JLP : As much as I’d love to dive head first into the social media meleé over the past few days over this, I chose instead to harp on the wider topic in this week’s Quick Tap column which you’ll find further down the column.
Since the redevelopment of Thomond Park in 2008, Munster have hosted international opposition in the form of New Zealand, Australia, and the Māori All Blacks at the Limerick venue.
JLP : Now I know I said I’ve tried to stay out of Frischgate, but let’s just say this Tuesday morning story kind of pokes a hole in all the “Munster get nothing” narrative.
The Wallabies, two-time World Cup champions, now occupy 10th, meaning bragging rights in the Lynagh family reside firmly with Louis…
JLP : Bad form of course, but also very in sync with all that sadly ails Welsh rugby right now. I wonder if Warren got wind that Gabby had borrowed Sinead Kissane’s notes from her famous interview with Eddie O’Sullivan in 2007…
“I honestly believe that Borthwick’s players had read my pre-match column”
JLP : Only one comment required…HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Note – views expressed in “Front Five” links do not necessarily reflect those of HarpinOnRugby
WRAP OF A WRAP
Many thanks to Pádrag for contributing on the wrap this week, it was only the second one dealing with an Irish defeat but I reckon we managed our way through it well enough all things considered.
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.
FOUR PROUD PROVINCES
This might come across a bit “kumbaya” but still I think it needs saying once in a while, not that it’s going to stop the rage even a bit of course…
Wait. La Rochelle are 3rd? With a record of 9 wins, 9 losses?
THIRD??????????????????
We all know the home team tends to win in the 🔝🐱🐴 more often than most but these numbers are ridiculous IMO. 11 of the 14 clubs have a win-loss differential of ±2 or less! I mean it’s great when it comes to drama and with just 8 rounds to go there’s a whole lot that can change, but it’s still nuts.
One thing is for sure, whatever about how close things might be, Racing badly needed that win over Toulon on Sunday night, they were getting close to freefall, although their trip to Castres in the next round will be far from easy. Bordeaux v Toulouse on the Sunday seems to be tie of the round.
Round 18
LA ROCHELLE 23-3 STADE FRANÇAIS
CLÉRMONT 15-15 OYONNAX
LYON 34-19 CASTRES
MONTPELLIER 10-3 BORDEAUX
PAU 42-40 BAYONNE
PERPIGNAN 27-17 TOULOUSE
RACING 20-6 TOULON
Round 19
SAT MAR 23
TOULON V MONTPELLIER
OYONNAX V PERPIGNAN
CASTRES V RACING 92
CLÉRMONT V PAU
STADE FRANÇAIS V LYON
BAYONNE V LA ROCHELLE
SUN MAR 24
BORDEAUX V TOULOUSE
AIL UPDATE
UL Bohs go marching on, with their narrow win against Rock keeping their 100% record intact although the top four stays the same and they all avoid each other next week.
Men’s comp won’t be back until the following weekend.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S AIL
Round 14
BLACKROCK 15-17 UL BOHS
OLD BELVEDERE 72-12 GALWEGIANS
SUTTONIANS 24-3 COOKE
BALLINCOLLIG 10-63 RAILWAY UNION
Round 15
THU MAR 14
BLACKROCK V SUTTONIANS
FRI MAR 15
RAILWAY UNION V WICKLOW
SAT MAR 16
COOKE V OLD BELVEDERE
TUE MAR 19
UL BOHS V BALLINCOLLIG
MEN’S AIL
NO FIXTURES LAST WEEKEND
ROUND 16
SAT MAR 23
BALLYNAHINCH V LANSDOWNE
CITY OF ARMAGH V SHANNON
CORK CON V TERENURE
UCD V CLONTARF
YOUNG MUNSTER V TRINITY
SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC UPDATE
Do we need to talk about the Crusaders? Nah – they’ll be fine, especially with 8 of Super rugby’s 12 making the knockouts you’d still be mad to write them off. How bout instead we talk about their latest conquerors the Fijian Drua, what an amazing result for the game there and indeed the comp. After Sevu Reece opened the scoring they responded with two converted tries and two penalties to move them up the ladder.
Tie of Round 4 is easy to spot, Crusaders hosting the 100% Hurricanes.
ROUND 3
MOANA PASIFIKA 23-29 REBELS
WARATAHS 21-23 HIGHLANDERS
FIJIAN DRUA 20-10 CRUSADERS
BRUMBIES 22-19 WESTERN FORCE
HURRICANES 29-21 BLUES
REDS 25-19 CHIEFS
ROUND 4
FRI MAR 15
CRUSADERS V HURRICANES
REBELS V REDS
WESTERN FORCE V MOANA PASIFIKA
SAT MAR 16
HIGHLANDERS V BRUMBIES
CHIEFS V FIJIAN DRUA
WARATAHS V BLUES
MAJOR LEAGUE RUGBY UPDATE
No sign of Dave Kearney in Chicago’s lineups just yet, though Nick McCarthy has been starting as they fell to Utah. NOLA (which in case you didn’t know stands for New Orleans, Louisiana), Houston and Seattle are the only two with 100% records after 2 rounds.
Round 2
NEW ENGLAND 34-35 OLD GLORY
NOLA 34-19 ANTHEM RC
UTAH 29-15 CHICAGO
SEATTLE 29-15 MIAMI
DALLAS 23-30 SAN DIEGO
LOS ANGELES 12-27 HOUSTON
Round 3
SAT MAR 16
NEW ENGLAND V NOLA GOLD
OLD GLORY V CHICAGO
SUN MAR 17
HOUSTON V MIAMI
UTAH V SEATTLE
SAN DIEGO V LOS ANGELES
ANTHEM RC V DALLAS
RUGBY EUROPE CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE
Portugal can count themselves lucky to make the final and I will be very surprised if they manage to overturn the Lelos but we’ve seen bigger surprises than that in recent times so it should be a final worth watching on RugbyEurope.tv
FINAL
SUN MAR 17
GEORGIA V PORTUGAL
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
That’s it for this week, now it’s time to gear up for Paddy’s Weekend/Super Saturday, we will of course be focusing on the Championship/Triple Crown decider with a preview on Friday and a wrap pod recording Sunday evening.
Finally, as ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
JLP : I don’t normally put these Front Five articles in any particular order, but still this one had to be first this week. Two weeks can be an age in modern day media at the best of times, but when England have just failed to Scotland and have to wait before an even more daunting task in the next round even if it is at Twickenham, I’m not so sure that publications will get a whole lotta clicks if they fill their news cycles and column inches with doom and gloom for the duration. So in a way I get why the English media might be tempted to think “outside the box” for narratives but in some cases, especially Oliver Brown’s if we’re being honest, I’m not sure there ever actually WAS a box. Sam does a brilliant job here of calling them out.
…the men’s and women’s sevens (are) to be played at the Stade de France from Wednesday 24 July 2024 to Tuesday 30 July
JLP : More on the Sevens below but it’s hard for an Irish fan to avoid being even a little bit begrudging when your side has been eliminated for two tournaments in a row by someone I’m calling “Le Ringer” at least until the IRFU decides whether or not to use provincial players for the Olympics (and I hope we don’t FWIW).
“I knew there was interest from over there, but I was never going to go.”
JLP : I’d say at this stage that it’s almost a non-story when we hear someone on the fringes of a successful test side attracts interest from another nation for which he is qualified. But in Frawley’s case it’s still newsworthy as his future has been the focus of much speculation over the past year or so.
…the…double header (will) be played at Aviva Stadium, on Sunday 28, April. Both games will be broadcast live on TG4
JLP : Club rugby, particularly on the women’s side, is in serious need of a rethink, so while any kind of innovation to do with coverage is good news, hopefully it won’t end up papering over the cracks and that much more work will be done in the near future. More on the AIL and who is likely to feature in those finals in the Updates section below.
“…we are on the same field so if you could show me the same respect that I show you, that would be very much appreciated.”
Note – views expressed in “Front Five” links do not necessarily reflect those of HarpinOnRugby
WRAP OF A WRAP
Many thanks to Conor & Ciarán for contributing on the wrap, I have decided to shelve the “Bonus Clip” feature for the next while which makes for a much more manageable recording and editing time, obviously. I would like to encourage the lads to harp on more non-Leinster & Ireland topics but I’ll just have to find another way of doing it, possibly with more regular midweek bonus pods.
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.
THANK YOU ROSS
I have rebranded the TikTok videos as “Quick Taps” but in actual fact they have been getting longer as I try to say all I want to in the copy, however in this case I think it’s ok because the news of Ross Molony leaving at the end of the season left me with much to say. His career has been a perfect example of how it’s possible to establish a decent reputation in the sport without actually playing at the highest level.
Many try to compare rugby to the American football but in many many ways they are chalk and cheese, not least because rugby has the international element. The NFL is basically the highest level you can play at in the sport (unless you distinguish between regular season and playoffs) so basically if you are one of the best 30 or so players in the sport, chances are you will be a starter for one of the franchises.
That just cannot happen in rugby. It’s not inconceivable for the second best outhalf on the planet to get only a handful of test caps simply because the best one plays for the same nation. And apart from tweaking residency laws there’s no way to fix that, nor should there be btw.
Anyway, many, many thanks, Ross and I hope Leinster fans join me in giving you a proper send off.
Technically the Women’s side improved on their 9th in Vancouver by finishing 8th in LA but having won in Perth we would have expected a lot more from the past couple of weeks, although the Aussies were clearly lying in wait for us in that first pool match having beaten them on their home turf.
Over in the men’s it was a case of double redemption because after losing to Spain and runaway series leaders Argentina in the pool phase, we overturned them both in the knockouts. However…in between those bouts of revenge there was the small matter of facing Antoine “Le Ringer” Duponte in the semifinals on Sunday evening Irish time, and you could definitely make a case that he proved the difference.
From my limited knowledge of this code I thought perhaps Terry Kennedy could have made an effort to make the conversion of his after-buzzer try a little easier for Billy Dardis but still, the win over Spain gave us another bronze finish to both keep us in 2nd position on the series table and draw us that little bit closer to Argentina.
There’s a break for a few weeks until the circus moves to Hong Kong.
LOS ANGELES 7S
IRELAND WOMEN
POOL STAGE
0-31 V AUS
5-21 V FRA
26-12 V JPN
QUARTERFINAL
12-36 V NZL
7TH PLACE
14-28 V BRZ
IRELAND MEN
POOL STAGE
17-0 V RSA
14-19 V ESP
26-14 V ARG
QUARTERFINAL
24-12 V ARG
SEMIFINAL
24-26 V FRA
3RD PLACE PLAYOFF
24-7 V ESP
NEXT IN THE SERIES…
HONG KONG APR 5-7
SINGAPORE MAY 3-5
MADRID MAY 31-JUN 2
🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE
Even more daylight now between Stade Français, Toulouse and the rest of the league making them likely candidates for home semifinals. But again for me the headline makers have to be Racing after defeat in Bordeax means they have now lost more than they won although they are holding on to a top six spot by their fingernails. On Sunday evening La Rochelle also badly needed a win and Clérmont duly obliged, although they will face a sterner test next weekend when the league leaders come to visit. Why should the small matter of a Six Nations round stand in the way of more 🔝🐱🐴 fixtures eh?
Round 17
TOULOUSE 33-6 CASTRES
BAYONNE 39-10 LYON
OYONNAX 35-39 MONTPELLIER
STADE FRANÇAIS 25-12 PAU
TOULON 44-22 PERPIGNAN
BORDEAUX 21-5 RACING 92
LA ROCHELLE 42-3 CLÉRMONT
Round 18
SAT MAR 9
LA ROCHELLE V STADE FRANÇAIS
CLÉRMONT V OYONNAX
LYON V CASTRES
MONTPELLIER V BORDEAUX
PAU V BAYONNE
PERPIGNAN V TOULOUSE
SUN MAR 10
RACING V TOULON
AIL UPDATE
I know I’m being picky here but the format of the Celtic Challenge is really weird. After a round robin portion it seems they split into top 3 and bottom 3 for the next three rounds so if that’s the case, you shouldn’t be able to finish lower than 3rd IMO, but anyway with the Wolfhounds already having clinched the title last week, the Clovers’ draw against Edinburgh in Llanelli (another oddity, surely they’d have had a better attendance if one team was at home) left them in 4th.
In the Women’s AIL there was actually a shock as a bottom 5 team actually defeated a top 4 one, a very rare occurrence so fair play to Galwegians who overcame Blackrock. Meanwhile UL Bohemians continue their 100% start and while their trip to Blackrock next weekend is tie of the round, I still assume their record ill continue.
Finally in the men’s 1A Cork Con scored a big win on the Aviva back pitch to stay in touch with Tarf at the top while Terenure crept into 3rd. Trinity’s win over City of Armagh made the relegation picture interesting with Shannon also in trouble with just three rounds to go. Cork Con v Terenure is easily the pick of the next round although the league will take a break for the next couple of weekends.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S CELTIC CHALLENGE
THIRD PLAYOFF ROUND
CLOVERS 12-12 EDINBURGH
BRYTHON THUNDER 30-5 GWALIA LIGHTNING
WOMEN’S AIL
Round 13
SUTTONIANS 12-39 OLD BELVEDERE
COOKE 7-28 UL BOHS
GALWEGIANS 14-10 BLACKROCK
WICKLOW 32-24 BALLINCOLLIG
Round 14
SAT MAR 9
BLACKROCK V UL BOHS
OLD BELVEDERE V GALWEGIANS
SUTTONIANS V COOKE
BALLINCOLLIG V RAILWAY UNION
MEN’S AIL
ROUND 15
CLONTARF 31-12 YOUNG MUNSTER
TRINITY 31-26 CITY OF ARMAGH
LANSDOWNE 19-25 CORK CON
SHANNON 20-14 BALLYNAHINCH
TERENURE 19-12 UCD
ROUND 16
SAT MAR 23
BALLYNAHINCH V LANSDOWNE
CITY OF ARMAGH V SHANNON
CORK CON V TERENURE
UCD V CLONTARF
YOUNG MUNSTER V TRINITY
SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC UPDATE
Don’t know why I haven’t updated this comp here before but better late than never. Round 2 was the “Super Round” and apparently what made it Super was the fact that all 6 matches were played at the AAMI Stadium in Melbourne. Perhaps the name “Help Out Rugby in Oz Round” would have been closer to the mark, if a little more clunky. Anyway the Waratah’s convincing win over the Crusaders was easily the result of the round, I wonder could they repeat the result if they meet each other again in the knockouts. Overall the round was full of very “Super Rugby looking” scorelines, with only the Brumbies failing to score at least 24pts.
Next week all eyes will no doubt be on the Tahs who host the Highlanders.
ROUND 1
REDS 40-22 WARATAHS
HIGHLANDERS 35-21 MOANA PASIFIKA
BLUES 34-10 FIJIAN DRUA
WESTERN FORCE 10-44 HURRICANES
REBELS 3-30 BRUMBIES
CHIEFS 33-29 CRUSADERS
ROUND 2
HIGHLANDERS 29-37 BLUES
REBELS 38-24 WESTERN FORCE
MOANA PASIFIKA 39-36 FIJIAN DRUA
CRUSADERS 24-37 WARATAHS
CHIEFS 46-12 BRUMBIES
HURRICANES 38-33 REDS
ROUND 3
FRI MAR 8
MOANA PASIFIKA V REBELS
WARATAHS V HIGHLANDERS
FIJIAN DRUA V CRUSADERS
SAT MAR 9
BRUMBIES V WESTERN FORCE
HURRICANES V BLUES
REDS V CHIEFS
MAJOR LEAGUE RUGBY UPDATE
Last season my adopted team was the New England Free Jacks but for the 2024 campaign I think I’ll switch my allegiance to the Chicago Hounds who have added Dave Kearney & Nick McCarthy to their ranks and had a decent away win to start the season.
Of course the 2023 season became a bit farcical with multiple clubs going to the wall but somehow they managed to scrape together another 12 teams this season with the LA Giltinis rebranding as Rugby LA (hallelujah) with new franchises in Miami & Charlotte (Anthem RC).
Round 1
NOLA 18-6 OLD GLORY
HOUSTON 22-15 UTAH
SEATTLE 25-19 SAN DIEGO
MIAMI 19-23 CHICAGO
ANTHEM RC 15-46 NEW ENGLAND
LOS ANGELES 29-32 DALLAS
Round 2
SAT MAR 9
NEW ENGLAND V OLD GLORY
NOLA V ANTHEM RC
UTAH V CHICAGO
SUN MAR 10
SEATTLE V MIAMI
DALLAS V SAN DIEGO
LOS ANGELES V HOUSTON
RUGBY EUROPE CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE
Last week I said “I will be very surprised if it isn’t a Georgia v Portugal final” and overall I wasn’t surprised but that said, Spain sure gave Os Lobos a run for their money. Georgia will of course be heavily favoured in the final on St Patrick’s Day.
SEMIFINALS
GEORGIA 43-5 ROMANIA
PORTUGAL 33-30 SPAIN
FINAL
SUN MAR 17
GEORGIA V PORTUGAL
HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE
I really was pulling too far ahead of the pack so I decided to let them catch up a bit in Round 11, with Kino taking the yellow cap, but from here on in it there will be No More Mr Nice Guy I assure you #ahem.
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
That’s it for another week, next we look to rounds 4 & 5 of the Six Nations with an England preview recording on Thursday eve followed by a wrap on Sunday. By all means do leave your thoughts on our Facebook page after the full time whistle it’s always great to get your opinions.
Finally, as ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
JLP : Obviously it’s awesome to see Garry is close to returning but those thoughts quickly turn to – who makes room for him? Bundee & Robbie are in a groove together now plus Stu hasn’t put a foot wrong either. There’s a case to be made for Ringrose to play on the wing and he would definitely be good there but that wouldn’t exactly be fair on Calvin Nash would it? Definitely comes under the heading of “good problems” for Andy & co.
2. “What changed?…I will only be able to understand that fully once we have talked to the players”
JLP : Ahead of the Calcutta Cup, I was genuinely concerned about our Round 4 trip to Twickenham, but I still held it back a bit until I saw how they got on at Murrayfield, and after an impressive start the way the Scots, or arguably DVDM, tore them down made me feel a whole lot better. Then I see Borthwick’s words afterwards which basically amount to responding to the question “what went wrong” with “damned if I know” then I feel better again. OBVIOUSLY, I’m taking nothing for granted – whatever goes before I fully expected England to be fully pumped to knock us over, I just feel better about their chances of doing it.
3. “It looked like it might have clipped it, but again the referee was well-positioned. The best to see it, really.”
JLP : Let’s just say this incident didn’t make our wrap pod! To be fair, I actually thought it was a try at that moment, but if some Welsh fans think this is the issue to be focusing on from the match, especially in the area of ‘referee injustice’ when they themselves somehow managed to keep 15 on the park from start to finish, then I say let them at it.
As you’ll see further down this column, we’d much rather focus on the fans who want to have a bit of craic after the match.
4. As the fly-half went to reset the ball on the tee, French players could be seen encroaching forward in an attempt to close down the shot.
JLP : I may have been glued to the telly as this kick was being taken, but I definitely missed this. I’m torn on this…it was such a critical moment of the match and the ball hitting the post caused so much controversy that it would have been a hell of a spot for the officials to call the movement. Has the TMO ever gotten involved for something like this? Perhaps they should. Possibly could have made a great and much deserved result (red card or no) for Italy even better.
5. “The 21-year-old Welshman has come up big for England here!”
JLP : Someone call the Clickbait Police! When I’m just scrolling through my aggregator in general, I tend to cross the road to avoid headlines like this, but for Front Five I will take the odd peek down the rabbit hole and see what’s going on. Obviously the “Irish person does something against English person” factor is being played up but I have to admire the irony in the subeditor’s outlandish use of the word “outlandish”. Look – overall I’m not crazy about emphasising nations of birth for test players, the qualification rules are what they are and the players are technically representing the union. I mean it’s not like Ireland doesn’t rely on players who qualified, but if anyone wants to say they’re not as much Irish rugby players as anyone else in the squad, well, we’re in a whole other area.
Note – views expressed in “Front Five” links do not necessarily reflect those of HarpinOnRugby
WRAP OF A WRAP
So there I was at my daughter’s match on Sunday morning when a text came in that had me scrambling to put together a traditional 3-person wrap pod. No hard feelings to he who had to cancel, life has a habit of doing that, I just had to throw myself at the mercy of my top band of contributors and thankfully Ciarán Duffy & Kristian Ross were able to cover the win on Sunday.
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.
FULL POD
Because of the scramble I mention above I had to ditch the bonus clip this week, in fact I may leave it for a while as it can be unnecessarily time consuming. So to have something to post to YouTube I made a headline video of the full wrap pod. There is still one extra topic right at the end – what with Kristian being an Ulster fan I thought it rude not to ask him about the Dan McFarland news from during the week.
CAN WE CALL IT A DRAW?
I’m a self-confessed nerd and I love all that wonky talk about competition formats and such so this may not be for you, but I do believe this is a subject that may well come up again despite the tweaks World Rugby has made.
Pretty much a “steady as she goes” report, great to see Jamie and Ross made it through their first match back but still concerning to see names like Jimmy O’Brien and Charlie Ngatai still rooted to the bottom tier. Was a bit worried to see Tommy O’Brien limp off against Benetton but it seems he’s ok, so I doubt there will be that many changes in the 23 for the trip to Cardiff.
Harpin’ matchday 23 v Cardiff
McErlean, T O’Brien, Turner, Osborne, Russell, R Byrne, McGrath
Barron, E Byrne, Ala’alatoa, Deeny, Ruddock, Murphy, Prendergast, Brownlee
NB : the above matchday 23 is completely from my own mind, I’m certainly not suggesting I have any ITK a la Thornley
INJURY UPDATE – AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
Jamie Osborne: came through the game against Benetton Rugby with no issues after his return from a shoulder injury
Ross Byrne: came through the game against Benetton Rugby with no issues after his return from an arm injury
INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:
Cormac Foley: has increased his training load and will be further assessed this week as he makes his way back from a shoulder injury
NO FURTHER UPDATES ON:
Martin Moloney (bicep), Alex Soroka (foot), Jimmy O’Brien (neck) and Charlie Ngatai (calf)
NOT A TWEETUP
After doing such a great job promoting the hashtag “IrelandWeek” in the lead up to the match, Welsh fan Ed Jenkins suggested a “gathering of individuals who engage on the platform currently known as X”, with the stipulation that it wasn’t called a “tweetup”. Sadly I wasn’t in the vicinity but as you can see a solid front row of Harpin forwards answered the call.
The pool stages were definitely a far cry from the success both Irish genders enjoyed in Perth, but the weekend most certainly was not without silver linings.
Obviously winning one leg in a series offers no guarantees of a repeat in the next one, but after defeating South Africa, we were done over by both Brazil and New Zealand and it wasn’t enough for a quarterfinal spot. Still, once in that position you can only aim to finish as high as you can and with wins over GB and Japan the girls did just that leaving them 9th. On the overall table it doesn’t look like we can aim much higher than 4th with AUS, NZL & FRA leading the way.
The men also just had one pool win but in their case it got them into the quarters as a best 3rd place finisher, and who did they come up against but France with Monsieur Duponte who of course got the winning try. However they also managed to salvage the most they could out of the position playoffs, defeating Fiji in extra time to leave us 5th in Vancouver and, somehow, SECOND on the overall standings! Argentina seem to be running away with 1st place but to finish behind them would certainly be quite the achievement. Standout player from the matches I saw was definitely Zac Ward, who got that winning try in ET and is quite the strong carrier.
Now the circus moves on to LA and you can see our fixtures below.
VANCOUVER 7S
IRELAND WOMEN
POOL STAGE
28-7 V RSA
7-24 V BRA
5-43 V NZL
9TH-12TH PLAYOFFS
21-7 V GBR
12-7 V JPN
IRELAND MEN
POOL STAGE
14-17 V GBR
14-19 V NZL
22-10 V RSA
QUARTERFINAL
5-12 V FRA
5TH PLAYOFF
24-19 V FIJI (AET)
LOS ANGELES 7S
SAT MAR 2
12:30AM – WOMEN V AUSTRALIA
3:38AM – MEN V SOUTH AFRICA
6:14PM – MEN V SPAIN
8:04PM – WOMEN V FRANCE
11:06PM – MEN V ARGENTINA
SUN MAR 3
12:18AM – WOMEN V JAPAN
NEXT IN THE SERIES…
HONG KONG APR 5-7
SINGAPORE MAY 3-5
MADRID MAY 31-JUN 2
🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE
With Stade winning the Parisien derby inflicting yet more pain on Stu’s Racing, they and Toulouse both hit the 50point mark atop the 🔝🐱🐴 table after round 16. Castres lead the chasing pack while ROG’s La Rochelle are hanging on to barrage contention by their fingernails after the NINTH league defeat of the campaign to go with the two in Europe. It’s actually starting to get them looking over their shoulders at the relegation positions where Montpellier are winning their way off the bottom. Victory next Sunday against Clérmont will be critical for ROG although Toulouse v Castres is the tie of the round.
Round 16
MONTPELLIER 28-23 BAYONNE
PERPIGNAN 27-15 LA ROCHELLE
CASTRES 41-12 BORDEAUX
LYON 43-26 OYONNAX
PAU 17-9 TOULON
RACING 92 11-27 STADE FRANCAIS
CLÉRMONT 33-37 TOULOUSE
Round 17
SAT MAR 2
TOULOUSE V CASTRES
BAYONNE V LYON
OYONNAX V MONTPELLIER
STADE FRANÇAIS V PAU
TOULON V PERPIGNAN
BORDEAUX V RACING 92
SUN MAR 3
LA ROCHELLE V CLÉRMONT
AIL UPDATE
It was essentially a final trial match ahead of the Women’s Six Nations but the all-Irish clash at the Kingspan Stadium also offered the Wolfhounds the opportunity to lift the Celtic Challenge title, and they accepted the offer with a convincing 47-26 victory over the Clovers. They can’t be caught atop the table so congrats are definitely in order! Here’s hoping they can continue the winning ways with the green jersey on, absolutely vital that we get at least a win or two under our belt.
Meanwhile in the AIL both genders return to action after a bye week, with Lansdowne v Cork Con in the men’s comp being the pick of the fixtures.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S CELTIC CHALLENGE
SECOND PLAYOFF ROUND
GWALIA LIGHTNING 43-5 GLASGOW WARRIORS
WOLFHOUNDS 47-26 CLOVERS
THIRD PLAYOFF ROUND
SUN MAR 3
CLOVERS V EDINBURGH
BRYTHON THUNDER V GWALIA LIGHTNING
WOMEN’S AIL
NO FIXTURES LAST WEEKEND
Round 13
SAT MAR 2
SUTTONIANS V OLD BELVEDERE
COOKE V UL BOHS
GALWEGIANS V BLACKROCK
WICKLOW V BALLINCOLLIG
MEN’S AIL
NO FIXTURES LAST WEEKEND
ROUND 15
SAT MAR 2
CLONTARF V YOUNG MUNSTER
TRINITY V CITY OF ARMAGH
LANSDOWNE V CORK CON
SHANNON V BALLYNAHINCH
TERENURE V UCD
RUGBY EUROPE CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE
I will be very surprised if it isn’t a Georgia v Portugal final but you never know, we’ll see if Romania and Spain can cause an upset.
NO FIXTURES LAST WEEKEND
SEMIFINALS
SAT MAR 2
GEORGIA V ROMANIA
SUN MAR 3
PORTUGAL V SPAIN
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Short but sweet column this week, next up we’re turning our attention to Leinster’s URC visit to Cardiff keep an eye out for the preview & wrap pods.
Finally, as ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
JLP : The quote might be tongue in cheek but although I wasn’t there myself the reports I heard were that it was a very subdued Aviva crowd, with suggestions it might have to do with a “prawn sandwich” element who were able to afford the ticket price without necessarily being totally invested in the actual rugby.
“This is not about Scottish Rugby being belligerent.”
JLP : I harped on this in the bonus clip as you’ll see below, but although I believe the officials came to the correct decision, I can’t really blame the SRU for getting an extra news cycle out of the incident. This might have an air of “John Delaney asking for Ireland to be 33rd team” about it, but the call was so goddam close and decisive that you can see how they’d lash out, once they are also aware that the Scots did have plenty of chances before that to win the game as well….
The change should create more room for counterattackers as the defending team will all be offside until put back onside by the kicker, or kick-chasers.
JLP : I wondered why I had red about this red/green think years ago yet Wales/Ireland matches weren’t affected. I would have thought that if it was definitely a problem for a portion of fans which had been officially identified by the sport’s governing body then surely the thing to do would be to make the change right away, but I suppose these things take time?
“There was 11 offloads for Ireland today, that is significant. There was only three last week.“
JLP : The quote pretty much tells the story, only thing I’d add is that most of that 11 weren’t just offloads, they were Marks & Spencer offloads…high risk but even higher confidence.
Note – views expressed in “Front Five” links do not necessarily reflect those of HarpinOnRugby
WRAP OF A (DELAYED) WRAP
Nobody likes a set weekly routine more than myself but when our feature match is on a Sunday afternoon there’s just no way I can prepare a wrap pod to my liking in time so we waited until the Monday. Tom “LeinsterRoyalty” Coleman became our latest member of the 50-cap club joining Keego and Conor Cronin, and he and Jay did their usual bang-up job reviewing the whitewashing of Italy, although Tom did cause my first 2024 use of the “Gran’s Lamb Protocol” where we vow not to use a certain phrase depicting 5 Irish wins until it is either achieved or no longer possible, so I had to deploy a “beep” sound at one point after he dropped the “S word” 😜.
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.
BONUS CLIP
A mixed bag of chosen topics this week, I have added the transcript from my bit below.
“A GROUNDING IN TMOs”
Now it’s time for my bit and after Tom harping on the kicking duel at the end of the first half of Scotland v France, I’d like to focus on an even more controversial incident from the end of the second in the same match.
Now when I say “controversial” I’m a bit torn on the use of this word. It seems a bit sensationalist especially when you consider that I actually agree with the way the officials reached their decision.
But what I suppose does make it controversial was the fact that it was a call about a score that would have literally changed the result of the entire match as there was no time left on the clock. Throw in the fact that the decision went against the home team and you have what must be up there with the top nightmares faced by referees in all sports.
Still I have to go back and explain why I agree with the officials so let’s look at the incident. And to do this we need to take all the situational stuff out of it. Forget it’s at Murrayfield, forget it’s Scotland, forget they were four points behind with the clock in the red.
On the 9th phase of a series Sam Skinner carried the ball over the line where he ran into some French defenders. There was the predictable mass of bodies all around the ball but from referee Nic Berry’s angle, the ball was held up and that is how he called it. This is the most critical information of the entire incident for me, but there is of course a lot more.
Berry ensured the Scots that the decision would be reviewed, which put matters into the hands of TMO Brian MacNeice. OK, now you might think I’m defending his decision because he’s Irish but I suppose all I can do is hope that you appreciate that my actual motivation is for the correct decision to be reached where possible.
Anyway what MacNeice had to do was look over as many available angles as he could to see if there was a grounding – and that word grounding is the second most important aspect to all of this. For this he had to hope for there to be a decent gap among all the other moving parts in the way…arms, legs, heads, boots, even the occasional arse, to catch a glimpse of the ball.
And as many have been at pains to point out, it does look to all intents and purposes that the ball actually does make its way to the Murrayfield grass. In fact, many of those fans also went to great pains to screengrab the image the TMO was looking at as though it offered some “proof” that it should have been awarded as a try.
And to be fair, during the early part of MacNeice’s dialogue as he watched, it really did sound as though he wanted to award the try. But there was a problem you see, one that those understandably eager screengrabbing Scottish fans probably missed.
It might seem like a contradiction but the fact remains that the ball touching the ground is not all we need to see in order to call it a grounding. There is absolutely no evidence that Skinner or indeed any other Scotsman has their hand on the ball as it touches down. And you need both. He could have let it go. There may have been separation. And remember, even when it comes to the ball touching the ground, we were never 100% because we couldn’t actually see it.
All of which led MacNeice to say to Berry : “I cannot see for certain, I don’t have ball on ground Nick”
So what happens now? It’s very simple. With no conclusive way to overturn his original decision, Berry was only left with that decision. It is definitely unfortunate, maybe even cruel, but having watched it over and over again I can only come back to the same conclusion.
Now of course what I did at the time was to share my opinion on twitter, and we all know what happened next, I got replies stating categorically that it was a nailed on try, many with that screengrabbed so-called “evidence”. So to avoid falling down a social media rabbit hole, I chose not to reply and instead waited until now to make my case.
To be absolutely clear…I was 100% shouting for Scotland, they are and have always been my second favourite Six Nations team. Like I said, we have to take our allegiances out of the equation when discussing these calls otherwise there’s really no point discussing them.
I have always been in favour of using TMOs but only in a support capacity to the onfield referee. In my view they should always make a decision themselves, which the guy in the booth must only overrule if they have 100% certainty and it’s only when this is accepted that we can appreciate that once in a while we can have a decision that looks both horribly unfair and absolutely correct in equal measure.
STEVIE’S CALLING
I hadn’t time for a TikTok rant this week but even if I had it wouldn’t be worthy of posting instead of this…he needs no introduction from me but I’m still happy to namecheck Stevie Mulrooney he’s definitely a star in the making.
Absolutely brilliant! 👏 Stevie Mulrooney, the star of the Toy Show, sings Ireland’s Call in front of a sold out Aviva Stadium. Fantastic. 💚 IREvITA GuinnessSixNations SixNationsRugby IrishRugby Rugby
This week’s update did have good news with Jamie & Ross on the road to recovery but since neither were listed under “available for selection” I’m left struggling to put a Leinster backline together for Saturday without dipping into the academy, and with Hugo Keenan now not able to face Wales I’m wondering if we will even be able to avail of Ciarán Frawley’s services at all.
NB : the above matchday 23 is completely from my own mind, I’m certainly not suggesting I have any ITK a la Thornley
INJURY UPDATE – AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
N/A
INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:
Jamie Osborne: has increased his training load and will be further assessed this week as he makes his way back from a shoulder injury
Ross Byrne: has increased his training load and will be further assessed this week as he makes his way back from an arm injury
INJURY UPDATE – UNAVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
N/A
NO FURTHER UPDATES ON:
Martin Moloney (bicep), Alex Soroka (foot), Charlie Ngatai (calf), Cormac Foley (shoulder) and Jimmy O’Brien (neck)
RUGBYPASS TV UPS & DOWNS
Just a quick note on a couple of things I’ve seen on RugbyPass.TV – I was going to do my TikTok on this had I enough time (for a 3 minute video I need at least an hour that just wasn’t there this week!).
First there was Whistleblowers which I would strongly recommend. Essentially it was “Full Contact for Referees” and definitely had a decent stab at humanising the officials from RWC2023. I would definitely recommend it, but since they’re not paying me to say that I should also point out a video I didn’t like as well 😁.
This was Boks Office which was essentially a Springbok view of the Six Nations. Now to be fair, this kind of input would be invaluable, coming as it does from outside the bubble, and with a panel of test capped stars (host Hanyani Shimange chatting to Jean de Villiers & Schalk Burger) you would definitely be interested.
But this particular episode featured a review of Round 1 so obviously they would have been focusing on Ireland’s win in Marseilles. They were full of praise for Andy Farrell’s men, but what ground my gears a tad was their assertion that Paul Willemse’s red card was the wrong call.
I mean if that is what they honestly believed then I can’t really fault them for expressing their true opinion and I certainly wouldn’t want that opinion banned, I suppose I’m just disappointed that senior players feel that way and are clearly either ignorant of the spirit of the guidelines surrounding head contact or are actually opposed to them. And the real irony was that I watched this chat right after I had watched Whistleblowers which noted the online abuse that referees can receive, meaning the lads’ views certainly do not help the matter.
That’s not to say I wouldn’t watch Box Office again, however, and they are certainly not alone when it comes to former-players-turned-pundits having these views.
🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE
After a weekend off the top four all find themselves at home in Round 15 so it’s likely for that end of the table to be just as tight, with both Oyonnax and Montpellier likely to be in even deeper relegation trouble as well.
NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND
Round 15
SAT FEB 17
LYON V LA ROCHELLE
BORDEAUX V PAU
RACING 92 V MONTPELLIER
STADE FRANCAIS V PERPIGNAN
TOULOUSE V OYONNAX
BAYONNE V CLÉRMONT
SUN FEB 18
CASTRES V TOULON
AIL UPDATE
I have yet to find confirmation of this but I’m assuming that the way the Celtic Challenge works, the top three play each other and the results go to the final overall standings. If so, the Wolfhounds can probably clinch the title with victory in Edinburgh this weekend, while their final match against the Clovers the following week is essentially a Six Nations trial.
While that comp took a weekend off, the Women’s AIL returned to action, with the result that came nearest to an “upset” being Belvo defeating Wicklow by “only” 13pts. UL Bohs continued their 100% start, the gap between the top four and the rest grew wider, and that same four all avoid each other yet again in the next round.
It wa a similar case in the men’s top division with the top four all victorious, although Cork Con seemed to have a bit of a scare at bottom of the table Trinity. Tie of the round this weekend is definitely the 3rdv4th/Dublin derby that is Lansdowne v Terenure.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S CELTIC CHALLENGE
NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND
WOMEN’S AIL
Round 11
SAT FEB 10
SUTTONIANS 0-22 BALLINCOLLIG
COOKE 5-29 RAILWAY UNION
GALWEGIANS 5-58 UL BOHS
WICKLOW 12-25 BELVO
Round 12
SAT FEB 17
UL BOHS V SUTTONIANS
BALLINCOLLIG V COOKE
BLACKROCK V WICKLOW
RAILWAY UNION V GALWEGIANS
MEN’S AIL
ROUND 13
CLONTARF 45-24 BALLYNAHINCH
TRINITY 17-19 CORK CON
SHANNON 13-28 LANSDOWNE
TERENURE 25-10 YOUNG MUNSTER
UCD 32-22 CITY OF ARMAGH
ROUND 13
SAT FEB 17
BALLYNAHINCH V TRINITY
ARMAGH V CLONTARF
CORK CON V SHANNON
LANSDOWNE V TERENURE
YOUNG MUNSTER V UCD
RUGBY EUROPE CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE
I was kicking myself that I forgot to include an update for this comp last week, as I firmly believe it’s important to keep up on how these countries are doing what with the “6N promotion/expansion” returning every time Italy concedes a try and/or Georgia scores one.
There has of course already been one historic result in the 2024 Championship with Belgium defeating Portugal in round 1, although Os Lobos took out their frustrations on poor Poland last weekend with a 50🍔 while the Belgians couldn’t repeat their heroics in Bucharest. However if Portugal are to sneak into the semifinals they will have to win in the Romanian capital on Saturday, especially if Belgium can also overcome the Poles. Meanwhile in Pool A Georgia host Spain with both already safely through to the last four.
ROUND 1
POLAND 8-20 ROMANIA
GERMANY 17-28 GEORGIA
BELGIUM 10-6 PORTUGAL
NETHERLANDS V SPAIN
ROUND 2
SPAIN 27-5 GERMANY
PORTUGAL 54-7 POLAND
ROMANIA 33-18 BELGIUM
GEORGIA 31-10 NETHERLANDS
ROUND 3
SAT FEB 17
GEORGIA V SPAIN
ROMANIA V PORTUGAL
BELGIUM V POLAND
SUN FEB 18
NETHERLANDS V GERMANY
HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE
Kristian had a super round 2 and a bit like Ireland has opened a commanding lead atop the 6N league, although myself and Jay are also 6 for 6 when it comes to predicting winners. With the URC back in action this weekend that means so does the HPL so I have also included that table. Well, yeah, ok, the fact that I’m first in that one might have play a part in my decision…….
1 Kristian 12.00
2 Jeff 9.00
3 Jay 8.50
4 Mark 7.50
5 Conor 7.00
6 Tom 1.50
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Back to the URC this weekend, with a top of the table clash at the RDS no less as Benetton will be coming to D4. Keego will join me for a preview on Friday while the wrap recording returns to its usual Sunday evening slot.
As ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
JLP : On our podcasts, the superstition I like to call the “Gran’s Lamb Protocol” has been put in place where we don’t use the phrase which refers to 5 wins out of 5 on the pod until it either happens or no longer can happen. It’s partly genuine superstition, partly a bit o’ craic. That doesn’t mean I share opinions in the media from other countries however, and after that first round of matches Kitson’s assertion is pretty on the nose.
JLP : Hang on…a Leinster player praising his Munster captain? Surely not! Seriously though…this is great to see and doesn’t contradict a single thing we saw with our own eyes on the night. And as many have commented, during POM’s spell on the sideline Caelan Doris did a bang up job showing leadership as well.
JLP : Here’s a radical idea…how about extend the “mark” rule beyond the 22 all the way to the halfway line? Yeah that probably makes no sense, I literally just thought of it as I was typing, but whatever the solution I totally agree with Berch & Donal that the multiple bouts of kick tennis can be painful to watch.
JLP : When John was in his heyday I was just a wee lad myself so I can’t relate to the impact he had on the game at the time but certainly the anecdotal evidence showed what a superstar he was in Wales at the time. Sad though his passing of course is, one can hope that it might just help bring some unity across the principality that is badly needed with the sport he loved in such disarray. In a couple of weeks I will be speaking to author Seimon Williams about his book “Welsh rugby – What Went Wrong?” where we will of course have much to discuss.
JLP : Terenure v St Michael’s seems to be the pick of the bunch although Monkstown v Mary’s might actually be the closest tie, we’ll see how they pan out. From here on in all matches will be shown live on Premier Sports Ireland.
Note – views expressed in “Front Five” links do not necessarily reflect those of HarpinOnRugby
WRAP OF A WRAP
When I say how many “caps” a contributor has, it is generally with tongue in cheek, but it is worth mentioning when they reach a milestone like Conor Cronin did when he earned his 50th in wrapping the France match on Sunday evening. He and Mark Jackson, himself just back from a spell on the sidelines, did an excellent job poring over the timeline of the match, and for once I have actually remembered also to remember the preview which was done by Keego who accurately predicted an Irish win although nobody could have dreamed of a 21-point margin!!!
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.
HARPIN ON…WARREN G, LINEOUTS & BONUS POINTS
Still playing around with the format for the bonus pod but this week’s changes were more on the graphic side of things – having gone with individual videos for my all-provincial panel last week I looked to retain it for this one and I’d say it worked pretty well. Conor focused on Gatland’s tactless post-match presser, Mark on Ireland’s lineout and I rehashed a bonus point theme I have been harping on for a while.
SCRUMS UP IN THE AIR
These TikTok rants are starting to go a bit longer than they probably should be, my original hope was that they should be no longer than two minutes. But that said I have to cut the cloth to suit the topic and I felt the extra bits were worth it for this one.
There was no way Racing could keep losing while holding on to 1st place in the 🔝🐱🐴 but despite slipping to 4th they’re still only a point off their Parisian rivals who have reached the summit. La Rochelle won’t feel so badly about being just six points off the pace given how their season has gone so far.
Meanwhile down at the bottom it is concerning to see names like Lyon and Montpellier in the relegation discussion but with 12 rounds to go and the way results in this league yoyo back and forth, for all we know they could still make the playoffs!
Most importantly, who’s idea was it to have a round on the opening 6N weekend? Crazy all round, and you could argue that it hurt the French Under 20s as well. But the 🔝🐱🐴 takes a breather next weekend.
Round 14
PERPIGNAN 26-5 RACING 92
OYONNAX 19-23 STADE FRANCAIS
CLÉRMONT 38-21 LYON
LA ROCHELLE 18-10 MONTPELLIER
PAU 33-44 CASTRES
TOULOUSE 46-26 BAYONNE
TOULON 32-37 BORDEAUX
Round 15
SAT FEB 17
LYON V LA ROCHELLE
BORDEAUX V PAU
RACING 92 V MONTPELLIER
STADE FRANCAIS V PERPIGNAN
TOULOUSE V OYONNAX
BAYONNE V CLÉRMONT
SUN FEB 18
CASTRES V TOULON
AIL UPDATE
I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure I went looking for a dedicated website for the Celtic Challenge competition and it only seems to be operational in the past week or so. I also thought I was following this comp closely yet only now do I realise that it is not just a straight round robin format, in actual fact after 5 rounds the teams break into a top 3 and bottom 3 with two more matches for each to decide the placings.
All of which means the Wolfhounds v Clovers matchup on the weekend of the 24th will make for a decent final trial ahead of our upcoming 6 Nations campaign.
Now after my assertion in recent weeks that the Celtic Comp clashing with the AIL Cup wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, it will be interesting to see if these extra matches have an effect on the actual Women’s AIL which returns this weekend – as you can see the top four all avoid each other.
And in actual fact the same can be said of the men’s top division which also kicks back into gear this weekend, chances are the playoff spots there too will remain the same.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S CELTIC CHALLENGE
WOMEN’S AIL
NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND
Round 11
SAT FEB 10
SUTTONIANS V BALLINCOLLIG
COOKE V RAILWAY UNION
GALWEGIANS V UL BOHS
WICKLOW V BELVO
MEN’S AIL
NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND
ROUND 13
SAT FEB 10
CLONTARF V BALLYNAHINCH
TRINITY V CORK CON
SHANNON V LANSDOWNE
TERENURE V YOUNG MUNSTER
UCD V CITY OF ARMAGH
HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE
Kristian was keen to start up a fresh prediction league for the Six Nations so I obliged – no prizes or forfeits, just bragging right and as you can see three of us correctly predicted the three away wins from round 1.
1 Conor 5.00
2 Jeff 5.00
3 Kristian 5.00
4 Jay 4.00
5 Mark 2.00
6 Tom 1.50
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Italy are next on the agenda with the wrap pod moved to a Monday evening recording although the preview should post on Friday as normal.
As ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
A selection of five eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the ruggersphere.
As he is Irish qualified, Burns would have additional appeal to Munster, who a few years ago had something of a logjam at ‘10′ Munster line up move for Ulster outhalf Billy Burns Gerry Thornley – Irish Times
Note – views expressed in “Front Five” links do not necessarily reflect those of HarpinOnRugby
WRAP OF A NON-WRAP
No Leinster or Ireland action last weekend so nothing to wrap which meant it was a good time for one of our “all provincial panels” where we look for some opinions on the Irish squad from outside the blue-jersey bubble. Joining me were two much-capped Harpists in Messrs Ian Frizzell & Pádraig Kelly and we also had an excellent debut from Patricia V who offered a Munster slant on things.
If you missed it, 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.
HARPIN ON…CON, ULS & MUN SEASONS SO FAR
As I say in the intro, it would be rude not to have fans of the other provinces on without asking them to summarize how their respective seasons have gone so far, and thi made for a perfect bonus clip topic.
WONDERS OF THE 7s WORLD
The regular sevens update is below and this was quite a week for it, but I also wanted to harp on the code for my TikTok bit since I was a bit negative a while ago over the whole Duponte thing.
Harped last week about the Caulfield decision…as you can see in the Front Five segment the EPCR has taken up the case to restore my faith in the sport, at least until we see how the matter is finally resolved. To summarise, I reckon that since the referee can clearly be heard saying the stamp was “intentional”, IMO the final ruling has to somehow resolve this, either by cleaning it up by saying he mis-spoke or by applying the appropriate sanction because if a player intends to stamp like that on an opponents’ head, they should know this is not the port for them.
URC WRAP
Couple of extra matches down in SA throughout January which official brought the URC 23/24 regular season to the halfway stage, resuming with a top of the table clash at the RDS in mid-Feb.
ROUND 8
SHARKS 18-20 LIONS
ROUND 9
BULLS 30-28 LIONS
ROUND 10
FRI FEB 16
SCARLETS V MUNSTER
ZEBRE V EDINBURGH
SAT FEB 17
LIONS V BULLS
LEINSTER V BENETTON
SHARKS V STORMERS
CARDIFF V CONNACHT
GLASGOW WARRIORS V DRAGONS
SUN FEB 18
OSPREYS V ULSTER
“SVNS” UPDATE
Both genders got off to winning starts in Perth but then I tweeted about it which of course meant they both went on to lose their next matches so I decided it was best to stop doing that.
The rest, as you probably know, is history as both teams bounced back with two wins on the Saturday to put them in semifinals, the women overcoming Fiji and the men only falling to an Argentine squad which went on to win the whole thing and now tops the series table.
Let us be perfectly clear about what the Irish women achieved to win their final. Australia were not just firm favourites on account of being the home side. They have easily been the form team over the series so far and when Ireland weren’t able to capitalise on them putting their kickoff out on the full, Casslick’s try after 2 minutes to put them ahead seemed to be the beginning of the end for us.
But we stormed right back from the restart with great combinations that allowed Beibhinn Parsons to draw us level before a bizarre series at the end of the half when Ireland attacked their line as Australia shipped 5, yes, FIVE consecutive penalties before the referee flashed a card and even then we weren’t certain to capitalise although eventually skipper Lucy Mulhall got us an absolutely crucial score before the break.
The Aussies struck back to level things up as Levi stormed up the middle for their second converted try but some absolutely savage Irish defending around halfway forced a knockon putting us back in opposition territory before Eve Higgins nudged us back in front. This put the whole ball game on the restart and we won it back to kill the game and claim a famous victory.
We now sit in 4th on the women’s table with Australia still comfortably ahead at the top, while it’s Argentina who have the commanding lead on the men’s side and while over there Ireland are 5th, we’re actually a lot closer to second so there is a whole lot for both genders to play for when the series rolls around to Vancouver in February.
PERTH 7s
#IREW7s
POOL STAGE
USA 14-19 IRE
NZL 21-14 IRE
IRE 26-7 JPN
QF
FIJ 12-14 IRE
SF
IRE 31-7 GBR
F
AUS 14-19 IRE
#IREM7s
POOL STAGE
IRE 17-12 GB
IRE 7-26 USA
AUS 10-19 IRE
QF
IRE 21-14 FRA
SF
IRE 5-24 ARG
3rd place playoff
IRE 24-7 FIJ
NEXT IN THE SERIES…
VANCOUVER FEB 23-25
LOS ANGELES MAR 2-3
HONG KONG APR 5-7
SINGAPORE MAY 3-5
MADRID MAY 31-JUN 2
🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE
The big question here is how the hell are Racing still top when they keep losing? This time it was Toulouse overcoming them in Paris and now only 4 pts separate the top 5 with La Rochelle staying in touch with the playoff spots by their fingernails after a 7th loss of the campaign.
You might think the 🔝🐱🐴 might respect the 6mas tradition and take this coming weekend off but you’d be wrong, with Toulon v Bordeaux probably the pick of the seven matches.
Round 13
BORDEAUX 26-30 STADE FRANCAIS
BAYONNE 21-17 OYONNAX
CASTRES 20-23 CLÉRMONT
LYON 36-24 PERPIGNAN
MONTPELLIER 22-17 PAU
TOULON 25-23 LA ROCHELLE
RACING 92 20-27 TOULOUSE
Round 14
SAT FEB 3
PERPIGNAN V RACING 92
OYONNAX V STADE FRANCAIS
CLÉRMONT V LYON
LA ROCHELLE V MONTPELLIER
PAU V CASTRES
TOULOUSE V BAYONNE
SUN FEB 4
TOULON V BORDEAUX
PREMIERSHIP UPDATE
After such a successful Champions Cup pool stage, Northampton were able to ease back into the domestic comp with a handy home win over hapless Newcastle but the match everyone was walking about was the West Country derby where Bristol outlasted Bath in a shootout including a very un-Messi-like brainfart from Finn Russell towards the end.
The Saints now have a 7 point lead with 9 wins although there’s quite the chasing pack with SIX clubs all have the same won 7 lost 5 record so it’s all to play for in the next round…which doesn’t roll around until the end of March.
ROUND 11
HARLEQUINS 19-20 LEICESTER TIGERS
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS 38-13 NEWCASTLE FALCONS
BRISTOL BEARS 57-44 BATH
SARACENS 40-22 EXETER CHIEFS
GLOUCESTER 32-20 SALE SHARKS
ROUND 13
FRI MAR 22
BRISTOL V NORTHAMPTON
LEICESTER TIGERS V GLOUCESTER
SAT MAR 23
BATH V SALE SHARKS
EXETER CHIEFS V NEWCASTLE
SARACENS V HARLEQUINS
AIL UPDATE
Wolfhounds are on the verge of securing the Celtic Challenge title after a convincing win over the Thunder made it 4 wins from 4 and victory over the other Welsh club Gwalia Lightning next weekend will get the mostly Leinster/Ulster outfit over the line, while Edinburgh hosting the Clovers could be a contest for 2nd place although both are still mathematically in the title race.
Over in the Men’s AIL, Cork Con edged the big clash with Tarf by the point to narrow the North Dublin side’s lead at the top to just one point while Lansdowne, Terenure and Hinch all kept themselves in the playoff picture with victories.
The league takes a break for 6Mas weekend.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S CELTIC CHALLENGE
ROUND 4
GLASGOW WARRIORS 10-29 CLOVERS
WOLFHOUNDS 41-10 BRYTHON THUNDER
GWALIA LIGHTNING 19-20 EDINBURGH
ROUND 4
SAT FEB 3
EDINBURGH V CLOVERS
WOLFHOUNDS V GWALIA LIGHTNING
BRYTHON THUNDER V GLASGOW WARRIORS
MEN’S AIL
ROUND 12
BALLYNAHINCH 40-13 UCD
CITY OF ARMAGH 29-21 YOUNG MUNSTER
CORK CON 27-26 CLONTARF
LANSDOWNE 31-19 DUBLIN UNIV
SHANNON 5-31 TERENURE
ROUND 13
SAT FEB 10
CLONTARF V BALLYNAHINCH
TRINITY V CORK CON
SHANNON V LANSDOWNE
TERENURE V YOUNG MUNSTER
UCD V CITY OF ARMAGH
HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE
Just the one URC match last weekend which formally ended Round 9 – and while everyone predicted the Bulls to beat the Lions, it was actually only Keego who said it would be as close as it was so just this once he was one with bragging rights…until he saw the overall table of course. He’ll need a lot more forecasts to go his way over the second half of the season if he is to avoid retaining the Jersey of Shame.
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
It’s 6mas week and thus a busy one…on Wednesday I’ll post a special pod interview with Ball Handling Hooker looking at the latest crop of Irish Under 20 players ahead of their own Grand Slam defence, then with the big match being on Friday, our preview with Keego moves to Thursday but the wrap pod will stay in its usual slot, recording on Sunday.
As ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
In a poll run by the NZ Herald…41% of readers [gave] the former Ireland head coach the thumbs up….Only 37% of readers voted for Robertson Kiwis snub Razor for Schmidt SA Rugby Mag
Note – views expressed in “Front Five” links do not necessarily reflect those of HarpinOnRugby
WRAP OF A WRAP
Thankfully we didn’t lose any actual rugby to Storm Isha but we nearly lost our wrap pod as Jay reported power outages in his area up to an hour to our recording time but he made it through and along with Rich they did a top job going back over the win at Welford Road.
If you missed it, 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.
HARPIN ON…JOE TO AUS, PREM IN CC & WHAT IS “RECKLESS”?
In our latest bonus clip we have Rich looking at some rare positive news for Australian rugby, Jay points out the success of the Premiership clubs in this season’s Champions Cup and below you see the transcript of my contribution where I harp on the continued misunderstanding when it comes to anti-concussion regulations.
RECKLESS DEFINITIONS
Well we’ve had to do a lot of rethinking of how we look at tackles over the past decade or so. From all the talk of zero tolerance which somehow reduced itself to zero over time to the bunker system trialled at the recent Rugby World Cup that seemed to work pretty well for the most part, the game’s powers that be have made several efforts to make the game safer.
And whenever I go to harp on this topic I always feel I have to point out that safety is the driving force behind these changes, because every time there’s a debate over the way a particular on-field decision is worked out, there still seems to be a lot of people out there who just can’t get that concept.
Without fail when a red card gets flashed you’ll find somebody somewhere using one of the most triggering phrases for me right now, namely “that’s a disgraceful call there’s no way that was intentional.” I really can’t get my head around just how this issue hasn’t been put to bed years ago.
Just this weekend we had at least two perfect examples of this in the final pool round of the Champions Cup, first there was a stamp by Bristol’s Josh Caulfield on the head of Connacht’s Finlay Bealham and then on Saturday evening Tom Ahern got the knee of Northampton’s Curtis Langdon to the head twice, with the second one leading to another red.
Now it might be wrong for me to choose these particular examples since in both cases the injured parties were players for Irish provinces which might make it look like I’m biased, but I have to look past that because the only way we can have a proper discussion about this is by taking the jersey colours out of the equation.
In Caulfield’s case the bulk of the disagreement stemmed from the referee’s use of the word “intentional” as he announced his final decision. This led to a flurry of reactions which implied that if there was no intent, then it couldn’t be red and that literally could not be further from the truth.
On the official list of criteria that citing commissioners use to assess foul play, there are 13 items listed in order of importance. At the top of that list is “intentional/deliberate”. But right behind it at number 2, or b to be precise, is the word “reckless”. I really hope the problem here is that people don’t know what that word means, rather than it’s that they don’t realise just how important recklessness is in determining a red card and further sanction. It’s just one below actual intent and it still leads to red.
Now the referee’s ruling for the Langdon dismissal at Thomond Park made this much, much clearer. He said QUOTE “The first contact was clearly accidental. The second one we can’t say it’s intentional, but it is reckless the player is definitely injured so it is red card.” END QUOTE Not even the French accent of Monsieur Trainini could mask this very clear explanation of the Laws and guidelines right there.
I really hope we can at least come to a point where the vast majority of those enjoying these top rugby matches appreciate what’s involved in these decisions, because while it’s bad enough to see those watching at home on their sofas not understanding, when we’re still getting it from ex-players in the media in the year 2024 it really does make you feel like you’re banging your head against a brick wall which of course leads to the very kind of injuries these sanctions are genuinely trying to avoid.
TRUST YOUR CAPTAIN
It really bugs me to see all the speculation over Peter’s contract, especially when I see it going to such lengths as to compare his situation to others suggesting there is some kind of conspiracy at work against him and/or his province. We don’t know enough, it’s none of our business, AND he is the ‘War God’ so let’s just trust him and get on with supporting the boys in green.
Nothing released at time of posting and Leinster are off until February anyway so might leave this segment aside for the next few week – besides, it’s time to start giving Irish team updates starting next Tuesday.
FOUL PLAY ‘✓’ RED CARD ‘✖’ ME ‘?’
Having referenced the Caulfield challenge in the bonus clip which was recorded Sunday, his actual hearing came just 24 hours later and the result was disappointing if not surprising.
Please don’t get me wrong – I don’t actually want to see any player banned for a long length of time but the fact remained the player was sent off for a stamp to the head which the referee clearly described as “intentional” so I was very curious to see how the final ruling would address this because if a player is judged to have intentionally stamped on the head of an opponent surely the only option is for a lengthy ban.
As you see below, instead, they just ignored that part of it altogether.
“Caulfield was sent off by the referee, Pierre Brousset (France), in the 13th minute of the match for stamping on the Connacht Rugby prop, Finlay Bealham, in contravention of Law 9.12.
The committee determined that Caulfield had committed an act of foul play, however, it found that the offence did not warrant a red card, and the red card decision was therefore overturned.”
I assumed they’d clean up the “intentional” remark like perhaps saying the ref mis-spoke and to be honest I prefer that much more to actually pretending it wasn’t said at all or at least wasn’t significant.
But on top of that, to determine it was both foul play AND not a red card is like saying 2+2=62,387 as far as I’m concerned.
How can they say this is foul play but not red card. If it’s not foul play and complete accident then play on. If It’s reckless and foul play then it has to be RC. For what it’s worth it’s a RC for me as it’s not a natural action of rucking and reckless. Glad I retired 🙈 https://t.co/VYHam8NtgL
The new look “SVNS” circuit gets back underway this weekend with the latest event in Perth. Significance of this one is that it’s over three days so teams won’t have more than two matches per day which should obviously help the fitness levels. After two rounds the women sit in 7th and the men 5th with both more than capable of moving up their respective ladders. As ever all the action will be streamed live via Rugbypass.tv.
IRELAND’S PERTH FIXTURES
FRIDAY, JANUARY 26
5:32AM – WOMEN V USA
7:51AM – MEN V GREAT BRITAIN
9:56AM – WOMEN V NEW ZEALAND
12:50PM – MEN V USA
SATURDAY, JANUARY 27
2:44AM – WOMEN V JAPAN
6:11AM – MEN V AUSTRALIA
NEXT IN THE SERIES…
VANCOUVER FEB 23-25
LOS ANGELES MAR 2-3
HONG KONG APR 5-7
SINGAPORE MAY 3-5
MADRID MAY 31-JUN 2
🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE
Some big clashes at the top of the table as 1st plays 3rd and 2nd plays 4th in Round 13 (which is the halfway point of the regular season btw) but for me the match of the round is La Rochelle’s trip to Toulon – defeat for ROG’s men would be their 7th of the campaign and put them even further away from that elusive Brennus.
Round 13
SAT JAN 27
BORDEAUX V STADE FRANCAIS
BAYONNE V OYONNAX
CASTRES V CLÉRMONT
LYON V PERPIGNAN
MONTPELLIER V PAU
TOULON V LA ROCHELLE
SUN JAN 28
RACING 92 V TOULOUSE
PREMIERSHIP UPDATE
Northampton are arguably the form team in Europe right now and with winless Newcastle due to visit Franklin’s Gardens in round 12 they could well extend their lead at the top with many of the chasing pack playing each other.
ROUND 11
FRI JAN 26
HARLEQUINS V LEICESTER TIGERS
SAT JAN 27
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS V NEWCASTLE FALCONS
BRISTOL BEARS V BATH
SARACENS V EXETER CHIEFS
SUN JAN 28
GLOUCESTER V SALE SHARKS
AIL UPDATE
A lot of online chatter in women’s rugby has been about the postponements in the AIL Cup but to repeat an opinion I shared here a few weeks ago, I’m not altogether sure this represents another stick to beat the IRFU with necessarily.
Sure, it is far from a good look for senior clubs to be unable to field players in an official competition, but we need to remember why the competition exists in the first place.
Last season both the interpro series & WAIL were done and dusted before Christmas, definitely a “stick” as mentioned above. So this season, they turned the WAIL into a home-and-away competition AND with the expansion of the international Celtic Challenge to include an extra team, they made sure there were no league fixtures overlapping with it and instead used the cup to give the clubs some rugby in that time.
So while it is true that this ended up exposing the lack of available players, I would argue that it was done with the best intentions, while adding that it is certainly not MY intention to defend the IRFU for the sake of it.
In this case, just to be devil’s advocate if nothing else, I’d suggest maybe they tried to offer more competitive rugby but just overshot the mark.
Anyway…back to the Celtic Challenge, and after a week off it returns to action with the table-topping Wolfhounds hosting Brython Thunder while the Colvers must travel to Glasgow. Live coverage will be on RugbyPass.tv again.
Over on the men’s side, Tarf slipped up at home to Lansdowne allowing the chasing pack to catch up and with Hinch narrowly losing out to the Cookies it means the top four are starting to see some daylight. Pick of the next round is an easy one with the top two going at it down in Cork.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S CELTIC CHALLENGE
ROUND 4
SAT JAN 27
GLASGOW WARRIORS V CLOVERS
WOLFHOUNDS V BRYTHON THUNDER
SUN JAN 28
GWALIA LIGHTNING V EDINBURGH
MEN’S AIL
ROUND 11
CITY OF ARMAGH 13-37 TERENURE
CLONTARF 26-29 LANSDOWNE
TRINITY 38-9 SHANNON
UCD 24-34 CORK CON
YOUNG MUNSTER 26-25 BALLYNAHINCH
ROUND 12
SAT JAN 27
BALLYNAHINCH V UCD
CITY OF ARMAGH V YOUNG MUNSTER
CORK CON V CLONTARF
LANSDOWNE V DUBLIN UNIV
SHANNON V TERENURE
CHALLENGE CUP UPDATE
Even with the round of 16 pairing being decided after round 4 the highlight for me was the news from Tblisi as Black Lion may have fallen at the final hurdle and missed out on further progress but still that 17k attendance for the visit of Clérmont certainly caught the eye.
And while we’re at the bottom end of the competition we really have to mention the demise of the Scarlets this season, for a club that won a major title as relatively recently as 2017 it’s a real disappointment to see them struggling in both competitions now.
So anyway back to the competition itself, like I said there are now 16 left in contention with four dropping down from the Champions Cup which included both Ulster and Connacht, both of which face tricky challenges away to 🔝🐱🐴 opposition.
Personally I’m looking at that bracket and wondering if Benetton aren’t worth a sneaky bet to win it all?
ROUND 4
GLOUCESTER 35-5 CASTRES
SCARLETS 19-31 EDINBURGH
BLACK LION 3-36 CLÉRMONT
PAU 28-27 ZEBRE
OYONNAX 28-27 CHEETAHS
BENETTON 27-19 MONTPELLIER
PERPIGNAN 23-32 NEWC ASTLE
LIONS 28-38 OSPREYS
DRAGONS 9-29 SHARKS
Georgian Rugby on the up ⬆️
More than 17,000 fans were in attendance in Tbilisi, Georgia as Black Lion took on French giants Clermont in Challenge Cup on Saturday 🔥
Black Lion already beat the Scarlets away in round 2 by 23-7 💥
Time to hang up the blue jersey for a bit and go back to the green, in fact I’ll have to take the time to go change the logos on all the social media channels too. On Sunday evening with no wrap pod I will instead be having fans from Ulster, Connacht & Munster on to look at Ireland’s Six Nations chances, and while I have them it would probably be rude not to ask them to harp on their own provinces a bit too.
We should have some other content floating around as well so keep tabs with any or all of our social media channels and please comment, like, share & subscribe whenever the mood takes you.
As ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
The news will be a big blow for both La Rochelle and France as the 26-year-old has been in impressive form since his return from the World Cup campaign. Pierre Bourgarit set to miss France’s Six Nations campaign Frank Nickson – Talking Rugby Union
Note – views expressed in “Front Five” links do not necessarily reflect those of HarpinOnRugby
WRAP OF A WRAP
Had a go at our new wrap format this weekend having switched the Front Five segment over to this column as you see above. It certainly gave us more time to harp on our feature match and as ever Conor & Tom did a bang up job getting it done.
If you missed it, 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.
NEW LOOK BONUS CLIP
The bonus clip also got a mini makeover; instead of three of us harping on one topic we will now each bring our own chosen subjects for a brief rant. I’ve posted the transcript from my Duponte bit below FWIW.
A TONY BRIDGE TOO FAR?
2024 is an Olympic year and of course it has been great for rugby to have been included as a discipline even if it is the shortened sevens version of the game.
And from an Irish point of view we have both genders taking part in the tournament in Paris and going by the way both have played so far on the world circuit there’s every possibility for us to be in contention for a medal or two all going well.
But what I’d like to harp on here is the decision to include Antione Duponte in the French squad for the tournament. Obviously there are many benefits for this…France will certainly want to do well on their own patch especially given how the World Cup turned out. And anyone who watched the Ulster Toulouse game on Saturday evening will know he is still very much at the top of his game and given how he can create space from nothing on a pitch with 30 bodies on it, you can only imagine how he’d tear it up in sevens so when the Games are actually taking place at the end of July it should be a good advertisement for all forms of the sport.
For me though, none of those positives outweigh the downsides. Obviously for this I have to take off both my Leinster and Ireland hats because the fact that he will be unavailable for both the Six Nations and the business end of the Champions Cup certainly won’t hurt our chances at all. But with an overall rugby supporters hat on, you really do want the best players available for all the top matches and as exciting as all as the sevens code may be, surely the fifteens version has to trump it every time.
Then there’s the fact that Duponte parachuting into the French sevens squad means that someone who has been involved with sevens regularly for the past while is likely to miss out. I have also heard talk of Irish fifteens stars like Nick Timoney doing likewise and while the addition of talent like that would certainly help our chances, the actual Irish sevens men’ squad has become quite settled over the past few seasons and given these players are being denied the opportunity to achieve the honours afforded by playing for provinces, for any to also miss out on a medal chance just doesn’t sit well with me.
Of course on the women’s side the issue is even bigger since they don’t even need the Olympics to deprive the senior fifteens squad of the best available players. I could be wrong but you have to assume our last place finish in the 2023 Six Nations could have been avoided with the likes of Beibhinn Parsons and Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe involved.
At the end of the day there’s no disputing that seven into fifteen just doesn’t go evenly in every sense. The best way forward has to be to keep them apart and prioritise the version of the sport that came first.
FORMAT REFORM
I’m wary of doing these TikToks just to go along with popular views on rugby matters so this week I have gone with the (admittedly not exactly sexy) topic of Champions Cup format reform. Again I have included the transcript.
With the final round of Champions Cup pool matches coming up I suppose it’s time to have another crack at addressing the much debated issue of the format, but for this I actually don’t agree with what seems to be the popular opinion.
Having said that I should probably start by pointing out that I’m not exactly a fan of the current method either, I just disagree with what most people are finding wrong with it. Judging by comments on social media it seems that the biggest flaw of the current system is the fact that you can lose three of your four pool matches and still qualify for the knockouts.
Personally I don’t think that’s as ridiculous as you might think. For one thing, under the round robin pools of four everyone is saying we should go back to, you weren’t trying to get into the last 16 it was the last 8 and besides, teams still have qualified for the quarterfinals winning just 3 of their 6 pool matches for example in 2016 Exeter actually topped their pool despite three losses so it’s not like your record had to be all that perfect.
But more importantly we have to remember that the last 16 stage is actually replacing rounds 5 and 6 from the pools in the old method. So instead of up to 24 matches a lot of which are dead rubbers, we now actually have 8 matches all of which are straight knockout rugby and even if you did qualify with just one win, you most certainly aren’t guaranteed an easy task for getting any further.
But look like I said, I’m not wild about the current way myself so I won’t try to defend it anymore than that, what I will say is that we need to be clear on what is actually causing the problem. The domestic leagues, specifically the English & French ones, just don’t seem to be willing to give back the extra weekends required to go back to the old way so until that happens, we’re bound to be having this debate every season whatever way they structure this competition.
All I’m saying is that if there is to be a change it needs to one that fixes issues that were even there in the format during the so-called golden years, like the fact that teams have always been forced to choose between the continental and domestic fixtures when it comes to picking their strongest sides.
Until that happens it seems pointless arguing over the format, we might as well focus on the actual rugby-related questions like can anyone stop Toulouse and Bordeaux, can La Rochelle overcome their shaky start and, of course, can Leinster finally get that fifth star?
[Besides, debating formats is just boring]
LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE
It goes without saying the uncertainty over both Harry and Ciarán is a major concern for Leinster, nothing at all against Sam Prendergast but the hope is that at least one will be available for what could be a tricky outing at Welford Road. Elsewhere it was great to see the likes of Ryan, Lowe and Furlong get through the Aviva match unscathed, though the section at the bottom of the update still looks far from ideal.
Porter, Sheehan, Furlong, McCarthy, Ryan, Baird, van der Flier, Doris
Kelleher, Healy, Ala’alatoa, Molony, Conan, McGrath, Frawley/Prendergast/Tector, O’Brien T
NB : the above matchday 23 is completely from my own mind, I’m certainly not suggesting I have any ITK a la Thornley
INJURY UPDATE – AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
James Ryan: came through the game against Stade Francais with no issues and will be available for selection this week
INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:
Harry Byrne: picked up an ankle injury at training and will be further assessed this week before a final decision is made on selection
Ciarán Frawley: picked up a rib injury during the Stade Francis game and will be further assessed this week before a final decision is made on selection
INJURY UPDATE – UNAVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
Michael Milne: picked up a calf injury last week and will be unavailable for selection this week
NO FURTHER UPDATES ON:
Jimmy O’Brien (neck), Martin Moloney (bicep), Alex Soroka (foot), Charlie Ngatai (calf), Cormac Foley (shoulder), Ross Byrne (arm) and Jamie Osborne (shoulder)
LRZ TO USA
News is only breaking as I’m posting this column so haven’t had much time to react with any more than the tweet blow plus the realization that Welsh rugby seems to be in an even worse state than once thought. If they had won a RWC or Grand Slam in the past year or so I wonder if he’d be even considering “doing a Christian Wade”. Interesting POV from Harpin contributor Mark Jackson too.
I knew LRZ had a shot at starting for the Lions, I just didn't think it could be Detroit.
The Leinster-heavy Wolfhounds won in Glasgow to keep them at the top of the Celtic Challenge table as the competition goes into a bye weekend. The Clovers made it another Irish double as they edged the Lightning.
Meanwhile in the men’s AIL the top 5 were kept apart in Round 10 and all won which has of course opened up something of a gap in the middle of the table. The Dublin derby at Castle Avenue between Clontarf and Lansdowne has to be the pick of round 11.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S CELTIC CHALLENGE
ROUND 3
GLASGOW WARRIORS 12-40 WOLFHOUNDS
CLOVERS 19-17 GWALIA LIGHTNING
BRYTHON THUNDER 17-22 EDINBURGH
ROUND 4
SAT JAN 27
GLASGOW WARRIORS V CLOVERS
WOLFHOUNDS V BRYTHON THUNDER
SUN JAN 28
GWALIA LIGHTNING V EDINBURGH
MEN’S AIL
ROUND 10
LANSDOWNE 30-26 UCD
BALLYNAHINCH 36-10 CITY OF ARMAGH
SHANNON 20-24 CLONTARF
TERENURE 26-17 DUBLIN UNIV
CORK CON 23-13 YOUNG MUNSTER
ROUND 11
SAT DEC 23
CITY OF ARMAGH V TERENURE
CLONTARF V LANSDOWNE
TRINITY V SHANNON
UCD V CORK CON
YOUNG MUNSTER V BALLYNAHINCH
CHALLENGE CUP UPDATE
No second win for Black Lion yet and it looks like they’ll need to beat Clérmont in round 4 to make the knockout stages but anything is possible. Gloucester & Montpellier remain the only unbeaten sides with the latter’s trip to Benetton seeming to be the pick of the ties for the next round, unless of course the Top 14 outfit decide their home match against Pau the following weekend is more important, which I have a feeling they will.
ROUND 3
NEWCASTLE 18-57 BENETTON
OSPREYS 25-3 PERPIGNAN
SHARKS 38-7 OYONNAX
CLÉRMONT 38-17 SCARLETS
ZEBRE 20-17 DRAGONS
CASTRES 28-6 BLACK LION
EDINBURGH 20-21 GLOUCESTER
MONTPELLIER 13-3 LIONS
CHEETAHS 20-33 PAU
ROUND 4
FRI JAN 19
GLOUCESTER V CASTRES
SCARLETS V EDINBURGH
SAT JAN 20
BLACK LION V CLÉRMONT
PAU V ZEBRE
OYONNAX V CHEETAHS
BENETTON V MONTPELLIER
SUN JAN 21
PERPIGNAN V NEWC ASTLE
LIONS V OSPREYS
DRAGONS V SHARKS
HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE
No URC matches for a few weeks but given I’m still top of the league I don’t mind if I keep publishing the table any chance I get!!!
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Next up for us is of course Leinster’s trip to Leicester next weekend, Kino will join me for a preview on Friday then the wrap pod will be recorded Sunday evening. Keep up with all the latest happenings on our social media channels and please help us by commenting, liking, sharing & subscribing wherever you can.
As ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
A selection of five eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the ruggersphere.
“If it wasn’t for O’Mahony’s age profile and rumours of a departure, they would be neck and neck in the race; but you would have to favour the lanky Leinster lock to pip it at the death” Farrell’s New Year Headache is Selecting A New Captain Caolán Scully – CaolánSRugby
Note – views expressed in “Front Five” links do not necessarily reflect those of HarpinOnRugby
NEW WRAP UNWRAPPED
As you can see above, we’ll be doing things a little differently at Harpin Manor in 2024. The wrap pod from now on will be just that…a pod wrapping the latest Leinster & Ireland fixture and the “Front Five” feature will return to a written format, appearing at the tart of this column each week.
I started the Front 5 way back in July 2014 and it was a daily post which helped with regular content and also helped keep me up to date with issues outside my chosen remit. I chose to keep it when I switched to a pod format but I reckon it’s better to launch straight into the subject matter so this seems to be a logical resting place for it, although with more and more publications putting themselves behind firewalls we’ll see how long interesting links remain accessible!
HARPIN’ ON…MOST VIEWED VID OF 2023
We will still have a “bonus clip” segment in our wrap recordings except rather than me choosing a topic I’m going to let my guests harp on things they’d like to discuss.
The videos will remain in this portion of the 80+ column so for this week I will share the video which got by far the most views over the past year, namely my thoughts on the Jean Kleyn situation which I’m assuming got shared around the Springbok fan base.
SENSIBLE V SILLY TIK TOK
Since I’ve had a TikTok account I have seen a lot of different types of post; some I find hilarious but others kind of make me cringe. One of the latter for me is the “talking to myself” style so to announce the return from my “mini break” I decided to make my own. You probably think it is just as cringeworthy as any other and I wouldn’t argue as that is kind of the point!
The scene is meant to be between two versions of myself, a “sensible” one and a “silly” one – and this is actually symbolic of my general approach to content production, part of me wants to be a straight laced presenter while another can’t resist dad jokes and such. So in a way this format worked, but as I say, it will more than likely be the first AND last time I ever use it. I’m also a bit annoyed I fucked up the subtitles in a couple of places but let’s just say I’m not losing any sleep!!!
Thanks for all who gave positive feedback anyway though!
“Number of months” are obviously the last words you want to see in an injury update, particularly at the midpoint of a season which could very well mean yours is all but over. Jimmy O’Brien and Martin Moloney both got that horrible news over the holidays, the former would have of course been heavily involved in the plans for both Leinster and Ireland while Moloney is probably cursing his luck even more as he has yet to appear for Leinster after returning from a previous spell on the sidelines which began just as he broke into the team.
The “no further updates” section is also full of players who would feature heavily in Leinster’s plans but as you can see from the “x” below there was some extra good news announced after the update was published…
Good news for Leinster and Ireland – James Lowe and Tadhg Furlong are both in line to return against Stade Francais on Saturday.
NB : the above matchday 23 is completely from my own mind, I’m certainly not suggesting I have any ITK a la Thornley
INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:
James Ryan: was withdrawn before the game against Ulster Rugby as a precaution and will be further assessed this week before a final decision is made on selection
INJURY UPDATE – UNAVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
Jimmy O’Brien: has picked up a neck injury and will be unavailable for a number of months
Martin Moloney: has picked up a bicep injury and will be unavailable for a number of months
Alex Soroka: picked up a foot injury in training last week and will be unavailable for selection this week
NO FURTHER UPDATES ON:
Charlie Ngatai (calf), Cormac Foley (shoulder), Ross Byrne (arm) and Jamie Osborne (shoulder)
THE MIDDLE AISLE
This is the “middle aisle” portion of the column where I will briefly harp on issues of the day, or at least it will be from next week – that TikTok involved so much work I really don’t have the time right now to delve into much else!
URC IRISH SHIELD UPDATE
I know there will be no more URC interpros until May, but I thought I’d post the state of play one last time before that as it is so well poised.
NOV 4 CONNACHT 22-20 ULSTER
NOV 10 ULSTER 21-14 MUNSTER
NOV 25 LEINSTER 21-16 MUNSTER
DEC 2 CONNACHT 22-24 LEINSTER
DEC 22 ULSTER 20-19 CONNACHT
DEC 26 MUNSTER 3-9 LEINSTER
JAN 1 CONNACHT 22-9 MUNSTER
JAN 1 LEINSTER 21-22 ULSTER
MAY 11 MUNSTER V CONNACHT
MAY 18 ULSTER V LEINSTER
MAY 31 LEINSTER V CONNACHT
JUNE 1 MUNSTER V ULSTER
“SVNS” UPDATE
The Sevens circuit is still on a break but I’ll still post the update to remind us all how things stand. Big year for the Irish programme of course with the Olympics in July also on the schedule.
NEXT IN THE SERIES…
PERTH JAN 26-28
VANCOUVER FEB 23-25
LOS ANGELES MAR 2-3
HONG KONG APR 5-7
SINGAPORE MAY 3-5
MADRID MAY 31-JUN 2
🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE
From a Leinster POV the drab draw for Stade catches the eye and makes me wonder just how much they will prioritise their Champions Cup campaign over the coming weeks after 2 defeats from 2 and a trip to 2nd place Bayonne next up at home.
Racing held off Castres in a shootout to stay top while La Rochelle moved closer to the playoff spots by winning at Pau, and have to overcome Premiership opposition over the next two weeks if they are to also revive their Champions Cup hopes.
Round 12
SAT JAN 6
PAU 20-29 LA ROCHELLE
PERPIGNAN 27-12 OYONNAX
BORDEAUX 24-23 BAYONNE
STADE FRANCAIS 14-14 CLÉRMONT
RACING 92 34-30 CASTRES
TOULOUSE 45-0 LYON
MONTPELLIER 27-17 TOULON
Round 13
SAT JAN 27
BORDEAUX V STADE FRANCAIS
BAYONNE V OYONNAX
CASTRES V CLÉRMONT
LYON V PERPIGNAN
MONTPELLIER V PAU
TOULON V LA ROCHELLE
SUN JAN 28
RACING 92 V TOULOUSE
PREMIERSHIP UPDATE
Northampton stay top after an impressive win at Exeter, and will probably stay their after the next round with lowly Newcastle coming to Franklin’s Gardens. Sale fell out of the playoff places after getting done at home by Bristol. After 11 rounds, 70% of the league have more wins than losses so there are many twists and turns left.
ROUND 11
SALE SHARKS 14-22 BRISTOL BEARS
NEWCASTLE FALCONS 3-24 HARLEQUINS
EXETER 36-42 NORTHAMPTON SAINTS
LEICESTER TIGERS 19-10 SARACENS
BATH 17-10 GLOUCESTER
ROUND 11
FRI JAN 26
HARLEQUINS V LEICESTER TIGERS
SAT JAN 27
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS V NEWCASTLE FALCONS
BRISTOL BEARS V BATH
SARACENS V EXETER CHIEFS
SUN JAN 28
GLOUCESTER V SALE SHARKS
AIL UPDATE
Both Irish clubs were victorious in round 2 of the Celtic Challenge but the Welsh franchise Gwalia Lightning are top of the table and visit the Clovers next. The Leinster-heavy Wolfhounds side will aim to keep their 100% record intact when they travel to Glasgow and all games are available to watch for free on RugbyPass.tv
Meanwhile the new competition has put pressure on the Women’s AIL clubs – while there are no league fixtures while it’s on, there is an “All-Ireland Women’s Cup” and Old Belvedere of all teams found themselves unable to put out a side to face Galwegians in Round 1 and had to concede the match points.
I like to consider myself an ally to those pushing for the IRFU bringing the standards up to where they should be but in this one case I’m not sure it really counts as another stick to beat them with. The Celtic Challenge seems to be a net positive and given it has to be run in conjunction with other unions, there was always going to be a chance it would affect the clubs. Last year, the complaints were that the clubs didn’t have enough matches (and this was correct as the AIL was done and dusted by Christmas) so while the Belvo concession clearly demonstrates there is still a long way to go, I’d still hope at least we’re heading in a decent general direction.
Meanwhile the men’s AIL is back this week while the Bateman Cup final was retained by Terenure (who had arguably their best social media team announcement yet see below) after they overcame Young Munster and with lowly Trinity visiting Lakelands next in the league, they have every chance to climb further.
Ballynahinch will need another win over their Ulster rivals City of Armagh to stay in touch with the top four while leaders Clontarf make the trip to Shannon.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S CELTIC CHALLENGE
ROUND 2
EDINBURGH 17-27 WOLFHOUNDS
CLOVERS 20-5 BRYTHON THUNDER
GWALIA LIGHTNING 36-19 GLASGOW WARRIORS
ROUND 3
SAT JAN 13
GLASGOW WARRIORS V WOLFHOUNDS
SUN JAN 14
CLOVERS V GWALIA LIGHTNING
BRYTHON THUNDER V EDINBURGH
WOMEN’S AIL
NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND
Round 11
SAT FEB 10
SUTTONIANS V BALLINCOLLIG
COOKE V RAILWAY UNION
GALWEGIANS V UL BOHS
WICKLOW V BELVO
MEN’S AIL
BATEMAN CUP FINAL
TERENURE 22-15 YOUNG MUNSTER
ROUND 10
FRI JAN 12
LANSDOWNE V UCD
SAT DEC 16
BALLYNAHINCH V CITY OF ARMAGH
SHANNON V CLONTARF
TERENURE V DUBLIN UNIV
CORK CON V YOUNG MUNSTER
Bully’s got a special prize in store this week… but you’re going to have to be in Lakeland’s tomorrow to see what it is 👀🏆 Here’s your 23 man squad who will take to the field at 2:30 on Saturday on a quest for back to back Bateman Cups 🎯 #Onwardspic.twitter.com/zmGX54AVuy
Not many eyes in the wider rugby world fall on the Challenge Cup but those that do will no doubt be on Black Lion’s progress…the 5 match points they already have could well be enough to see them into the knockouts but who’s to say they won’t get more? This weekend they go to Castres who could well be putting more focus on their domestic standing.
ROUND 3
FRI JAN 12
NEWCASTLE V BENETTON
SAT JAN 13
OSPREYS V PERPIGNAN
SHARKS V OYONNAX
CLÉRMONT V SCARLETS
ZEBRE V DRAGONS
CASTRES V BLACK LION
EDINBURGH V GLOUCESTER
MONTPELLIER V LIONS
SUN JAN 14
CHEETAHS V PAU
HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE
Just the one URC match last weekend and the only HPL combatants to predict that the Lions would win at the Sharks were Kristian, who leapfrogged Kino into 3rd, and…wait for it…KEEGO!!! Still can’t see him making up the gap to avoid keeping the Jersey of Shame though, even if we aren’t quite yet at the halfway stage of the season.
I’m considering adding a “cup competition” to the HPL starting in Round 10 but I’ll let you know when it gets closer to the time.
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Right that’s it for now, great to be back to whatever “normal” is. The Rugby on TV feature returns as it’s regular stand alone post on Thursday, then Keego will join me for Friday’s preview of the visit of Stade while our new-look wrap pod will feature Tom & Conor recording on Sunday evening.
As ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
As pointed out in the social media posts leading readers here, this is the first of two 80+ columns to bookend a mini-break from content-producing here at Harpin Manor what with the URC taking this coming weekend off.
Our schedule was thrown out of whack by the holiday period but for the most part we gave Leinster’s interpros the full Harpin treatment although Keego swapped from the previews to the wraps with both Jay Long and Conor Cronin doing top work stepping in for the preview shows.
If you didn’t catch the Ulster wrap pod itself, here’s a link to Spotify and we’re also on Apple and most major platforms.
HARPIN’ ON…LOOKING AHEAD TO 2024
Last week’s bonus clip was a look back to 2023 so it made sense to switch to crystal ball mode for the year ahead this time around. Keego & myself offered suggestions as to what might happen as well as outlining what rugby is in store for both Leinster & Ireland.
LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE
It’s very possible we won’t get a new update until next week’s column but I will still have a go at selecting a team for the Stade match based on the info I have.
NB : the above matchday 23 is completely from my own mind, I’m certainly not suggesting I have any ITK a la Thornley
UPCOMING RUGBY ON IRISH TV
We normally do this as a separate post but like last week I’ll include it here. I can’t find any 🔝🐱🐴 , normally it’s on Premier Sports Ireland but they seem to be concentrating on the FA Cup – I’ll update if anything shows up.
FRIDAY JANUARY 5
7:45PM – SALE SHARKS V BRISTOL BEARS – PREMIERSHIP – TNT SPORTS 1
7:45PM – NEWCASTLE v HARLEQUINS – PREMIERSHIP – PR.TV*
Obviously Ulster’s win at the RDS threw the race for the shield wide open with the May 18 rematch in the Kingspan looking like it’s going to be the decider. I’m also still amazed how close all the matches have been – if it wasn’t for a last-gasp interception try at the Sportsground, all 8 matches so far will have been decided by 7pts or less.
NOV 4 CONNACHT 22-20 ULSTER
NOV 10 ULSTER 21-14 MUNSTER
NOV 25 LEINSTER 21-16 MUNSTER
DEC 2 CONNACHT 22-24 LEINSTER
DEC 22 ULSTER 20-19 CONNACHT
DEC 26 MUNSTER 3-9 LEINSTER
JAN 1 CONNACHT 22-9 MUNSTER
JAN 1 LEINSTER 21-22 ULSTER
MAY 11 MUNSTER V CONNACHT
MAY 18 ULSTER V LEINSTER
MAY 31 LEINSTER V CONNACHT
JUNE 1 MUNSTER V ULSTER
🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE
Racing slipped up getting just a losing BP at lowly Bayonne yet still remain top while Leinster’s next opposition Stade F came away from Toulon with nothing although despite being 5th they’re still within striking distance of their Parisian rivals. Meanwhile La Rochelle’s relatively comfortable dispatching of Toulouse had me wondering if the LAR>LEI>TLS>LAR cycle has finally been broken! ROGs lot can get even closer to the top six with a win at Pau in the next round.
Round 11
OYONNAX 34-13 PAU
CLÉRMONT 35-40 BORDEAUX
LYON 20-18 MONTPELLIER
BAYONNE 27-23 RACING 92
TOULON 19-5 STADE FRANCAIS
LA ROCHELLE 29-8 TOULOUSE
CASTRES 13-17 PERPIGNAN
Round 12
SAT JAN 6
PAU V LA ROCHELLE
PERPIGNAN V OYONNAX
BORDEAUX V BAYONNE
STADE FRANCAIS V CLÉRMONT
RACING 92 V CASTRES
TOULOUSE V LYON
SUN JAN 7
MONTPELLIER V TOULON
PREMIERSHIP UPDATE
Not often the top team in all three main Euro domestic leagues lose in the same weekend, however Sale were the only one to see themselves knocked off their perch as defeat to Northampton moved the Saints up to the summit with Exeter climbing to second. Leicester Tigers scoffed a decent home win over Bath although their schedule doesn’t get much easier with just the 9 Champions Cup between their next three opponents Saracens, La Rochelle and of course Leinster.
ROUND 10
BRISTOL 14-24 EXETER
SARACENS 37-19 NEWCASTLE
NORTHAMPTON 21-17 SALE SHARKS
HARLEQUINS 32-26 GLOUCESTER
LEICESTER TIGERS 35-22 BATH
ROUND 11
FRI JAN 5
SALE SHARKS V BRISTOL BEARS
NEWCASTLE FALCONS V HARLEQUINS
SAT JAN 6
EXETER V NORTHAMPTON SAINTS
LEICESTER TIGERS V SARACENS
SUN JAN 7
BATH V GLOUCESTER
AIL UPDATE
No action in the AIL but the women’s Celtic Challenge did kick off with the two newly-created Irish teams Wolfhounds & Clovers meeting at Musgrave Park. The Leinster/Ulster based side overturned a halftime deficit to finish on top, round 2 is this coming weekend all the matches will be streamed live on RugbyPass.tv the links are in the TV section further up the page.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S CELTIC CHALLENGE
ROUND 1
WOLFHOUNDS 21-15 CLOVERS
EDINBURGH 28-12 GLASGOW
BRYTHON THUNDER 5-20 GWALIA LIGHTNING
ROUND 2
SAT JAN 6
EDINBURGH V WOLFHOUNDS
CLOVERS V BRYTHON THUNDER
SUN JAN 7
GWALIA LIGHTNING V GLASGOW WARRIORS
WOMEN’S AIL
NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND
Round 11
SAT FEB 10
SUTTONIANS V BALLINCOLLIG
COOKE V RAILWAY UNION
GALWEGIANS V UL BOHS
WICKLOW V BELVO
MEN’S AIL
NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND
ROUND 10
FRI JAN 12
LANSDOWNE V UCD
SAT DEC 16
BALLYNAHINCH V CITY OF ARMAGH
SHANNON V CLONTARF
TERENURE V DUBLIN UNIV
CORK CON V YOUNG MUNSTER
HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE
The Welsh regions have been good to me in this round but still my lead at the top has been whittled down to just 1.5pts with a group forming right down to 6th ready to pounce. Round 9 is unusual as it includes two extra fixtures for the Lions in January so we’ll see how the lads get on remembering their picks! If they’re lucky I might even remind them in the WhatsApp group…
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
We’re going to take full advantage of the URC off week here at Harpin Manor to do absolutely NOTHING content-related for a few days. The plan is to be back with another 80+ column which will be back on it’s regular day, which I guess means I’ll actually see you next Tuesday!!! 😜
As ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 