V OGDC
CHI V SD
TOR V HOU
NYI V DAL
SEA V UTAH
THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Right so that brings down the curtain on the 2022/23 season of Harpin on Rugby. Obviously I’ll still be tweeting over the coming weeks, both the Top 14 and Super Rugby are still to be decided as is Major League Rugby which I have been following as you will know. There might be the odd pod or two during the next month or so, you never know, along with bits & bobs on the other social media platforms.
But we won’t kick back into full swing until a week or so before the World Cup warmups come on the radar, that’s when we will formally launch Season 5 of the pod and a whopping season SIXTEEN of Harpin.
Many thanks for all your clicking and reading and sharing and commenting and what-not, looking forward to more.
In the meantime, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
Big match today to end the season promises to be a classic.
Obvs the Stormers will be favourites on their home patch but anyone who thinks Munster can’t complete what would be an unprecedented 3 away playoff wins on the bounce hasn’t been paying attention.
FWIW I reckon Graham, Peter & co will get ‘er done.
For the past few weeks we’ve been putting the matchday squads from upcoming matches through ChatGPT to see what kind of match it generates so for the record, this is what the app came up with….
PROMPT
Imagine a game of 15-a-side rugby union between DHL Stormers and Munster Rugby over two halves of 40 minutes with the two lineups outlined below, taking into account the current reputation and form of all the players involved.
DHL Stormers: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Hacjivah Dayimani, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Steven Kitshoff (captain).
16 JJ Kotze, 17 Ali Vermaak, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Ben-Jason Dixon, 20 Willie Engelbrecht, 21 Marcel Theunissen, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Clayton Blommetjies.
Munster: 15 Mike Haley; 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Antoine Frisch, 12 Malakai Fekitoa, 11 Shane Daly; 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Conor Murray
1 Jeremy Loughman, 2 Diarmuid Barron, 3 Stephen Archer; 4 Jean Kleyn, 5 Tadhg Beirne; 6 Peter O’Mahony (C), 7 John Hodnett, 8 Gavin Coombes.
16 Niall Scannell, 17 Josh Wycherley, 18 Roman Salanoa, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Alex Kendellen, 21 Craig Casey, 22 Ben Healy, 23 Keith Earls
Write 2000 words on the progress of the match in the form of a timeline (no conclusion, just the timeline only) reporting incidents like tries, conversions, penalties, injuries and yellow or red cards.
0’ – The match starts with DHL Stormers kicking off to Munster.
4’ – Evan Roos makes a powerful run but is tackled by Peter O’Mahony. Stormers get penalized for holding on.
5’ – Jack Crowley kicks the penalty over and Munster take an early 3-0 lead.
9’ – A great offload from Tadhg Beirne sends Gavin Coombes over the line for a try. Crowley converts and Munster lead 10-0.
14’ – Herschel Jantjies puts in a clever chip over the Munster defense and Leolin Zas collects it, dives over the line and scores a try for Stormers. Damian Willemse misses the conversion. Munster leads 10-5.
19’ – Munster put together a great attack, Jack Crowley releases Antoine Frisch who dives over in the corner to score a try. Jack Crowley converts, Munster 17-5 up.
25’ – Evan Roos makes a break through the Munster defence, but is tackled by Diarmuid Barron. The Stormers knock on and Munster wins the scrum.
31’ – A great box kick from Conor Murray is collected by Antoine Frisch who twists and turns his way through the Stormers defence to score his second try of the match. Crowley with a great conversion extends Munster’s lead to 24-5.
36’ – The Stormers put together a number of phases and eventually Ruben van Heerden burrows his way over the line for a try. Damian Willemse converts. Munster still leads 24-12.
40’ – Half time arrives with Munster in control of the game, leading 24-12. The Stormers will need to stage a comeback in the second half to win.
45’ – The Stormers start the second half dominating the early exchanges, but are unable to convert into points.
50’ – A great break from Herschel Jantjies sends Damian Willemse over the Munster try line to score. Willemse adds the conversion. Stormers start to pull their way back into the match, Munster 24-19.
55’ – A red card for Munster! Peter O’Mahony is shown the red card for a high tackle on Herschel Jantjies. Munster will play the rest of the match with 14 men.
59’ – The Stormers capitalize on the one-man advantage with Steven Kitshoff scoring a try to level the game at 24-24. Willemse makes the conversion, Stormers in the lead for the first time in the match, 26-24.
62’ – Munster hit back with a break from Shane Daly. Antoine Frisch scores his hat-trick, with Crowley converting to give Munster the lead once again, 31-26.
68’ – The Stormers make changes, bringing on Willie Engelbrecht, Neethling Fouche and Ben-Jason Dixon.
72’ – A yellow card for Stormers’ Hacjivah Dayimani after a high tackle on Jack Crowley.
74’ – Jack Crowley slots the penalty over, increasing Munster’s lead to 34-26.
79’ – Munster on the attack, but the ball is turned over by Stormers’ Deon Fourie who makes a break. Munster penalized for holding on.
80’ – Full time! Munster Rugby hold on to win the match 34-26 over DHL Stormers.
Normally we do an 80+ column on Tuesdays but we thought we’d take a few days off here at Harpin Manor so to keep the content train rolling for now we’ll share not only this week’s bonus clip from our weekly pod, but also some of the most popular ones from over the course of the season. Do enjoy and maybe even share if the mood takes you.
The column will be back next week where I’ll review the URC final, cover a few more topical Harpin points including all the online nonsense since the HCC final, as well as tying up a few other loose ends.
PS – yes, we do note the irony of the “Stormers rivalry with Leinster” video, we would of course love to be having another crack at them this season but still wish Munster all the best in Cape Town this weekend!
The true impact of James Ryan on this team is now fully understood. Better team over 80 minutes won, without Ryan we had no answer to Skelton, ref had a good game. This was the 2011 final won for a second star by a team dead and buried after the first quarter. Jack Conan was again superb.
Hugely disappointing. 17 points up and we stoped playing. Signs of panic Kicked so much ball away. Hard to see how this team progresses .Winning by 40 points each week is no preparation
Sometimes teams need to win ugly and grind a result, Leinster need to learn how to do this. No point taking a big lead and not knowing how to defend it
Hard luck Leinster folks. That was some start but LaR ground their way back in and then strangled Leinster with their power. I think they were helped in that by James Ryan’s absence (physicality and leadership), kicks out on the full, a blocked attempted clearance, some needless penalties / cards, and some wayward long kicking back to them. The slowdown in tempo from Q2 onwards helped LaR but hindered Leinster. Can’t understand why there wasn’t a drop goal attempt at the end; a try wasn’t needed at that stage.
Welcome to my 80+ column, a weekly post featuring final thoughts from the week of rugby just gone.
WRAP OF A WRAP
Our preview show ahead of Saturday’s match at the Aviva was our 250th pod since we posted our first back on July 5, 2019. Obviously there have been a lot more this season since we switched from article- to pod-based format, and going right the way back to the preseason friendly against Harlequins in September 2022, our “wrap pod” recorded on Sunday night at 8pm at Harpin Manor has only once featured a defeat for either Leinster or Ireland, namely the tanking against the Bulls which as we all know had no real consequence when it came to our final position.
So this latest one, our 40th this season, was the very first one where we had to suck it up and literally admit defeat for up to an hour. And I have to say Tom and Rich did an excellent job stepping up to the plate, especially since I dare anyone, and I mean ANYONE to say they were in any way complaining about how the match wen
If you missed it, check it out here or on most major platforms.
HARPIN ON…THE FRANK MURPHY DEBATE
I decided to set a bit of a trap with the bonus clip this week. Like I said in the above segment, a lot of Munster and probably also ABL fans are likely to expect a lot of whinging by Leinster fans, so I thought maybe this headline would make them think that’s what we’re doing when it comes to the discussion over Frank Murphy’s performance. As you can see from the actual discussion, which includes a video insert from Keego, it was anything but.
If you’re playing the clip above maybe pop over and subscribe to the channel too? That’s where we post our Preview Show as well as other content throughout the week.
URC FINAL TIK TOK
The common theme from Leinster fans that I have seen around the ruggersphere since the final whistle has been “Fair play Munster, now go on and win it.” For the clip I use for TikTok to promote the wrap pod, I chose this snippet from Rich where he goes a bit further…
First of all, as we said on the pod, it should be ok to mention Ben Healy going 3 seconds over the kick clock without being accused of creating outrage as if it led directly to the Munster win. It should be easy enough for the TMO to police this and offer a ten second warning to the ref which he can pass on to the kicker.
Second of all, to the Munster fans claiming Leinster are grumbling over this, can I just ask how they’d react if it were Johnny Sexton going over the clock by a nano-second and nothing was done and the boys in blue won by a point? 😜
When there is no in stadium clock that the officials or players can refer to, the timing of the kick is solely at the discretion of the referee.
Of course, this was easily verifiable with the URC.
Might as well share this set of “fun facts” sent around by EPCR ahead of Saturday’s final….
• Holders, Stade Rochelais, have reached the Heineken Champions Cup final for the third season in a row, and having qualified for the 2019 Challenge Cup decider, the club’s appearance at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday will be their fourth EPCR final in five years.
• Stade Toulousain in 2003, 2004 and 2005, and RC Toulon (2013, 2014, 2015) are the only other clubs to have qualified for three consecutive Heineken Champions Cup finals.
• Leinster Rugby will be appearing in a seventh Heineken Champions Cup final and will be looking to equal Stade Toulousain’s record of five titles.
• If Cian Healy is selected in Leinster’s match day 23 for the final, and if the Irish province are victorious, he will become the first player in history to win the tournament five times.
• Healy could also set a new tournament record of seven final appearances surpassing his total of six which he shares with Leinster teammate, Johnny Sexton, and Cédric Heymans of CA Brive and Stade Toulousain.
• The Stade Rochelais captain, Greg Alldritt, has made the most carries this season with 112 from his seven matches to date.
• The final will be the sixth between Irish and French clubs with the Irish currently leading the way with four victories to one.
• Antoine Hastoy of Stade Rochelais is this season’s leading scorer with 85 points, four ahead of Leinster’s Ross Byrne on 81. Josh van der Flier is the top try scorer with six while Tawera Kerr-Barlow has crossed for five.
• If they are named in their respective match day 23s, both Tadgh Furlong and Brice Dulin will make their 50th Heineken Champions Cup appearances on Saturday.
• Players from eight different countries – Argentina, Australia, Fiji, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Samoa and South Africa – are likely to feature in Saturday’s showpiece match which will be watched by TV viewers in close to 200 countries worldwide.
• Leinster’s Jimmy O’Brien is the tournament’s top metre maker on 449 and he also has made the most line breaks with 13.
CENTRES OF ATTENTION
Charlie Ngatai has been really impressive for the most part over the past few weeks. I thought maybe he made a couple of wrong decisions in that final fifteen minute spell last Saturday when he kicked the ball away when he didn’t really have to, which for him is strange to say because he’s very much a “keep the ball in hand” kinda 12. But I chose not to say it on the pod because I didn’t want it to take from his overall performance.
The reason I bring it up here is because as vital a cog as he has been for us this season, it simply cannot be overstated how much better it is for Leinster to have Henshaw and Ringrose back together this weekend, which is what I’m assuming will happen. Ngatai’s crash carries may have generated a bunch of go-forward ball against Munster, but it also served to limit Robbie’s effectiveness over the 80 minutes, and with the Jenkins try we saw just how effective he can be, an exception that proved the rule if you will.
Now with him and Garry back together (I’m assuming, see predicted 23 below) not only do we have a solid defensive cornerstone partnership but it also adds a host of options to our attack, and anyone who saw last year’s final will know it’s our attack which we’re going to need the most.
All that said, Charlie could come in very handy off the bench for Leinster.
URC PLAYOFFS
There has been a few grumblings around the place about the URC playoff system over the past few weeks, long before the result on Saturday at the Aviva too. The suggestion seems to be that 8 might be too many qualifiers for the knockout stages.
I see where that idea is coming from, but I still disagree. It’s a 5-nations, 16-team competition that is surely going to look to expand so I reckon it’s important to keep the interest levels up as much as possible. I know Champions Cup qualification is also a reward for top 8 (especially now as they’ve finally removed the whole Shield nonsense) but I still think it’s ok to have playoffs as a reward for this season’s squad who actually achieved the position.
So what I would propose is a playoff system similar to that used in both Aussie Rugby League & Rules. Basically it gives the higher-finishing team a “double chance”. Instead of a straight knockout system like we have now where the QFs are 1v8 2v7 3v6 and 4v5, it could go like this…
FIRST ROUND
A : 1 V 4
B : 2 V 3
C : 5 V 8
D : 6 V 7
SECOND ROUND
E : Highest ranked loser A/B v lowest ranked winner C/D
F : Lowest ranked loser A/B v highest ranked winner C/D
SEMIFINALS
G : Highest ranked winner A/B v lowest ranked winner E/F
H : Lowest ranked winner A/B v highest ranked winner E/F
FINAL
I : Winner G v Winner H
It would need an extra weekend to be found on the calendar but I reckon it would be worth it as a bit more of a reward for the top 4 finishers than home advantage. I’m sure there are drawbacks to this system as well but I guess my overall point is that I’d be inclined to retain 8 qualifiers, especially if more teams are going to be joining the league down the line.
LONDON IRISH
Very, very concerning news surrounding London Irish’s financial viability on the back of Wasps and Worcester’s woes earlier in the season. Obviously the most important concern is over the future of all the jobs which appear to be at risk.
On the rugby fallout, they actually had a decent season on the pitch and their 5th place finish makes them candidates for Leinster to meet in the Champions Cup pool stage, as things stand it would be either them or Harlequins. Should Irish not be able to compete, I’m assuming that Bristol would make it to the HCC despite having finished 3rd from bottom of the Prem, and it would be Exeter that could be our HCC opponents.
It goes without saying that the entire rugby family is hoping that none of those contingencies are needed.
HCC AS GUINEA PIGS?
Speaking of the makeup of the HCC,its much-maligned format came back into the news yesterday as the European football governing body UEFA announced it’s plans to overhaul it’s Champions League from an 8-pools of 4 method to a clunky 1 league of THIRTY-SIX with 8 matches each and as many as 24 qualifying for the knockout rounds. It’s so similar to that used by the Heineken Cup I’m almost tin-foil hatted enough to wonder if we have been used as guinea pigs for the past few seasons?
Apparently the HCC format is to be reviewed after the 23/24 season so we’ll see what they come up with. Expect another year of complaining in the meantime though.
Almost like HCC has been a UEFA guinea pig these last few seasons.
With the obvious high-profile exceptions of Will Connors and Johnny Sexton, this was overall a really good injury report for Leinster in the week leading up to a Champions Cup final. It was a pleasure to type out that possible 23.
Some might argue that Doris can play 6 with Conan at 8 and Baird at 20, but I think this formation is better for Leinster which would make Conan the unlucky one yet still ready to make a massive impact from the bench.
For me the real debate is over 22 & 23. First, do we go for a 6/2 split to give us extra beef against the La Rochelle pack? It certainly didn’t hurt Munster last Saturday. If so I’d probably go for Deegan as the extra man with Frawley’s versatility getting the nod over Harry.
I still think it’s more likely we go for a 5/3. Personally I’d stick with Frawley as 22 with the hope that Ross can play a full 80, and that would leave us with a question of Ngatai or Larmour as the 23. Either would be great, but FWIW I’m thinking we need an out and out winger in reserve so I’d probably go for Larmour.
On the subject of squad selection, should we have picked a full team for last Saturday? It’s easy to say yes now, but remember we WERE NOT HAMMERED by Munster as many seem to suggest. There was just the one point in it and it could easily have gone the other way.
That said, you can definitely make an argument for having a policy that our strongest team gets picked for any and every semifinal. To play your best side in the showpiece is of course the ideal, but first you must make it there and when you’re as close as the final four better to give yourself the best chance and let the injury chips fall where they may.
POSSIBLE 23 V LA ROCHELLE
Keenan, J O’Brien, Ringrose, Henshaw, Lowe, R Byrne, Gibson-Park
Porter, Sheehan, Furlong, Molony, Ryan (c), Baird, JVDF, Doris
(note – the above team is purely from my imagination, it’s certainly not one of those quasi-leaked Thornley teams which are always 22 out of 23 correct)
OFFICIAL INJURY REPORT
Cian Healy came through the game at the weekend with no issues after his recovery from an ankle injury.
Rónan Kelleher came through the game at the weekend with no issues after his recovery from a shoulder injury.
Robbie Henshaw came through the game at the weekend with no issues after recovering from a quad issue.
James Lowe was part of the extended match day squad at the weekend and will train as normal this week.
Scott Penny has come through the Graduated Return to Play Protocols and will be available for selection this week.
Will Connors has entered the Graduated Return to Play Protocols and will be unavailable for selection this week.
There are no further updates on:
Vakhtang Abdaladze (neck), Ed Byrne (tricep), Rhys Ruddock (hamstring), Johnny Sexton (groin), Jamie Osborne (knee), Martin Moloney (knee)
SEVENS UPDATE
Both Irish teams were involved in Toulouse at the weekend, and both made the quarterfinals on the way to a 6th place finish, but the headlines was always going to be for Lucy Mullhall’s women’s squad who earned enough points to qualify directly for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Obviously it’s a wonderful achievement and just what the women’s game here needed what with all the recent doom and gloom.
And it’s not like they didn’t earn it – I watched most of their games over the weekend (hat-tip to Google Calendar reminders) and from the very first match against the hosts France they were magnificent, especially on defence. A lot of star names in that squad like Mulhall, Higgins, Flood, Parsons, Aimee Lee Murphy Crowe ( or “Lawfirm” as our contributor Mark Jackson calls her)…the whole team played well throughout and as it turned out were unlucky to meet Australia twice otherwise they may have finished higher.
Still when it came to Olympic qualification it ended up as a straight shootout between ourselves and Fiji – the winner qualifies for Paris, the loser has to wait and try again another day. And our defence was tip top for this one as two Lawfirm tries were enough to win 10-5 which mean the celebrations could begin and that was awesome to see. Certainly lifted my spirits on Sunday morning after all that had gone on the evening before!!!!!
As for the men well like I say they also finished 6th in Toulouse but it wasn’t enough to prevent them from having to go through further Olympic qualifiers but still there have been many highlights for them this season particularly the silver medal in Dubai.
Still one round to go for them in London this weekend hopefully they can finish in style.
SATURDAY MAY 23
10:23AM – IRELAND MEN V FIJI
1:31PM – IRELAND MEN V JAPAN
5:35PM – IRELAND MEN V ARGENTINA
MLR UPDATE
I’ve been keeping tabs on the MLR this season, adopting the New England Free Jacks as “my team” and in the latest round they travelled to Loudon, Virginia to face Old Glory DC. It was billed as a battle of 1st vs 2nd in the Eastern Conference but in the first half it was more a case of men v boys as the Free Jacks halfback pairing of Poland and Portroz led the side to a 28-7 lead at the break with the try bonus point in the bag.
DC fought back a bit to get a BP of their own but the visitors were pretty much coasting throughout and in the end it was a 42-24 victory which extends their lead in the East. Referee for the day was Argentinian Federico Anselmi, who has officiated at test level and wasn’t taking any back chat from the players on the day, that’s for sure.
There’s highlights in the tweet below and the build up to my favourite Free Jacks try comes 17s into the clip.
Meanwhile out in the west, San Diego’s win over New Orleans was their 11th out of 12 and they remain 9 pts clear of Seattle with Houston and Utah seeming to be in a two horse race for the third playoff spot.
NGL I really, really did consider predicting a Munster win to try and make up some ground. And I know many will think of that as “arrogance” but the fact remains Leinster were 10 point favourites with the bookies so the prediction really would have been a gamble. Instead I went for both semifinals as 7-point home wins and, well, that didn’t happen!!! So it looks like I’m going to finish 3rd, which is a hell of a lot better than the wooden spoon last season I suppose.
As for this year’s title it’s now between Mark Jackson & RugbyKino with MJ in pole position. I’d expect him to play it safe with the final and go for the Stormers and if I were Kino I’d go for Munster but we’ll see what they go for on the day.
Meanwhile I will have the “Jersey Of Shame” packed and ready to post to Keego when the final whistle blows in the final as I can’t really see him clawing back that deficit somehow…
AI RUGBY : LEINSTER V MUNSTER ‘DRY RUN’
What did AI know???? Maybe the match finished a lot closer in reality, but when I fed the two teams into the ChatGPT app it did come up with a win for our Southern cousins. We’ll see what it says about LEIvLAR this Friday…
PROMPT
Imagine a game of 15-a-side rugby union between Leinster Rugby and Munster Rugby over two halves of 40 minutes with the two lineups outlined below, taking into account the current reputation and form of all the players involved.
Leinster : 15. Jimmy O’Brien 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Robbie Henshaw 12. Charlie Ngatai 11. Dave Kearney 10. Harry Byrne 9. Luke McGrath CAPTAIN
1. Michael Milne 2. Rónan Kelleher 3. Michael Ala’alatoa 4. Ryan Baird 5. Jason Jenkins 6. Max Deegan 7. Will Connors 8. Jack Conan
16. John McKee 17. Cian Healy 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. Joe McCarthy 20. Josh van der Flier 21. Nick McCarthy 22. Ciarán Frawley 23. Liam Turner
Munster: 15 Mike Haley; 14 Keith Earls, 13 Antoine Frisch, 12 Jack Crowley, 11 Shane Daly; 10 Ben Healy, 9 Craig Casey
1 Jeremy Loughman, 2 Diarmuid Barron, 3 Stephen Archer; 4 Jean Kleyn, 5 Tadhg Beirne; 6 Peter O’Mahony (C), 7 John Hodnett, 8 Gavin Coombes.
16 Niall Scannell, 17 Josh Wycherley, 18 Roman Salanoa, 19 Fineen Wycherley, 20 Jack O’Donoghue, 21 Neil Cronin, 22 Rory Scannell, 23 Alex Kendellen
Write 2000 words on the progress of the match in the form of a timeline (no conclusion, just the timeline only) reporting incidents like tries, conversions, penalties, injuries and yellow or red cards.
AI RESPONSE
0-10 minutes: The game starts with a lot of intensity from both teams as they try to stamp their authority. There are some physical exchanges in the early minutes with both teams making their tackles count.
10-20 minutes: Leinster draws first blood with a try from winger Tommy O’Brien following some slick handling in the backline. Harry Byrne makes no mistake with the conversion.
20-30 minutes: Munster responds with a try from winger Keith Earls, who ghosts past a couple of defenders to cross over the try line. Ben Healy adds the extras to level the scores.
30-40 minutes: Leinster applies some sustained pressure to Munster’s defense, but they struggle to break through. Harry Byrne kicks a penalty towards the end of the half to give Leinster a slender 10-7 lead.
Half-time: Leinster 10-7 Munster
45-55 minutes: Munster comes out firing in the second half and takes the lead with two tries in quick succession – one from Peter O’Mahony and the other from Craig Casey. Healy adds the extras from both tries to give Munster a 21-10 lead.
55-60 minutes: Leinster hits back with a try from prop Michael Ala’alatoa following a series of pick-and-gos close to the Munster try line. Byrne’s conversion leaves the score at 21-17 in Munster’s favor.
60-70 minutes: Munster extends its lead with tries from center Jack Crowley and replacement hooker Niall Scannell. Healy successfully converts both tries to put Munster in the driving seat with a 35-17 lead.Yellow card: 66th minute – Munster’s Tadhg Beirne for a high tackle.
70-75 minutes: Leinster scores a quick try from flanker Will Connors to keep the game alive, but they are still trailing by 35-24 with less than 10 minutes to go.
75-80 minutes: Leinster pushes hard for another score, but Munster defends resolutely, thwarting any attacking opportunities. The game ends with Munster coming out on top, 35-24.
Full-time: Leinster 24-35 Munster
THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
One teeny tiny advantage from Saturday’s result has been that it allows me to give myself the week off following the Champions Cup final. So during the week we will of course be giving the showpiece the full Harpin treatment with a preview on Friday, the last wrap pod of the season on Sunday, and a whole lot in between. The gloom is slowly but surely turning into nervous but still excited anticipation so I hope you’ll join me along the way by any or all of our social media platforms.
In the meantime, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
In the stand, if you believe the boos, comments here, comments all over the Internet etc we can only blame one person but I blame the urc. How did they put that referee in the position that he can be blamed? It’s outrageous that he be put in that position. Any other ref could be chosen so that the “he played” nonsense wouldn’t be am issue.
Regardless, you play the decisions, and adapt.
Well done munster, good luck on the 27th.
Craig Grehan
As an out & out leinster fan. We disrespected munster in cup rugby by not selecting our best team.
A team that does that, does it at their peril. We took the gamble and lost to the MUCH better team on the day.
Andrew Potts
A disappointing day for Leinster fond the demands of a month of weekly knock out rugby a step to far today.
Could have won it but Munster could had a few tries.
Frank Murphy did nothing today but enhance his reputation as a very flawed Ref and biased against Leinster.
In the first minute a player leaves the field unconscious. The result of a high tackle.
I thought three questions had to be answered by the Ref
Was there contact with the head?
Was force applied?
Any mitigation ?
It’s a card but only what colour.
The sanctions must have changed.
The length of time Leinster were defending under advantage was ridiculous, certainly he was a factor.
John Hyland
Munster were the better side today. For right or for wrong, Leo has prioritised the fifth star. This was always going to be a tight game. Let’s hope Munster can do the biz in SA.
TWITTER
Munster deserve it. Leinster played badly. Frank Murphy should not ref these games. All of this is true, go on and win now Munster. #leivmun
Seeing a lot of this. Unsure it's anything like a big loss. I get that teams who haven't touched a trophy in seasons don't like other teams with more W, but every dog has its day. A gambled kick through on 72 mins turned out to be a pivotal error, a missed conversion likewise. 👍 https://t.co/e95VfHl4O1
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 