Category: 80+ column

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.

“WHY WE LOVE RUGBY” 🤢

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?

AVIVA FATIGUE

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.

INJURY REPORT

Some decent news this week, still makes for an interesting selection at the weekend though….

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

THE WEEKLY ABL INQUEST

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.

THAT 5022 AND THE REACTION

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????

GREG MCWILLIAMS

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 Cliodhna Moloney 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.

Sinéad Kissane: Ireland hit rock bottom as Cliodhna Moloney snub comes back to bite Greg McWilliams’ side

…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.

AI RUGBY : LEINSTER V TOULOUSE DRY RUN

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!!!

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.  

(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)

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.

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

Welcome to my 80+ column, a weekly post featuring final thoughts from the week of rugby just gone.  

WRAP OF A WRAP

For this week’s wrap pod I was honoured to be joined by the Westmeath/Meath coaching combo of Mark Jackson & Tom Coleman and they did their usual excellent job of analysing what went on at the Aviva on Friday. They actually kind of apologised when we finished recording for harpin’ on for longer than usual but the thing about that is all that does is provide me with extra content so I’m not exactly compaining! As you can see below I managed a second bonus clip out of it.

If you missed the pod, check it out here or on most major platforms.

HARPIN ON…JIMMY O’BRIEN & LEINSTER’S SUCCESS

Like I said the lads gave me enough material for two bonus clips. The one we planned for was about Jimmy O’Brien – for the second week in a row I disagreed with the Star of the Match selection, not that Ringer played badly of course and scoring the first two tries was always going to put him up there, it’s just I felt JOB had so much opportunity to show off why he has not only cemented himself in Leinster’s European lineup but has even broken into Andy Farrell’s top tier as well.

Also for our Front Five segment at the start of the show I chose two articles which I felt covered areas usually left out of the discussion over the supposed “unfairness” regarding Leinster’s success – the first one actually turns the spotlight back on the other Irish provinces and their internal issues, while the second tries to appreciate the actual hard work put in across the 12 counties (which, I should probably point out, does not mean it’s ALL down to our hard work).

If you’re playing the clips 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.

DEFENCE MANIPULATION & HIGH BALL CATCHING TIK TOKS 

I was also able to produce two TikToks for the pod – the first might get taken down at some point as I used footage from the match but I wanted to highlight the amazing work done under the high ball. I actually planned to just do the Leinster catches but there were so many by the Tigers as well I had to do the lot, eleven altogether.

For the second TikTok I went our more traditional route by picking a quote from the pod and the second I heard Tom say “if you freeze it there…” I knew this was going to be my clip this was a perfect explanation of how Leinster were finding gaps in the second half.

AI = AVIVA INDIGNATION

Every week I have to react to more whinging and moaning about perceived advantages enjoyed by Leinster & Ireland, and this time I thought an extra YouTube clip from the pod would cover it for this column, yet in between producing that and writing this there has been yet more of it.

Now it’s over the possibility that all of Leinster’s knockout matches could well be in the Aviva Stadium. Is that an advantage for us? Well of course it is. But the way it’s being presented in the Birdhouse is making it look like the organisers of the Champions Cup went out of their way to make it so and that is simply not the case.

Many seem to be selectively ignoring these facts…

I suppose the question I have to ask myself is…would I be complaining if this were happening with another country? I do know we spent a lot of time talking about how referees seemed to show favouritism towards the All Blacks when they were conquering all before them? Is this what it looks like from the other side and if so, which side is actually right?

Maybe it’s a bit of both, but one thing is for sure, the endless griping after every win does get really boring.

OPPOSITION FEEDBACK

For all my talk of whining after another Leinster win last Friday, to be fair I have to share this DM I got from Mike Cooper who hosts the great Leicester Tigers pod Rolling Maul. This is how you respond to a defeat in my book.

Just to say mate, what a privilege it was to see your boys execute in the second half. I was so proud of our chaps in the first 40, I felt we negated your power and carrying game (your ‘plan A’) – hopefully you were impressed by George Martin and Tommy Reffell! – but in the second 40, the switch of style to exploit our weakness out-wide was – on a second (painful) watch – breathtaking. The constant isolation of Potter (poor bastard, not the game to play your 4th pro game at 13!) was honestly the best accuracy and clarity I’ve seen at club level. Cullen/Lancaster, whoever pulled that trigger at half time, it is so, so impressive. I will still say some pundits (including your guest in the preview!) were not fair on where Leicester could trouble Leinster (and I thought that showed in the first half), but ultimately the quality and cohesion of your lads shone through in a big way. A privilege to watch Ringrose, too. Best of luck for the rest of the tourny – one of the best club sides I’ve ever seen!! Happy for you to throw this into your pod as “opposition feedback!”.

AI = AIRLINE IRRITATION

Have to say I expected more from the Sharks and Stormers last weekend in Europe, especially the latter. Again there has been griping about the amount of travel they’ve had to do over the course of the season, and I guess that’s fair despite the similar distances in Super Rugby because our calendar is a lot more punishing in that regard.

That said, if we’re going to talk about perceived advantages in Europe when it comes to the South African teams, it’s worth pointing out something I have flagged here since it was announced they were joining the HCC – between the pool phase and the knockouts the European clubs all had to pray that their top players survived the Six Nations while the South Africans had no such test involvement.

Overall the answer to most of these cries of injustice is that rugby union is and always will be perfectly imperfect and trying to level the playing field in one area will generally make it more crooked in another.

AI = ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Since I’m on an AI theme for some of my headings in this column, I thought I’d share this experiment I did on Sunday morning when I downloading a ChatGPT app – I asked it to come up with a 500-word report on Leinster’s win over the Tigers and I didn’t give it the final score. As you can see, while it did have the scoreline right a lot of the details in the report were a tad wide of the mark, with a few retired and injured players put in the lineup plus the misconception that it was a pool game. But this definitely sounds like a match I would have like to have seen anyway!!!

“KILLING THE GAME” TWEET

I don’t always agree with Tim’s Twitter takes but I’m right there with him here…one of the best responses to the “killing the game” nonsense I have seen. PEOPLE HAVE DIED FROM HEAD INJURIES SUSTAINED IN RUGBY. Many others have experienced life-altering repercussions. Why oh why oh why are we allowing this debate to continue in such a way as to give so much oxygen to those who’s only inconvenience is to sit in their armchairs a bit longer while the officials review a call. The real debate is happening among people who actually want to save the game, not kill it.

AI = ACTUAL INJURY (REPORT)

Obviously the worries from Friday mostly surround Ryan Baird and James Lowe, although following the Leinster report I’ve heard rumblings that Baird’s injury may not be as bad as first thought. As for Lowe, well if he misses knockouts because of a skip of delight following a try then I’ll challenge anyone who tries to say we’re getting all the luck!

At time of writing the squad hasn’t been announced for Leinster’s South African trek although I see Jason Jenkins was put front and centre for a presser so I’m thinking he might be one of the top tier players travelling, along with Luke McGrath and possibly Jordan Larmour.

UPDATE : Leinster have since announced the touring squad and with the likes of Larmour, Frawley and McGrath left behind so below is a revised possible 23…

(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)

AI = ALL-IRELAND (LEAGUE UPDATE)

The good news for AIL fans is that all five matches in the final round robin stage have playoff/relegation implications. Even though the top four sides are decided the actual rankings and home advantages are still up for grabs. Tarf aren’t quite mathematically sure of 1st place yet although I reckon Terenure are a bit more concerned with overcoming relegation-playoff–threatened Shannon in case they get caught by Cork Con who travel to play the Cookies. And should Shannon cause an upset at Lakelands, the two Dublin universities will need wins although UCD have a tad more difficult task at Castle Avenue as Trinity host the bottom side Garryowen. Should be an interesting couple of hours from 2:30 on Saturday for sure.

Meanwhile in 1B there’s a three way race to qualify for the promotion playoff between Belvo, who have a tricky Dublin derby at Mary’s, Highfield who face Banbridge down the bottom of the table, and Buccaneers who host the newly crowned champions City of Armagh.

DIVISION 1A

---

ROUND 18

Ballynahinch v Lansdowne

Clontarf v UCD

Dublin University v Garryowen

Terenure College v Shannon

Young Munster v Cork Con

---

DIVISION 1B

---

ROUND 18

Banbridge v Highfield

Buccaneers v City of Armagh

Naas v Old Wesley

St Mary’s v Old Belvedere

UCC v Malone

SEVENS UPDATE

The Irish men’s side really had a Sevens stinker in Singapore for sure, losing five on the bounce finishing a dead last 16th to pick up just one point in the series. That knocks us out of the top eight and we’ll need a decent showing in the final two rounds to claw our way back up. We have definitely stumbled since our silver medal early in the season. The circuit resumes in May with men’s and women’s events in Toulouse before the final men’s one in London.

MLR UPDATE

For the past few weeks I’ve been featuring an MLR game for this column but with Easter and school midterm and all I just don’t have the time for this round. Stand out result from Round 8 was definitely the San Diego Legion toppling previously unbeaten Seattle making the Western Conference table look pretty interesting.

One thing I have yet to do for this feature is select a team to follow. Coming from the Bay Area of California as I do, there’s no natural choice although I do have quite a few relatives in New England as well so the Free Jacks seem the obvious alternative so maybe I’ll go for them, we’ll see.

More on the league next week.

HARPIN’ PREDICTION LEAGUE

I know you’re all dying to be reminded of how the HPL stands going into the next round of the URC…there are only 23 more matches left for us to forecast and as you can see below, while the Jersey of Shame has long been decided, the top spot is very much up for grabs with up to four still in with a reasonable shout.

THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

It’s back to the URC for us and we will of course be giving Saturday’s match in Jo’burg the full Harpin’ treatment with a preview before, a wrap pod after and all the usual features in between. In the meantime, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are.  JLP

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…a reminder of the prestigious Harpin Guinness Pint Predictor League.

Our leader in the “Best Score In One Round” category is Andrew Byrne’s 67, including a spot on prediction of Ireland’s 14-point win over Italy.  The prize will be a signed copy of Brian Moylett’s “The Book On How You Become A Pro Rugby Player”.  Jack Fogarty still leads the overall table with seven points to spare. 

REMEMBER YOU CAN STILL JOIN THE LEAGUE AND WIN PRIZES  we’re accepting entrants right up to the final round so you can still beat Andrew’s Round 3 score, 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.

WRAP OF A WRAP

Mark & Ciarán did their usual excellent job helping me wrap our latest feature match, I on the other hand had issues with my audio – when I heard it back it sounded like I was talking while being locked in a box.  Thankfully it didn’t take long to re-record my parts and the result turned out ok if I do say so myself.

If you missed it, check it out here or on most major platforms.

HARPIN ON…DAVE KEARNEY

We’ve been mostly using these YouTube bonus clips as an opportunity to turn the spotlight on certain players who don’t always get the recognition and if anyone in the current Leinster squad deserves this it has to be Dave Kearney.  Thankfully his excellent finish in Edinburgh provided the platform for a decent bit of appreciation from our panel.

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.

LIAM TURNER TIK TOK 

Unlike the YouTube clips, I never go into our pod recordings knowing what I’m going to you for the brief TikTok promos, it’s one of those things where I’ll know where I hear it and sure enough once Mark said this about Liam Turner definitely knew it.

It might sound like feint praise to say of a player “he’s a definite candidate for our 23 jersey in Europe” but when you’re talking about a squad with the depth of Leinster’s back three talent, that’s some statement yet one I’m more than happy to make about Turner he has had an outstanding season.

On a more personal note we’re proud here at Harpin Manor to have passed 400 followers on TikTok we’re not exactly pushing it as our top platform, simply posting regular clips so we’re happy that the numbers continue to rise and will no doubt do something special if and when we reach 500.

ARDIE AS NAILS – PART 1 (THE INCIDENT)

Ardie made a slit throat gesture to an opponent as he was leaving the field.

He publicly apologised at the earliest opportunity.

He has been cited.

That’s the above water part to this iceberg of a story.  If you hold your nose and plunge into the depths though there was a whole lot more. 

ARDIE AS NAILS – PART 2 (OVER-REACTION-FEST)

My initial thoughts were that if you made it publicly known that you were going to kill/injure someone out in the “real world” you wouldn’t or at least shouldn’t get away with it.  So once my mind went to a place where I wanted to suggest on twitter that I thought this wasn’t cool, you can see where I landed.

I guess I assumed that by using the words “straying towards” I would be making it obvious that no, I do not actually think that there should be criminal charges brought against the Hurricanes & All Black number 8.

Enter the “Game’s Gone Soft” crowd.  Or the “Woke Hunters” or whatever you want to call them.  You see, my “mistake” was that the words “criminal charges” became a beacon for those rage scrolling the second the incident appeared as a clip on social media because, of course, they were actively searching for a poster child.  I provided it for them.  Do I regret it?

You know what – ten, maybe even five years ago, I definitely would have.  I may even have gone so far as to remove the tweet.  

But now, fuck it.  I know what I meant.  And if I’m tailoring my opinions based on how I think a certain corner of the opinion spectrum (especially this one) is going to respond well then I may as not bother.  And since I’m a firm believer in sharing opinions, that only leaves one conclusion – leave it there, maybe add a tweet or two to explain what I meant (I even acknowledged that I probably did a bad job wording it but I still couldn’t change my view), and then let the backlash wash over me.

To summarise, we had people over-reacting to my over-reaction to Ardie’s initial over-reaction.   Or to put it another way, an average day in the bird house.

I know there are those who will take this as “proof” that “Twitter is a cess pit” but even after last Friday I still disagree.  If we defined every pursuit by it’s bad actors then the world itself would be a cess pit.  

TRAIL FOUND?

I always make it clear when I’m about to harp on Welsh rugby that I am very aware that I’m far outside the “bubble” and thus am unsure of the minute details and dramas going on between the regions, cities, clubs and personalities across the nation.

But being a URC/Six Nations fan I do claim to have a tangential interest and from where I’m sitting it looks as though they have reached a point where they are going to have to rely on outside investment to get out of this cavernous hole they find themselves in.

And once you have to put your eggs in that corporate basket, you have to accept that there are going to be some options available which will make “unthinkable” actions very thinkable.  Like merging one of the regions with a club that keeps on doing well in the RFU’s second tier while being denied entry into its first.

Does that mean it will definitely happen?  Of course not.  But my point is that if it does become possible they should definitely consider it, while if it doesn’t they need to get ready for another offer which may sound equally ludicrous at first.

Once rugby union went pro, the sport was always going to have to think outside the box, and to be fair, while it’s still far from perfect it’s still a better box for the most part IMO.

INJURY REPORT

Leinster tend not to issue a full report until the Monday before their next match so that would be March 20th.  But going from the Irish squad update it looks like Ciaran Frawley has been called up to camp while Scott Penny and Jamie Osborne have been held back for minor knocks so hopefully they are indeed minor.  Meanwhile we’re wondering whether or not the likes of Furlong, Gibson-Park, Sexton and Henshaw will be involved at Murrayfield next weekend.  

AIL UPDATE

It’s “as you were” at the top of Division 1A as both Tarf and Nure secured BP wins away to Shannon and UCD respectively.  Familiar names to Leinster fans among the tries include Ben Murphy and Jordan Coghlan. 

Meanwhile in the race for the top 4 it’s looking like we could have two Leinster v Munster semifinals as both Cork Con and Young Munster also won away from home although Ballynahinch’s win over freefalling Trinity (the only home win of the five) keeps them in contention.

Down at the bottom it’s looking like a three-way fight to void joining Garryowen with Lansdowne, UCD and Shannon all having tricky away assignments in round 16 on March 25.

SEVENS – VANCOUVER WRAP

Mixed fortune for the Irish squads in Canada – both started brightly with wins over the host nation and South American opposition but then they went their separate ways.  The women went on to lost all their remaining matches and although they remain a respectable 5th in the standings, a gap has appeared above them and they will be anxiously looking over their shoulders for the remaining rounds.

Although the men couldn’t avenge the Aussies in their final pool match, they still made the quarterfinals where a Zac Ward try deep in extra time got them past the USA and into the final four where they may have fallen to Argentina and again Australia but still the points were valuable and put us back into the top 8.

The circuit now moves on to Hong Kong at the end of March.

MAJOR LEAGUE RUGBY

My goal is to watch at least one MLR fixture each week, starting with Houston v San Diego from round 3 they’re all available for free on TheRugbyNetwork.com.

To be clear I won’t be following this competition merely to comment on the rugby.  My main interest is in watching how the sport is growing in the USA.  I reckon they have a decent model in the MLR to bring it forward but the league hasn’t been without its challenges especially last season when they lost the two Adam Gilchrist-owned teams (though considering the dumb nicknames they had they probably won’t be missed too much in the long run).

So with this in mind I checked out the replay of the Houston Sabercats v San Diego Legion, probably the biggest clash of Round 3 as both are expected to make the playoffs.  The familiar names were mostly on the San Diego side which features skipper Blair Cowen, Ma’a Nonu and Mikey Te’o.

The US presentation of the match was pretty much as expected, with a two-man team for commentary with the analyst seeing his role not only to provide “colour” but also to explain some of the more complicated rules, which is a good thing in my book.

One good feature of this match is that it was played on a pitch that wasn’t besmirched by lines from American football, something we do still see in quite a few MLR matches.

It seemed a decent crowd at Sabercats Stadium but it was the visitors who jumped out to an early 14-0 lead with Nonu heavily involved in both tries in the first 10 minutes.  Needless to say the defences won’t be up to the standards we’re used to in European rugby but still the general attacking play is to be admired at times.

Houston did manage to claw them back including an intercept try from winger Labuschagne which nudged them in front but a quick pair of San Diego tries created 26-17 advantage going into the last ten minutes.  This should have been enough to secure the win but a pair of yellow cards in succession to Sears-Juru & Poidevin gave the home side an opening and they sailed through it with two late converted tries including the winner from their big number 8 Gideon van Wyk to win the day.

Again, if you’re a rugby purist, don’t bother watching these matches.  But if you appreciate how the sport can benefit from the game growing, plus that it will take time for a league to establish rivalries and traditions of its own, then you can certainly enjoy keeping an eye on how things are going.

HARPIN’ PREDICTION LEAGUE

I checked back in the records and after being in 1st place after the first couple of URC rounds I had dropped to 3rd by round 7, a whopping 9.5 points behind our resident stats expert RugbyKino, but as you can see I have clawed eight of those points back so I’ll be gunning to retrieve that top spot by the end.

This league is meant to be a race to avoid the bottom spot which rewards you by having to wear The Jersey Of Shame in a social media phot but it would appear Neil “No Picks Keego” Keegan wants that honour for himself so he’s welcome to it!!!

THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

The Six Nations is back on the menu and for a bonus pod during the week I will be the Leinster representative on an all-provincial panel giving an overview of the 2023 Six Nations as it stands.  Then we turn to our focus to Sunday’s “Triple Crown decider” in Murrayfield with a preview show before, a wrap pod after and also all the other usual features in between so be sure to follow us on any or all of our social media platforms to keep up with it all.  In the meantime, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are.  JLP

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.

We have a new leader in the “Best Score In One Round” category as Andrew Byrne’s 67, including a spot on prediction of Ireland’s 14-point win over Italy, put him in pole position.  The prize will be a signed copy of Brian Moylett’s “The Book On How You Become A Pro Rugby Player”.

As you can see despite being knocked off his perch Jack Fogarty still leads the overall table with seven points to spare. 

REMEMBER YOU CAN STILL JOIN THE LEAGUE AND WIN PRIZES we’re accepting entrants right up to the final round so you can still beat Andrew’s Round 3 score, 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.

WRAP OF A WRAP

Apart from a big mishap on my part where I got the seniors and U20s mixed up in my selection of Front Five articles, Sunday night’s recordings went well and Tom and Conor did their usual sterling work in describing the action. 

If you missed it, check it out here or on most major platforms.

HARPIN ON…12 & 13 OPTIONS

For the bonus chat this week we looked at Ireland’s options as centre and looking back at it now we even missed some names like James Hume and Luke Marshall who have both of course done well when called upon. Still I think it’s important to acknowledge that when everyone is fit there is only one pairing for Ireland that ticks all boxes both with and without the ball and while we try to repress the bias when talking about Ireland, I wonder in this case if it’s actually better for Leinster fans to make that point. 

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…CLOCK GONE RED

Here’s a bonus bonus clip if you will. After Tom described Italy’s interception try at the end of the first half I asked him about Ireland’s mindset in not killing the half after winning the lineout after the clock went red given the BP was in the bag. 

TOM O’TOOLE TIK TOK

Halfway through this you’ll see me writing something down, for the record it’s a note to myself reminding me to use Tom’s mention of O’Toole’s display for this week’s TikTok clip. As you can see I remembered! 

IRELAND’S TIME-DELAYED CALL

There has been a lot of light hearted indignation on social media about the Italian rendition of Ireland’s Call before the match, and to be honest while I wanted to join in, the fact that the issue was easily sidetracked into that annoying “debate” over whether or not that should be played at all for Irish rugby made me pause.   But this column is a much safer space for me to express my thoughts without all that nonsense. 

It should be a simple matter – each union should be able to decide on how their anthem is played.  Full stop.  I’m not even sure why it’s up for debate.  Even giving the Italian organisers the benefit of the doubt in that this wasn’t a case of intentional head-wrecking, they still shouldn’t be put in a position where an error can be made.

The anthem playing is a “formality” in every sense of the word.  First, it’s a reminder to the player of the extra prestige of playing test level rugby for their native or adopted country (another rabbit hole I’d want to avoid in this discussion) but more relevant is the way we’re not supposed to have the rendition of the anthem as a major talking point especially in something like the Six Nations!!!

You’d hope that regulations wouldn’t be needed for this, but that fiasco would seem to warrant them. 

LEO SIGNS

A friend texted me on Monday “Just drove past the Leinster HQ in UCD.. lots of press outside” and within an hour I had learned exactly why.  This had been rumoured for a while but the confirmation was obviously very welcome news.  With Stu leaving for Racing at the end of the campaign, this provides much needed continuity and I very much doubt there’s a single Leinster fan unhappy about it.

On Stu’s replacement, we’re hearing talk about Leon MacDonald, currently in charge of the Blues in Super Rugby and formally involved with Tasman, the Crusaders and the All Blacks so not a bad resumé at all, plus he has worked with Andrew Goodman.  But before I get deep into details like how he takes his coffee, I should point out that nothing is confirmed as yet although apparently this will be sorted over the coming weeks.

Last thing I’d say on it is that a senior coaching position at Leinster Rugby isn’t exactly a tough one to sell to the best coaches. 

RDS REDEVELOPMENT

“The funds are there. It’s just a case of going through the boring bit around plans and tenders, dates and project plans. All that boring stuff. That’s all happening now. It’s all systems go. I think we should have something really exciting in the next couple of months to show.”

Obviously COVID knocked back the planned redevelopment of the RDS a good bit so it’s good to see it’s still on track and every update on its progress is welcome.  I love going there but still this work is very badly needed.

SCHOOLS FINAL FOUR

After a replayed first round tie set things back a bit, we now finally know the semifinalists in this season’s Leinster Schools Senior Cup : St Michael’s College v Blackrock College, Newbridge College v Gonzaga College.

Both should be quality matches but the first one puts me in mind of the final from ten years ago which featured players like Garry Ringrose, Jeremy Loughman, Oliver Jager, Nick Timoney, Cian Kelleher, Ross Byrne, Nick McCarthy, Ross Molony, James Ryan, Josh Murphy & Max Deegan.  It was also the day I took this photo which got some decent reception about t’internet and (eventually!) inspired me to start the Harpin Instagram account.  

Very much looking forward to both semifinals next Monday & Tuesday.

INJURY REPORT

IRELAND

Biggest news is unfortunately Finlay Bealham’s injury and although his Championship is over his contribution to this campaign cannot be overstated.   

Even without the Leinster goggles it has to be good news that Messrs Sexton, Henshaw, Furlong, Gibson Park & Ringrose are all included in the “mini-camp” in the hope that all will be available to face Scotland and England.

On the players sent back to their provinces, well I don’t want to repeat myself from last week on the consternation from certain fans over supposed bias in these decisions, I’ll just say that with a full round of URC matches at a crucial portion of the campaign, I’d say the provinces will take all the personnel they can get.

LEINSTER

The news on Joe McCarthy was unfortunate but not surprising, hopefully he’ll be able to play some part at the business end of the season.

Speaking of which, nine points from Leinster’s final four matches will mathematically clinch 1st place, though with standards at the province as they are I doubt that’s a factor in team selection this coming weekend.  Word is they were considering our matches against Cardiff, Dragons, Edinburgh & Stormers as a block which would mostly see the same combinations so we can expect a similar lineup this coming weekend.

15 COSGRAVE 14 LARMOUR 13 TURNER 12 OSBORNE 11 KEARNEY 10 H BYRNE 9 MCGRATH

1 MILNE 2 MCKEE 3 ALA’ALATOA 4 MOLONY 5 JENKINS 6 RUDDOCK (C) 7 PENNY 8 DEEGAN

16 MCELROY 17 BOYLE 18 CLARKSON 19 CONNORS 20 DEENY 21 N MCCARTHY 22 TECTOR 23 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:

Jason Jenkins: came through the game against Dragons Rugby with no issues following his return from injury

INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:

Ciarán Frawley: will look to increase his training load this week as he continues his recovery from a knee injury

INJURY UPDATE – UNAVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:

Joe McCarthy: has had a procedure on an ankle injury and will be out of action for two months

There are no further updates on:

Charlie Ngatai (hamstring), Cormac Foley (hamstring), Ed Byrne (knee), Martin Moloney (knee) and Tommy O’Brien (knee)

AIL UPDATE

First of all congrats to the Combined Provinces XV for their clean sweep of wins in the inaugural Celtic Challenge, no doubt they gave the test coaching set up plenty to think about over the four matches, and the squad for the upcoming Six Nations was announced on Tuesday, albeit over the backdrop of the tragic news of the passing of Tom Tierney.

Back to the Men’s AIL, Jack Boyle, Alex Soroka & Ben Murphy were among the Leinster players bagging tries in another important round of 1A matches.  Tarf stayed on top with a good win at Trinity while Terenure stayed close to them by overcoming Lansdowne.  

Meanwhile down at the bottom Garryowen finally slipped through the trap door although the race to avoid joining them is really hotting up and for the remainder of the campaign I can’t see there being too many dead rubbers.

SEVENS – FROM LA TO VANCOUVER

Just the men’s World Series resumed last weekend and to say Ireland’s fortunes varied over the two days would be an understatement.  On Day One which was marred by torrential rain and several delays we won all our pool matches, including a win over the Blitzboks, to set up a quarterfinal against Australia, yet on the Sunday we just couldn’t stop shipping penalties and slipped to two defeats which meant we also slipped further down the series table to 9th after 6 of 11 rounds.

The circuit now moves to Vancouver, Canada where we get a chance for revenge over the Aussies in our pool and we also face Chile and our hosts.

Meanwhile the women return to action as well and with just three rounds to go we’ll be looking for another final four appearance to get us higher than our current fifth position.  

MAJOR LEAGUE RUGBY

Getting pressed for time as I type so I’ll just leave the results, table & fixtures in this section.  Hopefully I’ll have time to catch a game or two soon, they’re all available for free on TheRugbyNetwork.com.

HARPIN’ PREDICTION LEAGUE

Kudos to Cian “RugbyKino” O’Muilleoir for reminding us all of the extra URC matches last weekend, I chose to reward him by being the only one to take a punt on Ulster winning in Durban, thus allowing me to narrow his lead down to just two and a half points!!!  We both got the Lions/Glasgow game wrong though, which has us both anxiously looking over our shoulders at Mark Jackson in 3rd so there are a few interesting weeks of Superbruing ahead for us.  Oh, and we’d also like to announce Keego’s new full official nickname of Neil “No Picks Keego” Keegan…

THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Obviously we’ll be turning our attention to Leinster’s trip to Edinburgh next weekend and we’ll have an Opposition View pod during the week talking to Sandy Smith although it would be rude not to also ask him about the Scots whom Ireland play in the same city a week later.

Then we return to our URC focus with a preview show before, a wrap pod after and also all the other usual features in between so be sure to follow us on any or all of our social media platforms to keep up with it all.  In the meantime, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are.  JLP

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.

WRAP OF A WRAP

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.

HARPIN’ ON…THE KICKING GAME

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…

THAT DUPONT TACKLE

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.

TABOO WORDS FOR THE NEXT FEW WEEKS

This point is very simple, and shouldn’t need any explanation to long time readers, although according to this tweet by Ulster fan and occasional contributor Ian Frizzell the BelTel subeditors definitely need a crash course.

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…

(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)

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

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