Category: 80+ column

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.

PETER O’MAHONY SIGNS

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

WRAP OF A WRAP

Now I’m glad I didn’t bore you every other week in this column with my disaster stories travelling to and from the RDS/Aviva for home Leinster matches because last Saturday everything went absolutely swimmingly.  Short wait time for buses in both direction, no getting lost in the lower reaches of the Stadium which made me go the looooong way round to my seat because I turned left not right, no hitches of any sort which I thought wasn’t possible.  

Oh, and Leinster also won on top of it all, maybe with a hitch or two, but still with some cracking scores along the way.  And all of the last bit was brilliantly summed up by both Tom and Nathan on Sunday night’s pod.  If you missed it, check it out here or on most major platforms.

HARPIN’ ON…GARRY RINGROSE : LEADERSHIP & FORM

For our extended clip this week I thought it was the perfect opportunity to harp on Garry Ringrose who has really grown into the captaincy role this season and it definitely looks like one he could be taking over once Johnny Sexton hangs up the boots.

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.

JASON JENKINS TIK TOK

We have a core team of Sunday podsters but I’me very grateful to Nathan Johns for being able to step in the odd Sunday, he works for the Irish Times and covers a lot of Irish cricket including the recent T20 World Cup but as you can see in the TikTok below he also provides great rugby insight like this point about Leinster’s defensive maul.

THE OTHER PROVINCES

“All four provinces into the knockout phase” is the most important takeaway.  Sure there were some disappointing results along the way, and it’s not ideal that three must play away and also two of us have to play each other in the round of 16, but still progression is a major goal when the process starts and should be applauded.  I’m skirting close to the format debate here so I’ll save that for a later point.

IRISH SQUAD

I have to be honest, squad announcements are actually starting to get boring, if only because the reactions are so predictable.  With the list being announced during a pair of HCC weekends it’s not easy to remove the provincial goggles I suppose, but I’m not sure they’d be taken off under any circumstances.

Even when a coach has a record that suggests his choices can be trusted for the immediate future, still the accusations of bias over form get bandied about.  Really, really, boring.

Did the Carbery omission raise an eyebrow?  Of course it did, although with Ben Healy’s decision they did have to take Munster’s current situation into account – still not guaranteed HCC qualification for next season so the mid 6N URC matches will be vital – and also if it was down to himself and Crowley I dare say the latter would certainly benefit more from time with the test squad while Carbery can easily slot in later in the comp if required.

MY FINAL DEVIL’S ADVOCACY OF THE HCC FORMAT…

Yes, yes, I know I’ve harped on this a lot in recent weeks, but in my defence, so have most people on social media before during and after each of the four pool rounds so I reckon I’m entitled to another swing at pushing back just a bit.

Once again, to be clear…this is NOT my ideal format.  However, the things many people are complaining about seem to be things that won’t be necessarily solved by returning to 5 or 6 pools of four.

“You can win just one match and still qualify for the knockouts”

First, can we please all be clear that “knockouts” means something different in the two formats?  Here it’s getting you into the last 16, while “the old way” it was into the last 8.  And under that regime, I clearly remember teams going through having won just 3 of their 6 matches while others got nowhere despite having won 4.  And under this current system, sure, you can win 1 and progress like Ulster did however (a) they needed bonus points, all of which were hard earned, to just about get them into 8th spot, and (b), look at the task ahead of them in the Last 16.

Another mark against the old way of knockouts was that I hated the way you could meet a team in the quarterfinals that you already played twice in the pool phase.  Seems strange that everyone is going wild about the quirks about this current format while forgetting those from the last one.

Overall I still contend that simply switching back won’t make all things fine and dandy…if you really want to give the competition the elevated status it deserves then we can carve out a block of the season and play it in successive weeks so that all the coaches can have full access to all their squads from start to finish, which I always feel is the best way to run tournaments for our wonderful sport.

Right, that should be that when it comes to me going on about formats.  Until the draw for next year’s comp, of course…

TACKLE HEIGHT IN ENGLISH LOWER TIERS

And as the format debate recedes, another one takes its place.  This has mostly been on English social media of course given it’s an RFU ruling, but the change is bound to be observed by all other unions as well and besides, Johnny Sexton weighing in at the Six Nations Launch certainly got the Irish rugby world involved.

Like I always say about this issue of concussion and tackle height, the most important thing is the discussion.  First that there is one, but more importantly that it is being conducted by people acting in good faith.  Unfortunately I feel this RFU ruling for lower tier grades might be a few steps too far in the other direction, which gives the “ruining the game” brigade the opportunity to opine without the need for ridiculous superlatives like they usually do over this matter (although I have heard that some are saying they’ll quit the game altogether over this, which seems absurd).

One element of the pushback against this announcement that is concerning is that it appears the RFU didn’t do a whole lot of consultation with grass roots clubs before reaching this decision, which could mean they were more about preventing further litigation than they were actually helping the game.

But overall I feel we have to be ready to accept some changes to the laws that will make the game safer.  Yes, I get that tackling low can still lead to a head knock, but the guidelines also state that the player carrying is meant to stay upright so, at least in theory, it’s possible just as many penalties will go the other way.  The only way to know for sure is to test it in actual matches, although maybe running the test across the vast majority of clubs in England was a bit hasty.

DOWNLOAD THE FANZO APP

6Mas Day is just around the corner, and this year we’re partnering with the Fanzo App to run a prediction league throughout the Six Nations where you can win a free pint for yourself (regardless how others do, more info to come later).

Basically we’re offering a prize ourselves for the best predictors over the five weeks of the Six Nations, but also you can help us out here at Harpin Manor just by joining the league.  We’ll post more details on the site over the next week or so but feel free to join know if you like, just download the Fanzo app, click “Let’s Go” in the “Guinness Pint Predictor” tab, tap “Leagues”, then “Join or Create a League” and finally the code is “Harpin”.

WOMEN’S INTERPROS

Congrats to Munster on their title, and also to all in the Leinster squad for bouncing back from last week’s disappointment to post a convincing win in the final match against Ulster.  Again, it’s a shame they didn’t at least have a home and away schedule, something Tania Rosser herself pointed out on Twitter, especially when you consider that it’s conceivable that the senior Leinster Women’s team may not take to the field again until 2024!

But there is still a lot of top level rugby to look forward to, starting with this new Celtic Challenge competition, where Ireland Scotland and Wales each have one team for now but probably two next season and maybe eventually this can become something of a URC in its own right.  We named our squad for the competition and hopefully there will be some kind of broadcast coverage to see how they’re getting on ahead of the Women’s Six Nations.

SEVENS UPDATE

Both squads were involved in the Hamilton 7s last weekend, with the women faring best as their fourth place finish after a quarterfinal win over France means we remain in the top 4 on the overall standings.

Meanwhile the men also got out of their pool only to run smack back into the hosts New Zealand but a win in the placings playoffs scored a few axtra series points with a 6th placed finish leaving us 9th overall on the ladder, with a good bit of daylight between us and 10th meaning we can hopefully move our way up in the remaining rounds.

Next on the circuit is Sydney next weekend, I don’t see a schedule as I type this column so maybe check back in later in the week.

INJURY REPORT

“No new injury news” is always good news, although it would still be nice to see names moving out of that list down at the bottom.  Not easy to tell what kind of team we’ll have for the visit of Cardiff this coming weekend, although I’m thinking one or two might still be available despite being named to the Irish squad.

(note – the above team is purely from my imagination, it’s not one of those Thornley teams which is always 22 out of 23 correct)

AIL UPDATE

Some big matches in Round 11 of Division 1A which had some big results that left some big consequences.  Cork Con’s win at Tarf meant Nure extended their lead at the top to 6pts after beating Trinity, which in turn meant Ballynahinch have moved themselves to just two points off the top four.  Down at the bottom it looks like Garryowen are close to the trap door while Shannon and UCD are close for the second spot, which makes their meeting on Saturday a critical one.  Nure have another top four battle to come when they host Tarf at Lakelands which Cork Con will try to keep the pressure on although Hinch won’t make things easy for them.

SCHOOLS CUP TIME

It’s that time of year again with the kick off of the Leinster Schools Senior Cup where we get to watch the future stars of the game in action.  As I type I have received word of broadcast coverage of the first round so here are the details…

(everything in italics below is from Leinster Rugby)

THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Next up it’s Cardiff Rugby…we’re planning a bonus pod recording for Wednesday where we’ll be chatting to hosts of a Welsh pod to get an “opposition view” not just for Saturday but also for the Six Nations opener, then it’s all the usual features like Rugby on TV, preview, wrap pod, etc, you know the drill.

Follow us and/or subscribe to all our social media channels to keep in touch and get involved in the conversation when the mood takes you.

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

Another Leinster win to harp on this week, naturally I’m tempted to put it all down to my new pod format but I guess I’ll go with the general impression that the lads have not only a winning mentality but we’re also learning how to face up to adversity within a match to dig deep and be ahead by the final whistle.   As ever Keego and Rich did an excellent job summarizing the match.

One thing I didn’t mention on the pod was that I was reminded of an Ospreys v Leinster clash from 2012 when arguably the league’s most organic rivalry was at it’s closest, on this occasion rather than go 10-0 down we actually led by that score ourselves in the early stages and I vividly recall us winning a penalty in their half only for Leo Auva’a to take a quick tap only to lose it shortly afterwards.  

We weren’t to score again in a 19-10 defeat and I was furious in my writeup which was unusual because even during the lean Matt O’Connor years I would do my best to find some kind of a positive.  Anyway as we know the Ospreys went on to have a much longer “lean spell” themselves although there have been signs lately that they are at least on their way back and it would be great to see them and indeed other Welsh regions breaking into the top 8 of the URC.

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

HARPIN’ ON…KEEPING IRISH PLAYERS

This week’s extended chat on the Sunday pod recording was about the Ben Healy move to Edinburgh/Scotland, Rich gave his views for the main show but myself and Keego joined the discussion for the YouTube clip you see below.

To summarize my own view, yes of course it would be better to keep all Irish players on Irish shores all the time, but we can’t consider it a failure every time one leaves because we can’t expect as many as 6, 7 or 8 players in a particular position, especially one like out-half, to all stick around hoping for a test call up when there is an alternative out there.  

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.

BOO TO BOOING THE BOOING

On the pod I mentioned a conversion attempt by Ross Byrne where he not only had to contend with the conditions, the referee complying with the stricter new timing laws and also the pressure of extending our lead to 8 points, but also the loud booing of many in the home crowd.

We never like to hear this kind of behaviour from fans, and we’ve been guilty of it ourselves here in Ireland, I’m remembering a Dan Parks conversion for Scotland at Croke Park in particular.  But actually for this particular point I actually want to focus on something different, namely pigeon-holing entire groups of fans.

I’ve seen a lot of comments on social media saying how that booing is somehow typical of what you’d get from “Welsh fans” and I have to say that is absolute bollocks.  I don’t like it when I see people take abuse from Leinster fans and tar us all with the same brush so I’m certainly not going to be happy when I see our fans doing it to others.

There is for sure a distinct group of Twitter accounts which we call “WRT” or “Welsh Rugby Twitter” and that’s fine as a collective (that tends to say everything is the URCs fault, reckons the Premiership is some kind of promised land, etc, etc) but I can absolutely guarantee that the vast vast majority of actual Welsh rugby fans are genuine every bit as much as Leinster, Ireland or any other nationality.

For me, failing to distinguish between groups within fan bases is just as much responsible for the toxic sludge we tend to see on social media as the trolling comments themselves.

Ignore.  Mute.  Block.   Report.  Whichever seems appropriate.   Sharing and generalising only ensures it will continue IMO.

TIK TOK POTM

Disagreeing with the Player of the Match selection is becoming a feature in this column, although I do understand why the Welsh broadcaster would tend to go with a home team player and it is true that Kieran Williams did have a fine outing against Leinster (dropped ball just before hearing his name being called out notwithstanding) but I reckon Jack Conan was definitely in with a shout for the gong as well and as you can see below, Rich concurred.

WOMEN’S INTERPROS

I always say it, but I’ll still say it again.  I would LOVE to have the time to give the Leinster women’s team exactly the same coverage as I do the men’s, but it’s just not possible for the time being so we will try to feature them as much as we can, and they opened their Interpro campaign at the weekend with a convincing enough victory over Connacht at Energia Park, although the score remained 0-0 for a long period in the first half.

Many many thanks for Conor Cronin for providing a report of his experience on the day, it was included in the pod but I have also shared the piece here ICYMI.

Next up it’s Munster at lunchtime on Saturday, and with them also having had a BP victory in round 1, this could be a tournament decider so definitely worth checking out on TG4.

INJURY REPORT

Our worst fears about Charlie Ngatai were realised after he was taken off at halftime in Swansea, hopefully he will be back soon.  However despite Robbie also being out I see no drop in our talent with Jamie Osborne stepping in at Kingsholm on Saturday, here is a lineup they may go with…

…obviously there are one or two tight calls, Dan Sheehan has had a lot of gametime this season including an extra shift in Swansea when John McKee was forced off, so it’s very possible that Kelleher would start instead.  Also Jimmy O’Brien/Jordan Larmour are very interchangeable.

AIL UPDATE

Over in English football last weekend they have the 3rd round of the FA Cup where a drawn match means the teams have to meet again in a replay after a week or so.  The reason I mention that is that the AIL men’s Div 1A had something similar as Dublin University and Cork Con played out a dramatic 35-35 draw at College Park in their rearranged round 9 fixture, with the three points keeping them in 3rd and 4th respectively although still inching them closer to the top two. And technically there is to be a replay of sorts, as this weekend’s Round 10 pits them together again, this time at Temple Hill.

Meanwhile at the other end of the table Ballynahinch put some distance between themselves and the relegation zone with a bonus point win over UCD, although the students also benefited getting a try and losing bonuses themselves to move up two places, and they also face a rematch in round 10.

The rest of the action this weekend sees leaders Terenure hoping to return to winning ways, getting another chance to beat Young Munster on their home patch at Lakelands.  Clontarf, also in the top four, travel to Dooradoyle to play bottom of the table Garryowen while Shannon and Lansdowne square off each hoping to stay out of the bottom two.

HARPIN’ PREDICTION LEAGUE

Not only is Kino really starting to pull away at the top of the HPL but I’m also now anxiously looking over my shoulder at Messrs Coleman & Jackson behind me.  Although having had to wear the Jersey of Shame for my wooden spoon last season, I wouldn’t really mind slipping a spot or two once Keego stays where he is!

THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Back into European action we go, with Kingsholm the destination and we will of course be giving it the usual Harpin treatment with Keego joining me for our preview on Friday, the wrap pod recorded on Sunday evening with the help of Mark Jackson & Conor Cronin, and all of our other 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.  

WRAP OF A WRAP

It was a near perfect start to 2023 in every sense for this Leinster fan when it came to my RDS experience.  

First there was the actual journey to Ballsbridge; normally at this time of year the bus doubles as what I call “The Funderland Express” on which I’ve been forced in the past to sit upstairs with dozens of 10-14 year olds passing around naggins and spliffs for over half an hour.  This time while the numbers of youth were about the same as always, their behaviour was not, thankfully.  They were mostly silent looking at their phones.

Then we had the match itself, which Tom & Conor did a perfect job helping me wrap on the latest pod, and as a fan I can’t have too many complaints about a bonus point win that wasn’t always a one-sided affair, the obvious wrinkle of course being the injury to Johnny Sexton, more on that to come later in the column.

Last but certainly not least there was my journey home; generally I leave the ground anxious to get my bus home as often I can be left waiting for up to an hour but this time I was at the stop just a few minutes before it arrived so like I say it was a near perfect night all round.

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

HARPIN’ ON…THE CHEEK OF SEXTON

Predictably there was a lot of reaction to the incident which resulted in Johnny Sexton’s injury, a lot of it maybe a bit OTT from certain quarters but I’ll touch on that a bit more in the next segment – for now here’s this week’s extended YouTube clip taken from the podcast where I reckon we provide an honest take on both Sexton’s collision itself and how it probably should have been dealt with by the officials, as well as comparing it to the Jack Carty sanction which came just before it.

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.

GOING FOR A SONG

I mentioned earlier about rushing from the RDS to get my bus, and when I’m travelling on my own I generally play music on my headphones so when I say I didn’t hear the controversial song played after the match, I mean it as truth and not in the “Karl Dickson says he didn’t hear anything” sense.

My view on the matter itself is simple.  It should not have been played, there are literally thousands of other songs that would have worked that don’t even have a hint of controversy about them, but IMO we should take at face value Leinster Rugby’s statement (which was issued while I was still on that bus home btw so they dealt with it fast) which implied that it was done without the knowledge of senior management.  All of which means the matter itself should be done.

But is it?  Of course not.  We live in a social media age where everyone is looking for attention so it was inevitable that this was going to be dragged through a couple of news cycles.  

To be fair, in some cases I agree the continued discussion was warranted, especially when it comes to a comparison between the reaction to this and what happened when the Irish women’s soccer team was filmed singing after qualifying for the World Cup finals.  No questioning the disparity here, that’s for sure.

But there was much indignation from other angles too, and one which really got me was a suggestion that Leinster were getting a “pass” that would have been denied to other provinces.  For me this was drifting towards something we were talking about on the pod in pre-season, namely the “ABL Narrative”, which I define as a groupthink within the Irish rugby discourse that essentially looks for ways, if not to actually demonize Leinster itself, to at least diminish the province’s success by suggesting there is a prevailing favouritism from media and blazers alike. The same mindset was often applied to the non-call of Sexton’s challenge.

Again…was this a mistake? Yes.  Do we need a long drawn out debate about the songs themselves?  No.  Should a statement acknowledging the mistake be sufficient to put it all to bed no matter what the province, sport or gender involved?  Absolutely.

TIK TOK POTM

On last week’s column I disagreed with Scott Penny being named Player of the Match, thinking it should have been Dan Sheehan.  Again I’ll point out I don’t share that opinion because I’m against the former player, nor because I’m biased towards the latter, it’s just how I felt about that particular 80 minutes.

Well the same kind of happened in the Connacht match, although when Larmour got his second try I was pretty sure he’d get the award even though it was early in the second half.  However over the 80 minutes I am pretty much in agreement with Tom in this clip…

THE MARLER LINE

I harped on this in last week’s column, but the incident was always going to bleed into this one given there has been a ruling on it since.  Again we had pretty much full agreement on the pod that two weeks was a ridiculously low sanction, and the most annoying element to all of this has been the reaction which comes from a place of “FFS it’s a man’s game, things are said on the pitch, let them play”.

Yeah, about that.  For one thing, that narrative suggests it was Heenan that had the problem, when in actual fact the whole thing escalated when Marler was responding to something said to him.  All of which means that while of course there will be an element of “sledging” in pretty much every team sport, there surely has to be a line drawn and officials need to know where that is.

Now while I appreciate that finding the right words to effectively define “wrong” words is far from easy, and I’m glad I’m not being paid to find them.  But the fact is, those running the game ARE being paid, so they need to crack on with it.

When it comes to Marler’s punishment, I couldn’t understand why saw any mitigation at ll given he has been done for this before.  The previous incident involving Samson Lee wasn’t even mentioned in the report that I could see.

Maybe if and when the officials do find a way to define “the line”, we can name it after Joe and let the effect on his legacy be the punishment since he seems comfortable with having this reputation?  Just a thought.

WOMEN’S INTERPROS

The Women’s Interpros kick off this weekend, including Leinster’s only home match of the campaign against Connacht at Energia Park.

Personally I’d prefer it if the competition could be a full six rounds with everyone playing each other home and away, but I do appreciate that while the women’s game does need to progress it has to be measured until they reach full professionalism and besides, there are already extra matches to the schedule what with the new Celtic Nations competition which will take place before the Six Nations kicks off at the end of March.

As for the Leinster squad it’s exciting to see the first competitive squad being named by new head coach Tania Rosser and I look forward to watching her side compete over the coming weeks.  The full competition is getting live broadcast coverage courtesy of TG4 and BBC NI.

BEN HEALY

News of Ben Healy’s move to Edinburgh with a view to qualifying for Scotland is just coming through as this is posting so I’ll just add my initial thoughts…it has been expected for a long time so it’s no great surprise.  What is interesting is that they announce it right after he produces a match-winning seven points at the Kingspan!  Also there are rumblings that Ulster’s John Cooney could be making a similar move.

Overall it’s hard to blame players for taking advantage of the change in “second nation” rules, in fact it’s good to see more options available.  Is it a “mistake” on the part of Munster & the IRFU to let them go?  I’m not so sure, but that is in no way a reflection on Healy himself or indeed any player.   

When it comes to province and country, we have to make decisions on pecking order in every position and if those who find themselves fourth or lower have an opportunity to go elsewhere, they should be free to take it.  And we should wish them all the best, so much so that even if they succeed in their new role it should be celebrated rather than used as “proof” that the initial decision to let them go was wrong.

Obviously the ideal scenario is to have all Irish players at the provinces all the time but for several different reasons, one big one being simple maths, that’s just not possible. There will always be opportunities outside our “bubble” and that’s just how the world works.

INJURY REPORT

We were all waiting on reports on Sexton’s cheekbone but the text doesn’t really tell us anything we didn’t already know apart from the date of the “procedure”.  A trusted source passed on this message over WhatsApp… 

[“A mate of mine who is a maxillofacial surgeon looked at that photo and said it’s probable he’s broken’s his zygomatic arch and would say 4 to 6 weeks recovery if that’s what has actually happened!“]

…BUT do please appreciate that the above is at best second hand information and we can only go by official releases by the province & IRFU.

Elsewhere I’m hoping that both Furlong & Connors will be available for selection soon and when it comes to next weekend’s trip to Swansea I reckon we could be looking at a fair amount of cotton wool in our selection with a starting XV of something like this…

Still a decent squad in fairness although the Ospreys do seem to be on a decent run of late which could make it an interesting contest.

AIL UPDATE

Club season is over for the women while the men are only at the halfway stage and Division 1A has two big rescheduled matches this weekend taking place at either end of the table.

Dublin University and Cork Con both have 29pts lying 3rd and 4th respectively and they go head to head at College Park, with a familiar name holding the whistle in George Clancy. 

Meanwhile as Garryowen look like they need a miracle to avoid relegation 9 defeats from 9 to start the season, there’s some congestion above them for the other spot including Ballynahinch and UCD who meet at Ballymacarn Park.

Men’s AIL

HARPIN’ PREDICTION LEAGUE

I made up a bit of ground on Kino this week in a round where there were more unexpected results than usual.  Tom got the Yellow Cap while Keego, well, I really don’t think there’s any coming back from there.

THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

We play Those Pesky Birds next, and as I suggested in the Injury Report section they might fancy themselves to nick this one so we’ll be talking about that in our Harpin Preview on Friday when I’ll be joined by Ciarán Duffy, with the wrap pod being recorded on Sunday evening, with of course all of our other usual features in between.

In the meantime, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are.  JLP