Category: 80+ column

80+ column : Oct 17

A WEEKLY COLUMN LOOKING AT TOPICS BEYOND THE SCOPE 

OF OUR FEATURE MATCH OF THE WEEK

WRAP OF A WRAP

Since we switched to a pod-based format here at Harpin Manor at the start of the 22/23 season, I make it that we have done 44 “match wrap pods” covering competitive matches for both Leinster and Ireland.  

Of those, just FOUR have involved matches in which Leinster or Ireland finished on the losing side, and our wrap recorded on Sunday evening was the first involving the test side.  So it probably goes without saying that even when you factor in the whole “QF hoodoo” nonsense, it had to be easily the most difficult podcast to produce, especially since the scheduled recording time was less than 24 hours after the final whistle.

But full credit to both Mark Jackson and Conor Cronin for being ready, willing and able to take part in a full show regardless, and offering their usual excellent and honest perspectives in the process.  Credit also to Cian “RugbyKino” O’Muilleoir for offering yet another set of comments before kickoff, at halftime, and, obviously the most difficult, right after the fulltime whistle blew.

Let’s face it – very few Irish fans want to be reminded of Saturday night so the result was always going to affect our listening figures.  But I still hope I don’t need to explain just how important it was for us to record the pod anyway.  I haven’t been Harpin’ on Rugby since 2008 just because I want to celebrate victories for my teams.  I’ve been doing it because I love supporting my teams.  And to not do a show would have been in really poor taste IMO, plus there wasn’t even a tiny bit of hesitation from Mark, Conor and Cian to play their parts either.

So if you do ever get around to wanting to listen, here’s a link to Spotify and we’re also on most major platforms.

HARPIN ON…IRISH FULL TIME TAKES

One job I did spare the lads when we recorded the wrap pod was that of our weekly “bonus clip”, where we normally have an extra chat on a wider topic for sharing exclusively on YouTube.  

Instead I chose to try and capture some of the fan reaction, with videos done by myself, Kino & Keego within an hour of the final whistle, plus we’ve displayed comments posted on our regular post-match post on our Facebook page.  There’s also a clip from the actual wrap pod where Mark & Conor offer their final thoughts.

Again, I knew we wouldn’t get many viewers/listeners but I still feel it’s just as important to share our thoughts win or lose.

THANK YOU JOHNNY

Like many others I stressed that it was important for Irish fans to be mindful going online after a crushing defeat like that one, and while I did stay away for a while, when you run an online entity that focuses on fan opinion, you do have to take a peek at social media reactions eventually no matter how unpleasant.

And to be fair, when it comes to the predictable banter/slagging/taunting from fans of other nations, I totally get it.  Much of it was OTT but pretty much all of it was pretty boring and for me anyway, part and parcel of sport and certainly not worth getting triggered over.

What did get me however was the contributions from  some (a minority yes but still a significant one) Irish accounts (have trouble calling them fans) which seemed to fall into certain categories…

  1. not really fans of the sport, might watch 2 or 3 matches a year yet “always knew we’d lose”
  2. fans of the sport, know a good bit about the Laws etc, yet decided to use that knowledge by spending the last year or so doing loads of different tweets explaining why the team would “fail” so they could pick the one that looks the most accurate now and show how they “told us so”
  3. the saddest lot for me – those who only seem to watch so they can see players from their province take part and complain about the ones who don’t, and when test the team loses they imply that it would have been different with those same missing players involved.

And what makes all that most difficult to take is that, and I’ve said this many many times over the past while but I don’t mind repeating again, Andy Farrell & co literally could not have done any more in the build up to the quarterfinal – Triple Crown, series win in NZ, long winning streak, world number 1, and, oh yeah – Grand Slam.  

So maybe, just maybe, there’s a case to be made that rather than Ireland playing as underdogs against the All Blacks as we have done in World Cups past, what we had instead this time was two absolutely top notch teams going at it, and if they played each other ten times over ten weeks you could be pretty certain it would be something like 5 wins each, only on this night it was New Zealand who deserved to progress.

But another thing I have said often here is that it’s clear that different fans follow sport for different reasons.  So I guess all I can do is hope that the begrudgers are happy in themselves having the kind of mindset that produces the comments I keep seeing.  Luckily I have this column where I can vent rather than tumbling down a rabbit hole on social media.

Anyway…it goes without saying that a lot of the abuse was directed at Johnny Sexton (mostly that Crowley should have come on in the closing stages and we did suggest on the pod that it was an option though to say this is why we lost is just nuts) so I decided to do a quick tribute video which you see below.

Finally as I type I see Keith Earls has formally announced his retirement and of course we also appreciate his contributions to rugby over his career and indeed we have said so many times on the pod.

@harpinonrugby

Absolutely nothing, and we mean NOTHING can take away from what has been a heroic career. #ThankYouJohnny #irishtiktok #irelandtiktok

♬ Juliana Hyper Techno Rave Mystical – Beat Charger

W.XV UPDATE

Safe to say the Irish women had a better weekend of it, with their absolute thrashing of Kazakhstan in their opening match in the third tier of the inaugural WXV tournament.  

However much the result might look more like a strong opening spell of batting in the Cricket World Cup, the margin is not insignificant because it does appear that there is promotion from this level into next season’s WXV2 and with the format meaning we only have three matches to top a six-team pool where we don’t face all the other teams, the off the charts points difference will come in very handy indeed.

Best of luck to the girls in their second match against Colombia on Saturday, here’s to more of the same, you’ll be able to see it at 2pm Irish time via this link (after free registration).

Meanwhile the top tier doesn’t get underway until the second weekend and as you can see there are some interesting matchups, although the pick of the whole tournament surely has to be the repeat of the WRWC final in the final round when the Red Roses look for revenge against the Black Ferns.

WXV1 – Round 1

ENGLAND V AUSTRALIA

CANADA V WALES

NEW ZEALAND V FRANCE

WXV2 – Round 1

USA 36-26 SAMOA

SCOTLAND 31-17 SOUTH AFRICA

ITALY 28-15 JAPAN

Round 2

USA V SCOTLAND

ITALY V SOUTH AFRICA

JAPAN V SAMOA

WXV3 – Round 1

SPAIN 32-0 KENYA

IRELAND 109-0 KAZAKHSTAN

FIJI 67-13 COLOMBIA

Round 2

KAZAKHSTAN V KENYA

SPAIN V FIJI

IRELAND V COLOMBIA (OCT 21 2PM)

PREMIERSHIP UPDATE

For well over a decade pretty much the entire northern hemisphere has remarked on how Leinster go without our “elite” players at the start of the season and let me tell you, if we had ever shipped 65 points in our season opener whatever our lineup, it would be headline news.

So I don’t see why reigning Premiership champs Saracens should get any mitigation when they get tonked by Exeter in Round 1.  

As for Leinster’s Champions Cup opposition, they had mixed fortunes as Sale overcame Northampton at home while Leicester fell short at Bristol, and the two of them actually play each other at Welford Road in Round 2.

One interesting team selection was that of Finn Russell on the Bath bench and it seems he played a part in their win over Newcastle at the Rec, which would make you wonder if he’ll start next weekend against Saracens, might be worth a watch if so.

ROUND 1

BRISTOL 25-14 LEICESTER

EXETER 65-10 SARACENS

BATH 34-26 NEWCASTLE

GLOUCESTER 29-28 HARLEQUINS

SALE 20-15 NORTHAMPTON

ROUND 2

FRI OCT 20

NEWCASTLE V GLOUCESTER

SAT OCT 21

NORTHAMPTON V BRISTOL

SARACENS V BATH

LEICESTER V SALE

HARLEQUINS V EXETER

AIL UPDATE 

There remains three unbeaten teams in the Women’s AIL but something will have to give at Annacotty next weekend as UL Bohs host champions Blackrock in what won’t be a million miles away from a rerun of the recent Intepro final.

Also I hope it’s a mistake on the fixture list that both Old Belvedere and Suttonians are expected to play two league matches each in five days?  Not an ideal turnaround at the best of times but when you only have eight matches altogether in a tournament it doesn’t really seem fair to me.

Over in the men’s Div1A, champions Terenure fell to Clontarf in the repeat of last season’s final so Tarf join Shannon and Lansdowne as the only 100% sides so far. City of Armagh seem to have done well to get so close in their first ever home match in the top flight while UCD took the honours in the first Colours Match.

Nure will look to return to winning ways in Round 3 as they host Cork Con while there’s to be another North/South Dublin derby at Castle Ave as this time UCD are the visitors.

#SupportYourLocalClub

WOMEN’S AIL

Round 4

BALLINCOLLIG 18-17 WICKLOW

BLACKROCK 55-5 GALWEGIANS

UL BOHS 57-5 COOKE

Round 4

TUE OCT 17

OLD BELVEDERE V SUTTONIANS

Round 5

SAT OCT 21

UL BOHS V BLACKROCK

COOKE V SUTTONIANS

GALWEGIANS V OLD BELVEDERE

RAILWAY UNION V BALLINCOLLIG

MEN’S AIL

ROUND 2

UCD 35-8 DUBLIN UNIV

BALLYNAHINCH 31-28 CORK CON

CITY OF ARMAGH 26-29 LANSDOWNE

CLONTARF 26-16 TERENURE

YOUNG MUNSTER 7-35 SHANNON

ROUND 3

SAT OCT 21

SHANNON V CITY OF ARMAGH

CLONTARF V UCD

DUBLIN UNIV V YOUNG MUNSTER

LANSDOWNE V BALLYNAHINCH

TERENURE V CORK CON

HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE RETURNS

The return of the URC also means the return of the HPL…for those new to this column, this will be the third season a group of Harpin contributors predict the full URC season on Superbru and while it’s only bragging rights available for finishing first (as you see below I enjoy those rights after last season!!!) there is a booby prize for finishing last and Keego had the “honours” last time around…

NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Obviously it would have been ideal to have the dilemma of having to cover both Leinster and Ireland next weekend, but at least the URC kickoff is there to keep us busy and we will of course be giving Sunday’s opener in Scotstoun the full Harpin treatment with a lot more besides throughout the week so keep in touch on all the usual social media channels,

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

80+ column : Oct 10

A WEEKLY COLUMN LOOKING AT TOPICS BEYOND THE SCOPE
OF OUR FEATURE MATCH OF THE WEEK

WRAP OF A WRAP

I have to be honest, those permutations had me nervous right up to kickoff on Saturday, especially the one where an 8-pt Scottish win put us out; my scrambled brain concocted a scenario where they led by 5 in the dying moments before the ref awards a contentious penalty that Russell slots to send us home…but that’s the life of a sports fan, logic rarely enters into the equation.

Let’s just say those thoughts had evaporated by the 2nd minute of the match!!!

And clearly by the time we sat down to do the wrap I was wondering what all the fuss was about, and this week it was the turn of Tom “@LeinsterRoyalty” Coleman and Ciarán “@PostToPostSport” Duffy to harp on the match as well as other events from the World Cup weekend, as ever they did a bang up job.  

Click here to catch it on Spotify, and there’s a clip below

@harpinonrugby

Check out our latest pod on Apple, Spotify and most majr platforms. #IREvSCO #RWC2023 #irishtiktok #irelandtiktok

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

HARPIN ON…GETTING THROUGH THE WEEK

Just in case it needs pointing out, we here at Harpin Manor consider ourselves fans first and “experts” second.  Sure, when you’ve played and followed a sport for so long, and especially when it comes to Leinster and Ireland you’ve watched every single match at least twice for over a decade, you pick up a few things, BUT it’s the fan element we like to promote more than anything else; we certainly aren’t trying to suggest we know more than the TV pundits.

Well, at least not ALL of them….

Anyway, for our bonus clip this week we wanted to lose the analytical hat for once and harp instead on what it’s like actually being a fan, and Tom & Ciarán helped me look at just how we get through a week before what is arguably the biggest test match in Irish rugby history.

IT CAN’T END IN TIERS

For this week’s TikTok opinion I had a look at how World Rugby handles the dilemma of navigating the space between the rock which is appeasing the corporate sponsors and the hard place which is fulfilling the mandate implied in their name.

@harpinonrugby

Check out our 80+ column every Tuesday at HarpinOnRugby.com

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

10K TIKTOK

On the one hand, we were always going to be chuffed here at Harpin Manor to have a TikTok reach over 10,000 views for the first time – over the past few weeks I’ve selected a portion of Ireland matches to focus on a particula positive aspect of Ireland’s play.

But….there’s another side to that coin.  Obviously we’re not considered important enough to have our clips taken down by World Rugby???!!!  In fact each time I put them up I’m EXPECTING them to be removed, but so far they all remain out there in TikTokLand so there you go!  

Maybe I shouldn’t go focusing on the clouds when there’s such an obvious silver lining…

@harpinonrugby

You have to play with what you’ve got and make it count. #RWC2023 #IREvSCO #Irishrugby #irishtiktok #irelandtiktok

♬ Juliana Hyper Techno Rave Mystical – Beat Charger

FIJI JOINING TRC

Following on from the Portugal point above, I’m hearing rumblings that despite Fiji’s loss there might be a chance they are admitted to an expanded Rugby Championship.  I’m assuming World Rugby is looking for some kind of balance with the Six Nations so it’s possible Japan might be in with a shout as well, but we’ll have to see.

I’m mostly for moves like this, I just wish it was a more holistic approach to the game rather than admitting one or two nations to the top table every decade or so like it has been since the game went pro.

Again, a lot depends on what the plans are for this “World League”.  I have a feeling it is not going to go down well with fans in general.

NEW MUNSTER POD

We’ve had Caolán Scully on the pod several times over the past year or so, and he has been hosting his own pod but it now seems he has put together a new project focusing on Munster for the upcoming season, best wishes to himself and Patricia for The Red Army Podcast, hopefully we’ll be able to get them on to harp about it at some point, possibly before the annual St Stephens Day match.

W.XV KICKOFF

Speaking of World Leagues, the new Womens’ version gets underway this weekend.  Ireland’s poor run of form puts them in a “third tier” but I THINK that promotion to the second one is possible.

Obviously I’m not happy with what I’ve been hearing from the Irish camp, about having to live in and around Dublin to name just one, and I’m definitely not happy about this tournament being held in Dubai for all the obvious reasons.

But, as fans when the green jersey is being worn we give them our support and for the next few weeks it’s important to get behind new coach Scott Bemand and his squad as they try to top this league.

The explanations of the format I’ve sought so far haven’t been great, but the way I think it works is that while the 6 teams in WXV3 have been separated into two groups of three, they actually only play the 3 in the opposite pool AND I’m pretty sure all six are presented in the same league table.  It doesnt look like there are any playoffs, it’s just the team with the most points after 3 matches finishes first? 

I will definitely update this if I learn any more, but best wishes to the squad nonetheless.

As for the top tier WXV1, I have to wonder about the timing…surely after already moving the Women’s World Cup to a different year to distinguish it from the men’s, the last day they’d want to launch this new product is the same weekend as RWC2023 semifinals?

Well I guess at least the Australian fans won’t have any conflict, amirite?  Too soon?

WXV3 – Week 1

Fri Oct 13
FIJI V COLOMBIA
IRELAND V KAZAKHSTAN (KO 4:30pm Irish time)

Sat Oct 14
SPAIN V COLOMBIA

PREMIERSHIP UPDATE

I know how we’re supposed to feel about English rugby but hopefully even the most hardcore Irish fans of the sport has to feel for the players, staff and fans of the clubs over there which have ceased operations over the past few years.

What’s left is an embarrassingly tiny Premiership of just ten clubs and in some ways maybe it makes sense that they’re kicking off on the same weekend that England are playing in a RWC quarterfinal.

The plan is to keep tabs on the results and such here this season much as we have done for other leagues.

ROUND 1

BRISTOL V LEICESTER
EXETER V SARACENS
BATH V NEWCASTLE
GLOUCESTER V HARLEQUINS
SALE V NORTHAMPTON

AIL UPDATE 

After the women’s league has already had three rounds, the men got underway last weekend and by the looks of things defending champions Terenure didn’t have everything their own way against Ballynahinch yet still came out with a win to start the season.

New boys City of Armagh managed to get out of Cork with a losing bonus point while Tarf, Lansdowne and Shannon were the other winners from round 1.

Next up we have some interesting derbies, with top of the list being a repeat of last season’s final as Nure head to Castle Avenue as Young Munster host Shannon, all after the Friday Night Colours Match at Belfield Bowl.

Over in the women’s comp, Railway Union, UL Bohs and champions Blackrock all continued their perfect starts although Rock have only played twice over the three rounds so far.   The trio have also been kept apart in Round 4.

#SupportYourLocalClub

WOMEN’S AIL

Round 3

SUTTONIANS 3-38 UL BOHS
GALWEGIANS 5-63 RAILWAY UNION
COOKE 15-24 BALLINCOLLIG
WICKLOW 10-27 BLACKROCK

Round 4

SAT OCT 14
BALLINCOLLIG V WICKLOW
BLACKROCK V GALWEGIANS
OLD BELVEDERE V SUTTONIANS
UL BOHS V COOKE

MEN’S AIL

ROUND 1

DUBLIN UNIV 24-34 CLONTARF
LANSDOWNE 29-14 YOUNG MUNSTER
SHANNON 27-22 UCD
TERENURE 16-13 BALLYNAHINCH
CORK CON 28-21 CITY OF ARMAGH

ROUND 2

FRI OCT 13
UCD V DUBLIN UNIV

SAT OCT 14
BALLYNAHINCH V CORK CON
CITY OF ARMAGH V LANSDOWNE
CLONTARF V TERENURE
YOUNG MUNSTER V SHANNON

NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Big, big week coming up, obviously we’ll be giving Ireland QF date with destiny the full Harpin treatment with a preview on Friday and a wrap pod on Sunday, and also take note that this time the team will be announced on Wednesday at noon Irish time.

So please comment, like, share & subscribe to our feeds & channels whenever the mood takes you.

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

80+ column : October 3

A WEEKLY COLUMN LOOKING AT TOPICS BEYOND THE SCOPE 

OF OUR FEATURE MATCH OF THE WEEK

WRAP OF A (NOT REALLY A) WRAP

Had a brilliant chat with Messrs Kelly, Scully & Lockhart on Sunday evening, with another one earlier in the week with Mr Long to edit in, and the lads did brilliantly going over the RWC so far.

Then I sat down to do said editing and found out that my own audio sounded like I was talking from behind a cushion!!!!  It was really, really, bad.  So I had to go back and re-record all of my bits and I think I just about managed to fix it but it took ages.

For the first part the lads summarized Pool B so far, then they each took one of the other pools, and finally we got their expectations for the rest of the tournament.  Click here to catch it on Spotify, and there’s a clip below

@harpinonrugby

We’re partial to an all-provincial panel or two here at Harpin Manor… #irishtiktok #irelandtiktok #RWC2023

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

HARPIN ON…THE PROVINCES PRE-URC KICKOFF

For the bonus clip since I had an all-provincial panel I thought it would be rude not to get them to also harp on their own URC squads with the kickoff just a few weeks away.

On the audio problems I mentioned above, I also had to re-record mine for this and in the intro I tried to slow down my words just a bit to get it to align with the video but instead I ended up sounding like I was stoned!!!!  So needless to say I didn’t bother altering it for the rest of the video.

Honestly….I wasn’t stoned.   HONEST!!!!!  Stop looking at me like that!!!

DON’T TAKE THE BAIT

Truth be told, I never really liked the word “clickbait” because it suggests that it’s only bad faith actors online who are tricking you into giving them your attention.  Why don’t we call a beautiful movie star holding a beer on a billboard “lookbait”?

But when you appreciate that it only really applies to specific types of links, for me it’s not called out often enough so when I saw this article on the totally-media-fabricated bullshit narrative that is the “Ireland and Scotland colluding to produce a result to qualify them both” non-story, I decided to make it the subject of this week’s 80+ TikTok.  

@harpinonrugby

Check out our 80+ every Tuesday at harpinonrugby.com #irishtiktok #Irelandtiktok #rugbyunion rugby

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

POOL B PERMUTATIONS

Following on from my TikTok bit above, the X below shows what little I thought of the actual theories being shared by some Springbok fans as well as being stupidly suggested in a press conference.

Now to the serious matter of what the actual permutations actually are.  The bonus point system as used in this World Cup, which we also see in the URC, Premiership and HCC, means that there are a crazy amount of different ways the match points can be divided, which along with the added wrinkle of points difference means there’s a lot of ways Saturday’s match in Paris can go.

SIDEBAR : just to point out that the alternative bonus point system I have been harping on for years to be standard across the sport, namely the one used in the 🔝🐱🐴 and Super Rugby where you must get 3 more tries than your opponent to get the bonus point, reduces the amount of possibilities a LOT.  But I digress.

Full kudos to Glasgow Warriors fan Kevin Millar who took the time to put together this graphic which fully outlines all the possibilities…

And finally, going back to the unlikely option where the Boks get eliminated, I could not have a segment on permutations without a RugbyKino contribution so here is an X from him on the likelihood (barring conspiracies of course)…

WORLD RUGBY SNAFU

Can’t believe I can do a third segment on permutations but they are actually so confusing that even the World Rugby account got them mixed out, with Russ Petty having to point out the error of their ways as they tried to srt out what could happen in Pool A…

ANOTHER ONE GONE

Tragic news for yet another club in the English system, with the Jersey Reds, ironically the reigning Championship, er, champions, suddenly announcing they’ve gone under, despite the fact that the 2023/24 season had already kicked off with the Premiership Cup which for the first time in a while includes the sides from the next tier down.

I really, really, really don’t understand how professional clubs aren’t forced to prove their financial viability not only before a season begins, but even before the fixtures are released!!!!  Obviously going out of business is always terrible for news for all involved with a club, but to let a few matches go before pulling the plug surely has to affect everyone involved a whole lot more, from employees assuming job security right through to fans who had purchased season tickets and merch.

And what’s more it doesn’t look like this is the end of it.  I know the Reds weren’t part of the PLR group, but their demise is clearly part of the problem the failed business model English club rugby has operated since the game went pro.

BALL IN PLAY

Had to laugh at Ian Foster’s soundbite about “ball in play”.  Apparently the suggestion is that a match with a high BIP time is better entertainment for the fans than one with a low one. 

Well if that’s the case, then using the All Black’s drubbing of Italy and the Springboks/Ireland classic weren’t really the best examples for him to use to make his case.

Now I totally get that when a low BIP can often be down to a frustrating series of reset scrums, and in general, I’d agree it would be a good idea to speed things up. 

But as for that match last week….come on.  Oftentimes, for me anyway, the time leading up to set pieces was a large part of the entertainment!!! Like when the Boks had a couple of scrums under the Irish posts in the first half.  South Africa would have been expected to score more often than not, until you factor in the Irish defence.

We have often harped on how missed tackle stats can be misleading, IMO the only thing Foster has done with his remarks is point out that BIP can be too.

AIL UPDATE 

Just one rearranged match in the Women’s AIL last week so not much change in the league table.  The champions Blackrock travel to Wicklow in round 3 this weekend.

Meanwhile the men’s league gets underway with a full round of matches.  Terenure begin the defence of their title by hosting Ballynahinch at Lakelands while the top division’s newly-promoted second Ulster club, City of Armagh, get their first taste of Division 1A action when they travel to Temple Hill to play Cork Con, a match which is to be livestreamed.

#SupportYourLocalClub

WOMEN’S AIL

Round 2

SUTTONIANS 10-47 RAILWAY UNION RFC

ROUND 3

SAT OCT 7

SUTTONIANS V UL BOHS

GALWEGIANS V RAILWAY UNION

COOKE V BALLINCOLLIG

WICKLOW V BLACKROCK

MEN’S AIL DIV 1A

ROUND 1

SAT OCT 7

DUBLIN UNIVERSITY V CLONTARF

LANSDOWNE V YOUNG MUNSTER

SHANNON V UCD

TERENURE V BALLYNAHINCH

CORK CON V CITY OF ARMAGH

NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Back to Ireland action this weekend, so Ireland v Scotland will of course be getting the full Harpin treatment with a preview Friday, wrap pod Sunday and a whole lot more the rest of the week.

So please comment, like, share & subscribe to our feeds & channels whenever the mood takes you.

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

80+ column : Sep 26

A WEEKLY COLUMN LOOKING AT

TOPICS BEYOND THE SCOPE 

OF OUR FEATURE MATCH OF THE WEEK

WRAP OF A WRAP

Obviously after such a big Irish win the wrap pod is that much more enjoyable, but even on top of that I had two excellent analysts in Mark Jackson and Tom Coleman helping me harp on the 80 minutes.  There may not have been a lot of scores but there were definitely a lot of critical moments and as ever we worked our way through the exciting timeline from start to finish.  Click here to catch it on Spotify but you’ll also find it on Apple and most major platforms.

HARPIN ON…FINAL THOUGHTS AFTER RSAvIRE

With matches kicking off at both 4:45 and 8pm on Sundays during the World Cup, that puts time restraints on our wrap pod recording and unfortunately we had to ditch plans for a bonus pod this week, instead I put a clip from the actual pod up on YouTube which you see below.

But with Ireland off next weekend, Mark Jackson has kindly agreed to come back and harp on the topic we had chosen, namely how coaches adapt during a match when one part of the game plan isn’t working, hopefully I’ll be able to post this by Saturday.  

TENACIOUS IRISH D

It goes without saying but the RSAvIRE rewatch was beyond fascinating, and I for one was fixated on a pair of Springbok scrums in our 22 around the mid point of the first half.  We hadn’t even troubled the scorers at this stage and we were in grave danger of going ten points down but with some determined defending, helped out a bit by poor opposition decision making, we kept them out and we put together the TikTok below, all while knowing full well of course that at some point it will be taken down. #LetTheClipsPlay

@harpinonrugby

In a low scoring battle between the best teams on the planet, defence is everything. #rwc2023 #ShoulderToShoulder #RSAvIRE #irelandtiktok #irishtiktok

♬ Juliana Hyper Techno Rave Mystical – Beat Charger

SING WHILE THEY’RE WHINGING

Here’s another TikTok video, this my weekly “rant” I suppose you could call it.  I didn’t really want to have to weigh in on the whole Zombie nothing-burger but in the end it seemed to be the perfect topic for this segment.  I’ve added the tweet that appears in the clip plus another one I thought of using.

@harpinonrugby

Check out our latest 80+ column at HarpinOnRugby.com every Tuesday. #irishtiktok #irelandtiktok

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com
https://twitter.com/canice_clooney/status/1705974007621619941?s=20

AIL UPDATE RETURN

I’m very much kicking myself that I missed the Women’s AIL kickoff last week in this column so I’ll try to make up for it here (still means I’m giving the league more coverage than most outlets unfortunately).

As you can see, with a 9-team league plus a postponement and a Round 2 fixture still to be played this Thursday, this year’s league is still getting off the ground but still there have been some predictable results for the big teams, although the big opening day Dublin derby between Rock and Belvo was close and got good coverage with a live screening on YouTube.

We’ll be following the competition here throughout as well as the men’s when that kicks off in October.

Round 1

BLACKROCK COLLEGE 22 – 17 OLD BELVEDERE

GALWEGIANS 12 – 25 BALLINCOLLIG

SUTTONIANS P-P RAILWAY UNION RFC

WICKLOW RFC 7 – 27 UL BOHEMIAN

Round 2

OLD BELVEDERE 32 – 0 WICKLOW RFC

RAILWAY UNION RFC 71 – 7 COOKE

UL BOHEMIAN 82 – 0 GALWEGIANS

Thu Sep 28

SUTTONIANS v RAILWAY UNION RFC

WXV SQUAD

While we’re on the subject of the Women’s game the squad for the WXV3 tournament was announced by new head coach Scott Bemand.  Obviously I’m not crazy about the fact that we’re in the third tier of this new competition, nor am I crazy about the whole “being played in Dubai” aspect of it either, and finally there’s this “your chances of playing for Ireland are better if you live in or around Dublin” mantra which really does sound tone deaf considering not only all the women’s game on these shores has gone through in recent years, but also how much it has progressed elsewhere.

Still, we plan to give the girls our full support ounce the competition rolls around. 

WXV3 Ireland Fixtures

• 13th October v Kazakhstan 16.30 Irish time

• 21st October v Colombia 14.00 Irish time

• 28th October v Spain 14.00 Irish time

All games will be streamed for free on World Rugby’s RugbyPass platform.

MAD DOG RETIRES

Very sad to hear of the retirement of Ian Madigan, although it does look like he has a promising future in the punditry game as he has been demonstrating throughout the World Cup so far.

ICYMI we dedicated a Throwback Thursday post to him last week, looking back to an article I wrote when he announced he would be leaving Leinster, to which he graciously replied.

POSSIBLE RWC FORMATS

This is an issue which comes up every World Cup going way, way back.  What is the best way of actually staging a RWC?  The four pools of five has been going quite a while now, yet with one team missing out each round and an insistence on midweek matches it has offered some serious challenges to organisers.  For example, France play their four pool matches over 30 days while Namibia complete theirs in just 19.

What is the answer?  Honestly none will be perfect.  Some say they are planning to move to 24 nations, which would be good in one aspect as it would include more lower tier nations, yet while four pools of six might solve the uneven fixture problem, it also adds one extra match which would put extra pressure on squads meaning they would probably have to be increased, thus putting financial pressure on those same smaller nations.

I’ve wondered if some kind of “cross pool” method might work  with a draw instead creating six pools of four.  With the pools paired off AB, CD and EF, everyone in one pool could get four matches against teams from the other one.  Then the top eight (pool winners + 2, old school HCup style) could advance to the quarterfinals, with possibly a plate competition for the next eight with next RWC qualification on the line.  That way no team plays more than 7 matches, plus with 3 set groups of teams playing each other, they could be held exclusively Friday, Saturday and Sunday thus ensuring 7-day turnarounds for all squads.

Everyone seems to be offering suggestions so that’s mine!

MORE PERMUTATIONS 

When he’s not going back and forth to Paris offering excellent reports from Ireland’s RWC matches, Cian “RugbyKino” O’Muilleoir has also been known to produce excellent spreadsheets allowing us number crunching fans to look at all the possibilities with bonus points and what-not, and here he has done one for the four World Cup pools, simply plug in the results you think might happen and find out who makes the last 8 and who plays who.  Simples!

NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

By rights I should be taking things easy this week what with Ireland off next weekend, but I guess the World Cup bug has got hold of me so I have a few little things planned for the coming days.  Biggest one is on Sunday and instead of a wrap pod I’m assembling another “all-provincial panel” to look at not only the tournament so far, but also the prospects for the 4 provinces with the URC kickoff coming think and fast.

Please comment, like, share & subscribe to our feeds & channels whenever the mood takes you.

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

80+ column : Sep 19

A WEEKLY COLUMN LOOKING AT TOPICS BEYOND THE SCOPE 

OF OUR FEATURE MATCH OF THE WEEK

WRAP OF A WRAP

For new readers, listeners, our main feature each week here at Harpin On Rugby is a “wrap pod” where we go through Leinster or Ireland’s match from the previous weekend.  This week I was joined by Conor Cronin and Rich Mifsud with a couple of reports from Cian “RugbyKino” O’Muilleoir recorded from the stadium in Nantes on the night.  Also there’s more “time travel” like last week, since we now record at 6:30pm for RWC it means we can’t give our report on the 8pm kickoff so we hand over to “Future Jeff” who will be getting a lot of work over the coming weeks.  As ever the lads did a bang up job, click here to listen on Spotify or you’ll find it on most major platforms, see a small sample below.

@harpinonrugby

Our #IREvTON wrap pod now available on Apple, Spotify and most platforms #RWC2023 #ShoulderToShoulder

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

HARPIN ON…BUNDEE AKI

Should have been PotM last week, deservedly was PotM this, so we decided to dedicate our bonus clip to Bundee Aki and how he has made a strong claim for Ireland’s 12 jersey for the big matches to come.

SH*T RASSIE SAYS

For the week that’s in it, this week’s harpin’ point for TikTok is about our good friend Rassie Erasmus.

@harpinonrugby

SH*T RASSIE SAYS #RWC2023 #rugby #rugbyunion #Irishrugby #IREvRSA #ShoulderToShoulder #irishtiktok #irelandtiktok

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com

LEINSTER V ULSTER

Although of course we’re mostly wearing our green goggles these days, the blue need to be kept close – after the comprehensive win down in Musgrave Park a couple of weeks ago Leinster are closer to home this Friday evening as they host Ulster at Navan RFC.  Just over a month to go until the URC kicks off so it will be interesting to see how the squad is shaping up.  I have a ticket but I’m still not 100% sure I’ll be able to make it, fingers crossed.

#LETTHECLIPSPLAY

As a counter to the really annoying call from certain quarters of the ruggersphere to “Let The Boys Play”, I’m trying to get this hashtag going in defence of much more prolific content creators like Squidge who are being denied by World Rugby (although it has the whiff of corporate overlords about it) when it comes to sharing and analysing clips and images from the Rugby World Cup.

It’s 2023 FFS.  No matter how much broadcasters might live in a world where fans only want to consume their output, the fact remains that a significant portion rely on the independent sector, and while I certainly wouldn’t expect myself to be included, I really do think accommodation should be made for the top influencers, it has to be good for the sport and also has to be good for the sponsors.

Obviously it needs to be monitored but isn’t that the case with all broadcast material mainstream or no?  Let the clips play!!!!

PS – literally as I finished typing the above bit, I spotted this poll on “x” so you can probably guess how I voted…

COMING HOME? 

In “Future Jeff”s report on England’s win over Japan at the weekend he may have been a little bit harsh about the English performance, I mean any team would take two wins out of two to start a World Cup however they were achieved, and however the opposition was playing.

But you still need to check the reactions, and many on English media, mainstream and social, seem to have forgotten what caveats are.  Yes, yes, I know this is an Irish rugby site so we’re far from their biggest fans, but goggles aside, if England are genuinely happy with their performances to date, especially when you factor in the standards they should be expecting given player pool etc, then I’ll have whatever they’re having, thank you very much.

PS found this quote on “x”…

IT’S VERY SIMPLE, SIMON

“There was one tweet that pissed me off, however, because rather than come from a random fan this was by an actual member of the Munster squad.  Only thing I will add to posting it below is this : imagine the uproar if it were a Leinster squad player after the boys in blue won a trophy.  Articles would be written about it.  Hang on never mind articles….PLAYS would be written.“

I wrote the above in the final 80+ column of the 22/23 season about a tweet by Simon Zebo and I was careful not to use his name because I really thought it was a “one off” but no, it really does look like he has little or no control over either himself or his social media accounts.

Now I guess we have to take him at his word about the posts he was “liking” (although if it really was his kids I’m not sure I’d be too keen to involve them in all of this) but even without that side of it, I have to say he really needs to make a simple decision as to whether he wants to slag off Leinster fans or be a serious pundit, and when I say “serious” of course I know they need an element of humour and banter but he really has been not only crossing “the line” but also catapulting himself way beyond it.

I guess I qualify as a “Dermot” to him so he probably wouldn’t listen to me but hopefully someone around him has had a word.

NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Next up here at Harpin Manor we’re all about the clash with the reigning World Champions.  Preview will drop either late Thursday or in the afternoon on Friday, we’ll be on “x” throughout the match and finally of course the wrap pod on Sunday.  If I can make it to Navan on Friday I hope to do a TikTok report so keep an eye out for that as well.  Please comment, like, share & subscribe to our feeds & channels whenever the mood takes you.

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

80+ column : Sep 12

A WEEKLY COLUMN LOOKING AT TOPICS BEYOND THE SCOPE 

OF OUR FEATURE MATCH OF THE WEEK

WRAP OF A WRAP

With World Cup matches coming thick and fast over the next couple of months, our pod recording schedule has to be modified.  We normally kickoff the wrap pod at 8pm on a Sunday but due to Wales v Fiji we moved it up an hour.  Plus, since that match was something we wanted to harp on, I had to use a time machine of sorts to get my report in!  As ever both Cian O’Muilleoir and Ciarán Duffy did a bang up job going over the match be sure to check it our at this Spotify link or on whatever platform you use.

HARPIN ON…IRELAND WITH/WITHOUT SEXTON

With Sexton back on the pitch for the first time since the Grand Slam was in the bag, we had a chat for our bonus clip 

DISAGREEMENT?👍DISRESPECT?👎

This week’s TikTok harpin point looks at whether or not it’s ok to analyse a referee’s performance.  Since the Wales v Fiji match I’ve been hearing the “we must never criticise the ref” mantra from some surprising sources, I have to say.

In the video I mentioned one of the tweets I posted while the match was still on, for full disclosure I’m adding the other ones.  Maybe, just maybe, the Oprah one is straying towards disrespectful?  I don’t think so but others might.  

The point is that while I know social media isn’t the be all and end all of anything, it can be a decent gauge of opinion from hard core fans and in all my years following rugby on Twitter/x I have never seen this much agreement across the board on a referee’s performance, including some Welsh fans.

Does it mean the ref in question should never hold a whistle again?  I really don’t think so, and if there are to be “repercussions” I really don’t want to know.  In fact he’s actually AR1 for Ireland’s next match against Tonga and I for one have no problem with that FWIW.

One last point on the video…you have no idea how close I came to taking out all the recording equipment and doing it over when I saw that curled up collar!!!!  And if you haven’t noticed it yet it’s probably all you can see now!!!! Ah well….

@harpinonrugby

Check out harinonrugby.com for our weekly 80+ column looking at topics from all across the ruggersphere

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

LEINSTER PRESEASON FRIENDLY

Loads of TikToks in this week’s column, I pledged to get in front of the camera more this season, so here’s one I did Sunday morning on Leinster’s comprehensive preseason win down in Musgrave Park on Friday evening.

And as you can see I really pushed the boat out with the special effects – I tell ya, between time travel and magic jersey changes, we spare no expense here at Harpin Manor!!!!

@harpinonrugby

Popped the aul blue jersey back on for a quick vid on the Munster v Leinster preseason friendly from Friday night

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

AISLING’S RWC2023 TRAVEL GUIDES

Unfortunately there have many reports of fans having difficulties getting to matches on time, like Ireland’s opener against Romania.  Obviously it’s very easy to go on social media and call the organisation (or lack of it) a “shambles” but Irish fan Aisling O’Connor has found a much more practical way forward.

I very much doubt they’ll be able to improve their transport infrastructure much in time for fan heading to matches over the coming weeks so Aisling, a former president of the Official Leinster Supporters Club and a well seasoned rugby traveller all over the world at this stage, has been posting logistical information as well as directing people how to get more.  If you’re over in France or planning to travel I strongly recommend you follow her.

BIGGAR PROBLEMS

After my agreeing with most of social media over the Wales v Fiji officiating, I think I’m actually swimming against the tide when it comes to my thoughts on Dan Biggar giving his team mates a rollicking at the end of the first in the very same match.

He wanted the ball put dead but the others played on and while I do get the importance of showing a united front out on the pitch, I can also appreciate the frustration from the leadership because, let’s face it, it was absolutely right and proper that the ball needed to be put dead.  I saw loads of comments directed at Dan but I think I’d be inclined to back him here.  It’s a World Cup, emotions are high, you’ve just played 40m of test rugby, no matter how much experience you have it’s not always easy to switch on the filter.

SCREECHING TO THE CHOIR

I have four kids, and possibly more to the point I was one myself back in the day, so I can totally imagine how exciting a prospect it would be to be allowed to sing at a massive global event like the Rugby World Cup.

But let’s face it…while the choir might work for some national anthems like The Flower Of Scotland (remember at Murrayfield they actually stop playing instruments at one point and let everyone sing like they’re a choir anyway) the more military style ones like for Argentina and, yes, especially France, have had the life sucked out of them by the format.

Personally I’m not always the biggest fan of going too strongly into symbols of nationalism, however I don’t reckon singing anthems before international matches is too strong to begin with, and I have always been of the opinion that each nation should be able to have theirs performed in a manner of their choosing.

But anyway for this World Cup, I understand they are considering a change, and though that would be tough on those who have been looking forward to their moment in the spotlight, I think it would be the right call.

EITHER/OR FOR THE ALL BLACKS PLEASE

Speaking of performances before kickoffs, I was never a fan of the All Blacks and others getting to do extra ones when others can’t, although with the Haka, Cibi and such practically being part of the sport’s DNA at this stage it would probably be harsh to ban it altogether.  

But I reckon for the All Blacks to take even more extra time to have a huddle before they did their haka ahead of the opener against France was very much taking the piss.

NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Next up here at Harpin Manor we’re looking ahead to our next Pool B assignment with Tonga.  There will be a preview at the end of the week, social media coverage throughout, a wrap pod on Sunday evening and all the usual extra bits in between.  As well as the podcast feed we’re on X, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Mastodon so please follow us wherever you can 

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

80+ column : Sep 5 2023

A TUESDAY COLUMN LOOKING AT

TOPICS BEYOND THE SCOPE 

OF OUR FEATURE MATCH OF THE WEEK

GUEST POD

With one more weekend without an Irish men’s match ahead of RWC2023 I decided to take it easy on the content-creating front but I did agree to do a pod for Caolán Scully which was part of his preview series and looked specifically at Ireland’s chances.

In the pod I suggest that if Ireland should have “Adversity” as a buzzword we should also go with “Belief” as well, and just to get ahead of the jokes I pointed out that I know my accent makes it sound like I’m a rugby version of Tad Lasso and apparently one of Caolán’s mates agreed…

Anyway the pod was released as a joint project so it’s on my feed as number 272 but I’d also like to plug Caolán’s pod so if you haven’t heard it already check it out below.

HARPIN ON…IRELAND’S OPTIONS AT 5, 7 & 14

This week I am grateful to Caolán for letting me use his pod recording for getting two more instalmetns of my “Ireland’s options” series done, and I am also grateful to Cian “RugbyKino” O’Muilleoir for taking the time to record his bit on jersey number 7.

IRELAND’S BENCH AT RWC2023

There are only two positions left to do in our “Ireland’s options” series, I gave each contributor a choice of jersey numbers so the two that got left behind are 13 and 15 so I will do them myself in a video to be recorded Wednesday.  I also did a brief TikTok on Ireland’s bench which you can see below, the plan is to do video like that every week throughout the season so you have been warned!

@harpinonrugby

from our latest 80+ column over on harpinonrugby.com

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

MORE CONGRATS TO LEINSTER WOMEN

I’ve said it on Twitter/x and on the pod already but I literally can’t give enough praise to Leinster’s women’s squad over their Interpro title secured at Musgrave Park they had to do it the hard way yet ended up doing it in style.

I’ve also said this many many times before but I’ll keep repeating it until it happens…the provincial teams need to play more often throughout the season IMO.  I know circumstances are different but a few friendlies with Scots and Welsh teams plus a home and away calendar for the Interpro itself must be doable.

PREDICTION SPREADSHEET

When we’re not calling him Rugby Kino here at Harpin Manor, Cian O’Muilleoir is The Prince Of Permutations as his tournament spreadsheets are legendary in that they allow you to plug in different scores to see what happens next.

He has worked with another Irish twitter rugby fan/legend Justin Deegan to produce one for RWC2023, just follow the instructions below to sample it for yourself…

Just save a copy to your own Google account, then plug in the scores and bonus points as they happen or as you predict and it’ll do the rest, all the way through to the finals. It includes most of the tiebreaker calculations and can handle head to head result extraction for up to 5 teams on tied points in any given group, for all the groups.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15sAj0aIeO999HbtoOxyzk-OxRzvaVt1r/edit?usp=drivesdk&ouid=101401552175354143604&rtpof=true&sd=true

LEINSTER MEN PRESEASON

Almost as if to taunt us with one final reminder of how last season’s URC went just before the RWC kicks off, Munster have not only scheduled a men’s friendly with Leinster kicking off at 6pm on Friday (therefore finishing just as France v New Zealand gets underway), but if fans of the boys in blue are unable to travel we will have to pay at least €6 to Access Munster for the privilege.  Since it’s money that technically goes to support Irish Rugby, it should be worth it but I’ll leave that determination with yourselves.  I for one am very interested to see what kind of lineup we put out.  And don’t forget there’s a second match set with Ulster taking place on Friday September 22 kicking off at 6:30pm at Navan RFC, tickets can be bought here.

🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE

It’s barely the beginning of September and the Top Quatorze is already three rounds in, because of course it is.  I fully expect within the next couple of years the first round in a new season will actually take place before the previous year’s final, rule it out at your peril.

With the league’s penchant for teams skimping on away selections, it’s actually not that often that teams win or lose all of their opening three matches, and this year is no exception with only Stade Francais at the top and USAP at the bottom being perfect in their own way.

And because the World Cup is actually on French soil, they had to leave a massive gap between rounds 3 and 4 so it’s very difficult to speculate how the league is going to unfold from here but you whatever happens we’ll be following it all on this column throughout the season.

Round 1

Montpellier 26-15 La Rochelle

Perpignan 7-29 Stade Francais

US Oyonnax 36-17 Clérmont

Castres 24-23 Pau

Lyon 27-15 Toulon

Racing 92 23-18 Bordeaux

Bayonne 26-7 Toulouse

Round 2

Toulouse 38-13 Montpellier

Toulon 19-14 Bayonne

Bordeaux 25-23 Castres

Clérmont 38-14 Perpignan

Pau 19-17 Racing 92

La Rochelle 35-14 Lyon

Stade Francais 28-18 Oyonnax

Round 3

Bordeaux 22-17 Toulon

Clérmont 11-10 La Rochelle

Castres 37-0 Bayonne

Stade Francais 24-9 Montpellier

Pau 40-10 Lyon

Racing 92 59-10 Lyon

Oyonnax 21-27 Toulouse

Round 4

Sat October 29

Bayonne v Stade Francais

Perpignan v Pau

La Rochelle v Castres

Lyon v Clérmont

Montpellier v Racing 92

Toulon v Oyonnax

Toulouse v Bordeaux

NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Back to full swing this week here at Harpin’ Manor, I’ll be working on that final video for the series on Ireland’s starting options this Wednesday, with just jerseys 13 and 15 left, then on Thursday our “Upcoming Rugby on Irish TV” post is back with a vengeance before we turn our full attention to Ireland v Romania with a preview featuring Mark Jackson on Friday, social media commentary throughout the match itself and of cours the wrap pod recording Sunday evening where we’re planning on attempting some time travel so be sure and look out for that, 

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

80+ column – 29.08.23

A WEEKLY COLUMN LOOKING AT TOPICS BEYOND THE SCOPE 

OF OUR FEATURE MATCH OF THE WEEK

WRAP OF A WRAP

Well folks RWC is almost upon us so it’s about time we cranked the content-producing levels up a notch at Harpin Manor with the return of this 80+ column, where as the above blurb says, I look beyond the scope of our feature match each week and offer thoughts on other issues around the ruggersphere.

First up as ever just a quick reminder of our final wrap pod before the Big Show kicks off, ICYMI click here to check out episode 271 where myself, Mark Jackson & Conor Cronin harp mostly on Ireland v Samoa & the Irish squad announcement.  As ever the lads did a bang up job, as did Keego for the preview show on the Friday.

HARPIN ON…IRELAND’S OPTIONS AT 3 & 6

The “bonus clip” is back on our YouTube channel, in recent weeks I have used them to get opinions from all contributors on the various options Ireland have in the 15 starting positions ahead of the World Cup so be sure and subscribe to the feed and check back to see the one’s we’ve covered already – this week Mark & Conor looked at two positi9ns from the pack.

ENOUGH WITH THE DRAW ALREADY!!!

Probably not a good idea but I’ve decided to try and get in front of the camera more often this season, so each week I’ll do one of these 80+ column segments in TikTok form…this week’s is a reaction to the tweet below

@harpinonrugby

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com

IF YOU CAN’T DO THE TIME…

Sure we all want to see the best players at the Rugby World Cup, but come on…with all the kerfuffle around the Owen Farrell and Scott Barrett rulings, I can’t understand the opinion that “I’m delighted they’ll be able to play”.  Do I have to point out that it’s not about the actual players themselves, nor the countries they play for?  What’s the point in having sanctions if you’re going to sidestep using them just because there happens to be a tournament coming up?  OK obviously we can’t say for sure that’s what WR is doing with the rulings, but I can say that if we feel players have committed dangerous acts then it shouldn’t matter a damn what big matches are coming up, they should have to sit them out same as everyone else.

CAN’T SAY IT ENOUGH – #BACKTHE33

NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Since this is the first 80+ of the new season I’ll keep it short and hopefully sweet but I am pretty sure there will be plenty of topics on which to harp over the coming weeks so stay tuned.  Just one more bit of content to come this week, namely one more “all-provincial pod” ahead of the World Cup then next week we’ll be back to full swing.

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

80+ column : Season Finale

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

WRAP TO WRAP ALL WRAPS

Well it didn’t exactly end how I wanted as a Leinster fan, but I still have to say this was by far and away the most enjoyable season of Harpin’ On Rugby yet.

Of course the Grand Slam in the midst of it all helped a lot, but even without it the switch from article- to podcast-based content went really well, mostly because it meant I was working a lot more with fellow fans over the course of the campaign.  

So here’s the part where I offer thanks to all the amazing contributors who appeared on the pods for Season 4 going right the way back to Sunday, August 21.  Here’s a list of the ‘main group’ including their total Harpin caps to date…

Neil ‘Keego’ Keegan (57)

Tom Coleman (38)

Conor Cronin (38)

Mark Jackson (37)

Rich Mifsud (26)

Cian ‘RugbyKino’ O’Muilleoir (21)

with very honourable mentions to Ciarán Duffy, Nathan Johns, ‘Big’ Joe Sheppard, Padraig Kelly, Caolan Scully, Peter Lockhart, Ian Frizzell, Stephen Murphy, @IrishWomens, Michelle Tobin, Sandy Smith, Francisco Isaac, Justin Middleton, AP Cronje, Brian Moylett, Lee Griffith, Rhys John, Illtud Dafydd & David Arnott.

One thing I knew from the outset was that I couldn’t possibly hope to produce 2, often 3 pods per week without much commitment from others and while it goes without saying, I’ll do it anyway, I am extremely grateful to all of the above for volunteering their time this season.

Just in case you missed our final pod here’s a link – if you’re a Leinster fan you may have intentionally missed it but still I reckon Tom, Mark & Kino did a bang up job going over the HCC final as well as Leinster’s season as a whole so why not check it out.

HARPIN ON…OUR YOU TUBE CHANNEL HIGHLIGHTS

While our main content this season has been via podcast, we also set out to develop a presence on both YouTube and TikTok.  Being perfectly honest I didn’t exactly knock myself out in those areas but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with some of the feedback so it’s definitely something we’ll be doing more over the coming season.

For the YouTube the idea was to have a preview show with one guest every Friday, and this was mostly Keego logging on to a Zoom call just an hour after the Leinster or Irish team was named.  Then for the Sunday night pod recording I’d include a “bonus chat” outside the main topic of conversation for sharing as a video and these have done pretty well if I do say so myself.  Since we didn’t do a 80+ last week I instead posted a “top 5” videos of sorts from across the season, check out the link below and if you haven’t already, please do subscribe to make sure you get all our stuff in future.

Harpin’ YouTube channel 2022/23 top vids

DOWN WITH THE KIDS ON TIK TOK

For the most part I have tried to use TikTok as a means to promote the pods, and as the season wore on it became something of a challenge to select the most appropriate quote to use for it.   Originally my intention was to produce brief “Squidge-type” (OBVS nowhere near as good but at least with my own spin) videos of my favourite moments from matches but they took a while to produce, although the one I did for what I felt was the critical moment the URC final did get the most views of the entire season so you may see more next season.  I’ll post that one below as well as some links to others that got decent engagement throughout the season, if you’re not already following us please do it can help us get closer to 500 followers – that might be a humble total in the grand scheme of things but we had no idea we’d be anywhere near that by this stage, truth be told.

@harpinonrugby

The clutch moments from the #URC final #STOvMUN

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

“Leinster will be back amongst the favourites”

“It’s ok to say Grand Slam again”

“That pass from Doris to Ringrose”

“Eurowatch : Racing v Clérmont”

“Favourite Irish try of Autumn Nations Series”

CONGRATS TO MUNSTER

You may think I’m stalling to get to the Munster appreciation but, but look back over these columns throughout the season and they always start with the segments you see above!

But anyway again I am more than happy to offer congrats to our southern cousins, if it can’t be Leinster winning the URC, it has to be good for Irish rugby for another province to do it and not only have they been waiting a long, long time for this, but what a way for them to do it!!!!

After suffering some early season defeats which had us wondering if they’d even make it into the playoffs, they ended up pulling off not one, not two but THREE AWAY KNOCKOUT wins which has to be a record at this level of the game and proves that once you’re there or thereabouts come the beginning of May, literally anything is possible.

Obviously the next step for them on the road to returning to further glories will be to follow up with a higher regular season finish plus a deeper run in the HCC, but even if they replicate their 5th place finish, nobody will be ruling them out.

Just a quick word on the Stormers to round things off – I definitely expected a lot more from them.  As well and all as Munster played you can’t deny we have seen the South African side play a lot better.  Assuming both they and Leinster aim to get back to the top next season that should make for an exciting third instalment of the URC, as if the first two weren’t enough.

THE ABL NARRATIVE

For our first podcast of the season we had a chat about what I call the “ABL” or “Anyone But Leinster” in the ruggersphere and after Leinster won so many matches in the first two thirds of the season as well as supplying a large chunk of Ireland’s 100% test season, it was pretty easy to prove it’s existence week-in week-out on social media.

Naturally the way the season ended up for Leinster, there were always going to be those looking to stick the knife in, pushing a false narrative that as fans we somehow “assumed we were going to win everything” and for the most part it has been easy enough to stay away and tune it all out – the above tweet was posted from the Aviva Stadium press box moments after full time.

One thing you can be sure I’m NOT going to do however, is post a few screenshots of the abuse being levelled at Leinster and their fans over the past few weeks, because to my mind that gives an impression that ALL fans of a particular team do this kind of thing, when the reality is that being an asshole is no peculiar to any one jersey.

There was one tweet that pissed me off, however, because rather than come from a random fan this was by an actual member of the Munster squad.  Only thing I will add to posting it below is this : imagine the uproar if it were a Leinster squad player after the boys in blue won a trophy.  Articles would be written about it.  Hang on never mind articles….PLAYS would be written.

THE SEXTON INCIDENT

While we’re on the subject of senior players who should know better behaving badly, much has been said of this “incident” involving Johnny Sexton after the Champions Cup final.  

Before I go on, I’d like to divide this segment in two parts.

PART 1 – ASSUMING IT HAPPENED

If Johnny Sexton walked up to Jaco Peyper and called him a “f*cking disgrace” as is alleged, then there definitely needs to be some kind of action, but only after a proper enquiry.  I’m no fan of that carry on, whatever the person’s colours.

PART 2 – GUILTY BEFORE ANYTHING PROVEN

But can we please call this incident for what it is.  People were calling for Johnny’s head long before there was anything even remotely close to “evidence” available, and remember, even the video you see in the tweet below doesn’t tell us what was actually said (and ironically, Karl Dickson has something of a track record when it comes to bad hearing).  

All of which means is that with these kind of levels of bias out there against Sexton (including a host of South African commenters keen to conflate the whole thing with RassieGate from the Lions tour – hilarious!) there is literally nothing we can say until there has been a full investigation.   And if there isn’t one, then we have to assume that there’s “no there there”, although naturally that won’t stop the Sexton haters from forming conspiracy theories, in which I say let ‘em.

On a lighter note – on those dissing his outfit, I really don’t think they even have a case there.  Not exactly my style, but still the comments are just another example of the hating IMO.

THE HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE 2022/23

Normally my update on the Harpin URC Prediction League comes towards the end of my 80+ column, but it won’t take you long to work out why I moved it up.

Last season, I finished dead last, which meant I had to wear The Jersey Of Shame on social media.  I’ve already posted it here so I’ll just link to it rather than do it again.  The main reason I lost was that I just could not discipline myself to post my predictions on Superbru week in week out, leaving me stranded in 6th place come the end of the campaign.

Well this time around I was determined to at very least we sure of kicking the “no picks” habit.  And a few rounds into the season I was doing pretty well.

But gradually I gave way to Cian ‘RugbyKino’ O’Muilleoi,r who generally takes a stats-based approach to predictions, and it really did seem to do well over the course of a season, since having taken over top spot at Round 5 he proceeded to stay there all the way through the Six Nations and the gap never looked like closing…

…until I actually closed it towards of the regular season and thought I was on Cloud 9…

…only for Mark Jackson to nip ahead of us both and he seemed to have the title done and dusted with only the URC Final left.

Well folks, I only had one possible strategy when it came to predicting Stormers v Munster.  With the South Africans the favourites (being reigning champions and having home advantage), I had to assume that both Mark and Kino ahead of me on the table would go for them so that meant my only hope would be to take a punt on Munster (and let’s be honest the way they’ve been playing it was hardly a “Hail Mary”).  Just in case someone else also went for it, I made my prediction a double-digit win so that I’d have a chance of getting extra points if I got it right.  Turns out I didn’t need that cushion as I was the only one and hey presto my four points pole vaulted me back into first!!!

Obvs I’d swap it for even one let alone two trophies for Leinster, but having also done well in the Six Nations prediction comp I’d say I’m pretty pleased with my showing this season.  

Down at the other end of the table, the Jersey of Shame is wrapped and ready to send to Neil “No Picks Keego” Keegan and hopefully we’ll have a pic to share of him sporting it soon.  Also hopefully we’ll get another few contributors into the HPL for the 23/24 campaign when I’ll be defending my crown.

HARPIN PREDICTOR LEAGUE 2022/23 FINAL STANDINGS

NOT ACTING IN GOODE FAITH

The tweet pretty much says it all, but one thing I’ll add is that I am actually ELEVEN YEARS OLDER than Andy Goode who’s whinging about a girl making what I thought was a very light hearted correction.  You’d swear it was the other way around.   I have no idea what makes these guys think pearl-clutching (and that’s definitely what this is) is somehow masculine…

LEINSTER AWARDS & LEAVERS

Normally this section is for Leinster’s injury report, so since it’s the end of the season I’ll instead feature the end of season business from Leinster Rugby, starting with the awards…

Best Menswear Development School of the Year: St Mary’s CBS, Portlaoise

JUST EAT Tackle of the Year: Liam Turner (v DHL Stormers)

Beauchamps School of the Year: Gonzaga College

Nissan Ireland Contribution to Leinster Rugby: Rachael O’Brien (Co Carlow FC)

The Irish Times Try of the Year: Garry Ringrose (v Racing 92)

DigitalWell Junior Club of the Year: Mullingar RFC

Energia Senior Club of the Year: Old Belvedere RFC

BDO Supporters Player of the Year: Garry Ringrose

Guinness Hall of Fame: Gerry Murphy

BearingPoint Women’s Young Player of the Year: Aoife Dalton

Laya Healthcare Men’s Young Player of the Year: Scott Penny

Band of Ireland Women’s Player of the Year: Jenny Murphy

Bank of Ireland Men’s Player of the Year: Caelan Doris

Certainly can’t complain about the names honoured above, that’s for sure.  And now the bad news, the list of players leaving the province…

Johnny Sexton (189 caps / 1,646 points)

Dave Kearney (186 / 275)

James Tracy (141 / 90)

Nick McCarthy (62 / 25)

Tadgh McElroy (4 / 0)

Charlie Ryan (0 / 0)

Seán O’Brien (3 / 0)

Max O’Reilly (11 / 10)

Marcus Hanan (4 / 0)

Andrew Smith (2 / 0)

Best wishes to all, and with all due respect to the other nine guys I’m sure we all agree that the best of best wishes go to yer man at the top when it comes to a certain egg-chasing tournament happening in France in September…

ALL EYES ON RWC2023

What’s that you say?  My tweet looks like I’m being sarcastic???  Whatever could you mean???

Look, some were always going to miss out.  And yes, with Munster’s win freshest in the mind it’s obvious to notice if one or two names don’t get on the list, yet while no coach is ever perfect, if Andy Farrell hasn’t earned himself some street cred at this stage then nobody can.

Here’s my personal ideal matchday 23 from the group (assuming all players fully fit), we’ll see how it evolves over time.

Keenan, Hansen, Ringrose, Henshaw, Lowe, Sexton, Gibson-Park

Porter, Sheehan, Furlong, Henderson, Ryan, O’Mahony, van der Flier, Doris

Kelleher, Healy, Bealham, Beirne, Conan, Murray, Crowley, Aki

SEVENS UPDATE

With no 80+ column last week I didn’t get to update the London Sevens, where the men’s series came to an end after the women had finished in Toulouse.  Apparently this last tournament of the season is done differently to all the others…the top 12 on the points table compete for the final standings while the others take part in a qualifying competition for next year’s circuit.  

The Irish men’s squad may not have qualified for the Olympics directly as the women did, but still overall a 6th place finish in London wasn’t the worst outcome.  Also while 8th place overall is definitely something we can improve on, reaching that final in Dubai was a highlight for sure and having watched them quite a bit over the course of the season I’d say they have done us proud.

I’ll be even more proud once I hear the announcement of an Irish leg on the calendar, get on it people!!!!!

MLR UPDATE

I hope the actual fans of the New England Free Jacks aren’t superstitious (although from what I know of sports in that neck of the woods I’m pretty sure they are) because as a Leinster fan who saw his team rack up easy wins throughout the season including multiple “50-burgers” only to fall agonisingly short in playoffs twice, they may not be so keen to know that I have adopted them as my team for the 2023 version of Major League Rugby.

We had no 80+ column last week so there are two weeks of results to catch up on and as you can see the Free Jacks have, to say the very least, consolidated their position at the top of the Eastern Conference, stretching their lead to 20 points and guaranteeing them a home “semifinal” in the playoffs after big wins over New Orleans and Toronto respectively.

They will have one tough opponent to get them ready however as they must travel in round 17 to face Seattle, who themselves are locked in a battle with the San Diego Legion for 1st place and in fact it’s kind of set up for the Western Conference to have a thrilling finale as the two rivals meet in Round 18.

This could be a problem for the Free Jacks as while they have the comfort of knowing their fate, both the Legion and the Seawolves will have multiple tough encounters between now and the championship game, assuming they do make it there of course.

But still it has been an interesting season and let’s face it, the way last year’s version ended up with two teams folding just before the playoffs, any kind of finish which involves only action on the pitch will be a positive.

ROUND 14

NEFJ 50-3 NOLA

SEA 35-13 CHI

UTAH 34-28 HOU

ATL 19-27 DAL

TOR 29-29 OGDC

ROUND 15

SD 36-13 NYI

UTAH 28-12 ATL

HOU 40-33 CHI

OGDC 19-41 SEA

NEFJ 57-20 TOR

ROUND 16

ATL V NEFJ

NOLA V OGDC

CHI V SD

TOR V HOU

NYI V DAL

SEA V UTAH

THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Right so that brings down the curtain on the 2022/23 season of Harpin on Rugby.  Obviously I’ll still be tweeting over the coming weeks, both the Top 14 and Super Rugby are still to be decided as is Major League Rugby which I have been following as you will know.  There might be the odd pod or two during the next month or so, you never know, along with bits & bobs on the other social media platforms.

But we won’t kick back into full swing until a week or so before the World Cup warmups come on the radar, that’s when we will formally launch Season 5 of the pod and a whopping season SIXTEEN of Harpin.

Many thanks for all your clicking and reading and sharing and commenting and what-not, looking forward to more.

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

80+ column – 16/05/23

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

WRAP OF A WRAP

Our preview show ahead of Saturday’s match at the Aviva was our 250th pod since we posted our first back on July 5, 2019.  Obviously there have been a lot more this season since we switched from article- to pod-based format, and going right the way back to the preseason friendly against Harlequins in September 2022, our “wrap pod” recorded on Sunday night at 8pm at Harpin Manor has only once featured a defeat for either Leinster or Ireland, namely the tanking against the Bulls which as we all know had no real consequence when it came to our final position.

So this latest one, our 40th this season, was the very first one where we had to suck it up and literally admit defeat for up to an hour.  And I have to say Tom and Rich did an excellent job stepping up to the plate, especially since I dare anyone, and I mean ANYONE to say they were in any way complaining about how the match wen

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

HARPIN ON…THE FRANK MURPHY DEBATE

I decided to set a bit of a trap with the bonus clip this week.  Like I said in the above segment, a lot of Munster and probably also ABL fans are likely to expect a lot of whinging by Leinster fans, so I thought maybe this headline would make them think that’s what we’re doing when it comes to the discussion over Frank Murphy’s performance.  As you can see from the actual discussion, which includes a video insert from Keego, it was anything but.

If you’re playing the clip above maybe pop over and subscribe to the channel too?  That’s where we post our Preview Show as well as other content throughout the week.

URC FINAL TIK TOK

The common theme from Leinster fans that I have seen around the ruggersphere since the final whistle has been “Fair play Munster, now go on and win it.”  For the clip I use for TikTok to promote the wrap pod, I chose this snippet from Rich where he goes a bit further…

@harpinonrugby

Wrap pod wasn’t easy to record this week but I reckon we did ok and we were full of praise for Munster

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

THE BEN HEALY KICK NONSENSE

First of all, as we said on the pod, it should be ok to mention Ben Healy going 3 seconds over the kick clock without being accused of creating outrage as if it led directly to the Munster win.  It should be easy enough for the TMO to police this and offer a ten second warning to the ref which he can pass on to the kicker.

Second of all, to the Munster fans claiming Leinster are grumbling over this, can I just ask how they’d react if it were Johnny Sexton going over the clock by a nano-second and nothing was done and the boys in blue won by a point? 😜

FINAL FACTS

Might as well share this set of “fun facts” sent around by EPCR ahead of Saturday’s final….

• Holders, Stade Rochelais, have reached the Heineken Champions Cup final for the third season in a row, and having qualified for the 2019 Challenge Cup decider, the club’s appearance at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday will be their fourth EPCR final in five years.

• Stade Toulousain in 2003, 2004 and 2005, and RC Toulon (2013, 2014, 2015) are the only other clubs to have qualified for three consecutive Heineken Champions Cup finals.

• Leinster Rugby will be appearing in a seventh Heineken Champions Cup final and will be looking to equal Stade Toulousain’s record of five titles.

• If Cian Healy is selected in Leinster’s match day 23 for the final, and if the Irish province are victorious, he will become the first player in history to win the tournament five times.

• Healy could also set a new tournament record of seven final appearances surpassing his total of six which he shares with Leinster teammate, Johnny Sexton, and Cédric Heymans of CA Brive and Stade Toulousain.

• The Stade Rochelais captain, Greg Alldritt, has made the most carries this season with 112 from his seven matches to date.

• The final will be the sixth between Irish and French clubs with the Irish currently leading the way with four victories to one.

• Antoine Hastoy of Stade Rochelais is this season’s leading scorer with 85 points, four ahead of Leinster’s Ross Byrne on 81. Josh van der Flier is the top try scorer with six while Tawera Kerr-Barlow has crossed for five.

• If they are named in their respective match day 23s, both Tadgh Furlong and Brice Dulin will make their 50th Heineken Champions Cup appearances on Saturday.

• Players from eight different countries – Argentina, Australia, Fiji, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Samoa and South Africa – are likely to feature in Saturday’s showpiece match which will be watched by TV viewers in close to 200 countries worldwide.

• Leinster’s Jimmy O’Brien is the tournament’s top metre maker on 449 and he also has made the most line breaks with 13.

CENTRES OF ATTENTION

Charlie Ngatai has been really impressive for the most part over the past few weeks.  I thought maybe he made a couple of wrong decisions in that final fifteen minute spell last Saturday when he kicked the ball away when he didn’t really have to, which for him is strange to say because he’s very much a “keep the ball in hand” kinda 12.  But I chose not to say it on the pod because I didn’t want it to take from his overall performance.

The reason I bring it up here is because as vital a cog as he has been for us this season, it simply cannot be overstated how much better it is for Leinster to have Henshaw and Ringrose back together this weekend, which is what I’m assuming will happen.  Ngatai’s crash carries may have generated a bunch of go-forward ball against Munster, but it also served to limit Robbie’s effectiveness over the 80 minutes, and with the Jenkins try we saw just how effective he can be, an exception that proved the rule if you will.

Now with him and Garry back together (I’m assuming, see predicted 23 below) not only do we have a solid defensive cornerstone partnership but it also adds a host of options to our attack, and anyone who saw last year’s final will know it’s our attack which we’re going to need the most. 

All that said, Charlie could come in very handy off the bench for Leinster. 

URC PLAYOFFS

There has been a few grumblings around the place about the URC playoff system over the past few weeks, long before the result on Saturday at the Aviva too.  The suggestion seems to be that 8 might be too many qualifiers for the knockout stages.

I see where that idea is coming from, but I still disagree.  It’s a 5-nations, 16-team competition that is surely going to look to expand so I reckon it’s important to keep the interest levels up as much as possible.  I know Champions Cup qualification is also a reward for top 8 (especially now as they’ve finally removed the whole Shield nonsense) but I still think it’s ok to have playoffs as a reward for this season’s squad who actually achieved the position.

So what I would propose is a playoff system similar to that used in both Aussie Rugby League & Rules.  Basically it gives the higher-finishing team a “double chance”.  Instead of a straight knockout system like we have now where the QFs are 1v8 2v7 3v6 and 4v5, it could go like this…

FIRST ROUND

A : 1 V 4

B : 2 V 3

C : 5 V 8

D : 6 V 7

SECOND ROUND

E : Highest ranked loser A/B v lowest ranked winner C/D

F : Lowest ranked loser A/B v highest ranked winner C/D

SEMIFINALS

G : Highest ranked winner A/B v lowest ranked winner E/F

H : Lowest ranked winner A/B v highest ranked winner E/F

FINAL

I : Winner G v Winner H

It would need an extra weekend to be found on the calendar but I reckon it would be worth it as a bit more of a reward for the top 4 finishers than home advantage.  I’m sure there are drawbacks to this system as well but I guess my overall point is that I’d be inclined to retain 8 qualifiers, especially if more teams are going to be joining the league down the line.

LONDON IRISH

Very, very concerning news surrounding London Irish’s financial viability on the back of Wasps and Worcester’s woes earlier in the season.  Obviously the most important concern is over the future of all the jobs which appear to be at risk.

On the rugby fallout, they actually had a decent season on the pitch and their 5th place finish makes them candidates for Leinster to meet in the Champions Cup pool stage, as things stand it would be either them or Harlequins.  Should Irish not be able to compete, I’m assuming that Bristol would make it to the HCC despite having finished 3rd from bottom of the Prem, and it would be Exeter that could be our HCC opponents.

It goes without saying that the entire rugby family is hoping that none of those contingencies are needed.

HCC AS GUINEA PIGS?

Speaking of the makeup of the HCC,its much-maligned format came back into the news yesterday as the European football governing body UEFA announced it’s plans to overhaul it’s Champions League from an 8-pools of 4 method to a clunky 1 league of THIRTY-SIX with 8 matches each and as many as 24 qualifying for the knockout rounds.  It’s so similar to that used by the Heineken Cup I’m almost tin-foil hatted enough to wonder if we have been used as guinea pigs for the past few seasons?

Apparently the HCC format is to be reviewed after the 23/24 season so we’ll see what they come up with.  Expect another year of complaining in the meantime though.

INJURY REPORT

With the obvious high-profile exceptions of Will Connors and Johnny Sexton, this was overall a really good injury report for Leinster in the week leading up to a Champions Cup final.  It was a pleasure to type out that possible 23.

Some might argue that Doris can play 6 with Conan at 8 and Baird at 20, but I think this formation is better for Leinster which would make Conan the unlucky one yet still ready to make a massive impact from the bench.

For me the real debate is over 22 & 23.  First, do we go for a 6/2 split to give us extra beef against the La Rochelle pack?  It certainly didn’t hurt Munster last Saturday.  If so I’d probably go for Deegan as the extra man with Frawley’s versatility getting the nod over Harry.

I still think it’s more likely we go for a 5/3.  Personally I’d stick with Frawley as 22 with the hope that Ross can play a full 80, and that would leave us with a question of Ngatai or Larmour as the 23.  Either would be great, but FWIW I’m thinking we need an out and out winger in reserve so I’d probably go for Larmour.

On the subject of squad selection, should we have picked a full team for last Saturday?  It’s easy to say yes now, but remember we WERE NOT HAMMERED by Munster as many seem to suggest.  There was just the one point in it and it could easily have gone the other way.

That said, you can definitely make an argument for having a policy that our strongest team gets picked for any and every semifinal.  To play your best side in the showpiece is of course the ideal, but first you must make it there and when you’re as close as the final four better to give yourself the best chance and let the injury chips fall where they may.

POSSIBLE 23 V LA ROCHELLE

Keenan, J O’Brien, Ringrose, Henshaw, Lowe, R Byrne, Gibson-Park

Porter, Sheehan, Furlong, Molony, Ryan (c), Baird, JVDF, Doris

Kelleher, Healy, Ala’alatoa, Jenkins, Conan, McGrath, Frawley/H Byrne, Ngatai/Larmour/Deegan/Frawley 

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

OFFICIAL INJURY REPORT

Cian Healy came through the game at the weekend with no issues after his recovery from an ankle injury.

Rónan Kelleher came through the game at the weekend with no issues after his recovery from a shoulder injury.

Robbie Henshaw came through the game at the weekend with no issues after recovering from a quad issue.

James Lowe was part of the extended match day squad at the weekend and will train as normal this week.

Scott Penny has come through the Graduated Return to Play Protocols and will be available for selection this week.

Will Connors has entered the Graduated Return to Play Protocols and will be unavailable for selection this week.

There are no further updates on:

Vakhtang Abdaladze (neck), Ed Byrne (tricep), Rhys Ruddock (hamstring), Johnny Sexton (groin), Jamie Osborne (knee), Martin Moloney (knee)

SEVENS UPDATE

Both Irish teams were involved in Toulouse at the weekend, and both made the quarterfinals on the way to a 6th place finish, but the headlines was always going to be for Lucy Mullhall’s women’s squad who earned enough points to qualify directly for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.  Obviously it’s a wonderful achievement and just what the women’s game here needed what with all the recent doom and gloom.

And it’s not like they didn’t earn it – I watched most of their games over the weekend (hat-tip to Google Calendar reminders) and from the very first match against the hosts France they were magnificent, especially on defence.  A lot of star names in that squad like Mulhall, Higgins, Flood, Parsons, Aimee Lee Murphy Crowe ( or “Lawfirm” as our contributor Mark Jackson calls her)…the whole team played well throughout and as it turned out were unlucky to meet Australia twice otherwise they may have finished higher.

Still when it came to Olympic qualification it ended up as a straight shootout between ourselves and Fiji – the winner qualifies for Paris, the loser has to wait and try again another day.  And our defence was tip top for this one as two Lawfirm tries were enough to win 10-5 which mean the celebrations could begin and that was awesome to see.  Certainly lifted my spirits on Sunday morning after all that had gone on the evening before!!!!!

As for the men well like I say they also finished 6th in Toulouse but it wasn’t enough to prevent them from having to go through further Olympic qualifiers but still there have been many highlights for them this season particularly the silver medal in Dubai. 

Still one round to go for them in London this weekend hopefully they can finish in style.

SATURDAY MAY 23

10:23AM – IRELAND MEN V FIJI

1:31PM – IRELAND MEN V JAPAN

5:35PM – IRELAND MEN V ARGENTINA

MLR UPDATE

I’ve been keeping tabs on the MLR this season, adopting the New England Free Jacks as “my team” and in the latest round they travelled to Loudon, Virginia to face Old Glory DC.  It was billed as a battle of 1st vs 2nd in the Eastern Conference but in the first half it was more a case of men v boys as the Free Jacks halfback pairing of Poland and Portroz led the side to a 28-7 lead at the break with the try bonus point in the bag.

DC fought back a bit to get a BP of their own but the visitors were pretty much coasting throughout and in the end it was a 42-24 victory which extends their lead in the East.  Referee for the day was Argentinian Federico Anselmi, who has officiated at test level and wasn’t taking any back chat from the players on the day, that’s for sure.

There’s highlights in the tweet below and the build up to my favourite Free Jacks try comes 17s into the clip. 

Meanwhile out in the west, San Diego’s win over New Orleans was their 11th out of 12 and they remain 9 pts clear of Seattle with Houston and Utah seeming to be in a two horse race for the third playoff spot.

More on the league next week.

[my favourite try is 17 seconds in]

ROUND 13

TOR 34-34 ATL

NOLA 12-26 SD

HOU 17-34 SEA

DAL 26-36 UTAH

OGDC 24-42 NEFJ

CHI 20-21 NYI

ROUND 14

TOR V OGDC

ATL V DAL

UTAH V HOU

SEA V CHI

NEFJ V NOLA

HARPIN’ PREDICTION LEAGUE

NGL I really, really did consider predicting a Munster win to try and make up some ground.  And I know many will think of that as “arrogance” but the fact remains Leinster were 10 point favourites with the bookies so the prediction really would have been a gamble.  Instead I went for both semifinals as 7-point home wins and, well, that didn’t happen!!!  So it looks like I’m going to finish 3rd, which is a hell of a lot better than the wooden spoon last season I suppose.  

As for this year’s title it’s now between Mark Jackson & RugbyKino with MJ in pole position.  I’d expect him to play it safe with the final and go for the Stormers and if I were Kino I’d go for Munster but we’ll see what they go for on the day.

Meanwhile I will have the “Jersey Of Shame” packed and ready to post to Keego when the final whistle blows in the final as I can’t really see him clawing back that deficit somehow…

AI RUGBY : LEINSTER V MUNSTER ‘DRY RUN’

What did AI know????  Maybe the match finished a lot closer in reality, but when I fed the two teams into the ChatGPT app it did come up with a win for our Southern cousins.   We’ll see what it says about LEIvLAR this Friday…

PROMPT 

Imagine a game of 15-a-side rugby union between Leinster Rugby and Munster Rugby over two halves of 40 minutes with the two lineups outlined below, taking into account the current reputation and form of all the players involved.

Leinster :  15. Jimmy O’Brien 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Robbie Henshaw 12. Charlie Ngatai 11. Dave Kearney 10. Harry Byrne 9. Luke McGrath CAPTAIN

1. Michael Milne 2. Rónan Kelleher 3. Michael Ala’alatoa 4. Ryan Baird 5. Jason Jenkins 6. Max Deegan 7. Will Connors 8. Jack Conan

16. John McKee 17. Cian Healy 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. Joe McCarthy 20. Josh van der Flier 21. Nick McCarthy 22. Ciarán Frawley 23. Liam Turner 

Munster: 15 Mike Haley; 14 Keith Earls, 13 Antoine Frisch, 12 Jack Crowley, 11 Shane Daly; 10 Ben Healy, 9 Craig Casey

1 Jeremy Loughman, 2 Diarmuid Barron, 3 Stephen Archer; 4 Jean Kleyn, 5 Tadhg Beirne; 6 Peter O’Mahony (C), 7 John Hodnett, 8 Gavin Coombes.

16 Niall Scannell, 17 Josh Wycherley, 18 Roman Salanoa, 19 Fineen Wycherley, 20 Jack O’Donoghue, 21 Neil Cronin, 22 Rory Scannell, 23 Alex Kendellen

Write 2000 words on the progress of the match in the form of a timeline (no conclusion, just the timeline only) reporting incidents like tries, conversions, penalties, injuries and yellow or red cards.

AI RESPONSE

0-10 minutes: The game starts with a lot of intensity from both teams as they try to stamp their authority. There are some physical exchanges in the early minutes with both teams making their tackles count.

10-20 minutes: Leinster draws first blood with a try from winger Tommy O’Brien following some slick handling in the backline. Harry Byrne makes no mistake with the conversion.

20-30 minutes: Munster responds with a try from winger Keith Earls, who ghosts past a couple of defenders to cross over the try line. Ben Healy adds the extras to level the scores.

30-40 minutes: Leinster applies some sustained pressure to Munster’s defense, but they struggle to break through. Harry Byrne kicks a penalty towards the end of the half to give Leinster a slender 10-7 lead.

Half-time: Leinster 10-7 Munster

45-55 minutes: Munster comes out firing in the second half and takes the lead with two tries in quick succession – one from Peter O’Mahony and the other from Craig Casey. Healy adds the extras from both tries to give Munster a 21-10 lead.

55-60 minutes: Leinster hits back with a try from prop Michael Ala’alatoa following a series of pick-and-gos close to the Munster try line. Byrne’s conversion leaves the score at 21-17 in Munster’s favor.

60-70 minutes: Munster extends its lead with tries from center Jack Crowley and replacement hooker Niall Scannell. Healy successfully converts both tries to put Munster in the driving seat with a 35-17 lead.Yellow card: 66th minute – Munster’s Tadhg Beirne for a high tackle.

70-75 minutes: Leinster scores a quick try from flanker Will Connors to keep the game alive, but they are still trailing by 35-24 with less than 10 minutes to go.

75-80 minutes: Leinster pushes hard for another score, but Munster defends resolutely, thwarting any attacking opportunities. The game ends with Munster coming out on top, 35-24.

Full-time: Leinster 24-35 Munster

THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

One teeny tiny advantage from Saturday’s result has been that it allows me to give myself the week off following the Champions Cup final.  So during the week we will of course be giving the showpiece the full Harpin treatment with a preview on Friday, the last wrap pod of the season on Sunday, and a whole lot in between.  The gloom is slowly but surely turning into nervous but still excited anticipation so I hope you’ll join me along the way by any or all of our social media platforms.

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