Category: 80+ column

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On this week’s column…

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FRONT FIVE

A selection of five eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the ruggersphere, now including a few thoughts added by myself (JLP).

“Some things make sense when you see it, and some don’t”

Rassie: Ireland don’t fear the Bomb Squad

SA RugbyMag

JLP : Ah, good ol’ Rassie.  Master of 50-dimensional chess, always a thousand moves ahead of everyone else.  You know what, I don’t actually blame him.  Well, at least I don’t now.  My biggest problem with him was after the first test of that Lions series, clearly trying to influence the officials when the same two sides still had to face each other.  We’ll never know if he’d be doing something similar now had Ireland won the first test, but when it comes to the bulk of the “these two teams really don’t like each other” vibe, the bulk of the responsibility has to lie with the SA press.  They’re the ones asking the lead-in questions, they’re the ones highlighting soundbites from individuals on Irish shows and podcasts making it look like theirs is the view of the entire fanbase, and most likely they’re the ones responsible for the kind of comments that made our Troll Patrol feature this week.

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Ireland were pipped to the Six Nations title by England, with this weekend’s rematch at the DHL Stadium in Cape Town (3.30 Irish time) set to be another tight affair

Ireland U-20s qualify for Junior World Cup semi date against England after match cancelled but Aussies are not happy

Cian Tracey – Irish Independent

JLP : Obviously Tuesday’s postponement was less than ideal, and going by what I have heard about the Cape Town weather at this time of year, the scheduling of this tournament there was also so.  At least it turned out ok from Ireland’s point of view as we get into the semifinals with the added benefit of a longer rest time in a competition designed to give all the participants the same 5-day turnarounds.  All in all it was a good job we got that late try against Georgia!  You can understand why the Australians would be annoyed but I reckon we just about deserve a place in the final four though it won’t be easy against England on Sunday.

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“No discriminatory behaviour of any kind has a place in French rugby.”

France international suspended over racist comment

Callum Boyle – SportsJoe.ie

JLP : No long comment required here, just that clearly Jaminet is a dick.  Didn’t know anything about him before this, now I do.  As ever in these cases there are no amount of statements like “that’s not like me” to make up for it, not that there’s NO way back for him only that it would take a lot of time and a lot of evidence to the contrary.  Well, at least as the French team’s tour goes it was the only thing bad to happen…

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“An investigation is under way. They’re in a police station. Someone from the delegation went to see them to bring them some food.“

France rugby players Oscar Jegou and Hugo Auradou arrested on Argentina tour over sexual assault claims

SkySports.com

JLP : ….wait, WHAT?  OK one incident is careless.  TWO seems to speak to the culture surrounding a travelling squad.  Obviously investigations are pending in this case so we shouldn’t speculate too much but it certainly doesn’t look good.

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***CLICKBAIT OF THE WEEK AWARD***

“We don’t really look at such things when we select the team, but this shows how blessed we are with the depth in the squad and the quality of the players we have.”

Ireland to face most capped starting XV in Springbok history

Jack Tunney – RugbyDump

JLP : The fact laid out in the headline is true, but it’s still a bit misleading.  The Springbok 23 is exactly the same as it was last week, which was also the most capped lineup in history so with everyone now having one more cap, of course the record is broken.  The real headline is the fact that its unchanged.  The ‘most capped’ bit is an extremely moot point IMO and thus wins my latest COTWA.

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WRAP OF A WRAP

Had to switch to Monday evening to record this week and myself, Ciarán Duffy and David Cordial harped our way through the timeline.  Trying to tweak the format a little, previously I’d break the match up into quarters to give the guests equal time but now I think I’ll leave the match in halves and get one to talk through the timeline while the other offers analysis.  Changes still in progress for this series, hope to have it finalised in time for next season.

If you missed it, click here to catch it on Spotify or on other major platforms, also please subscribe or leave reviews where you can.

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HARPIN ON…THE NEVER ENDING SEASON

Opening question :  

Here at Harpin On Rugby we’re now coming to the end of our 5th season of podcasts and our first recording was at the end of July 2023 which means we have practically had senior rugby to harp on for an entire calendar year.  Of course there was a World Cup in among all of that but once next season rolls around we’ll be thinking about a Lions tour and that series will actually bring us all the way into August of 2025.  World Rugby have been planning to revamp their global calendar for quite a while now and to be fair to them, COVID kind of delayed things a bit so it was only last October when they announced that they had “approved transformational reform of the global men’s and women’s rugby calendars from 2026” but starting with yourself David, given what we know of these reforms, are they going to do anything to stop these never-ending seasons?

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THE 6N SUNDAY PROBLEM

Looks like the Six Nations is considering going to an “all Super Saturday” schedule due to poor viewing figures.  Time for me to roll out my own suggestion that I’ve had on my mind for years now…how about spreading the matches across the seven weeks, with two matches every Saturday until the final, which could still be ”super”.

This way you actually eke out two extra weekends of Six Nations rugby for viewers and broadcasters while still giving each nation two rest weekends.  I’m sure the domestic schedules could be fixed accordingly.

Just a thought.  Below is a sample of how it could look if applied to the 2025 schedule.

WEEK 1	WEEK 2	WEEK 3	WEEK 4	WEEK 5	WEEK 6	WEEK 7
FRA V WAL	ITA V WAL	ENG V FRA	ENG V ITA	ENG V SCO	IRE V FRA	ITA V IRE
IRE V ENG	SCO V IRE	SCO V ITA	WAL V IRE	ITA V FRA	SCO V WAL	WAL V ENG
X	X	X	X	X	X	FRA V SCO

According to the Guardian, Six Nations organisers are considering Saturday-only games (men's) from 2026.

Friday and Sunday fixtures could be scrapped and it is hoped that staggered kick-offs could boost TV ratings.

Unsurprisingly, the 3 Six Nations games with the lowest TV…

— Rugby Broadcast (@rugbybroadcast_) July 10, 2024

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WORLD U20s UPDATE

Already dealt with the unusual 3rd round developments in the Front Five section, here are the actual results…

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CURRIE CUP UPDATE

Why add the Currie Cup to our update section I hear you say?  Only one answer…why not???

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TROLL PATROL

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There are two ways to look at Dylan Jack’s original post in this Twitter thread.  Well, if the world were decent, there would only be one, but we are where we are.  The first way is to say “oh dear that’s a terrible injury list for Ireland I hope the players involved are ok and will be back playing soon”.  Then there’s the way a load of fans in the replies chose to take it : “SOUTH AFRICA IS THE BEST AND THE STRONGEST AND IRELAND COULDN’T HACK IT!!!!!!” complete with of course all the pseudo-macho chest pounding and other bullshit.  Really, really sad.  And to be clear, like I always try to be when writing things like this, I’d not saying ALL South African fans think this way, but here there are definitely more than you’d like to see.

If you ever see an online contribution that seems worthy of inclusion here, by all means do share.

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“SVNS” UPDATE

Only update here is the announcement of dates and times for Ireland’s matches at the Olympics…

OLYMPIC 7s

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NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Short but sweet column this week – I plan to continue them on Wednesdays throughout the offseason while taking a break from the pods.  Still the second test to cover though, so we’ll have a preview on Friday as well as a wrap recording on Sunday evening. Be sure to keep up with all our social media channels with the usual amount of commenting, sharing, liking & subscribing.

And as ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are.  JLP

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FRONT FIVE

A selection of five eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the ruggersphere, now including a few thoughts added by myself (JLP).

Leinster…are joined by Stade Rochelais, who defeated them in the 2022 and 2023 finals, before the Dublin-based club knocked them out in the quarter-finals last season. 

Investec Champions Cup pools 2024/25: All you need to know

EPCRugby.com

JLP : I was convinced Leinster would get both La Rochelle and Michael Cheika’s Leicester again but in the end I was half right.  Not the worst pool we could have drawn by any means, though as ever a lot will depend on the home and away determinations which apparently will happen “later in the month”.  A lot of Leinster fans are excited about the prospect of trips to Clérmont and Bath in particular.

On the overall draw, RugbyKino did some great statistical analysis using actual maths to calculate the proper “pool of death” check it out in this thread.

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“We will never, after a game, tell a team that we’ll see you in the final if there is so much rugby still to be played.”

Etzebeth: Irish media targeted me

SA Rugby Mag

JLP : While I get the point behind the overall hype in the SA press before this series, this one about “see you in the final” never really made much sense to me.  My first takeaway from it was as nothing but a compliment, that the two sides had played great rugby and both deserved to be in the final.  But for senior squad members to bring it up and go on to double down on it, for me anyway it leads to headlines like this one which sounds nothing but “whiny”.  It’s all nonsense really. 

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The 2004 incident in which ROG quick-tapped a penalty and dummied the prone Boks…was also flagged by the former Munster star

CJ Stander explains Rassie Erasmus’ ‘hatred’ of Ireland…and it’s ROG’s fault

Adam Lacey – Extra.ie

JLP : So many spins on this RSA/IRE hype but I have to say this headline stood out, although CJ does also try to play down the hatred aspect of it all.  As I say above, all nonsense.  That said, much of the online stuff is exactly that so we should point it out when we see it!

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…he pleaded not guilty to a domestic charge of acting abusively toward the mother of his four children…also…for causing fear and alarm during a disturbance in February and for not complying with conditions set upon his release from police custody.

Former Scotland captain Stuart Hogg’s trial date set, things could get nasty

Ruck.co.uk

JLP : Every week I’m astounded by the coverage of Stuart Hogg’s situation that I’ve decided to give him his own graphic and feature title.  My general point of this is that often in sports media there tends to be a disconnect when the more popular players are involved in supposed unseemly events off the field.  

Now to be clear, I get the whole “innocent until proven guilty” aspect of it all, and as you can see by my choice of quote I make reference to his plea, but I just think there’s a tendency to over-minimize (if that’s a thing) the accusations.

At least this article actually spells out the charges, but even here if you just read the headline you’d be forgiven for thinking this was something horrible happening to him for which he bears no responsibility, and actually the article goes on to list all of his business ventures, effectively looking like a paid advertisement for his range!!!

Naturally if he is acquitted in the end, for my part I will be more than happy to say so here but in the mean time it sounds like a nasty business and maybe it’s best if his sporting accomplishments can be kept out of the news cycle.  But I fear they will continue regardless, as will of course our Hogg Watch feature.

I fricking hate seeing this sh*t.
No concern towards the PERSON, whatsoever.
And, in a major tournament, everyone jumping on the bandwagon. https://t.co/CQofpExIIR

— Stuart W Hogg (@StuartWHOGG_) July 2, 2024

UPDATE : Before I even had the chance to post this column I have already been alerted to an article [hat-tip RugbyKino] in Planet Rugby by Jared Wright titled “Stuart Hogg arrested again for ‘breach of bail’ as rugby return hangs in the balance” I was going to redo this section to replace the article but you know what, I’ll keep what I have there and include both links as it speaks to the sheer amount of online info about the guy, it’s like we’ve heard more about him since he retired than we did when he was playing!!!  This story doesn’t speak very well for his not guilty plea though…  

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***CLICKBAIT OF THE WEEK AWARD***

There is a huge apathy towards the URC in Wales which doesn’t purely stem from the Welsh clubs struggling for on-field success.

Wales must now leave the URC and finally make Anglo-Welsh league happen

Steffan Thomas – Wales Online

JLP : You have to love the devotion of a certain section of the Welsh rugby fan base to the idea of joining the Premiership, as if wishing will make it happen.  But on a different level you have publications like Wales Online looking to trawl for clicks with headlines like this one making it seem like it is actually possible.

The common opinion seems to be that if the Premiership were to agree to any type of a merger it would have to be with the URC as a whole as the draw of the oft-travelling Irish fans would be something the PRL would be very much be interested in.  All of which is ironic because those particular Welsh fans are almost as keen to get away from the Irish as they are to go towards the English!!!

Anyway this latest offering has earned Steffan this week’s COTWA.

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SA TOUR PREVIEW

No wrap pod this week of course so I put together an “all-provincial panel” featuring Padraig “The 2nd row” Kelly, Michelle Tobin and Harpin debutant Jack Fogarty to look ahead to the South African tour.  We discussed where the Irish team finds itself at the moment morale-wise, what players could step up on this tour and also how the South Africans may approach the tests.  Click here if you missed the pod or check out the YouTube clip below for a sample.

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HARPIN ON…PROVINCIAL SEASON REVIEWS

Of course it would have been rude to have guests from the other provinces without asking them to go back over their teams’ respective 23/24 campaigns, and I even managed to do it without bringing up the considerable bragging rights Leinster have after winning yet another Irish Shield ha ha.

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OPPOSITION VIEW – SPRINGBOKS

Haven’t recorded an Opposition view pod for a while and now seemed like the perfect time when a proper South African perspective is needed ahead of the series so I asked Thala Msutu back on and we have a great chat about the buy in to the URC down there, the Springboks motivation for this series and of course the matchday squad named by Rassie on Tuesday.  

Because of this recording we have no Quick Tap this week, we hope to return to them soon.

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WORLD U20s UPDATE

Super start for the Wolfpuppies, after they ran us close at Musgrave Park in the Six Nations we could have expected a similar result but this was an outstanding team performance from Willie Faloon’s charges that got the result they deserved.  Now we’ll be hoping for a similar result against Georgia before what should be the decider against Australia next Tuesday.  Hopefully by the time the next 80+ column rolls around we’ll be looking ahead to a semifinal but still much work to be done.

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TROLL PATROL

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This really, really annoyed me when I first saw it a few days ago and it immediately earned its place in this week’s troll patrol.  For me it shows the lengths to which some people will go to have a pop at Leinster, harking to a reference that mentions ‘the poorest parts of AIDS ravaged Africa’???  Speaks to a complete disconnect between sporting ‘banter’ and, well, actual serious stuff going on in the world.

If you ever see an online contribution that seems worthy of inclusion here, by all means do share.

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“SVNS” UPDATE

Mixed fortunes for the Irish teams in the Hamburg 7s, the men’s won the title although with the overall Rugby Europe championship taking both this and the previous event in Croatia, it ended up being France who won on points difference.  Meanwhile the women recovered well after a poor start to win the 5th place final over Czechia having lost to them in their pool opener.  Still plenty of evidence from both sides that they can do well in the Olympics.

HAMBURG 7s

Well done, lads! 🙌#Ireland7s

pic.twitter.com/lmc4Lf0b9m

— Ireland 7s (@Ireland7s) June 30, 2024

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🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE

Not much to say about that final apart from “Merci, beaucoup, Toulouse!” for helping Leinster get a top seed in the Champions Cup draw and the sentiments outlined in my tweet below. 

Personally I love the 🔝🐱🐴 but I have to say, if Leinster or indeed any team in the URC won a game 59-3 in the regular season there would be articles written about the league's viability. This was a final. Just sayin'.

— Harpin' On Rugby (@HarpinOnRugby) June 29, 2024

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MAJOR LEAGUE RUGBY UPDATE

Shane O’Leary is an out-half who was born in Cork and had stints with Grenoble & Connacht among others before declaring to play for Canada and has 13 test caps.

Luke Carty is an out half born in Athlone (and Jack’s brother) who also spent time with Connacht and he went across the Atlantic to play for the USA where he has earned 16 test caps.

Last weekend, Miami Sharks had possession in the early stages and O’Leary threw a pass which was intercepted by Carty to go the length of the pitch to put the Chicago Hounds ahead in their final regular season match on the way to a 38-26 victory which secured 3rd spot and a playoff trip to New Orleans in a couple of weeks.  As I have said before in this section, the Hounds are my adopted team for this season as they have a decent Irish contingent also including Dave Kearney and Nick McCarthy, and this has been a good campaign for them and you certainly wouldn’t rule them out causing an upset.

Elsewhere the reigning champs New England clinched top spot in the East and will face Old Glory DC while in the west Houston will play Dallas in a Texas derby while Seattle will host San Diego.  The league takes a rest week before the knockouts which is a good idea.

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NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

The end of Season 5 of our podcast adventure is in sight. Next up we’ve the first test preview recording Thursday night and the wrap will be Sunday. Be sure to keep up with all our social media channels with the usual amount of commenting, sharing, liking & subscribing.

And as ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are.  JLP

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On this week’s column…

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FRONT FIVE

A selection of five eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the ruggersphere, now including a few thoughts added by myself (JLP).

“…probably 12 out of the 23 when I shook the hands told me, ‘See you guys in the final’.”

South Africa Star Reveals ‘Arrogant’ Comments From Ireland Players After World Cup Meeting

Gary Connaughton – Balls.ie

JLP : Now of course I can see how that looks not only arrogant but also misguided given how the tournament panned out but I’ll still push back a little bit if I may…let’s look at the context here.  The Irish players were allegedly saying this just moments after a classic low scoring battle between two of the world’s top teams.  Any chance the comment might be simply taken at face value as a compliment?  Yes, maybe a touch of arrogance on our part, but also conveying a sense that we believe you guys will also reach the final?  Oh and another thing…Etzebeth is reacting to the Irish side of things but doesn’t see too much wrong in the suggestion that his side would reach the final?  So if that’s so, was it just the Irish players who were arrogant?  I mean – obviously the way things turned out it would have been justified in the Springboks’ case but again we’re talking about how things stood at the time after that one particular match.

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Cory Heather died after suffering a head knock while playing for Beachlands Maraetai against Patumāhoe at Te Puru Park on Saturday.

Cory Heather, Beachlands Maraetai rugby player who died after tackle, remembered by family as devoted father, treasured son

Raphael Franks – NZ Herald (via MSN)

JLP : Absolutely tragic story of course, and it should only serve to redouble the efforts the game has made to make the game as safe as possible.  And as @ProgressiveRugby points out below, the language we use for incidents like this can definitely play a factor 

RIP Cory Heather. The outpouring of grief has been incredibly moving.

Wish NZ media didn’t persist with the term ‘head knock’ in such devastating circumstances.

It doesn’t accurately reflect the gravity of the brain injury Cory was unfortunate enough to sustain on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/3jOEVjBbuN

— Progressive Rugby (@ProgressiveRug) April 30, 2024

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…the 2024/25 competition will continue its expansion…which will see the six teams play five home and five away fixtures each

Celtic Challenge Returns with Expanded Competition Format 

IrishRugby.ie

JLP : I’d always rather defer to the likes of @IrishWomens on these matters and she outlines the pros and cons in these posts.  For my part I’d agree this is mostly a positive development, and they have done well do move slowly with the development of the competition from year to year.  On the clubs issue, I still believe it wasn’t a complete case of failing the clubs in this instance since they had to work with other unions to bring this competition about and the clubs had been calling out for more fixtures, but hopefully with the advance notice the clubs will be able to be prepared on the personnel front.  When it comes to the CC comp itself, I would hope that eventually Ireland will be able to field all four provinces rather than these two contrived franchises but I do appreciate that logistically that will take some doing.

Celtic Challenge is now a full season, home and away.

This is good and bad news. It's the right step forward for this competition.
It's going to decimate club teams in the AIL. AIL clubs will need to recruit to cover their full season. https://t.co/npGMaMgf30

— IrishWomensRugbySupportersClub (@IrishWomens) May 1, 2024

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A year ago today, I discovered someone had set up two accounts on X…with the sole intention of abusing and harassing me and my family.

The Tea : My story about online harassment, defamation and sexual harassment

Irish Women’s Rugby Supporters’ Club

JLP : In the slot above you see @IrishWomens doing what she does best, ie put forward a realistic comparison between the status quo in the women’s game in Ireland and how it should be.  Hopefully the public’s reaction to her would be nothing less than full support but as you can tell from this brave article in some quarters it was been anything but.  And it’s not like this one guy is the only one to give her negative mysoginistic feedback either, although obviously his is the worst.  Please have a read and be sure to follow her Substack as well for some excellent isights as to what is happening at all levels of the women’s game.

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***CLICKBAIT OF THE WEEK AWARD***

Despite initial doubts surrounding his proposed move to Montpellier, recent reports suggest such concerns have been dispelled.

Update has been given on Billy Vunipola’s proposed move to Montpellier following arrest

Ruck.co.uk

JLP : From now I’ve decided to use this 5th and final slot in my Front5 segment for my Clickbait Of The Week Award, one which I hope no online publication would actually want to win although you wouldn’t be sure.  For obvious reasons I don’t see the need to actually include a link for this one, as my choice of quote has answered the unnecessary question posed by the headline.

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WRAP OF A WRAP

It’s important to remember we only started doing the wrap pods at the start of the 2022/23 season, when by the middle of April both Leinster and Ireland had won all of their matches so let’s just say it took a while to get the hang of organising a show around a defeat, and it’s not that we personally do want to harp on those matches it’s more like we’re pretty sure our core listeners don’t want to hear a deep dive into a disaster.  But the shows already go on regardless, albeit with a slightly different format.

This time I was joined by Ciarán Duffy & Jay Long and we quickly went back over the Cape Town catastrophe, before thankfully having something good to harp on when it came to the Irish women’s success in Belfast before looking ahead to the big semifinal at Croke Park.  All in all I reckon the lads did a bang up job.

If you missed the wrap pod, here’s a link for Spotify but it’s also available on Apple and other platforms, please subscribe there too and/or leave a review if you can.

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QUICK TAP : LIMITED TIME OFFERS

This week’s Quick Tap TikTok (recorded later than usual) pretty much speaks for itself, although I have added one decent suggestion of a fix to the Law anomaly I’m harpin on…

@harpinonrugby

Check out our latest 80+ column at harpinonrugby.com where there’s a decent suggestion for a Law change that might fix this issue…

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

The answer is so incredibly simple, obvious and uncontroversial.

Allow opposing teams to concede any Kick, like a Putt in Matchplay Golf.

Been saying it for years.

Everyone in the Rugby community should get behind the idea.

Literally no argument against it.

— Stephen Wall (@StephenWall1985) April 27, 2024

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LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE

Brilliant news of course on Messrs O’Brien & Ringrose but is it worth throwing them in to Leinster’s Champions Cup semifinal squad on their first matches back?  I’m leaning no for both of them, especially if Hugo Keenan is fit to play – if not, then Ringrose could wear 23 but 

NB : the above matchday 23s are completely from my own mind, I’m certainly not suggesting I have any ITK a la Thornley

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WOMEN’S SIX NATIONS

As I hinted earlier we weren’t exactly keen to harp so much on Leinster’s latest outing so this brilliant win by the Irish women was just the ticket and we also got a special report from Tom Coleman who was there in Belfast to witness it all.

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“SVNS” UPDATE

It’s the final leg of the “regular season” in Singapore this weekend, then the top 8 move on to the playoffs in Madrid at the end of the month.  Ireland seem to be comfortably through in both genders though obviously it won’t hurt to have a decent showing this weekend.  As ever you can watch back all the action via RugbyPass TV even if you miss the kickoffs at unseemly hours.

NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND

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Under the new model, HSBC SVNS 2024 features seven regular season events plus a Grand Final. The top eight placed teams based on cumulative series points at the conclusion of the seventh round in Singapore will secure their opportunity to compete in the new ‘winner takes all’ Grand Final in Madrid, where the women’s and men’s HSBC SVNS 2024 champions will be crowned.

Madrid will also play host to the high stakes relegation play-off competition where teams ranked ninth to 12th will join the top four teams from the World Rugby Sevens Challenger, with the top four placed teams securing their place on HSBC SVNS 2025.

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NEXT IN THE SERIES…

6:37AM – MEN V FIJI

MADRID (FINALS) MAY 31-JUN 2

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🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE

Standout scoreline has to be Clérmont’s hammering of league leaders Stade Français, even when you allow for the fact that Stade would have one eye on the trip to Toulouse in the next round, it still shows that ASM really seem to be turning things around and might be favourites for the Challenge Cup.  Toulouse for their part both closed the gap at the top and opened one up between them and 3rd as they dispatched Racing while La Rochelle kept themselves in the barrage picture with a win over Toulon, although they’ve Bordeaux away next.  Montpellier’s defeat at home to USAP certainly won’t ease they’re relegation worries.

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PREMIERSHIP UPDATE

I don’t see anyone in the English media complaining about Northampton resting their players over the past couple of weeks ahead of their trip to Croker?  Funny that.  Anyway defeat to Quins at Twickenham didn’t knock them off the top although overall the top four slots are still all to play for in the final four rounds with seven still in the hunt, with Exeter v Quins arguably the biggest 10-pointer in the next round.

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AIL UPDATE 

Not a bad weekend for Munster Rugby all round, province makes it 10 points out of 10 on a RSA swing, then their clubs sweep all the decisive contests with Garryowen earning the right to join St Mary’s in Div 1A in the men’s, Cork Con defying cards of all colours to take Terenure’s AIL men’s crown, while UL Bohs deservedly won the women’s title although again I’ll question the wisdom of having their decider on the same weekend as the Six Nations.  

#SupportYourLocalClub

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SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC UPDATE

As disastrous a season as Crusaders have been having by their standards, would anyone even consider ruling them out of winning another title, even before their whitewashing of the Rebels?  Meanwhile the Hurricanes fell to their first loss of the season which makes the top of the table interesting for sure given the Blues edged out the Reds in a high scoring Brisbane thriller.

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JAPAN LEAGUE ONE UPDATE

Only one round left before the playoffs, and although we know what the top four is going to be, there is an interesting match in Round 16 – if Canon Eagles can manage to beat the 100% Wild Knights they could actually avoid them in the semifinals.  One interesting feature of this league is the fact that as many as three teams get relegated and those positions seem to have been decided with one game to go.

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ROUND 16

SAT MAY 4

HONDA HEAT V KOBE STEEL

CANON EAGLES V WILD KNIGHTS

SUN MAY 5

SUNTORY V SPEARS KUBOTA

KINTETSU LINERS V MITSUBISHI

SHIZUOKA V BRAVE LUPUS

BLACK RAMS V TOYOTA VERBLITZ

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MAJOR LEAGUE RUGBY UPDATE

My adopted team for this season the Chicago Hounds, who have Dave Kearney, Nick McCarthy, Conall Boomer & Luke Carty in their ranks, had the week off and remain second in the East although their biggest test of the season will come on Sunday when they travel to the Free Jacks.  Much like last season Houston and Seattle are going neck and neck at the top of the West.

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CHALLENGE CUP UPDATE

One South African team, one French, one Premiership, and one Italian.  Very very interesting set up for this competition and you could see any of them doing it.  And ironically the only team still in contention for domestic playoffs is the Italian team!  

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HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE

If I wasn’t too keen on harpin’ on Leinster’s URC outing last weekend, I definitely don’t want to dwell too much on my URC predictions.  Wasn’t too long since I was comfortably in front but as you can see it doesn’t take much to catch up and a wooden spoon in round 15 has knocked me down to 3rd, anxiously looking over my shoulder too.

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NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Countdown to Croker time here at Harpin’ Manor.  Usual coverage to come, preview on Friday, wrap pod recording Sunday, social media comments throughout.  Do keep in touch and throw in your two cents when you can.

And as ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are.  JLP

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On this week’s column…

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FRONT FIVE

A selection of five eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the ruggersphere, now including a few thoughts added by myself (JLP).

It’s believed that Munster and Ulster are showing interest but Leinster are keen to retain Boyle, who they regard as a big prospect

Milne and Boyle set to stay but several Leinster men joining other provinces

Murray Kinsella – The42.ie

JLP : Finally we see some flesh put on the bones of all the rumours that have been rattling around the ruggersphere for the past while – even the most dyed in the wool Leinster fan would have to admit we can’t hold on to all of our talent indefinitely so there are bound to be players moving on.  That said, we should be able to keep the top players we produce ourselves (within reason) and if Milne and Boyle do stay that would be a decent outcome for sure.  

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“I’m not French, I’m trying to prove myself and put my name into the debate.”

Ireland legend Ronan O’Gara could be the next France boss

Ruck.co.uk

JLP : Is the headline being sensationalist?  Of course it is.  I mean, I ‘could’ also be the next French boss, so could Donald Trump.  But still even with Fabien Galthie seeming to have used up all his 2022 Grand Slam goodwill, I have to admit I never thought too much about ROG getting the job and the more I think of it the more it makes sense, although that may put a certain faction of Munster supporters into something of a quandary when they play Ireland…

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Saracens are one of several sides keen to know exactly how many of their squad will be offered deals and precisely how the new system will operate.

English clubs urge RFU to speed up enhanced hybrid contract plans

Robert Kitson – The Guardian

JLP : “Hybrid contracts” you say?  What an interesting concept.  Maybe we could try something like that here in Ireland, though we’d have to change the name otherwise it might look like we were copying the RFU…maybe we could say, “Central” instead?  Funny how they’re looking to introduce just as we’re debating the notion of giving them an overhaul.

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Kitshoff only arrived at Ulster in November on what was meant to be a three-year deal

Steven Kitshoff’s season over while James Hume facing long layoff for Ulster

RTÉ.ie

JLP : On the latest wrap pod we mentioned how sometimes these NIQ signings don’t work out, with possible Steven Sykes’ 4-cap stint being among the most memorable for being the least memorable at Leinster.   It’s probably better off for all involved he goes home early but it does leave Ulster with something of a dilemma in his position – and with him now unavailable for the rest of the season, plus James Hume also on the sidelines for now anyway, they just don’t seem to have any luck whatsoever on the personnel front.

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The final is scheduled to take place at 2.45pm at the North London venue, and with the FA Cup final set for a 3pm kick-off just 12 miles away at Wembley,

Champions Cup And FA Cup Final Clash Could Spell Chaos For Leinster Fans

James Fenton – Balls.ie

JLP : Another case of the word “could” doing a lot of heavy lifting in a headline, although in this case it’s a good thing because at least it allows for the small matter of a semifinal to take place before it affects Leinster fans.  On the broader subject of the clash, I mean, who could have possibly foreseen that having the two matches in the same city on the same day at practically the same time could cause an issue?  Besides pretty much everybody, of course…

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WRAP OF A WRAP

Many thanks as ever to Conor & Rich for helping me with the latest pod, obviously this wasn’t exactly a match we looked forward to wrapping and I assumed not many regular listeners would be took keen to hear us harp on it so we cut back the actual wrap time and looked forward to the URC’s remaining rounds as well.

I put that run-in segment on the YouTube channel, which has been doing pretty well  on the numbers front I have to say – we recently passed 300 subscribers and the vids are starting to regularly hit 1000 views which may not be much for the more seasoned channels but considering it’s not our primary platform, isn’t too bad and here at Harpin Towers we’re happy enough (for now – don’t let that stop you subscribing and viewing yourself if you haven’t already!!!)

If you missed the wrap pod, here’s a link for Spotify but it’s also available on Apple and other platforms, please subscribe there too and/or leave a review if you can.

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QUICK TAP : NEXT-LEVEL REF-SHAMING

At the end of my latest Quick Tap vid I promise to explain in more detail my reasons for my personal decisions on those tries so here goes…

I’m actually going to do the second one first because it’s a lot easier…I see it as a knock on, simple as.  Just because we see it go the other direction in the video doesn’t mean Carré didn’t knock it on first, and I reckon he did.  Call me biased because it favours the Irish team all you want, this is how I saw it.

As for the Izuchukwu tackle it’s way tricker.  Amazing try saving tackle?  Definitely.  Does he mean to kick it?  For me, no, and here is where most of the disagreement seems to be, but I see it as a natural motion that resulted from his trying to pull the Cardiff player back.  HOWEVER because that area of intent is so subjective I reckon it brings our decision to an almost perfect 50/50 call.  That my seem like a cop out but I actually believe that in all sports whenever you’re not sure which way to lean it should always be in the direction that awards the score, like in baseball where they have the phrase “tie goes to the runner” – that’s not an official rule, but IMO it’s a good overall principle for officials.

Told you it was complicated!!!  Any many of these rulings are, which is exactly why we should debate them without making it personal about the officials.

@harpinonrugby

Our 80+ column posts every Wednesday at harpinonrugby.com #rugbytiktok

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

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LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE

Fingers, toes and eyes crossed that Messrs Ringrose, Keenan & J O’Brien get back in contention for May but when it comes to Cape Town I reckon we’ll be looking at something close to what we saw in Jo’burg with maybe a few starters and subs swapping roles.

NB : the above matchday 23s are completely from my own mind, I’m certainly not suggesting I have any ITK a la Thornley

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RUCKTHIS.IE

Shout out to Peter Burke & co for their relatively new venture RuckThis.ie do check it out and also their live show every Wednesday evening, I plan to be a guest on it next week and he has agreed to appear on one of our wrap pods soon too.

Home

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WOMEN’S SIX NATIONS 

Hard scoreline to take at Twickers but two very very very VERY different women's programs. They are where we would hope to be one day, but a long long way to go and we need to bring that display v Wales forward. #GuinnessW6N #ENGvIRE

— Harpin' On Rugby (@HarpinOnRugby) April 20, 2024

Not much I can add to my tweet after the full time whistle blew at Twickers although apart from the online morons who probably have never seen a game of women’s rugby yet still see fit to chime in with things like “they just have to play better”, the consensus opinion seems to be that the other unions need to find a way to bring their standards much closer to those of England and France otherwise these scorelines will continue.  Brian Moore had a good article (behind paywall) about this as did Sarah Rendell in Rugby World. Here’s hoping Ireland can get a result this Saturday.

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AUTUMN NATIONS SERIES

Two Friday night fixtures less than ideal but overall the prospect of us playing all four Rugby Championship nations before the year is out has to be good for our post-RWC2023 group.  It’s also good to see Georgia and Portugal involved although it could be more.  It ALWAYS could be more.

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URC IRISH SHIELD UPDATE

It took the URC a while to feature the latest Shield tables on their website but better late than never.  That one-point win for Ulster at the RDS has left the race wide open with it very possible that it could boil down to their trip to Thomond Park on the final day of the regular season.

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“SVNS” UPDATE

The Singapore 7s, which will decide the final placings before the grand finale in Madrid (although Ireland seem good in both genders), don’t take place until next weekend but the draw for the pools has been made and you can see the fixtures below.  Funny how the men play one minute later on Saturday than they do Friday….

NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND

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Under the new model, HSBC SVNS 2024 features seven regular season events plus a Grand Final. The top eight placed teams based on cumulative series points at the conclusion of the seventh round in Singapore will secure their opportunity to compete in the new ‘winner takes all’ Grand Final in Madrid, where the women’s and men’s HSBC SVNS 2024 champions will be crowned.

Madrid will also play host to the high stakes relegation play-off competition where teams ranked ninth to 12th will join the top four teams from the World Rugby Sevens Challenger, with the top four placed teams securing their place on HSBC SVNS 2025.

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NEXT IN THE SERIES…

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🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE

Toulon pipping Toulouse by a point has put some daylight between Stade Français and the rest of the 🔝🐱🐴 while ROG also fell short but a point leaving La Rochelle teetering on the edge of the playoff places.  Down at the bottom Montpellier fell again leaving them as favourites to have to playoff for their survival.  Toulouse v Racing seems to be the pick of round 22.

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PREMIERSHIP UPDATE

Let’s be honest – all Leinster eyes are on Northampton now, and although they rested a few regulars they still put their auld enemy Leicester away pretty handily.  Interesting how they face their fellow Prem CC-semifinalist Quins in the next round, although the home side need the points a lot more so I wouldn’t read too much into a lopsided score there.

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AIL UPDATE 

Up until today Wednesday I found it extremely difficult to get any information on the time and date of the Women’s AIL final.  In fact, I have been following the league all season and it wasn’t until the round robin was over that I even knew there wasn’t a top four playoff!  Just the top 2 straight into the final it seems, with UL Bohs facing off against Railway Union in the decider this Sunday, a unique double- header with Terenure and Cork Con squaring off for the men’s crown.  And if that’s not enough consequential Leinster v Munster battles for you, then how about Garryowen v Old Belvedere for the right to join St Mary’s in Division 1A next season?  Lot’s of good club rugby this weekend.

#SupportYourLocalClub

WOMEN’S AIL

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MEN’S AIL 1A

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SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC UPDATE

The Crusaders fell yet again so we’re way past calling this a blip as they sit rock bottom of the standings.  So I guess from here until the end of the season it makes more sense for this Leinster fan to be focusing more on the Hurricanes at the top of the table!  Especially with Jordie Barrett in top form chipping in with a try and a conversion in their latest win.  Tricky visit to Canberra for them next, might be worth a watch.

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JAPAN LEAGUE ONE UPDATE

About time I featured League One in this column – obviously with the “Leinster-centric-ness” of my general harpin’ I don’t have a lot of time to follow this league although I am fascinated by it in many ways.  A lot of money has gone it to attract some really big names and it seems in some places it really, really works while in others, well, it really really doesn’t.  

Take the match in Round 14 between Toyota Verblits, who had a 7-8-9-10 combo of Himeno, PSDT, A Smith & B Barrett, and Saitama Wild Knights, who have Lood de Jager and Damien de Allende among the recognisable names.  Without looking at the league table you certainly wouldn’t imagine a 40-7 scoreline in favour of the visitors would you?  The top 4 seems pretty much set with two rounds to go although there is an interesting 2nd v 3rd battle this weekend.

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MAJOR LEAGUE RUGBY UPDATE

Chicago’s winning run continued as they put away Los Angeles in Round 8, with Luke Carty having replaced Dave Kearney at fullback, Conall Boomer starting at 8 and Nick McCarthy coming off the bench.  They get a break in the next round as New England and Seattle are the conference leaders.

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HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE

As usual I got a bit cocky as I regained top spot in the HPL after Friday’s results and bragged about it in the WhatsApp group only to see Kino come storming back on the Saturday to actually increase his overall lead at the top from the previous round.  I certainly can’t afford to let him get too far ahead.

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NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Stormers up next for Leinster, usual preview on Friday, plus don’t forget our rugby slot on Dubin South 93.9FM after the 5 o’clock news then we’ll have our wrap pod on Sunday evening.  Please be sure to follow, comments, like, share and subscribe as much as you can across our social media platforms.

And as ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are.  JLP

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On this week’s column…

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FRONT FIVE

A selection of five eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the ruggersphere, now including a few thoughts added by myself (JLP).

…the IRFU are undertaking a review of their contractual system, which will be completed before Humphreys takes over from Nucifora.

Blue bloods: IRFU ‘national’ contract system will continue to load the dice in Leinster’s favour

Gerry Thornley – Irish Times

JLP : Massive news dump in Leinster/Ireland news since the weekend, so much so that two stories broke after our “emergency pod” you’ll see further down the column.  Part of me thinks making all those announcements together was a bad idea from a PR standpoint, especially days after a weekend where Leinster became the only team left in European competition.  But then again the whole idea of a “news dump” is to concentrate all the supposedly negative info into one news cycle so maybe this is what happened, we’ll never know for sure.

On the subject of central contracts, of course 10 for Leinster and just 1 each for the other three provinces is not the best look.  But would making it an even 3 each or something like that be an answer based on where the talent is?  

All I’m saying is that it’s not straight-forward.  Yes, it’s part of the IRFU’s remit to oversee rugby in all four provinces, but when it comes to central contracts we have to remember what they are for, namely keeping our best players within the Irish system.  I can’t see a way of building a need for parity across the provinces into the process, especially when we have absolutely no control over the offers coming in from abroad.   Maybe as long as they are coming in for Leinster players, they are the ones we should be looking to hold onto for now.  Plus, as I say on the emergency pod, it’s not like the test team is doing badly, World Cup QF aside.  

Obviously none of that means I think the system is perfect, it’s just who else is going to push back on the over-simplistic “Leinster get everything while the other provinces get nothing” narrative we hear.  There are areas where the ratios should be closer to 1 for 1 across the provinces.  But there are others where they can’t help but be skewed more towards the balance of the so-called “demographic” differences.  And finding the right levels is never going to be easy.

It seems to be a majority opinion that David Nucifora’s tenure as the puppet-master across the sport in Ireland was one which failed to find those correct levels, particularly when you factor in the women’s game (also club level for both genders) into the equation.  If there is any “mitigation” it could be that it was a job that nobody had ever tried before, although it’s not like he didn’t have enough time to fix any errors as he went along.

Our only hope is that his successor David Humphreys can learn from those mistakes and find approaches that at least come a bit closer to pleasing everyone in the game here.  I feel like there’s an opportunity that comes with this changing of the guard, one that if done the right way can build on the many successes the men have achieved to make it a sport for absolutely everyone, a trick I always felt was tragically missed by the FAI after the accomplishments of the Irish teams in the early 90s.

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Since retiring, the former New Zealand Under-20 captain has been part of the…coaching team…(of) The Hurricanes (who) are currently first on the Super Rugby table…

Another Kiwi joins Leinster set-up

Rugby365.com

JLP : Another announcement that missed the cut for our extra pod – as much as we’ll miss Andrew Goodman there’s definitely no harm getting someone over from the brains trust of the top team in Super Rugby right now.

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To date the leagues have not agreed to EPCR’s request but there remains hope that change could still be introduced next season

Champions Cup overhaul planned after damaging defeat of weakened Bulls

Gerard Meagher – The Guardian

JLP : We can’t have a Champions Cup weekend come and go without more talk about formats, which is fair enough but like I always say, if the league can agree on going back to two more weeks for the pool stages that might be an improvement on what we have at the moment, but for me it definitely won’t fix the tournament’s biggest problem, namely that the matches are peppered out throughout the season forcing coaches to prioritise between playing in this year’s comp and qualifying for next year’s, which will always lead to selection like Jake White’s last weekend.

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The Irish Rugby Football Union has elected to use the funds to host additional women’s U18 and U20 camps and training matches to accelerate player development

Women’s Lions sponsors will provide funding to avoid imbalance

The Rugby Paper

JLP : We often harp on negative things to do with women’s rugby so I suppose it’s only fair to mention good news, obviously we’ll have to see if this investment is sufficient to increase our player pool but at least it is good to see that money generated from a women’s team is going directly to the lower levels, with the caveat that there is much more still to be done of course, especially with the clubs.

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“It is not to cast aspersions on anyone, but the last time they played an away game, their boots had wooden studs.”

Stephen Jones Incandescent Over Leinster Hosting Semifinal at Croke Park

Joshua Bell Curran – Balls.ie

JLP : Ireland is small and doesn’t have a lot of big stadia.  If we can sell out the Aviva Stadium and that’s not available for a given weekend, then we have to look at Croker.  It’s as simple as that, and what’s sad about this is that SJ knows this full well, he’s just feeding into that ridiculous and inaccurate “neutral venue” spiel that’s going around.

But looking at this article another way, if Leinster/Ireland success is somehow making him “incandescent”, then I take that as more success.

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WRAP OF A WRAP

Normally I try to keep the wrap pods under an hour but for this match/performance I reckon it was ok to make an exception.  Tom & Mark earned the right to be the guests as they bravely stepped up to the plate after that Final Of Which We Much Never Speak last May, and they did their usual bang up job.

If you missed the wrap pod, here’s a link for Spotify but it’s also available on Apple and other platforms, please subscribe and/or leave a review if you can.

For a taste of the pod here’s a YouTube clip featuring their analysis of the “championship minutes” from the match.

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QUICK TAP “EMERGENCY POD”

Normally I do a “Quick Tap”, aka a solo TikTok video, for this column but at the request of Keego and Kino, I instead set up an “emergency pod” recording on Tuesday to try and go over all the news that broke on the Monday…the Ross Molony news broke after I had set the whole thing up but still made the cut, while the Bleyendaal, JGP & Bank of Ireland sponsorship didn’t but I’ll touch on them in this column.  BTW I know we already did a full pod on the La Rochelle win but we hadn’t heard from these two yet so let’s just say we didn’t mind going over it once last time…

Topics were

1. La Rochelle win
2. Croke Park
3. Dan Sheehan
4. Jodie Barrett
5. Ross Molony
6. Demographics?

I also put out a sample from the pod on YouTube, covering topics 3, 4 & 5…

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LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE

Always tricky trying to anticipate who we plan to send to South Africa but I had a stab at Saturday’s 23 anyway.  I reckon whether Ross B will be available to play against  Northampton or not we should probably bring Harry anyway for some game time but as ever I should point out it’s with good reason that it’s not my decision to make!!!

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NB : the above matchday 23s are completely from my own mind, I’m certainly not suggesting I have any ITK a la Thornley

WOMEN’S SIX NATIONS 

Here’s what I said on the wrap pod…

“…the incredible Irish women who recorded their first Six Nations win in two years with a convincing 36-5 victory over Wales at Musgrave park with tries from Higgins, Parsons, Jones, Corrigan & player of the match Aoife Wafer.  The victory has actually moved Ireland up to 3rd on the table and although that could change after facing the all conquering English Red Roses next, we can definitely look at our final match against Scotland in Belfast with more confidence.  Any for now, many congrats to all involved.”

Obviously the task against England is daunting to say the very, very least but what this convincing win over Wales has done is give us the confidence to look beyond to that final match with Scotland and the way the fixtures play out, 4th spot or possibly even 3rd are within our grasp which is an amazing position to be in.

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THE LAZY ABL NARRATIVE

I really don’t like harpin’ on this too much but still I have to give a hat-tip to contributor Kristian Ross for bringing this TikTok to my attention.  I have spoken and written much bout what I call the ABL narrative and it has been trotted out much over the past couple of days in written social media posts, but this….well, if this guy was looking to audition to be the face and voice of ABL then congrats mate, you have it.

Putting aside the neutral venue misinformation I already mentioned further up the article wrt Stephen Jones, I never thought it would be humanly possible to fit more worn out tropes into one clip, but these lads managed it, including going to that picture of two “typical Leinster fans” which has to be at least 10 years old by now.  For obvious reasons I won’t embed the thing on this page but if you want to check it out it’s here.

"All Leinster fans are saying this"

"All Munster fans are saying that"

Blah blah blah.

Boring AF.

— Harpin' On Rugby (@HarpinOnRugby) April 13, 2024

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🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE

Only two French teams left in Europe, Toulouse who have to be well placed for a double and Clérmont, who I thought might be more focused on their relegation battle but instead put Ulster to the sword at the Michelin.  Toulon v Toulouse looks like the pick of the bunch although it will be interesting to see how La Rochelle pick themselves up again as they must travel to Castres.

I also must hold my hand up and say I got a fact wrong the preview pod & radio slot, I was sure Clérmont played La Rochelle in this round, and, well, they’re not.  Apologies.

NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND

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PREMIERSHIP UPDATE

All Leinster eyes will be on Franklin’s Gardens as our Croker opponents Northampton might be top but certainly can’t afford to slip up in their derby against Leicester.  Bath v Exeter also catches the eye as both look to bounce back from Euro disappointment as well as stay in top 4 contention.

NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND

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AIL UPDATE 

UL Bohs just about held on to top spot in the Women’s AIL by beating Belvo as Railway Union won at Rock, at the time of writing I can’t seem to find details on their semifinals yet but the men’s definitely take place this weekend with both apparently being live-streamed, check out our Rugby On TV post on Thursday for details.

#SupportYourLocalClub

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SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC UPDATE

Last week I pointed out that Tahs v Saders would be the match of the round, and boy I wasn’t wrong.  Apparently the lead changed hands a dozen times and a last minute penalty put it into “golden point” extra time with Will Harrison nailing the game-winning drop goal to keep the Crusaders in danger of missing the playoffs, surely the unthinkable.  They go to Perth next, with the unbeaten Hurricanes playing the Drua.  Kudos to Moana btw for their 3rd win of the season (could be wrong but I don’t think they’ve done that before), this one over the Reds.

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MAJOR LEAGUE RUGBY UPDATE

Dave Kearney lined out at full back for Chicago Hounds as they got their second win in a row against the expansion side Anthem RC from Charlotte, North Carolina, and should fancy their chances for another W next week as they play the other new team, namely the reinvented Giltinis who are now just called “Rugby FC Los Angeles”.  Meanwhile New England & Seattle lead the conferences and guess what – they meet each other next.

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CHALLENGE CUP UPDATE

I really thought we’d get at least one from Ulster & Connacht through to the final four but it was not to be.  The remainder of the comp will take place in England since the semifinals cannot be in SA so the Sharks will host Clérmont at Twickenham Stoop.

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HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE

The URC resumes this weekend which means so does the HPL and I have to regain my top spot somehow….meanwhile Keego has all but conceded the Jersey of Shame will be his for another year…

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NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Hopefully that’s the last I’ll have to harp on the ABL narrative for a while although I may have to stay off social media to make sure, anyway, the SA tour is next on our radar with the Lions up for Leinster next in Jo’burg.   Don’t forget our slot after the 5 o’clock news on Dublin South 93.9 radio this Friday, we’ll also post our own preview that afternoon with a wrap pod to come on Sunday.

As ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are.  JLP