Category: 80+ column

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WRAP OF A WRAP

I was busy last Saturday which meant I had to miss Bulls v Leinster live, had to pull over in a car park on the way home to watch it and needless to say I wasn’t too happy!!!  But somehow the rewatch for the pod made me see some positives and as ever Tom & Rich did excellent work going through the action.

ICYMI click here to check it out on Spotify or you’ll also find us on Apple and most major platforms.

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FRONT FIVE

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DON’T KNOW JACK

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SAM SIGNS

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LION KINGS

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AOIFE WAFER

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PUTTIN’ ON THE BIARRITZ

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HARPIN ON…THE URC’S SOUTH AFRICA TOURS

Here’s the lead-in question : 

“A timely enough topic for this week, the 2-match provincial tours to South Africa in the URC. We had some experience of them in the old Pro 14 when the Cheetahs and Southern Kings were involved but the addition of the Bulls, Stormers, Sharks and Lions have added a whole new dynamic to the league and when the URC fixtures were released early in May 2024, the first thing I noticed was that for the 4th season in a row, Leinster’s matches were scheduled for just after the Six Nations.  How has this portion of the season affected the provinces overall and does it go anywhere near evening out the travelling the South Africans must do?”

NOTE : A funny thing happened with this video…naturally we recorded it as an extra part of our wrap pod on Sunday evening, yet on Tuesday morning there was this tweet from Rugby Kino…

…so either it’s a humble coincidence or they actually got wind of our ranting, I’d prefer to assume the latter FWIW!!!  Either way here’s hoping it actually happens.

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LEINSTER SQUAD UPDATE

Assuming both Messrs Culhane & Deegan are unavailable due to protocols, I had a real struggle putting together a matchday 23 to play the Sharks, especially in the back row if we’re to go for another 6/2 split.  Cian Healy was pictured training with the squad but I’m wondering/hoping that’s not the only returnee from the 6N squad we get, I can’t see how we can go without at least Ryan Baird as well, and even with that we may need to give a debut to someone like Liam Molony, which could make for quite a baptism of fire in the last quarter in Durban if things go the way we expect.  Otherwise I wouldn’t make too many changes from Pretoria.

caveat : I have no “ITK” a la Thornley

OFFICIAL UPDATE posted Monday

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Women’s Six Nations

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Irish Shield

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All Ireland Leagues

WOMEN’S AIL

MEN’S AIL 1A

MEN’S AIL 1B

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SVNS

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Premiership

🔝🐱🐴

ProD2

Super Rugby Pacific

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NEW PLAYOFF FORMAT – ONLY TOP SIX QUALIFY

Qualifying finals – 1 v 6, 2 v 5, 3 v 4 with the top-ranked team hosting

Semi-Finals – three qualifying winners plus highest ranked loser: Teams re-ranked with 1 v 4 and 2 v 3

Final – top-ranked semi-final winner hosts the other semi-final winner.

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RWC2027 QUALIFIERS

The RWC2027 tournament has expanded to 24 nations so with four extra spots up for grabs it makes for a fascinating qualifying process.

Rather than post the latest results and fixtures here however, I’d like to defer to the excellent work of frequent Harpin’ contributor Ciarán Duffy who has been keeping close tabs on the qualifying process over at his own site Post to Post Sport.

A new update has dropped this week – follow this link to see how the Road to Australia is progressing..

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Japan League One

Major League Rugby 

Harpin Prediction League

This is the 4th season of our Superbru prediction league among Harpin’ pod contributors.  

Kristian is the reigning champion, but the real competition is in avoiding finishing last, which means you must wear The Jersey of Shame.  I had to wear it the first year, while Keego has had the honour the past two seasons.

As you can see our resident stats expert Rugby Kino is leading the way with room to spare but down at the foot of the table, an impressive couple of rounds has seen Keego move of the bottom for the first time in two years.

We’ve also added a Cup (or Mug) competition to make things interesting, and we’ve reached the semifinals stage with Kino playing Jeff this coming weekend.

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NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

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WRAP OF A WRAP

Hello and welcome to our latest 80+ column where I generally harp on things outside our normal remit, namely the latest match involving the Leinster/Ireland men’s team.

It may have been only the second defeat of the season for “my team” in our featured match, but that certainly did not make the pod any easier to record, especially given the nature of the defeat.  Still, fair play to both Kino and Hugo for taking a half each to harp on (Hugo got the thinner end of that wedge by a tad) and I reckon between us we covered the 80 minutes fairly.  

ICYMI click here to check it out on Spotify or you’ll also find us on Apple and most major platforms.

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FRONT FIVE

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CELTIC TIGER?

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GALTHIÉ AS CHARGED

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KIWI SUCCESSION

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LESS OF A CHALLENGE

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BE-NEATH THE SPORT

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HARPIN ON…TEST TICKET PRICES

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I thought it best not to subject Kino & Hugo to a bonus chat topic this week, they had done more than enough harpin’ on what happened last Saturday as it was.  However, Keego was willing to come on and expand on the tweet he posted shortly after the full-time whistle, so after one major recording SNAFU on my part we eventually put together this video.

Here’s the lead-in question : 

“Keego I’ll tell you what, it’s still just over a day since myself, Kino and Hugo wrapped the France match so I hope you don’t mind I won’t ask for your thoughts on that just yet because I’ve harped on it enough but what I would like to ask you about is your tweet from shortly after the full time whistle on Saturday: ‘IRFU we love you but when you price us out of the game, you do not get the noise you need. Every couch in the nation was there for the team, same in every pub. but we couldn’t afford to be there. You really need to revisit the pricing policy. Let us into the stadium.’ – just thought I’d give you the opportunity to expand on that?”

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IRELAND SQUAD UPDATE

I know I’ll stand accused of blue goggles here but I think Sam should start against Italy, if giving him the 10 jersey throughout this tournament was designed to give him confidence then IMO dropping him now, essentially implying that the result last weekend was his fault, would destroy that.  But to be clear, I have absolutely nothing against Crowley and if you look back at previous 80+ columns you’ll see I’ve selected him at 10 more than once in this segment.  You may also notice I’ve left out Peter O’Mahony in favour of Baird, again that sounds like a Leinster-centric call but to be honest I’d just as soon have Cian P or Izzy off the bench at a time we’ll be hoping to have opportunities to rack up a decent score. 

caveat : I have no “ITK” a la Thornley

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TROLL PATROL

Now it’s time for Troll Patrol where we ‘detain’ a social media commentator and charge them with gaslightery and general online mayhem.  

It would surely take an amazing level of trolling for the same message to feature in this section twice but for the week that’s in it I reckon this one, previously in our Feb 12 column, makes the grade.

Let’s just say I hope she really was so, so happy.

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Women’s Six Nations

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U20 Six Nations

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Celtic Challenge

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All Ireland Leagues

WOMEN’S AIL

MEN’S AIL 1A

MEN’S AIL 1B

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LEINSTER SCHOOLS SENIOR CUP

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SVNS

---

Premiership

---

🔝🐱🐴

ProD2

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Super Rugby Pacific

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RWC2027 QUALIFIERS

The RWC2027 tournament has expanded to 24 nations so with four extra spots up for grabs it makes for a fascinating qualifying process.

Rather than post the latest results and fixtures here however, I’d like to defer to the excellent work of frequent Harpin’ contributor Ciarán Duffy who has been keeping close tabs on the qualifying process over at his own site Post to Post Sport.

Follow this link to see how the Road to Australia is progressing..

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Japan League One

Major League Rugby 

Harpin Prediction League

This is the 4th season of our Superbru prediction league among Harpin’ pod contributors.  

Kristian is the reigning champion, but the real competition is in avoiding finishing last, which means you must wear The Jersey of Shame.  I had to wear it the first year, while Keego has had the honour the past two seasons.

As you can see our resident stats expert Rugby Kino is leading the way with room to spare but down at the foot of the table, the race to avoid the JoS is hotting up with Keego winning Round 12 and making the two above him anxiously looking over their shoulders.

We’ve also added a Cup (or Mug) competition to make things interesting.  Kino forgot to make his prediction for the final match in Round 12 but by Superbru rules he still picked up a point to edge Kristian out where he’ll face me in the seimifinals!  Still one quarterfinal to play however, the Westmeath/Meath derby between Mark and Tom.

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NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

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WRAP OF A WRAP

Hello and welcome to our latest 80+ column where I generally harp on things outside our normal remit, namely the latest match involving the Leinster/Ireland men’s team.

Sorry if I’ve been harpin’ on too much about the fact I brought my 9 year old daughter to the Leinster match last weekend, loads of people do that all the time I know, but it’s very rare for me because in general I’m the only rugby nut in our house.  But she definitely wanted to see what the match was like and she really enjoyed it.

Anyway, it made for a different weekend when it comes to preparing for the wrap pod but in the end between myself, Tom and Conor I reckon we did an OK job going back over what happened.

ICYMI click here to check it out on Spotify or you’ll also find us on Apple and most major platforms.

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FRONT FIVE

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SIMON SAYS

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MACK & JOE

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TOMMY THE TRYSAVER

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BACK TO BOKS

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NOT FOOTBALL?

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HARPIN ON…THE LEINSTER FAN EXPERIENCE

For our bonus chat to go with the weekend that was in it I chose to get the lads to harp on what it’s like for the fans at Leinster matches.  Obviously not all spectators are the same but it’s good to keep tabs on what the overall experience is like.  Here’s the lead-in question…

“When I started Harpin’ On Rugby back in 2008 the intention was to not only harp on what was happening on the pitch, but also to keep tabs on what the experience of actually going to the matches was like for the spectators.  I suppose all the success enjoyed by Leinster and Ireland over the years has had the coverage leaning more towards the actual rugby, plus I now get more of a media’s eye view of things on matchdays.  But on Saturday when we played Cardiff I brought my 9 year old daughter along to see what it was like so for this bonus clip I’d like to share our story and also discuss it with our panel, who are themselves both regular frequentors of the stands whether its RDS, Aviva or Croker.  Starting with yourself Conor, how do you find the overall experience?”

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LIES, DAMN LIES… 

Ever wonder which rugby stats are actually worth a damn?  Well I reckon this list is at very least a step in the right direction towards finding out.

After 12 rounds, Leinster lead the URC by 13 points which I reckon means that the categories below that we’re not leading must indicate that, not so much that they don’t matter, but certainly don’t matter all on their own.  Like tackles, for example, possibly the most misunderstood stat of the lot.  Cardiff lead the league in tackles made, but how exactly is that a good thing?  Not easy to score a lot of tries if you’re doing a lot of tackling, and it certainly won’t help you in minutes 70-80 of close matches if you’re bolloxed.

And apologies to Connacht fans, but while leading the league in both carries and defenders beaten really looks impressive, but still if those breaks don’t result in enough scores, or for that matter if your opposition is also carrying and beating defenders going in the other direction, well it will hardly translate into a high position on the table.  

There are also key categories missing from the list; for one thing I have to assume it doesn’t matter just that Leinster are making tons of visits to the 22, it’s surely more about what percentage of those visits we’re converting into points.

Anyway, here’s the list of league leaders the URC sent out during the week…

IRELAND SQUAD UPDATE

One or two close calls here but as I’m typing the news is coming out that Tadhg Furlong could be available.  The best thing about this is that I’d have 00% confidence in Finlay Bealham to still start the match with Jukebox putting in a power 15-25m in the second half.  Elsewhere I’ve gone for POM over Baird since assuming one must miss out altogether if Conan is available.  And when it comes to 10 I’ve been putting Crowley in more often than not for these matches but it seems Sam has done enough to make the jersey his own so he makes my team too.

HARPIN’ POSSIBLE MATCHDAY 23 V FRANCE

caveat : I have no “ITK” a la Thornley

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TROLL PATROL

Now it’s time for Troll Patrol where we ‘detain’ a social media commentator and charge them with gaslightery and general online mayhem.  

Munster vs the IRFU in the trolling department this week.  Even though Garry Ringrose is an integral part of Ireland’s overall plans, it seems some fans would rather bring receipts to help those who thought his punishment was too lenient make their argument instead of simply being happy he still has involvement to come in this 6N.  I gave my own views on this in the Front 5 video above.

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Women’s Six Nations

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Irish Shield

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U20 Six Nations

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Celtic Challenge

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All Ireland Leagues

WOMEN’S AIL

MEN’S AIL 1A

MEN’S AIL 1B

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LEINSTER SCHOOLS SENIOR CUP

---

SVNS

---

Premiership

---

🔝🐱🐴

ProD2

Super Rugby Pacific

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RWC2027 QUALIFIERS

The RWC2027 tournament has expanded to 24 nations so with four extra spots up for grabs it makes for a fascinating qualifying process.

Rather than post the latest results and fixtures here however, I’d like to defer to the excellent work of frequent Harpin’ contributor Ciarán Duffy who has been keeping close tabs on the qualifying process over at his own site Post to Post Sport.

Follow this link to see how the Road to Australia is progressing..

Japan League One

Major League Rugby 

Harpin Prediction League

This is the 4th season of our Superbru prediction league among Harpin’ pod contributors.  

Kristian is the reigning champion, but the real competition is in avoiding finishing last, which means you must wear The Jersey of Shame.  I had to wear it the first year, while Keego has had the honour the past two seasons. 

As you can see our resident stats expert Rugby Kino is leading the way but we’re only passing the halfway stage, and we’ve also added a Cup (or Mug) competition to make things interesting.  Myself and Conor have already reached the semifinals, in the third quarterfinal Kino leads Kristian but just half a point with one more match still to forecast

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NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

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WRAP OF A WRAP

Hello and welcome to our latest 80+ column where I generally harp on things outside our normal remit, namely the latest match involving the Leinster/Ireland men’s team.

For our latest wrap pod we harped on Leinster’s 11th win out of 11 in the URC, with Rich Mifsud from Gibraltar and Ciarán Duffy from Bray doing their usual bang up job helping me do so.

We’ve been using a timer on the Zoom calls for the past few weeks to help keep the show under an hour and it has been working really well, especially since by a complete coincidence the app puts the clock right where I have the Harpin logo on the videos so nothing needed to change.

ICYMI click here to check it out on Spotify or you’ll also find us on Apple and most major platforms.

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THREADS PULLED

Made another change to our platform lineup, after adding the Substack channel something had to give. 

Mastodon had already made way for Discord, so we decided the next in line was to be Threads; to be honest I never really understood what I was getting from that platform anyway.  

But the Substack looks very useful indeed, I’m trying to use it to get myself actually writing again, including what I hope will be a weekly article named “Broken Play” which I’ll scribble on Saturday mornings for the foreseeable.  I am also restoring our “Throwback Thursday” feature where I’ll be trawling through the Harpin archives going back to 2008 for an old post which somehow relates to Leinster/Ireland’s next match.  With us playing in Cardiff this weekend you can probably imagine what bit of history I’ve chosen for the first one, but to confirm your suspicions you’ll have to actually click into our Substack on Thursday morning to find out!

Just to be clear, I have this Substack account as a FREE subscription so if you could take a look and maybe even subscribe you’d help me out a lot, cheers.

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BREAKING NEWS

UPDATE : this Ross Byrne story broke as we were posting, we’ll harp on it for our preview Friday

FRONT FIVE

A selection of eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the rugby media landscape

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OFF THE BOIL

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SWEET HOME CHICAGO

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BRING YOUR A GAME

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THOMOND THOUGHTS

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RE-LEASH A JAGUAR

HARPIN ON…LIONS TOUR – STILL WORTH IT?

For our bonus chat this week, our panel looked at the Lions Tour in the professional era.

Here’s the lead-in question…

“It’s a Lions year and two games into the Six Nations the talk about possible starting XVs and who’s ‘on the plane’ are already happening throughout the ruggersphere.  But for right now, we’re going to revisit a angle that we’ve been harpin’ on going way back to 2013 when we had a guest post from long time Babbling Brook message board poster curate’s egg titled “Lions: more ‘meh’, than miaow”.  Basically the question being asked is whether or not the Lions Tours are still relevant in the professional age and the questions have come from more and more people as we have gotten closer to the latest tours since then.  Starting with yourself Ciarán, are the Lions a concept worth continuing?”

BTW – we chose to steer clear of the ‘British Empire’ Lions argument in the video mostly because we figured the comment section would cover it pretty well and sure enough within half an hour we got the first one in, here’s a sample…

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IRELAND SQUAD UPDATE

With Doris and Kelleher listed as doubts since Monday’s update I took the approach whereby we do have enough cover not to risk them, this includes Tadhg Furlong who can get minutes off the bench for Leinster against Cardiff if needed.  I have a feeling Simon will stick with Sam and Bundee in the starting lineup but I for this selection I switched those for rotation’s sake and as you can see I have opted for what I call “The Porter Protocol” where Church puts in a full bore 30m shift allowing AP to see out the match.

caveat : I have no “ITK” a la Thornley

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TROLL PATROL

Now it’s time for Troll Patrol where we ‘detain’ a social media commentator and charge them with gaslightery and general online mayhem.  

It’s very important to remember that it’s not just so-called anonymous “keyboard warriors” who can be trolls.  In fact I find that term is most often used by the journos, probably to disguise the fact that they can often be the worst trolls themselves.  

Take this article from Stephen Jones.   I’m serious, please take it and get it as far away from me as possible!!!  Seriously though, maybe the sub editor has a lot to do with the choice of headline but having suffered SJ’s work in the past I’d say it’s a pretty accurate reflection of what he’s on about in the article itself.  No, I didn’t actually read it, nor would I want to.  I got enough from this headline to know it ranks right up there with Off The Ball’s nonsense I mentioned in this week’s Front5 video.

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Women’s Six Nations

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U20 Six Nations

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Celtic Challenge

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All Ireland Leagues

WOMEN’S AIL

MEN’S AIL 1A

MEN’S AIL 1B

---

LEINSTER SCHOOLS SENIOR CUP

---

SVNS

---

Super Rugby Pacific

---

Premiership

---

🔝🐱🐴

ProD2

---

RWC2027 QUALIFIERS

The RWC2027 tournament has expanded to 24 nations so with four extra spots up for grabs it makes for a fascinating qualifying process.

Rather than post the latest results and fixtures here however, I’d like to defer to the excellent work of frequent Harpin’ contributor Ciarán Duffy who has been keeping close tabs on the qualifying process over at his own site Post to Post Sport.

Follow this link to see how the Road to Australia is progressing..

Japan League One

Major League Rugby

Harpin Prediction League

This is the 4th season of our Superbru prediction league among Harpin’ pod contributors.  

Kristian is the reigning champion, but the real competition is in avoiding finishing last, which means you must wear The Jersey of Shame.  I had to wear it the first year, while Keego has had the honour the past two seasons.  As you can see our resident stats expert Rugby Kino is leading the way but we’re only passing the halfway stage, and we’ve also added a Cup (or Mug) competition to make things interesting – I managed to overcome Jay in the first quarterfinal, with Conor leading Rich with one outstanding match left in Round 11.

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NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

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WRAP OF A WRAP

Hello and welcome to our latest 80+ column where I generally harp on things not so Leinster-and-or-Ireland-men’s-team-related.

I think it was as far back as last August when Mrs P told me about a wedding to which we had been invited, not immediate family by any stretch rather the daughter of her work colleague.  It’s almost an instinct for me to check the date at times like this to see if there’s a clash with a major sporting event and sure enough there was a head-on collision with the opening match of the Six Nations against the old enemy no less.  

“Just don’t go” was the response of more than one friend I told about this in the meantime, but we couldn’t do that for several reasons, and when it came to the big day we certainly weren’t the only ones who we first reluctant to leave the hotel bar having watched the first 15m of the match and then had our phones out on the table as the various courses were being served!  Judging from the cheers rings out across the room at the same time Bundee Aki got his try, either loads were watching the match or this was the best wedding soup ever served!!!!

Anyway, thankfully Kino and Hugo were able to watch in a more conventional fashion and when it came time to record I think they did an excellent job going back over the match.  ICYMI click here to check it out on Spotify or you’ll also find us on Apple and most major platforms.

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FRONT FIVE

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GETTING YOUR KICKS

BLOODGATE 2

HE’S WHAT NOW???

MOANA RETURN

ULTRA MARATHON MAN

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HARPIN ON…JACK OR SAM (OR TRUST?)

For our bonus chat this week, our panel looked at ‘the Jack v Sam debate’…is that the only way to discuss the Irish 10 jersey?

Here’s the lead-in question…

“On Feb 21 2020 the Irish Under 20s defeated England 39-21 at Franklins Gardens with a young lad named Jack Crowley at outhalf.  On Mar 19 2023 the Irish Under 20s also defeated England, by a similar scoreline 36-24 only this time it was at Musgrave Park in Cork and wearing green 10 that day was a certain Mr Sam Prendergast.  Unless you’re an Irish rugby fan who lives under a rock you’ll know that both players are currently vying for the national 10 jersey and they both featured in Saturday’s bonus point win at the Aviva.  Naturally the Irish rugby media won’t shy away from stirring the debate over who should be starting, so we might as well throw our few euro cents in, but I’d like a slightly different angle…is it important to harp on who should be starting or should we have faith in the coaches’ decisions, especially while the team is actually winning?”

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IRELAND SQUAD UPDATE

My logic behind selecting this 23 is simple…going by the language in the update, Tadhg & Joe won’t be available while Finlay and Mack will, so assuming the intent is to keep as much continuity as possible, the only changes I’d make would be swapping from started to bench at 2 and 6.  I’m sure that makes me blue-goggled, so be it.

caveat : I have no “ITK” a la Thornley

SQUAD UPDATE ON IRFU WEBSITE

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TROLL PATROL

Now it’s time for Troll Patrol where we ‘detain’ a social media commentator and charge them with gaslightery and general online mayhem.  

This week’s detainee is something I call “good trolling”.  The media-fuelled online Jack v Sam debate was annoying not just because it was ridiculous but also because it was so predictable.  Thankfully some were happy to have a bit of fun with it, along with others on hand to fact-check…

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U20 Six Nations

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Celtic Challenge

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All Ireland Leagues

WOMEN’S AIL

MEN’S AIL 1A

MEN’S AIL 1B

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LEINSTER SCHOOLS SENIOR CUP

---

Super Rugby Pacific

---

Premiership

---

🔝🐱🐴

ProD2

---

RWC2027 QUALIFIERS

The RWC2027 tournament has expanded to 24 nations so with four extra spots up for grabs it makes for a fascinating qualifying process.

Rather than post the latest results and fixtures here however, I’d like to defer to the excellent work of frequent Harpin’ contributor Ciarán Duffy who has been keeping close tabs on the qualifying process over at his own site Post to Post Sport.

Follow this link to see how the Road to Australia is progressing.

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Japan League One

Major League Rugby

Harpin Prediction League

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NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

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WRAP OF A WRAP

Hello and welcome to our latest 80+ column where I generally harp on things not so Leinster-and-or-Ireland-men’s-team-related.

Many thanks to both Rich Mifsud and David Cordial for helping me wrap the victory over Bath at the weekend. Unfortunately I had audio issues halfway through but sure yiz don’t need to be listening to little ol’ me anyway, the lads were more than enough to harp on the match!!!

ICYMI  click here to check it out on Spotify or you’ll also find them on Apple and most major platforms.

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FRONT FIVE

A selection of eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the rugby media landscape

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ANTI-SOCIAL MEDIA

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TRIPLE THREAT

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ENGLAND CALL UPS

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WOUNDED WARRIOR

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ITV’S JONES-ING

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HARPIN ON…THE ROAD TO CARDIFF

For this week’s bonus chat the panel took a quick look at the brackets for the European competitions to see how the road ahead looks for the Irish provinces as well as other leading contenders.

My apologies for my audio issues here, consequence of self-producing!  Zoom stopped recognising my mic halfway through the wrap pod recording and I didn’t realise so it switched to the laptop one.

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LEINSTER SQUAD UPDATE

Tougher than usual 23 to call this week.  The mystery over Ciarán Frawley’s exclusion plus Tommy O’Brien’s curious omission from the injury update are just two obstacles.  But the unavailability of the Six Nations squad members is pretty much nailed on, except for those returning from a spell on the sidelines who need game time.

For the second week in a row I’m going to have Fraley at 10 in my lineup with the assumption that “he has to start” but obviously that comes with no guarantees.

Although we can’t play anywhere near our full squad, this is a fixture we really should be targeting whatever our standing in the URC as the Stormers are the only team in the competition we have never beated, with two away defeats plus a 22-22 draw right after Ireland’s 2023 Grand Slam. 

caveat : I have no “ITK” a la Thornley

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TROLL PATROL

Now it’s time for Troll Patrol where we ‘detain’ a social media commentator and charge them with gaslightery and general online mayhem.  

I really really wish I could say this guy was joking with his reply here, and in fact you’d almost wonder maybe he had the point about some kind of conspiracy against Munster by the “IRFU-minati” but hang on….THERE’S A MUNSTER PLAYER IN THE SHOT.

Much like Marcus O’B as I mention in the above Front 5 video, fair play to the “mother ship” for addressing it so quickly, and also fair play to Harpin contributors/Troll Patrol Officers Tom Coleman & ConorCronin  for identifying this week’s Troll Patrol detainee.

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EPCR ANNOUNCE WHENS & WHERES

As I’m putting this column together the EPCR have released the times for the Round of 16 in the two competitions.  No surprise that the two Sunday matches are both in France.  Leinster are the first province in action and it was confirmed that the venue will be Croke Park.   Not much doubt that La ROGelle v Munster is the tie of the round.

There’s just one wrinkle in this announcement was highlighted on X by frequent Harpin commenter Craig Williamson as you can see I replied with my own thoughts…

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Irish Shield

---

Celtic Challenge

---

All Ireland Leagues

WOMEN’S AIL

MEN’S AIL

---

SVNS

---

CHALLENGE CUP

---

Premiership

🔝🐱🐴

ProD2

Japan League One

Harpin Prediction League

This is the 4th season of our Superbru prediction league among Harpin’ pod contributors.  

Kristian is the reigning champion, but the real competition is in avoiding finishing last, which means you must wear The Jersey of Shame.  I had to wear it the first year, while Keego has had the honour the past two seasons.  As you can see our resident stats expert Rugby Kino is leading the way but we’re only reaching the halfway stage, and we’ve also added a Cup (or Mug) competition to make things interesting.

For this coming weekend, we have the first of the Harpin’ Mug quarterfinals, and it’s me up against Jay Long.  My Superbru score this weekend will be put up against his for a spot in the semifinals.

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NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

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