Welcome to my 80+ column, a weekly post featuring final thoughts from the week of rugby just gone.
WRAP OF A WRAP
Friday, June 12, 2012 is when Keego posted his first article on the old HarpinOnRugby.net website, titled “Keego on…Kidney & Kryptonite”. Then on Friday, March 1, 2013 we got the first offering from Cian “RugbyKino” O’Muilleoir, titled “Stat of the Nation Address”. For over 10 years they have both added their own brand of awesome content and it was great to have two “old school” contributors help me wrap the win over the Sharks for our latest pod.
If you missed it, check it out on Spotify here or on most major platforms.
HARPIN ON…LEINSTER’S SQUAD MANAGEMENT
For our bonus clip we harped on Leinster’s enviable headache of keeping a 60-strong squad of players happy, over the season as a whole and particularly over this period of weekly knockout fixtures.
One point I forgot to mention was the critical cultivation of what I call “switch hitting props”, a kind of crude adaptation of baseball terminology but I still like to use it. Allowing the likes of Andrew Porter and Cian Healy to be match ready on both sides of the front row has played a major role in Leinster’s ability to react to injuries over the course of a match AND a season over the past couple of years.
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.
JORDAN LARMOUR TRY TIK TOK
Might have been against 14 (or as Kino pointed out just before this TikTok clip, essentially 13 due to an injury to du Toit) but Harry Byrne’s crossfield kick to Larmour for our third try was still a joy to watch.
I’m sorry but this really, really, REALLY bugs me. Just to be clear, I don’t mean the sporting act itself, rather the fact that people try to make out that you only see things like this in rugby. NOT. THE. CASE. It really is very simple – first, there are examples of good sportsmanship in all sports but also, it’s not like rugby is perfectly clean all the time either. The whole concept of “rugby values” never really sat well with me, partly because it’s not sport-specific but also there’s a tinge of elitism to it as well.
Can we not just say this was a nice thing to do and move on?
I’m calling it “Avivapalooza”, namely the festival of rugby at Irish HQ that goes way back to Ireland’s Grand Slam victory. From March 18 until now there have been 8 weekends, with 5 of them having Leinster/Ireland at the Aviva, 1 at the RDS and the other two literally in the other half of the world. All this with two and possibly three more to come over the next few weeks. Is this me complaining? Absolutely not. Am I agreeing with those ABL factions on social media who claim the sport is rigged? Also absolutely not – with the exception of the HCC final for which Ireland was due, home advantage is earned and Leinster have definitely done that on the pitch. Still worth noting how often we’re going to the venue these days, though. Reminds me of the 2012/13 season when a similar series of quirky happenings saw the RDS host 5 weeks of matches in a row. Not the easiest to sell when you live in a house where you’re the only egg-chasing nut!!!!
DOING THE DOUBLE
While I’m on the subject of Leinster’s knockout rugby fetish, I might as well take the excuse to bring up my constant bugbear over the structure of the European rugby season. I have said for a long, long time that it needs an overhaul to an extent where the two major competitions that every club can win each season are played in separate blocks over the season.
That way not only can a club be rewarded for being on form in the earlier half of the season, but also it would remove what I think is a ridiculous requirement for coaches to pick and choose which matches they want to prioritize over the course of a season. The ideal should be for coaches to select their best available squad for every weekend and while I know this can’t ALWAYS be done, the status quo rules it out altogether and just because it has been normalised over decades doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be changed as far as I’m concerned.
I know Leicester, Wasps, Toulouse, Exeter and Sarries have all managed to “do the double” over the years (although one or two of the more recent ones do come with COVID/salary cap asterisks) but as things stand right now I have to wonder if Leinster are the only team that could possibly have the resources to come close to winning both if something doesn’t change. I mean as much as that fact pleases me as a fan of the province, it certainly doesn’t when I look at it as a fan of the sport.
HCC FORMAT
There’s a lot in this Indo interview with the IRFU CEO but one sentence caught my eye on first read…I’ve mentioned the HCC format quite a bit on this column throughout the season, how it doesn’t bother me as much as it seems to bother a lot of fans, but it looks like we’re going to have it for the next campaign too which of course would mean more complaints.
“EPCR is so important to Irish Rugby and the provinces. Getting its structure right is critical,” he adds, stating that he is involved in a consultation process with EPCR to update the structures from 2024/’25.”
AI RUGBY : LEINSTER V SHARKS DRY RUN
My inner nerd loves doing it so whether you like it or not, this will become a regular Harpin’ feature. On Friday once the team is announced I’ll be feeding the two matchday squads into ChatGPT using the prompt below to see what it comes up with.
On our Preview Show the score will update throughout the pod and I’ll provide the actual receipts here in the 80+. As you can see below, the AI felt Leinster would also win well, albeit with a few more tries from our guests.
PROMPT
Imagine a game of 15-a-side rugby union between Leinster Rugby and Cell C Sharks 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. Hugo Keenan 14. Jordan Larmour 13. Ciarán Frawley 12. Charlie Ngatai 11. Dave Kearney 10. Harry Byrne 9. Luke McGrath > CAPTAIN
1. Michael Milne 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Tadhg Furlong 4. Ryan Baird 5. Jason Jenkins 6. Max Deegan 7. Scott Penny 8. Caelan Doris
16. John McKee 17. Andrew Porter 18. Cian Healy 19. Joe McCarthy 20. Jack Conan 21. Jamison Gibson-Park 22. Ross Byrne 23. Liam Turner
Cell C Sharks : 15 Aphelele Fassi 14 Marnus Potgieter 13 Lukhanyo Am (c) 12 Ben Tapuai 11 Makazole Mapimpi 10 Boeta Chamberlain 9 Grant Williams
1 Ox Nche 2 Bongi Mbonambi 3 Thomas du Toit 4 Corne Rahl 5 Gerbrandt Grobler 6 James Venter 7 Vincent Tshituka 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe
16 Fez Mbatha 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu 18 Carlu Sadie 19 Jeandre Labuschagne 20 Phepsi Buthelezi 21 Cameron Wright 22 Nevaldo Fleurs 23 Rohan Janse van Rensburg
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.
PRINTOUT
0-10 minutes: The game starts with a lot of back-and-forth action as both teams try to find their footing. However, it is Leinster who strikes first as winger Jordan Larmour breaks through the Sharks’ defense to score a try. Harry Byrne converts the try to give Leinster an early 7-0 lead.
10-20 minutes: The Sharks respond with a try of their own as winger Makazole Mapimpi finishes off a counter-attack. Boeta Chamberlain’s conversion levels the scores at 7-7.
20-30 minutes: Leinster regains their lead as Charlie Ngatai scores a clever try following a quick tap penalty. Byrne once again adds the extras to make it 14-7 in favor of the home team.
30-40 minutes: The Sharks turn up the pressure and win a penalty that Chamberlain successfully kicks to reduce Leinster’s lead to 14-10.
40-45 minutes: Just before half-time, Leinster scores a third try as lock Ryan Baird crashes over the try line. Byrne’s conversion gives the home team a 21-10 lead at the break.
Half-time: Leinster 21-10 Sharks
45-55 minutes: The Sharks start the second half strongly and score two tries in quick succession through Aphelele Fassi and captain Lukhanyo Am. However, Chamberlain misses both conversion attempts, leaving the score at 21-20 in favor of Leinster.
55-62 minutes: Leinster fights back and scores their fourth try of the match through prop Tadhg Furlong. Byrne’s successful conversion increases Leinster’s lead to 28-20.
62-67 minutes: Sharks’ winger Marnus Potgieter is shown a yellow card for a high tackle on Larmour.
67-75 minutes: Leinster capitalizes on their numerical advantage and scores two more tries through replacement scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park and flanker Caelan Doris. Byrne converts both tries to extend Leinster’s lead to 42-20.
75-80 minutes: The Sharks score a consolation try through reserve center Rohan Janse van Rensburg, but it is too little too late as Leinster runs out comfortable 42-27 winners.
Full-time: Leinster 42-27 Sharks
INJURY REPORT
Some decent news this week, still makes for an interesting selection at the weekend though….
POSSIBLE 23 V MUNSTER
Frawley, Kearney, Ngatai, Ringrose, T O’Brien, McGrath, H Byrne
McKee, Porter, Clarkson, McCarthy, Conan, JGP, R Byrne, Larmour
(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 report
Joe McCarthy came through the game at the weekend against Cell C Sharks with no issues after his recovery from an ankle injury.
Rónan Kelleher was involved in the wider match day squad at the weekend and will be available to train fully this week after his recovery from a shoulder injury.
Scott Penny has entered the Graduated Return to Play Protocols and will be further assessed as the week progresses.
Robbie Henshaw is expected to step up his rehabilitation from a minor quad issue this week and will be further assessed as the week progresses.
James Lowe is expected to step up his rehabilitation from a calf injury and will be further assessed as the week progresses.
Cian Healy picked up an ankle injury against Cell C Sharks and will be further assessed as the week progresses.
There are no further updates on: Vakhtang Abdaladze (neck), Ed Byrne (tricep), Rhys Ruddock (hamstring), Johnny Sexton (groin), Jamie Osborne (knee), Martin Moloney (knee)
AIL UPDATE
We’ve been updating this segment all season so even though we covered the AIL final on the pod, I’d still like to offer congrats to all involved at Terenure College RFC for capping off a fine campaign with the championship. It was a comprehensive win on the day for sure but overall after starting the league with a long unbeaten run it was no more than they deserve.
There were of course a host of other matches over the weekend as the promotion and relegation issues across the five AIL divisions were sorted out. Shannon’s win over Highfield means they remain in the top flight with City of Armagh being the only newcomers next season. Also congrats to my “alma mater” Blackrock College who beat MU Barnhall at Stradbrook to more them up to the second tier.
AIL FINAL
Clontarf 24 Terenure 50
DIVISION 1A PROMOTION/RELEGATION PLAY-OFF FINAL:
Shannon 32 Highfield 12
DIVISION 1B PROMOTION PLAY-OFF FINAL:
Blackrock College 29 MU Barnhall 21
DIVISION 2A PROMOTION/RELEGATION PLAY-OFF FINAL:
UL Bohemians 20 Dungannon 16
DIVISION 2B PROMOTION PLAY-OFF FINAL:
Skerries 30 Bruff 15
SEVENS UPDATE
The Sevens circuit kicks back into gear this weekend and for the women Toulouse is actually the final tournament of the series. The way the standings look I very much doubt we can crack the top four but we should be anxiously looking over our shoulders at both Fiji and GB behind us so we’ll need a strong showing with Brazil, Australia and hosts France in our pool.
Meanwhile for the men it is the penultimate leg of the series with Twickers still to come the following weekend. A shocker of a Singapore leg has us down in 9th on the ladder, a big drop since our excellent silver in Dubai at the start of the season. If we can click over the next two weeks however we can more up a place or two and we’re up against Samoa, Oz & Japan this weekend.
TOULOUSE SEVENS
FRIDAY MAY 12
10:28AM IRELAND WOMEN V FRANCE
11:45AM IRELAND MEN V SAMOA
4:04PM IRELAND MEN V AUSTRALIA
7:05PM IRELAND WOMEN V AUSTRALIA
SATURDAY MAY 13
9:43AM IRELAND WOMEN V BRAZIL
10:37AM IRELAND MEN V JAPAN
1:42PM WOMEN’S PLAYOFFS BEGIN
3:10PM MEN’S PLAYOFFS BEGIN
MLR UPDATE
Not going to be able to watch a game back this week, although that’s ok because as I said before I have adopted the New England Free Jacks as my team for this season and they were off for this round.
But even with the bye week they remain a healthy 9pts clear in the East, and they can extend that lead even further if they win next weekend against Old Glory. Meanwhile out West the San Diego’s win in Utak means they also have a cushion with Seattle and Houston, who meet next weekend, also in the playoff positions for now.
ROUND 12
ATL 27-12 CHI
DAL 3-7 OGDC
UTAH 16-26 SD
NYI 54-19 NOLA
ROUND 13
TOR V ATL
NOLA V SD
HOU V SEA
DAL V UTAH
OGDC V NE
CHI V NYI
HARPIN’ PREDICTION LEAGUE
Well. All season 1st place in the HPL has switched back and forth between myself and RugbyKino, only for Mark Jackson to leap over both of us into top spot with just three matches left to predict!!! Like I have always said I’m mostly happy not to be the cellar dweller this season (that honour was clinched by Keego literally months ago) but still to have come so close it’s a bit of a pain to drop to 3rd towards the end. My biggest errors recently were forgetting one match altogether in the last round, and not believing in Munster wanting victory more than Glasgow in this one.
THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
It’s all about Munster now. Things should be relatively normal for the coming week so be sure to stay tuned to all our usual corners of social media to keep up with our latest content.
In the meantime, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
6 May 2023; Michael Milne of Leinster celebrates after scoring his side’s second try during the United Rugby Championship Quarter-Final between Leinster and Cell C Sharks at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
Another very comfortable game, a slight scare at the start when Sharks got their try, but in the end it was too easy.
Don’t see Munster causing any trouble after watching their game against 14 man Glasgow. Still need to show Munster respect though. Don’t want to put out all the academy players again thinking we will walk it.
Andrew Byrne
Time to rethink the quarterfinals stage? That wasn’t a proper match, Sharks seemed to turn up with a one dimensional game plan, only wishing to front up at the scrum and then return home as quickly as possible. No fight in them to have a shot at Leinster with a proper game plan. Knockout rugby gives you a chance to take down the top teams, Sharks just didn’t look interested in anything other than taking scrums.
Hubert Gallagher
(Munster semifinal will be) a derby – passions will be high, physicality intense, we cannot afford to be as generous as Glasgow yesterday and spurn the chances they did. Otherwise Munster will grow into the game and it will become a dogfight and the outcome less certain!
— Marcas Mac Siacais 🇪🇺🇮🇪☘️ (@hoomanbear) May 6, 2023
Good solid performance by the boys against a stifled Sharks. The main thing a good win and few injury concerns Caelan a very worthy POTM On to the SF @leinsterrugby#COYBIB#LEIvSHA
— Richard Mifsud ( richardmifsud@mastodon.ie ) (@Once_in_the_job) May 6, 2023
Mixed bag for Milne. Tough day at scrum time. Sharks strong there but only line breaking from broken play & garryowens though. Porter & penalties then when he came on. Last one against him seemed harsh though. Doris is some man. Ngatai too. Larmour & high balls. 🤷 #LEIvSHA
Koochulainn I thought (the Sharks) would be more dangerous, particularly against an unorthodox centre partnership (which I thought didn’t gel early on) I thought McGrath was and has been fantastic over the last while
Welcome to my 80+ column, a weekly post featuring final thoughts from the week of rugby just gone.
WRAP OF A WRAP
Hopefully Mark Jackson will be able to return to our pod lineup soon, and we’re grateful to Conor Cronin for stepping in for him on Sunday to join Tom Coleman, and as ever they did a bang up job covering all the harpin’ points. There were a couple of incidents that needed some video to help illustrate so I’ll deal with them further down the column, as well as the very selective interpretations from those who MIGHT have been using a little bias…
If you missed it, check it out here on Spotify or on most major platforms.
HARPIN ON…LEINSTER’S ⭐OF THE MATCH CONTENDERS
Disagreeing or at least debating the award of Player or Star of the Match awards (Sidebar – why are some people making such a big deal about the switch away from MotM? Get over it FFS) has been common this season which ain’t a bad position for any team to be in. This match was certainly no exception so for the bonus clip we each selected a player and harped on their performance. And even THAT wasn’t enough so there was an extra name thrown into our main TikTiok clip, see below.
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.
JACK CONAN & JAMES RYAN TIK TOKS
See above for the reason behind the Conan TikTok, but I also thought it was worth producing a 2nd from the Toulouse match because watching it with the naked eye I was blown away by James Ryan’s determined grab ahead of the JVDF try at the weekend. It really did look like it had been turned over but he simply wasn’t having it.
All day Sunday there was a heated discussion online about a supposed travesty that might have helped Leinster win…well, I suppose that could be said about pretty much ANY given Sunday over the past few seasons, but this time it was over the incidents involving Porter and Neti. When I was watching the match live I missed the Porter one, and while I did see the Neti hit on JVDF, I missed the very important context of the clash just before it, and after watching all the subsequent replays, I still missed it.
This continued online with sometimes still photos and more often slowed-down footage of the second clash somehow serving as “proof” that the incident shouldn’t have been a penalty. Thankfully someone ended up sharing the full incident which you can see below.
But I’d rather focus on the groupthink that is behind these campaigns for now. We started the season by talking about this ABL or “Anyone But Leinster” groupthink. To be clear, I don’t actually mind it, the only thing I’d want to do is acknowledge that it exists. A team that wins as often as Leinster do is bound to have haters, even or possibly especially Irish ones.
Generally their MO is to search for one or two gombeen Leinster fan comments (of which there will be some for sure, because being a gombeen has nothing to do with where you’re from) and make it out like that represents the whole province. Or in the case of Sunday, just make it look like there’s some grand conspiracy to help Leinster and/or Ireland win.
Sad, really.
Funny how different it looks when the clip shows the entire incident in full…. https://t.co/tF1IIWXG5b
I wouldn’t class this as an example of ABL, more someone trying to suit a narrative of online commentary in general.
But anyway I’ll include our exchange as well as my original tweet that sparked it. For full disclosure when Conor said on the pod that it shouldn’t have been a 5022 that was news to me so I went back to confirm it and just wanted to share that with my followers.
I mean, of COURSE it’s over analysis, but isn’t that what’s to be expected from a fansite????
Mate it's really, really simple. We made a podcast about a rugby match and a contributor made a point, so I shared a clip to go with it.
Have to say it is kind of funny to see someone call it out as over-analysis then proceed to over-analyse it. 😜
I’ve never met Greg, and all I’ve heard is that he’s a nice guy who apparently has been thrown under the bus. I really think his “I see them as my daughters” comment during the Six Nations campaign was incredibly tone deaf but overall to make it look like it was just his coaching that led to the results over the past month or so doesn’t exactly sit well.
As Tom pointed out on our pod, the fact that CliodhnaMoloney scored two tries and won PotM for Exeter in the Allianz Cup final on the very same day the test side was picking up the wooden spoon speak volumes.
For me this line in a recent article from Sinead Kissane says it all…
She was the only person in the player’s representative group after the explosive letter to the Government who didn’t retire from international rugby. Since then, she hasn’t had a look-in with the national squad.
…assuming this to be true, the question does need to be asked if there is a blackballing policy in place, and if so, then it surely must be a major contributory factor to all that is going on in Irish Women’s rugby.
And here we see what makes speaking out about these things very difficult. Because when you talk about the Moloneys and the Griffins who aren’t there, plus the likes of Parsons who are prioritised for the Sevens circuit, you end up throwing a good bit of shade at those who actually togged out for those five matches. Unless you’re Ewan McKenna of course, who chose simply to mock them to satisfy his Army of Incels followers.
I know I don’t follow the women’s game regularly but from my vantage point at least within the overall sport, it really does look like it’s not so much dinosaurs in the decision making positions, rather ostriches who don’t want to see what really needs to be done.
Just. Listen.
UPDATE – Just saw a report that rumours of his leaving the post were greatly exaggerated? Very strange to see a story linger in the news cycle for so long if it was that wrong. Anyway, whether he’s still the coach or not, the fundamental issues remain the same.
LONDON IRISH
Not sure where this story is heading but the point to be made is that it is hardly a surprise as it was clear when both Worcester and Wasps were in trouble that they weren’t the only ones.
It’s difficult enough to understand how 8th place in the Premiership can qualify for Europe when it only has 11 clubs without another one going under as well. Fingers crossed they are able to sort something out mostly for the sake of all those employed by the club.
Red flags at London Irish, where the club’s players and staff have not received their salaries for April. https://t.co/xCGWH3O4up
Been dabbling in AI in recent weeks, and this time I decided to ask ChatGPT on Friday to “play out” a match between Leinster and Toulouse using the selected teams. Below you see the prompt and how it played out, wasn’t a million miles off the actual result and I have to say I like the way it even had a try disallowed by the TMO!!!
Imagine a game of 15-a-side rugby union between Leinster Rugby and Stade Toulousain over two halves of 40 minutes with the two lineups outlined below, taking into account the reputation and form of all the players involved.
Leinster : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Jordan Larmour 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Charlie Ngatai 11. Jimmy O’Brien 10. Ross Byrne 9. Jamison Gibson-Park
1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Tadhg Furlong 4. Ross Molony 5. James Ryan (c) 6. Caelan Doris 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Jack Conan
16. John McKee 17. Cian Healy 18. Michael Ala’alatoa 19. Jason Jenkins 20. Ryan Baird 21. Luke McGrath 22. Harry Byrne 23. Ciarán Frawley.
Toulouse : 15 T Ramos 14 JC Mailla 13 PL Barassi 12 P Ahki 11 M Lebel 10 R Ntamack 9 A Dupont
1 C Baille 2 P Mauvaka 3 D Aldegheri 4 R Arnold 5 E Meafou 6 J Willis 7 T Flament 8 F Cros
16 J Marchand 17 R Neti 18 D Ainu’u 19 A Roumat 20 R Elstadt 21 A Placines 22 P Graou 23 A Retière
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 kicks off with Leinster receiving the ball and making their way up the field with several phases of play.
2’ – Toulouse gives away a penalty in their own half, which Ross Byrne converts to give Leinster an early lead of 3-0.
7’ – Toulouse’s Romain Ntamack takes a quick tap penalty and makes a break into Leinster’s half, but is tackled well by James Ryan.
10’ – After a couple of turnovers, Leinster’s Hugo Keenan collects a high ball and makes a run down the wing, but is eventually tackled into touch by Toulouse’s Matthis Lebel.
12’ – Toulouse’s Antoine Dupont spots a gap around the ruck and makes a break, but is brought down just short of the try line by Garry Ringrose.
15’ – Toulouse gives away another penalty in front of their own posts, which Ross Byrne slots over to make the score 6-0 in Leinster’s favour.
18’ – Toulouse’s Romain Ntamack misses a long-range penalty attempt, with the ball going wide of the posts.
20’ – Leinster’s Caelan Doris makes a break down the middle of the field and offloads to Garry Ringrose, who finds Jordan Larmour on the wing to score the first try of the game. Ross Byrne converts to make the score 13-0 to Leinster.
24’ – Toulouse’s Cyril Baille gives away a penalty at the scrum, and Ross Byrne makes no mistake in slotting it over to extend Leinster’s lead to 16-0.
28’ – Toulouse’s Piula Faasalele is shown a yellow card for a high tackle on Leinster’s Jimmy O’Brien.
30’ – Leinster opt for a scrum from the penalty, and after several phases of play, Andrew Porter crashes over the line to score Leinster’s second try of the game. Ross Byrne converts to make the score 23-0 to Leinster.
35’ – Toulouse finally get on the scoreboard, with Romain Ntamack sending a perfectly-weighted crossfield kick for Matthis Lebel to catch and score in the corner. Ntamack misses the conversion, leaving the score at 23-5.
40’ – The referee blows for half-time, with Leinster leading Toulouse 23-5.
42’ – The second half begins with Toulouse receiving the ball and making a strong start, working their way up the field through several phases of play.
50’ – Toulouse’s Pita Ahki breaks through Leinster’s defence and is brought down just short of the try line by Hugo Keenan.
54’ – Leinster’s Dan Sheehan is shown a yellow card for collapsing the maul.
57’ – Toulouse opt for a scrum from the penalty, and after a few phases of play, Thomas Ramos scores their second try of the game. Romain Ntamack adds the extras to make the score 23-12.
61’ – Leinster’s Jack Conan makes a break down the wing and offloads to Ciarán Frawley, who crashes over the line to score Leinster’s third try of the game. Frawley converts his own try to make the score 30-12 to Leinster.
65’ – Toulouse makes several substitutions, bringing on fresh legs in an attempt to turn the game around.
70’ – Leinster’s Ross Byrne kicks a penalty to extend their lead to 33-12.
75’ – Toulouse’s Romain Ntamack sends a crossfield kick for Matthis Lebel, who collects and scores his second try of the game. Ntamack adds the extras to make the score 33-19.
79’ – Leinster’s Harry Byrne scores a try in the corner, but it is disallowed by the TMO for a forward pass in the build-up.
80’ – The referee blows for full-time, with Leinster sealing a convincing 33-19 win over Toulouse in a game that saw their defence hold strong and their attack score three tries.
INJURY REPORT
Good to see there are no new additions to the treatment table, but that doesn’t take away the headache of selection for the Sharks in the quarterfinal. With the HCC final date secured we really have no choice but to take out a decent amount of cotton wool even if the Sharks will use that to motivate them in their quest to prove us wrong to underestimate them.
I definitely think Hugo Keenan and our two props should be left out altogether, but elsewhere we might need some first team back up in case we’re chasing the game in the final quarter.
POSSIBLE 23 V SHARKS
Frawley, Larmour, Ringrose, Henshaw, Kearney, R Byrne, McGrath
Sheehan, Milne, Clarkson, Ryan, Conan, Foley, H Byrne, J O’Brien.
(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)
Cormac Foley trained fully last week after recovering from a hamstring injury and is available for selection this week.
Ryan Baird came through the game at the weekend with no issues after his recovery from a shoulder injury.
Josh van der Flier came through the game at the weekend with no issues after his recovery from an ankle injury.
Charlie Ngatai came through the game at the weekend with no issues after his recovery from a hamstring injury.
Michael Milne has come through the Graduated Return to Play Protocols and will be available for selection this week.
Joe McCarthy will step up his rehabilitation this week as he recovers from an ankle injury.
Rónan Kelleher will step up his rehabilitation programme this week as he recovers from a shoulder injury.
Tommy O’Brien will be further assessed this week as he continues to recover from a shoulder injury picked up against Vodacom Bulls.
Robbie Henshaw will be further assessed this week after picking up a minor quad issue at training last week before a final decision is made on availability.
There are no further updates on:
Vakhtang Abdaladze (neck), Ed Byrne (tricep), Rhys Ruddock (hamstring), James Lowe (calf), Johnny Sexton (groin), Jamie Osborne (knee) and Martin Moloney (knee).
MLR UPDATE
My plan to watch a game every week via The Rugby Network has been foiled for the past few rounds by that ol’ thing called “real life” but over the bank holiday weekend I was able to catch the Eastern Conference derby between the New England Free Jacks and the reigning MLR Champions (albeit rebranded) New York.
Before I describe what happened, just to note that I have chosen New England as my adopted team for this season. I actually hail from the Bay Area but since they are yet to be represented I have to go for New England as I also have a good few relatives out there. And luckily, they are doing pretty well this season so for the rest of the 2023 campaign I’ll be focusing on their matches, although they are on a bye week in round 12.
Anyway for this clash they were at home in Veteran’s Memorial Stadium which is in a town called Quincy on the outskirts of Boston. The weather was awful throughout and the main camera angle was cursed with raindrops on the lens pretty much from start to finish.
Overall I enjoyed this match a lot more than I should have given the scoreline – at first it looked like the Free Jacks would romp to a big win as they went straight into the NY 22 from the kickoff and a sweet crossfield kick from outhalf Portroz to Balekana saw them 5-0 up after just 5m.
But from there thanks to a combination of stubborn NY defence, about a gagillion handling errors mostly forced by the conditions, and missed place kicks from Portroz, they really struggled to add to that lead. In fact there was to be only one more score throughout as Portroz did manage one before halftime.
Even though the second half was scoreless the fact that it remained so close kept the interest up, especially when a deliberate knockon by the NE fullback gave the visitors the last ten minutes with an extra man but they just couldn’t manage it and the home side held on right to the final whistle to secure the four points and keep themselves top of the east.
More on the league next week, since my new team has a bye I might look west and focus on the leaders San Diego as they face the Utah Warriors.
ROUND 11
SEA 61-19 DAL
NEFJ 8-0 NYI
NOLA 40-24 TOR
SD 29-16 HOU
ROUND 12
ATL V CHI
DAL V OGDC
UTAH V SD
NYI V NOLA
HARPIN’ PREDICTION LEAGUE
The URC is back for the next couple of weekends with 6 of the remaining 7 matches being played which means the title could be won or lost before the final. As you can see Kino went back ahead in Rd 18 and we certainly can’t rule out Mark Jackson from contention either, will be very interesting to see how the quarterfinals pan out.
THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Next up are the “Cell C Sharks” and I can confidently predict I will screw up saying that out loud at least once in both weekend pods. Keego will help me with the preview on Friday and will actually return for the wrap on Sunday along with Rugby Kino so be sure to subscribe to our pod feed to catch those as well as all our other online accounts where we post pretty much every day.
In the meantime, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
Great performance undoubtedly helped by Toulouse indiscipline. Extraordinary tactical failure to have the best scrum half in world along with Ntamack playing out of position for 60 minutes
Craig Grehan
A good win. Flattered by 2 yellow cards.
But, 2nd yellow proves without the “weight” toulouse didn’t seem that strong. (Except dupont)
Gavin Hegarty
Ok so just watched it back and have had time to digest it.
4 tries while they were at 14, but the first two were forward tried and it was Ramos in the bin. Can’t help but feel they kinda imploded and suffered by their lack of back subs but we dominated and beat them at their own game.
I was worried about ngatai, just hadn’t seen enough of him, but he was fantastic.
My 6 year old has watched Conan’s second try on repeat this morning, a dummy of sheer cheeky beauty, it’ll be done many times in the garden today.
Does jack willis’ header to Sheehan count as a try assist?
Byrne was class today, faultless from the tee, this run of high pressure games and form bodes extremely well for the RWC.
TWITTER
What a performance. What a team. What a team to play against. And what a game to watch, titanic.
A Champions Cup final with Leinster on the card, a personal dream of mine.
Massive performance, especially dealing with their monster locks. Fortunate with the impact of Toulouse's injuries. We were surgically clinical in power play time. Lucky with a few calls too but semi finals should be closer than that
Higgs thought it was going to be tighter before the match then how it ended up. Ngatai made a huge impact in the first half. Plenty of tired legs at the end of the match
JOC IMO, the really soul-crushing moment came when Ryan yoinked the lineout steal. Absolute confidence-shattering stuff. “yay, I stole a critical Leinster lineout” “Nope” <yoink> <Heavyweight pack shoved backwards over own line>
I know we played Toulouse just last season but for our latest TT I thought it best to go back a bit further to 2019 when we met them in the final four having already played them home and away in the pool phase.
That’s not exactly the kind of run we Leinster fans have gotten used to over the years, and coming as it did right after Ireland’s disappointment in Cardiff to round out the Six Nations, we’d be forgiven for having our expectation levels set at ‘apprehensive’ going into this Easter Sunday battle with our fellow four-star bearers.
But if our experience under the Cullen/Lancaster ticket has taught us anything, it’s that they know how to dig deep and find our A game when a big occasion demands it of them. And there was a hint of that in the run I mention above because on the one day the result actually meant something to Leinster’s season, we managed to find a way to win.
But with all due respect to our northern cousins, this semifinal was a step up again. Three of our titles have been won since Toulouse earned their fourth, yet this season they were starting to show that kind of form again, as we saw ourselves back in October, and the entire Top 14 has seen throughout the domestic campaign.
It was pretty clear that if there was even a hint of the lack of accuracy on Sunday that we had shown in recent weeks, we would be punished. And while we have been welcoming a host of our ‘elite’ squad members back to the first team lately, it was essential that they hit the ground running.
What a curious opening spell it was. For the first ten minutes we had only about three phases of possession, while our guests had built series of 6, 8 and 9 – yet thanks to our stringent defence, we came out of it with the scores level at 3-3.
Then came the game’s first major unforced error, when Toulouse’s full back Thomas Ramos put his restart over our end line giving us a scrum at halfway.
We had an earlier put in but it resulted in a free kick which Conan tapped quickly, so after twelve whole minutes we finally found ourselves in an attacking situation, or to put it another way, we had an opportunity to show the rest of Europe just how able we were to put the previous four weeks behind us.
What followed gave everyone the answer and then some. 10 well-thought out phases, with carries accompanied by good clear-outs, gain-lines broken regularly, offloads timed to perfection especially by Cian Healy, and eventually James Lowe, who probably wouldn’t have featured had Jamison Gibson-Park been fit, showed his usual mix of pace, strength and determination to get the ball down.
Now we know for sure which Leinster team has turned up. The only question left that needed answering was could the French outfit raise their game to meet us.
For me, that had already been answered. In that first pool meeting in round 2, they threw the kitchen sink at us and prevailed by just one point. In the return fixture in January, I felt they tried to adjust their game to knock us off our stride and failed badly.
Here I think they may have been guilty yet again of showing us too much respect. To be fair, they were without Zach Holmes and Ntamack was carrying a knock, but for me if an out half is good enough for the bench he should be good enough to start.
Antoine Duponte is a pesky scrum half who can definitely out shine his 10 on occasion and having impressed against Racing in the quarterfinals, there was definitely a case for him to do a job in the playmaker role.
But while we were setting about finding our best game, they appeared to be hell bent on tinkering with theirs, and if you’re going to do that on a stage like this one, you have to be absolutely sure it’s going to work. And it didn’t.
A look at Leinster’s defensive charts might raise an eyebrow as ten of our starters were ‘credited’ with more than one missed tackle. But as often is the case when crunching these numbers, it doesn’t tell the whole story. A high percentage of those missed ones were made up for by tackles made by a team mate.
We were generally hunting in groups of two or three, and often the offloads we would expect from Toulouse weren’t forthcoming. Conan led with 18 tackles, both our starting locks had 16 and perhaps most crucially our centres had 25 between them, with one or two by Ringrose proving particularly key.
So attack after attack was being shut down, even when faced by the ridiculous pace and guile of Kolbe, who after a couple of trademark runs made some inroads, grubbered one along the touchline only to be tidied by Jordan Larmour.
In the ensuing play, we had one of those rare moments on a rugby pitch when you can throw the ball forward to a team-mate and it can legally benefit you. I always thought this was an area that needed tidying up in the laws, but I wasn’t complaining when Larmour ran with the ball from behind his try line before chucking it ahead to James Lowe for him to take the drop out.
Always full of confidence to try something to catch the opposition napping, Lowe dinked a mini drop kick to himself and retained possession for us, and when the ball eventually went through the backs, Robbie Henshaw spotted a gaping hole in the Toulouse backfield and booted a monster kick to find touch on the far side of the pitch.
Yoann Huget retrieved the ball and was clearly keen to get keep the tempo moving so he took a quick throw and found Ramos. Maybe the full back had his overcooked restart on his mind, or maybe he was generally affected by not being trusted with the 10 jersey, but whatever the reason he hesitated and his kick was not only charged down, but pretty much the entire Leinster pack smelled blood in the water and eventually a combination of Fardy, Toner and Ryan wrapped him up in his own 22 to force a scrum.
So to summarise, from a situation where Toulouse’s danger man was running at us at pace in our 22, just moments later we had won an attacking set piece way down the other end of the park. Now we needed to go for the kill and turn this territory into more points.
I’m sure Richie Gray has gone over this moment in his mind several times, even after his 10-minute spell on the naughty step. And I actually think he was making a conscious effort to show Wayne Barnes he had no intention of waving his hand at the ball on the floor of the ruck yet his hand did it anyway. So to make matters even worse for his team, we now had an extra man into the bargain.
And with the iron even hotter than the Dublin Easter sun, we struck. Lineout, maul, over the line, Luke McGrath try. Just like that, we’re up by fourteen in a match I thought for sure would never have a margin of more than seven either way.
But here’s the thing – while this was definitely a day when we brought our A game, that doesn’t mean we always showed it. A lineout would go awry here, a carrier would get himself isolated there, and immediately after our second try Devin Toner struggled with the sun in his eyes and knocked on the restart. Time for Toulouse to have the prime attacking position.
And the repetition was to continue when a Leinster hand got in the way of a Toulouse attacking move. While pounding our try line with carry after carry, a pass to their prop Faumuina was swatted at by Robbie Henshaw and Barnes rightly flashed his yellow once more.
Was that a penalty try? There was certainly a case for it. Had the prop taken the ball his run would have gotten him over the line. That said, had he taken the ball then Scott Fardy and Johnny Sexton were in position to get under him. Call me biased if you want but I’m not sure that was a certain try.
But whatever about that debate, there was definitely a big game error from the French outfit when they sent the kicking tee onto the pitch before properly taking in the situation.
Had they considered that it was now 14 v 14 surely a kick to the corner was the way to go, yet they had to make do with just the three points, and despite the clock reaching 46 before the halftime whistle blew (thanks to a James Lowe try that was rightly disallowed for a block by Conan), there was to be no further score in the half.
Notice how long it took me to mention the name of Sexton? And even then it was in a defensive context? That might seem odd seeing how he was named man of the match, but that doesn’t mean I think he was unworthy. It was one of his more understated performances all round, but it was still one that was in stark contrast to the distinctly-less-than-assured outing by his opposite number.
This put the French coaches into one of those halftime quandries…do we leave things as they are and hope they work out or do we make a switch and admit we were wrong? Well they went for the former and the decision got exactly what it deserved when Duponte threw a pass straight into touch on 48m. Whatever out half prowess he had displayed before, he just couldn’t find it on this day.
And from there, Leinster’s ability to work their way to a crucial score kicked in once more. From the lineout following the Duponte error we stretched their defence through 6 phases before Sexton slipped through an immaculate grubber that sat up perfectly in the 22 forcing Kolbe to play it.
Now on an average day, even deep in his own corner, you wouldn’t bet against the Springbok dancing his way down to the other end of the pitch in a matter of seconds, but further proof the writing was on the wall for Toulouse came when that man Ramos mucked things up again by colliding with his team mate and forcing him into touch – suddenly it’s a lineout to Leinster within sight of the try line.
A penalty advantage and a bunch of phases later, this time it was Scott Fardy crashing over, and with nerves of steel his captain Sexton slotted over the crucial extras meaning the visitors now needed three scores to catch up with us.
NOW they make the switch, bringing on Ntamack and moving Duponte back to 9. Gate locked, horse bolted?
Well they did manage to switch on their famed offloading game and it was having an effect, with series of 13 then 11 phases getting them deep into our 22 before Médard, another who surely could/should have started, dinked one over our defensive line only for Garry Ringrose to make a last gasp lunge for the ball and force a simultaneous touch down.
All they could take from the visit was another three points and such was the order of the day. Sexton added another penalty minutes later to restore the lead and was immediately replaced by Ross Byrne, who got his own name on the score sheet with a penalty with minutes to go.
The final fifteen minutes were way more comfortable than anyone could have imagined going into the match. Ironically the last touch of the game went to young Hugh O’Sullivan, on for Luke McGrath in the closing stages, and possibly thanks to the form of James Lowe, set to take part in a European final in a few weeks.
So after a run of disappointing results, Leinster certainly found a way to produce the goods when it mattered. But despite the impressive display, it was clear at times that we had another level to reach for as well, and with Saracens awaiting for us in Newcastle, we will have to find it.
Thankfully we don’t have any season-defining rugby in the meantime – our trip to Belfast next weekend won’t affect either side while our guaranteed first place finish sees us idle the following week.
Meanwhile, Saracens will have two tough Premiership battles against teams with playoff intentions; first they return to the scene of their European semifinal triumph to face Wasps, then they get a chance to make up ground on league leaders Exeter.
I guess you could make arguments both ways on which is the better way to prepare for a major final but this I know – Leinster have proven time and time again that they can shift into the required gear regardless of what has gone before.
There will be no assumptions made by fans ahead of kickoff in Newcastle, but there will most certainly be an abundance of belief. Bring it on. JLP
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 