Welcome to my 80+ column, a weekly post featuring final thoughts from the week of rugby just gone.
FANZO GUINNESS PINT PREDICTOR LEAGUE
First things first…the all important update in the prestigious Guinness Pint Predictor League.
After a week off the Six Nations returns so be sure to get your predictions done in time, seems like a pointless reminder but I’ve forgotten how many times I’ve forgotten over the years.
REMEMBER YOU CAN STILL JOIN THE LEAGUE AND WIN PRIZES we’re accepting entrants right up to the final round and you can still beat Jack Fogarty’s Round 2 score of 58 and also every Six Nations match gives you the chance to win a free pint so by all means download the app and enter the league using the code HARPIN and see how you get on.
The prize for the Best Score In One Round category is a signed copy of Brian Moylett’s “The Book On How You Become A Pro Rugby Player” [he was a guest on our bonus pod last week] so like I say there’s still plenty of time to throw your hat in the ring.
WRAP OF A WRAP
Some might say Leinster’s BP win over the Dragons last Saturday evening at the RDS was “run of the mill” but here at Harpin Manor we always find plenty to keep us going for a wrap pod and Tom “@LeinsterRoyalty” Coleman & Ciarán “@PostToPostSport” Duffy were on hand to get ‘er done.
If you missed it, check it out here or on most major platforms.
HE SAID IT AGAIN!!!
Last week I brought back a strict rule on these pages, namely that in a year when Ireland wins the first two matches in the Six Nations, that two-word phrase which rhymes with “canned ham” is considered taboo on all Harpin platforms unless stated otherwise – Tom let one slip on the pod Sunday evening and was so amused by the look on my face that he kept doing it, with of course Ciarán joining in with a few of his own! Thankfully I had editing privileges on my side which is why you hear a few buzzer sounds on the pod.
HARPIN’ ON…RHYS RUDDOCK
For this week’s bonus clip we looked at the career of Rhys Ruddock and his invaluable contributions to Leinster & Ireland rugby going back to 2009, or to put it another way, since Harpin On Rugby first came into being.
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.
HARRY BYRNE TIK TOK
In the pod I asked Tom for his take on Harry Byrne’s chance to shine with Leinster during this block of the season and as always he came up trumps.
I’ve said it many a time on these pages but I’ve no problem saying it again, Peter O’Mahony is an absolutely crucial presence in the Irish rugby squad, on the pitch in play, on the pitch out of play, and in the dressing room. Which means I’m delighted to see him sign an extension to his contract.
PENNY PUSHING
Now here's a challenge for the AI gurus…an algorithm that can produce an Irish matchday 23 which would guarantee nobody will accuse anybody of favouring/ignoring any one province. 🤔 😜
So with tongue firmly in cheek I posted the above tweet on Sunday. Nothing in particular provoked it at the time it was just a general observation. But on Monday we went from the general to the particular, with the announcement of Scott Penny’s addition to the Irish training camp causing a predictable response from the online provincial factions, mostly from Munster fans speaking up for John Hodnett, but also from Ulster fans who suggest Nick Timoney is more worthy of the call up.
This time, to be fair to the objectors, the bulk of them have gone out of their way to point out that they do consider Scott to be a quality player, which was nice of them. But they then go on to paint this selection on the canvass of the “The IRFU is biased towards Leinster” narrative and this is what took most of the oxygen amongst the Irish rugby twitterati throughout Monday, so much so that Balls.ie were able to harvest a ton of clicks from it with an article entitled “Munster Fans Have Had A Lot To Say About Scott Penny’s Ireland Call-Up” (you’ll forgive me if I don’t include a link).
Apparently the mic-drop defence of the bias accusations is the fact that Scott Penny has only played 10 minutes of European rugby in his career to date. This is true, and it is also a valid point. But is it the only one? Of course not, and I dare say a lot of the social media pot stirrers know this full well.
For one thing, while Heineken Cup is supposed to be a means of getting close to test standard, I’m not sure this applies as much now as it would have done five or more years ago. As many of the same Penny doubters would have pointed out at the time, Leinster’s four European pool matches were “far too easy”.
But more importantly, I don’t see anyone talking about the Emerging Ireland tour from last October, where the Irish test coaching setup travelled with both Penny and Hodnett training day in day out and sharing the 7 role in our three matches.
Seeing much about HCC game time as a comparison between the players, which tbf is valid, but nothing about the fact that both were on Emerging Ireland tour where they got plenty of exposure to the test coaching setup. Even then I'd say it was a close call.
And I also don’t see many people exploring the possibility that Penny being further down Leinster’s pecking order might be the feature rather than the bug.
Call this “trolling” if you want, but the remaining rounds of the URC have match points up for grabs that are much more valuable to Ulster (who also have an extra match next weekend btw), Munster & Connacht so maybe, just maybe, having Penny hold the tackle bags rather than Messrs Timoney & Hodnett might actually make sense in this case.
But no, let’s just go with a single-issue framing that stokes the provincial feuding, I guess that’s better for clicks and impressions.
Like I always say – I’m ready for a rational discussion about the possibility of lopsided treatment of the provinces from the likes of Mr Nucifora, once it actually IS a rational discussion which looks at the full picture.
WRU SNAFU
So many amazing players. So many amazing fans. So much amazing history. From the outside it looks like Welsh Rugby has everything it needs to thrive, it just needs the right people looking after it. I really really hope a way can be found soon.
Can’t add much more to my sentiments in the above tweet, only to give a shout out to our friends at the Welsh Regional Rugby Appreciation Podcast who had a very rational and informative pod recently outlining in a level headed way the ins and outs of the current crisis. They even referenced The West Wing which got extra points from me. [also as I post I see they’ve just published another pod featuring an interview with Squidge]
INJURY REPORT
I already addressed the row over one addition to the Irish squad, but there were of course other announcements, like the call up of Joey Carbery which means it’s very possible we won’t see Sexton playing in Rome (on the IRFU page their training session includes two pics of Ross Byrne if that tells us anything, probably not).
Also it’s good to know Dan Sheehan & Cian Healy are back in the group and also the much less controversial additions are Caolin Blade, Gavin Coombes, Jordan Larmour, Jimmy O’Brien, Jamie Osborne, Cian Prendergast, Roman Salanoa, Jacob Stockdale and Kieran Treadwell. Very happy to see all those names involved with of course in each case there are at least one or two others who just missed out.
AIL UPDATE
First a word on the Women’s Celtic Challenge, congrats to the Irish representatives Combined Provinces who made it three wins from three with a 19-0 whitewash of their Welsh counterparts at the Kingspan last weekend, and best of luck to them aiming for a perfect campaign when they travel to Scotland to play the Thistles.
Now to the Men’s AIL and there were some fascinating results in Div1A as Terenure were knocked off their perch at the top following a narrow 8-10 defeat to Ballynahinch who had Marcus Rea and Jake Flannery in their ranks. Taking over at the top are Clontarf, who didn’t have things their own way either but with Mick Kearney and Alex Soroka in their pack they stayed ahead of Young Munster at Castle Avenue.
Down at the bottom UCD badly needed all five points against surely-doomed Garryowen and Ben Brownlee was amongst the tries in their 52-12 victory.
Pick of the matches in Round 14 would seem to be Cookies v Hinch as the race for the top four now seems wide open.
Men’s AIL
ROUND 13
Ballynahinch 10-8 Terenure
Clontarf 27-24 Young Munster
Lansdowne 25-19 Cork Con
Shannon 43-17 Dublin University
UCD 52-12 Garryowen
ROUND 14
Feb 25 (all 2:30pm)
Cork Con v UCD
Dublin Univ v Clontarf
Garryowen v Shannon
Terenure v Lansdowne
Young Munster v Ballynahinch
SEVENS ARE BACK
Even with the Six Nations and a bit of URC action to look forward to at the weekend, I’m always here for some World Series Sevens action as well, although whatever the reason may be for only the men taking part in the LA leg, it’s still a shame.
The Irish men will really need to push for a top four finish here if they are to move up the rankings and while they find themselves with the Blitboks in their pool, with good performances against Uruguay and Canada they can cement their place in the knockouts by then. Best of luck to them.
LA SEVENS
SAT FEB 25
7:27PM – IRELAND V URUGUAY
10:40PM – IRELAND V CANADA
3:03AM (SUNDAY) – IRELAND V SOUTH AFRICA
SUN FEB 26
4:55PM – PLAYOFFS BEGIN
MAJOR LEAGUE RUGBY
I’m already keeping track of the AIL and Sevens in this column but since I am hopeful of pro rugby taking off in my nation of birth I guess I should probably show more of an interest in the MLR which kicked off last weekend.
Of course with last season’s shenanigans with the two Gilchrist owned teams having to withdraw making a mockery of the playoffs didn’t help, but there was definitely some positive news to kick off the 2023 season with a league record 11,423 tickets sold for the San Diego Legion v Utah Warriors match at Snapdragon Stadium in southern California. I can think of a few URC grounds, maybe even Premiership ones two, that wouldn’t mind that kind of attendance.
I’ll be posting the results, table and next fixtures here throughout the season and will do my best to catch a game or two as they’re all available for free on TheRugbyNetwork.com.
ROUND 1
ATL 17-10 TOR
NOLA 12-36 NEFJ
OGDC 42-27 CHI
SD 33-17 UTAH
SEA 25-11 RNYI
DAL 12-33 HOU
ROUND 2
SEA V ATL
UTAH V DAL
HOU V NOLA
RNYI V TOR
SD V NEFJ
THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
It’s back to the Six Nations we turn and first in a bonus midweek pod I have an all-province panel to go over the two rounds so far with me, I wonder if the Scott Penny thing will come up????
Then of course we will turn our attention to Ireland’s match in Rome on Saturday which will be getting the usual Harpin treatment with a preview Friday featuring Keego, a wrap on Sunday plus a whole lot of other features in between.
In the meantime, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
18 February 2023; Rhys Ruddock of Leinster celebrates with teammate Dave Kearney after scoring his side’s third try during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Dragons at RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
Not a great performance. Probably the worst or amongst the worst of the season. Quite disjointed and not as controlled as Leinster teams usually are.
Performance aside its yet another routine win that was never really in doubt. The URC is great for blooding players but week by week it becomes worse for challenging them.
Andrew Bailey
First up you have to play a referee who’s agenda from the start is to favour the home team. But you can’t do that with poor lineouts , Ruck protection snd an awful kicking game. A big win but worst performance of the season. Why not trust the outside backs more ??
TWITTER
#LEIvDRA what a conveyor belt of talent & Irish caps. Another Welsh team torched (i'd love to see their situation resolved as so many good players). Such a strong & large squad. @JjHanrahan had a nice impact. Very under rated & used.
Sometimes a bit scrappy as you'd expect from such a patchwork/inexperienced side but ultimately never in doubt. Big moments from some very young players. Two wins away now from a guaranteed top spot. #LEIvDRA
Mike Adamson has missed some amazingly forward passes tonight. It's made absolutely no difference to the result cos the Dragons have been absolutely dire. But still #LEIvDRApic.twitter.com/G9SRArcMwb
RichardMifsud Had a bit of everything that one. Always love watching the young kids getting a run out. Second 40 saw a dip in intensity that let Dragons back into the game and gave the boys good practice on D. A bit of a flourish at the end with two well worked tries. Invaluable experience for the kids and Rhys a worthy POTM although Lukey pushed for that too Liam Turner had a good outing and it was great to see Jason J and Will on the pitch
INSTAGRAM
John Shine I’m jumping aboard the Jack Boyle hype train!!! In all seriousness it was a nice little 20 mins for him. Held up his end of the scrum. Couple of good carries and a great jackal turnover. Bigger tests await but he’s an exciting prospect.
For this bonus pod I chat to Mindset & Performance Coach Brian Moylett about his book with the perfectly descriptive title of “The Book On How You Become A Pro Rugby Player”. He outlines his own rugby journey and how it inspired him to help others.
TO BE IN WITH A CHANCE OF WINNING A SIGNED COPY OF BRIAN’S BOOK, DOWNLOAD THE FREE FANZO APP AND JOIN OUR PREDICTION LEAGUE, CODE = HARPIN .
Welcome to my 80+ column, a weekly post featuring final thoughts from the week of rugby just gone.
FANZO GUINNESS PINT PREDICTOR LEAGUE
First things first…the all important update in the prestigious Guinness Pint Predictor League.
As you can see an amazing round by Jack Fogarty including a perfect prediction of IREvFRA catapulted him into first place in both categories; ‘Overall score’ as you see in the graphic, and also ‘best one round score’.
REMEMBER YOU CAN STILL JOIN THE LEAGUE AND WIN PRIZES we’re accepting entrants right up to the final round and you can still beat Jack’s Round 2 score of 58 and also every Six Nations match gives you the chance to win a free pint so by all means download the app and enter the league using the code HARPIN and see how you get on.
And we can announce an extra prize for the Best Score In One Round category – a signed copy of Brian Moylett’s “The Book On How You Become A Pro Rugby Player” [he’ll be a guest on our bonus pod this week] so like I say there’s still plenty of time to throw your hat in the ring.
We can announce a special prize for our Fanzo Guinness Pint Predictor League, a copy of this book by @offfieldrugby – best score from a single round gets it so there's still time to enter just download the free app and our code is HARPIN
That was a real Six Nations classic at the Aviva on Saturday, and we thought it might take myself, Mark & Conor about six hours to record the wrap. In the end it was more like an hour and a half so a lot had to end up on the cutting room floor although as you can see below I managed to salvage a couple of bonus YouTube clips.
If you missed it, check it out here or on most major platforms.
ATONIO ATONIN’
Thankfully, Wayne Barnes’ decision that “I’m not starting at a high degree of danger” didn’t affect the result too much in the end, and pretty much everyone who saw the match was expecting news of Atonio’s citing on Monday, we’ll see how the hearing goes.
Unfortunately, the non-call brought two of my most hated tropes to the fore on the social media, the “go overboard slagging off the ref” and the one I pointed out here.
The problem is the "look at what (insert team here) fans are saying" trope. It's incredibly dumb. https://t.co/gvZvqqIsDX
I got given out to on our YouTube channel for apparently copying a theme recently highlighted by Squidge, well as much I love his work I have to point out that I did not see that video and even if I had, I still wanted to let Mark, an actual head coach at Nat 2 level in the English system, a chance to harp on the topic in his own words.
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.
HARPIN’ ON…THE WORCESTER MESS
Mark also gave some decent background on the omnishambles at Worcester so I included the extra chat in a “bonus bonus clip”.
DORIS PASS TIK TOK
Couldn’t let Mark get all the social media airtime so Conor’s depiction of “That Doris pass” made for a perfect TikTok promo and seems to be getting decent engagement so far…
I might get into trouble here as it’s going to look like I’m slagging off two world class players, but I can’t help wondering if we’re going a tad overboard gushing over Antoine Dupont’s holding up Mack Hansen around the try line at the Aviva?
Don’t get me wrong, it did show great strength but I don’t see anyone pointing out that Hansen had zero momentum when AD grabbed him plus, while the Connacht star would definitely kick my ass one on one, he’s not exactly our biggest player? Would he have held up James Ryan the same way for example?
Again to be absolutely clear, I’m not saying the try denial wasn’t impressive, just that maybe the praise needs dialling down a few notches. I’ll shut up now, it’s probably for the best.
After two Irish wins to kickoff this season’s Six Nations, ALL MENTIONS of that two word phrase that rhymes with “bland jam” are OFF LIMITS whether spoken, typed or signed until further notice. Please observe and pass it on to all around you.
INJURY REPORT
IRELAND
On top of the concerns we already had that Robbie, JGP, Tadhg & Dan would miss the remainder of the Six Nations, now the other Tadhg and even Sexton have become doubts. All are presumptive starters but as we have seen so far the wider squad have earned themselves a ton of good faith so hopefully the supporters will buy in.
LEINSTER
Most encouraging bit of Leinster’s report was JJ moving out of the “no further updates” category we could really do with having him back when the knockout matches come around. Given we’re also getting four back from Irish camp all in need of some game time I reckon we can put out a pretty decent lineup at the RDS on Saturday night…
J O’Brien, J Larmour, L Turner, B Brownlee, D Kearney, H Byrne, L McGrath
M Milne, J McKee, M Ala’alatoa, R Molony, J McCarthy, R Ruddock, W Connors, M Deegan
T McElroy, M Hanan, T Clarkson, B Deeny, S Penny, N McCarthy, C Tector, R Russell
(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)
INJURY UPDATE – AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
Will Connors: came through the game against Cardiff Rugby with no issues following his return from injury
INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:
Jason Jenkins: will look to increase his training load this week as he nears a return from a hamstring injury
INJURY UPDATE – UNAVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
Cormac Foley: picked up a hamstring injury training last week and will be unavailable for selection
There are no further updates on:
Charlie Ngatai (hamstring), Ed Byrne (knee), Martin Moloney (knee), Ciarán Frawley (knee) and Tommy O’Brien (knee)
AIL UPDATE
First a word on the Women’s Celtic Challenge, the Irish Combined Provinces XV had a week off and resume their campaign with a match against the Welsh at the Kingspan on Saturday hoping to make it three wins from three, best of luck to them.
Next the men’s AIL is back with some interesting 1A matchups in round 13 as you can see.
Finally ICYMI our bonus pod last week was an interesting chat with Justin Middleton where he outlined his route to becoming the voice of the AIL and he also talks about what can be done to help promote the league to a wider audience. Do check it out here.
Men’s AIL
Sat Feb 18
Ballynahinch v Terenure
Clontarf v Young Munster
Lansdowne v Cork Con
Shannon v Dublin University
UCD v Garryowen
THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
As I said earlier our bonus pod this week features an interview with Brian Moylett about his book.
Then of course we will turn our attention back to the URC with the rebranded Dragons coming to the RDS on Saturday and of course the match will be getting the usual Harpin treatment with a preview Friday featuring Keego, a wrap on Sunday plus a whole lot of other features in between.
In the meantime, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
Given the travails experienced by the Murray family this past week, Conor showed immense fortitude and strength of character to even tog out today. Delighted for him and the whole squad! A fantastic performance.
Imelda Reidy
Some game. Outstanding from Ireland. There can be no argument now about the No. 1 team in the world. Need to drive on now and continue to improve. ☘☘
Gavin Hegarty
My god.what a game. We just got a bp over the second best team in the world.
Let’s not mention the definite red card.
Every man in green (bar Hanson in my view) was utterly outstanding.
Tom O’Toole, my god where did that come from? Was worried about bealham before the Wales games now we have three class tightheads.
Chuck Doris, world’s best 8. Completely outplayed alldrit.
Lowe’s try, Mon dieu c’est magnifique.
Take a bow Ireland, you have wrecked me.
TWITTER
This is a statement win for this Irish side. France are a top side and we've given them nothing.
Ireland 32 France 19 An absolute joy of a game to watch A 1st half filled with class chaos physicality some beautiful tries Then a 2nd half where both teams tightened up, some great tactical kicking That was one of the great rugby matches #IREvFRA#GuinnessSixNations
Koochulainn @Koochulainn So that’s the “bogey match” and the “defacto title decider” out of the way Bring on the “gimme” (which isnt what it used to be), the “potential banana skin”, and the “Auld enemy”.
Séamus Mac an tSábhaisigh @jamessavage French rugby fans affronted by selective tv replays … #karma winning big games well but with clear room for improvement each time is a very exciting place to be.
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 