Category: Articles

80+ column : Jan 16

On this week’s column…

🏉 FRONT FIVE

🏉 WRAP OF A WRAP

🏉 2ND STRINGING US ALONG

🏉 MUNSTER TRIAGE

🏉 A TONY BRIDGE TOO FAR

🏉 FORMAT REFORM

🏉 LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE

🏉 LRZ TO USA

🏉 UPDATES [Incl Challenge Cup & AIL] 

FRONT FIVE

A selection of five eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the ruggersphere.

A Tour schedule has still to be finalised, but it will not overlap with the men’s 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
New British and Irish Lions women’s team to tour New Zealand in 2027
Andy Wright – Rugby World
The news will be a big blow for both La Rochelle and France as the 26-year-old has been in impressive form since his return from the World Cup campaign.
Pierre Bourgarit set to miss France’s Six Nations campaign
Frank Nickson – Talking Rugby Union
“A pioneer for women’s sport in Ireland, it is fitting that she bows out at the top having recently become the first female match official to officiate at a men’s Rugby World Cup,”
Joy Neville to retire from refereeing and take up development role with Connacht
Irish Times
“No deal has been done, there is no confirmation of anything for next year. It’ll be me [who has the final say on signings].”
Owen Farrell: Racing 92 coach Stuart Lancaster confirms interest in signing Saracens fly-half
BBC.com
Virgin get the first crack at covering a game for the current holders and Grand Slam winners. 
RTÉ and Virgin unveil their Six Nations pundits, fixtures and commentators
Patrick McCarry – SportsJoe.ie

Note – views expressed in “Front Five” links do not necessarily reflect those of HarpinOnRugby

WRAP OF A WRAP

Had a go at our new wrap format this weekend having switched the Front Five segment over to this column as you see above.  It certainly gave us more time to harp on our feature match and as ever Conor & Tom did a bang up job getting it done.

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

NEW LOOK BONUS CLIP

The bonus clip also got a mini makeover; instead of three of us harping on one topic we will now each bring our own chosen subjects for a brief rant.  I’ve posted the transcript from my Duponte bit below FWIW.

A TONY BRIDGE TOO FAR?

2024 is an Olympic year and of course it has been great for rugby to have been included as a discipline even if it is the shortened sevens version of the game.

And from an Irish point of view we have both genders taking part in the tournament in Paris and going by the way both have played so far on the world circuit there’s every possibility for us to be in contention for a medal or two all going well.

But what I’d like to harp on here is the decision to include Antione Duponte in the French squad for the tournament.  Obviously there are many benefits for this…France will certainly want to do well on their own patch especially given how the World Cup turned out.  And anyone who watched the Ulster Toulouse game on Saturday evening will know he is still very much at the top of his game and given how he can create space from nothing on a pitch with 30 bodies on it, you can only imagine how he’d tear it up in sevens so when the Games are actually taking place at the end of July it should be a good advertisement for all forms of the sport.

For me though, none of those positives outweigh the downsides.  Obviously for this I have to take off both my Leinster and Ireland hats because the fact that he will be unavailable for both the Six Nations and the business end of the Champions Cup certainly won’t hurt our chances at all.  But with an overall rugby supporters hat on, you really do want the best players available for all the top matches and as exciting as all as the sevens code may be, surely the fifteens version has to trump it every time.

Then there’s the fact that Duponte parachuting into the French sevens squad means that someone who has been involved with sevens regularly for the past while is likely to miss out.  I have also heard talk of Irish fifteens stars like Nick Timoney doing likewise and while the addition of talent like that would certainly help our chances, the actual Irish sevens men’ squad has become quite settled over the past few seasons and given these players are being denied the opportunity to achieve the honours afforded by playing for provinces, for any to also miss out on a medal chance just doesn’t sit well with me.

Of course on the women’s side the issue is even bigger since they don’t even need the Olympics to deprive the senior fifteens squad of the best available players.  I could be wrong but you have to assume our last place finish in the 2023 Six Nations could have been avoided with the likes of Beibhinn Parsons and Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe involved.

At the end of the day there’s no disputing that seven into fifteen just doesn’t go evenly in every sense.  The best way forward has to be to keep them apart and prioritise the version of the sport that came first.  

FORMAT REFORM

I’m wary of doing these TikToks just to go along with popular views on rugby matters so this week I have gone with the (admittedly not exactly sexy) topic of Champions Cup format reform.  Again I have included the transcript.

@harpinonrugby

Our 80+ column posts ever Tuesday afternoon at harpinonrugby.com #rugbytiktoks🏉

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

With the final round of Champions Cup pool matches coming up I suppose it’s time to have another crack at addressing the much debated issue of the format, but for this I actually don’t agree with what seems to be the popular opinion.

Having said that I should probably start by pointing out that I’m not exactly a fan of the current method either, I just disagree with what most people are finding wrong with it.  Judging by comments on social media it seems that the biggest flaw of the current system is the fact that you can lose three of your four pool matches and still qualify for the knockouts.

Personally I don’t think that’s as ridiculous as you might think.  For one thing, under the round robin pools of four everyone is saying we should go back to, you weren’t trying to get into the last 16 it was the last 8 and besides, teams still have qualified for the quarterfinals winning just 3 of their 6 pool matches for example in 2016 Exeter actually topped their pool despite three losses  so it’s not like your record had to be all that perfect.

But more importantly we have to remember that the last 16 stage is actually replacing rounds 5 and 6 from the pools in the old method.  So instead of up to 24 matches a lot of which are dead rubbers, we now actually have 8 matches all of which are straight knockout rugby and even if you did qualify with just one win, you most certainly aren’t guaranteed an easy task for getting any further.

But look like I said, I’m not wild about the current way myself so I won’t try to defend it anymore than that, what I will say is that we need to be clear on what is actually causing the problem.  The domestic leagues, specifically the English & French ones, just don’t seem to be willing to give back the extra weekends required to go back to the old way so until that happens, we’re bound to be having this debate every season whatever way they structure this competition.

All I’m saying is that if there is to be a change it needs to one that fixes issues that were even there in the format during the so-called golden years, like the fact that teams have always been forced to choose between the continental and domestic fixtures when it comes to picking their strongest sides.  

Until that happens it seems pointless arguing over the format, we might as well focus on the actual rugby-related questions like can anyone stop Toulouse and Bordeaux, can La Rochelle overcome their shaky start and, of course, can Leinster finally get that fifth star?

[Besides, debating formats is just boring]

LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE

It goes without saying the uncertainty over both Harry and Ciarán is a major concern for Leinster, nothing at all against Sam Prendergast but the hope is that at least one will be available for what could be a tricky outing at Welford Road.  Elsewhere it was great to see the likes of Ryan, Lowe and Furlong get through the Aviva match unscathed, though the section at the bottom of the update still looks far from ideal.

Harpin’ matchday 23 v Leicester Tigers

Keenan, Larmour, Ringrose, Henshaw (c), Lowe, Byrne H/Frawley/Prendergast, Gibson-Park

Porter, Sheehan, Furlong, McCarthy, Ryan, Baird, van der Flier, Doris

Kelleher, Healy, Ala’alatoa, Molony, Conan, McGrath, Frawley/Prendergast/Tector, O’Brien T

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

INJURY UPDATE – AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:

James Ryan: came through the game against Stade Francais with no issues and will be available for selection this week

INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:

Harry Byrne: picked up an ankle injury at training and will be further assessed this week before a final decision is made on selection

Ciarán Frawley: picked up a rib injury during the Stade Francis game and will be further assessed this week before a final decision is made on selection

INJURY UPDATE – UNAVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:

Michael Milne: picked up a calf injury last week and will be unavailable for selection this week

NO FURTHER UPDATES ON:

Jimmy O’Brien (neck), Martin Moloney (bicep), Alex Soroka (foot), Charlie Ngatai (calf), Cormac Foley (shoulder), Ross Byrne (arm) and Jamie Osborne (shoulder)

LRZ TO USA

News is only breaking as I’m posting this column so haven’t had much time to react with any more than the tweet blow plus the realization that Welsh rugby seems to be in an even worse state than once thought. If they had won a RWC or Grand Slam in the past year or so I wonder if he’d be even considering “doing a Christian Wade”. Interesting POV from Harpin contributor Mark Jackson too.

AIL UPDATE 

The Leinster-heavy Wolfhounds won in Glasgow to keep them at the top of the Celtic Challenge table as the competition goes into a bye weekend.  The Clovers made it another Irish double as they edged the Lightning.

Meanwhile in the men’s AIL the top 5 were kept apart in Round 10 and all won which has of course opened up something of a gap in the middle of the table.   The Dublin derby at Castle Avenue between Clontarf and Lansdowne has to be the pick of round 11.

#SupportYourLocalClub

WOMEN’S CELTIC CHALLENGE

ROUND 3

GLASGOW WARRIORS 12-40 WOLFHOUNDS

CLOVERS 19-17 GWALIA LIGHTNING

BRYTHON THUNDER 17-22 EDINBURGH

ROUND 4

SAT JAN 27

GLASGOW WARRIORS V CLOVERS

WOLFHOUNDS V BRYTHON THUNDER

SUN JAN 28

GWALIA LIGHTNING V EDINBURGH

MEN’S AIL

ROUND 10

LANSDOWNE 30-26 UCD

BALLYNAHINCH 36-10 CITY OF ARMAGH

SHANNON 20-24 CLONTARF

TERENURE 26-17 DUBLIN UNIV

CORK CON 23-13 YOUNG MUNSTER

ROUND 11

SAT DEC 23

CITY OF ARMAGH V TERENURE

CLONTARF V LANSDOWNE

TRINITY V SHANNON 

UCD V CORK CON

YOUNG MUNSTER V BALLYNAHINCH 

CHALLENGE CUP UPDATE

No second win for Black Lion yet and it looks like they’ll need to beat Clérmont in round 4 to make the knockout stages but anything is possible.  Gloucester & Montpellier remain the only unbeaten sides with the latter’s trip to Benetton seeming to be the pick of the ties for the next round, unless of course the Top 14 outfit decide their home match against Pau the following weekend is more important, which I have a feeling they will.

ROUND 3

NEWCASTLE 18-57 BENETTON

OSPREYS 25-3 PERPIGNAN

SHARKS 38-7 OYONNAX

CLÉRMONT 38-17 SCARLETS

ZEBRE 20-17 DRAGONS

CASTRES 28-6 BLACK LION

EDINBURGH 20-21 GLOUCESTER

MONTPELLIER 13-3 LIONS

CHEETAHS 20-33 PAU

ROUND 4

FRI JAN 19

GLOUCESTER V CASTRES

SCARLETS V EDINBURGH

SAT JAN 20

BLACK LION V CLÉRMONT

PAU V ZEBRE

OYONNAX V CHEETAHS

BENETTON V MONTPELLIER

SUN JAN 21

PERPIGNAN V NEWC ASTLE

LIONS V OSPREYS

DRAGONS V SHARKS

HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE

No URC matches for a few weeks but given I’m still top of the league I don’t mind if I keep publishing the table any chance I get!!!

NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Next up for us is of course Leinster’s trip to Leicester next weekend, Kino will join me for a preview on Friday then the wrap pod will be recorded Sunday evening.  Keep up with all the latest happenings on our social media channels and please help us by commenting, liking, sharing & subscribing wherever you can.

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

80+ column : Jan 10

On this week’s column…

🏉 FRONT FIVE

🏉 NEW WRAP UNWRAPPED

🏉 HARPIN ON…BEST VID OF 2023

🏉 SENSIBLE V SILLY TIKTOK

🏉 LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE

🏉 THE MIDDLE AISLE

🏉 UPDATES [Incl 🔝🐱🐴, Prem & AIL] 

FRONT FIVE

A selection of five eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the ruggersphere.

“If it wasn’t for O’Mahony’s age profile and rumours of a departure, they would be neck and neck in the race; but you would have to favour the lanky Leinster lock to pip it at the death” 
Farrell’s New Year Headache is Selecting A New Captain
Caolán Scully – CaolánSRugby
“It is understood an agreement has been reached in principle, with a final green light awaited.”
Ireland’s Six Nations jerseys set to feature player names
RTÉ.ie
“He was such an influencer in that regard, mixing immaculate ball skills with granite defence. Rugby had never seen a full-back like him.” 
My Lions team-mate JPR was the best full-back the game has ever seen – full stop
Ian McGeechan – Irish Independent (via Daily Telegraph)
“The more people think it’s acceptable to make a derogatory comment…on social media or electronically, I think people think it’s also OK to say it in person.” 
RFU increases sanction for abuse of officials as survey finds 49% targeted
Gerard Meagher – The Guardian
“…this one feels as though it might be more of a move that will work out for him and his family and from a rugby point of view just to change things up.”
Brian O’Driscoll Has Interesting Theory On Owen Farrell’s Rumoured France Move
Gary Connaughton – Balls.ie

Note – views expressed in “Front Five” links do not necessarily reflect those of HarpinOnRugby

NEW WRAP UNWRAPPED

As you can see above, we’ll be doing things a little differently at Harpin Manor in 2024.  The wrap pod from now on will be just that…a pod wrapping the latest Leinster & Ireland fixture and the “Front Five” feature will return to a written format, appearing at the tart of this column each week.

I started the Front 5 way back in July 2014 and it was a daily post which helped with regular content and also helped keep me up to date with issues outside my chosen remit.  I chose to keep it when I switched to a pod format but I reckon it’s better to launch straight into the subject matter so this seems to be a logical resting place for it, although with more and more publications putting themselves behind firewalls we’ll see how long interesting links remain accessible!

HARPIN’ ON…MOST VIEWED VID OF 2023

We will still have a “bonus clip” segment in our wrap recordings except rather than me choosing a topic I’m going to let my guests harp on things they’d like to discuss.

The videos will remain in this portion of the 80+ column so for this week I will share the video which got by far the most views over the past year, namely my thoughts on the Jean Kleyn situation which I’m assuming got shared around the Springbok fan base.

SENSIBLE V SILLY TIK TOK

Since I’ve had a TikTok account I have seen a lot of different types of post; some I find hilarious but others kind of make me cringe.  One of the latter for me is the “talking to myself” style so to announce the return from my “mini break” I decided to make my own.  You probably think it is just as cringeworthy as any other and I wouldn’t argue as that is kind of the point!  

The scene is meant to be between two versions of myself, a “sensible” one and a “silly” one – and this is actually symbolic of my general approach to content production, part of me wants to be a straight laced presenter while another can’t resist dad jokes and such.  So in a way this format worked, but as I say, it will more than likely be the first AND last time I ever use it.  I’m also a bit annoyed I fucked up the subtitles in a couple of places but let’s just say I’m not losing any sleep!!!

Thanks for all who gave positive feedback anyway though!

@harpinonrugby

We’re back Wednesday with a new 80+ column

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE

“Number of months” are obviously the last words you want to see in an injury update, particularly at the midpoint of a season which could very well mean yours is all but over.  Jimmy O’Brien and Martin Moloney both got that horrible news over the holidays, the former would have of course been heavily involved in the plans for both Leinster and Ireland while Moloney is probably cursing his luck even more as he has yet to appear for Leinster after returning from a previous spell on the sidelines which began just as he broke into the team.

The “no further updates” section is also full of players who would feature heavily in Leinster’s plans but as you can see from the “x” below there was some extra good news announced after the update was published…

Harpin’ matchday 23 v Stade Francais

Keenan, O’Brien T, Ringrose (c), Henshaw, Lowe, Byrne H, Gibson-Park

Porter, Sheehan, Furlong, McCarthy, Ryan, Baird, van der Flier, Doris

Kelleher, Healy, Ala’alatoa, Molony, Conan, McGrath, Frawley, Connors

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

INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:

James Ryan: was withdrawn before the game against Ulster Rugby as a precaution and will be further assessed this week before a final decision is made on selection

INJURY UPDATE – UNAVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:

Jimmy O’Brien: has picked up a neck injury and will be unavailable for a number of months

Martin Moloney: has picked up a bicep injury and will be unavailable for a number of months

Alex Soroka: picked up a foot injury in training last week and will be unavailable for selection this week   

NO FURTHER UPDATES ON:

Charlie Ngatai (calf), Cormac Foley (shoulder), Ross Byrne (arm) and Jamie Osborne (shoulder)

THE MIDDLE AISLE

This is the “middle aisle” portion of the column where I will briefly harp on issues of the day, or at least it will be from next week – that TikTok involved so much work I really don’t have the time right now to delve into much else!

URC IRISH SHIELD UPDATE

I know there will be no more URC interpros until May, but I thought I’d post the state of play one last time before that as it is so well poised.

NOV 4 CONNACHT 22-20 ULSTER

NOV 10 ULSTER 21-14 MUNSTER

NOV 25 LEINSTER 21-16 MUNSTER

DEC 2 CONNACHT 22-24 LEINSTER

DEC 22 ULSTER 20-19 CONNACHT

DEC 26 MUNSTER 3-9 LEINSTER

JAN 1 CONNACHT 22-9 MUNSTER

JAN 1 LEINSTER 21-22 ULSTER

MAY 11 MUNSTER V CONNACHT

MAY 18 ULSTER V LEINSTER

MAY 31 LEINSTER V CONNACHT

JUNE 1 MUNSTER V ULSTER

“SVNS” UPDATE

The Sevens circuit is still on a break but I’ll still post the update to remind us all how things stand.  Big year for the Irish programme of course with the Olympics in July also on the schedule.

NEXT IN THE SERIES…

PERTH JAN 26-28

VANCOUVER FEB 23-25

LOS ANGELES MAR 2-3

HONG KONG APR 5-7

SINGAPORE MAY 3-5

MADRID MAY 31-JUN 2

🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE

From a Leinster POV the drab draw for Stade catches the eye and makes me wonder just how much they will prioritise their Champions Cup campaign over the coming weeks after 2 defeats from 2 and a trip to 2nd place Bayonne next up at home.

Racing held off Castres in a shootout to stay top while La Rochelle moved closer to the playoff spots by winning at Pau, and have to overcome Premiership opposition over the next two weeks if they are to also revive their Champions Cup hopes.

Round 12

SAT JAN 6

PAU 20-29 LA ROCHELLE

PERPIGNAN 27-12 OYONNAX

BORDEAUX 24-23 BAYONNE

STADE FRANCAIS 14-14 CLÉRMONT

RACING 92 34-30 CASTRES

TOULOUSE 45-0 LYON

MONTPELLIER 27-17 TOULON

Round 13

SAT JAN 27

BORDEAUX V STADE FRANCAIS

BAYONNE V OYONNAX

CASTRES V CLÉRMONT

LYON V PERPIGNAN

MONTPELLIER V PAU

TOULON V LA ROCHELLE

SUN JAN 28

RACING 92 V TOULOUSE

PREMIERSHIP UPDATE

Northampton stay top after an impressive win at Exeter, and will probably stay their after the next round with lowly Newcastle coming to Franklin’s Gardens.  Sale fell out of the playoff places after getting done at home by Bristol.  After 11 rounds, 70% of the league have more wins than losses so there are many twists and turns left.

ROUND 11

SALE SHARKS 14-22 BRISTOL BEARS

NEWCASTLE FALCONS 3-24 HARLEQUINS

EXETER 36-42 NORTHAMPTON SAINTS

LEICESTER TIGERS 19-10 SARACENS

BATH 17-10 GLOUCESTER

ROUND 11

FRI JAN 26

HARLEQUINS V LEICESTER TIGERS

SAT JAN 27

NORTHAMPTON SAINTS V NEWCASTLE FALCONS

BRISTOL BEARS V BATH

SARACENS V EXETER CHIEFS

SUN JAN 28

GLOUCESTER V SALE SHARKS

AIL UPDATE 

Both Irish clubs were victorious in round 2 of the Celtic Challenge but the Welsh franchise Gwalia Lightning are top of the table and visit the Clovers next.  The Leinster-heavy Wolfhounds side will aim to keep their 100% record intact when they travel to Glasgow and all games are available to watch for free on RugbyPass.tv

Meanwhile the new competition has put pressure on the Women’s AIL clubs – while there are no league fixtures while it’s on, there is an “All-Ireland Women’s Cup” and Old Belvedere of all teams found themselves unable to put out a side to face Galwegians in Round 1 and had to concede the match points.

I like to consider myself an ally to those pushing for the IRFU bringing the standards up to where they should be but in this one case I’m not sure it really counts as another stick to beat them with.  The Celtic Challenge seems to be a net positive and given it has to be run in conjunction with other unions, there was always going to be a chance it would affect the clubs.  Last year, the complaints were that the clubs didn’t have enough matches (and this was correct as the AIL was done and dusted by Christmas) so while the Belvo concession clearly demonstrates there is still a long way to go, I’d still hope at least we’re heading in a decent general direction.

Meanwhile the men’s AIL is back this week while the Bateman Cup final was retained by Terenure (who had arguably their best social media team announcement yet see below) after they overcame Young Munster and with lowly Trinity visiting Lakelands next in the league, they have every chance to climb further.  

Ballynahinch will need another win over their Ulster rivals City of Armagh to stay in touch with the top four while leaders Clontarf make the trip to Shannon.

#SupportYourLocalClub

WOMEN’S CELTIC CHALLENGE

ROUND 2

EDINBURGH 17-27 WOLFHOUNDS

CLOVERS 20-5 BRYTHON THUNDER

GWALIA LIGHTNING 36-19 GLASGOW WARRIORS

ROUND 3

SAT JAN 13

GLASGOW WARRIORS V WOLFHOUNDS

SUN JAN 14

CLOVERS V GWALIA LIGHTNING

BRYTHON THUNDER V EDINBURGH

WOMEN’S AIL

NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND

Round 11

SAT FEB 10

SUTTONIANS V BALLINCOLLIG

COOKE V RAILWAY UNION

GALWEGIANS V UL BOHS

WICKLOW V BELVO

MEN’S AIL

BATEMAN CUP FINAL

TERENURE 22-15 YOUNG MUNSTER

ROUND 10

FRI JAN 12

LANSDOWNE V UCD

SAT DEC 16

BALLYNAHINCH V CITY OF ARMAGH

SHANNON V CLONTARF

TERENURE V DUBLIN UNIV

CORK CON V YOUNG MUNSTER

CHALLENGE CUP UPDATE

Not many eyes in the wider rugby world fall on the Challenge Cup but those that do will no doubt be on Black Lion’s progress…the 5 match points they already have could well be enough to see them into the knockouts but who’s to say they won’t get more?  This weekend they go to Castres who could well be putting more focus on their domestic standing.

ROUND 3

FRI JAN 12

NEWCASTLE V BENETTON

SAT JAN 13

OSPREYS V PERPIGNAN

SHARKS V OYONNAX

CLÉRMONT V SCARLETS

ZEBRE V DRAGONS

CASTRES V BLACK LION

EDINBURGH V GLOUCESTER

MONTPELLIER V LIONS

SUN JAN 14

CHEETAHS V PAU

HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE

Just the one URC match last weekend and the only HPL combatants to predict that the Lions would win at the Sharks were Kristian, who leapfrogged Kino into 3rd, and…wait for it…KEEGO!!! Still can’t see him making up the gap to avoid keeping the Jersey of Shame though, even if we aren’t quite yet at the halfway stage of the season.

I’m considering adding a “cup competition” to the HPL starting in Round 10 but I’ll let you know when it gets closer to the time.

NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Right that’s it for now, great to be back to whatever “normal” is.  The Rugby on TV feature returns as it’s regular stand alone post on Thursday, then Keego will join me for Friday’s preview of the visit of Stade while our new-look wrap pod will feature Tom & Conor recording on Sunday evening.

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

80+ column : Jan 4

A WEEKLY COLUMN LOOKING AT 

TOPICS BEYOND THE SCOPE OF OUR

FEATURE MATCH OF THE WEEK

WRAP OF A WRAP

As pointed out in the social media posts leading readers here, this is the first of two 80+ columns to bookend a mini-break from content-producing here at Harpin Manor what with the URC taking this coming weekend off.

Our schedule was thrown out of whack by the holiday period but for the most part we gave Leinster’s interpros the full Harpin treatment although Keego swapped from the previews to the wraps with both Jay Long and Conor Cronin doing top work stepping in for the preview shows.

If you didn’t catch the Ulster wrap pod itself, here’s a link to Spotify and we’re also on Apple and most major platforms.

HARPIN’ ON…LOOKING AHEAD TO 2024

Last week’s bonus clip was a look back to 2023 so it made sense to switch to crystal ball mode for the year ahead this time around. Keego & myself offered suggestions as to what might happen as well as outlining what rugby is in store for both Leinster & Ireland.

LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE

It’s very possible we won’t get a new update until next week’s column but I will still have a go at selecting a team for the Stade match based on the info I have.

Harpin’ matchday 23 v Stade Francais

Keenan, O’Brien J, Ringrose, Henshaw (c), Lowe, Byrne H, Gibson-Park

Porter, Sheehan, Furlong, McCarthy, Ryan, Baird, van der Flier, Doris

Kelleher, Healy, Ala’alatoa, Molony, Conan, McGrath, Frawley, Connors

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

UPCOMING RUGBY ON IRISH TV 

We normally do this as a separate post but like last week I’ll include it here.  I can’t find any 🔝🐱🐴 , normally it’s on Premier Sports Ireland but they seem to be concentrating on the FA Cup – I’ll update if anything shows up.

FRIDAY JANUARY 5

7:45PM – SALE SHARKS V BRISTOL BEARS – PREMIERSHIP – TNT SPORTS 1

7:45PM – NEWCASTLE v HARLEQUINS – PREMIERSHIP – PR.TV*

SATURDAY JANUARY 6

2PM – EDINBURGH V WOLFHOUNDS – WOMEN’S CELTIC CHALLENGE – RUGBYPASS.TV

2:15PM – TERENURE V YOUNG MUNSTER – BATEMAN CUP FINAL – IRISH RUGBY YOUTUBE

2:30PM – CLOVERS V BRYTHON THUNDER – WOMEN’S CELTIC CHALLENGE – RUGBYPASS.TV

3PM – SHARKS V LIONS – URC – URC.TV*

3PM – EXETER V NORTHAMPTON – PREMIERSHIP – TNT SPORTS EXTRA

3:05PM – LEICESTER TIGERS V SARACENS – PREMIERSHIP – TNT SPORTS 1

SUNDAY, JANUARY 7

12:30PM – EXETER CHIEFS V EALING TRAILFINDERS – WOMEN’S PREM – TNT SPORTS 1

1:30PM – GWALIA LIGHTNING V GLASGOW WARRIORS – WOMEN’S CELTIC CHALLENGE – RUGBYPASS.TV

3PM – BATH V GLOUCESTER – PREMIERSHIP – TNT SPORTS 1

URC IRISH SHIELD UPDATE

Obviously Ulster’s win at the RDS threw the race for the shield wide open with the May 18 rematch in the Kingspan looking like it’s going to be the decider. I’m also still amazed how close all the matches have been – if it wasn’t for a last-gasp interception try at the Sportsground, all 8 matches so far will have been decided by 7pts or less.

NOV 4 CONNACHT 22-20 ULSTER

NOV 10 ULSTER 21-14 MUNSTER

NOV 25 LEINSTER 21-16 MUNSTER

DEC 2 CONNACHT 22-24 LEINSTER

DEC 22 ULSTER 20-19 CONNACHT

DEC 26 MUNSTER 3-9 LEINSTER

JAN 1 CONNACHT 22-9 MUNSTER

JAN 1 LEINSTER 21-22 ULSTER

MAY 11 MUNSTER V CONNACHT

MAY 18 ULSTER V LEINSTER

MAY 31 LEINSTER V CONNACHT

JUNE 1 MUNSTER V ULSTER

🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE

Racing slipped up getting just a losing BP at lowly Bayonne yet still remain top while Leinster’s next opposition Stade F came away from Toulon with nothing although despite being 5th they’re still within striking distance of their Parisian rivals. Meanwhile La Rochelle’s relatively comfortable dispatching of Toulouse had me wondering if the LAR>LEI>TLS>LAR cycle has finally been broken! ROGs lot can get even closer to the top six with a win at Pau in the next round.

Round 11

OYONNAX 34-13 PAU

CLÉRMONT 35-40 BORDEAUX

LYON 20-18 MONTPELLIER

BAYONNE 27-23 RACING 92

TOULON 19-5 STADE FRANCAIS

LA ROCHELLE 29-8 TOULOUSE

CASTRES 13-17 PERPIGNAN

Round 12

SAT JAN 6

PAU V LA ROCHELLE

PERPIGNAN V OYONNAX

BORDEAUX V BAYONNE

STADE FRANCAIS V CLÉRMONT

RACING 92 V CASTRES

TOULOUSE V LYON

SUN JAN 7

MONTPELLIER V TOULON

PREMIERSHIP UPDATE

Not often the top team in all three main Euro domestic leagues lose in the same weekend, however Sale were the only one to see themselves knocked off their perch as defeat to Northampton moved the Saints up to the summit with Exeter climbing to second.  Leicester Tigers scoffed a decent home win over Bath although their schedule doesn’t get much easier with just the 9 Champions Cup between their next three opponents Saracens, La Rochelle and of course Leinster.

ROUND 10

BRISTOL 14-24 EXETER

SARACENS 37-19 NEWCASTLE

NORTHAMPTON 21-17 SALE SHARKS

HARLEQUINS 32-26 GLOUCESTER

LEICESTER TIGERS 35-22 BATH

ROUND 11

FRI JAN 5

SALE SHARKS V BRISTOL BEARS

NEWCASTLE FALCONS V HARLEQUINS

SAT JAN 6

EXETER V NORTHAMPTON SAINTS

LEICESTER TIGERS V SARACENS

SUN JAN 7

BATH V GLOUCESTER

AIL UPDATE 

No action in the AIL but the women’s Celtic Challenge did kick off with the two newly-created Irish teams Wolfhounds & Clovers meeting at Musgrave Park. The Leinster/Ulster based side overturned a halftime deficit to finish on top, round 2 is this coming weekend all the matches will be streamed live on RugbyPass.tv the links are in the TV section further up the page.

#SupportYourLocalClub

WOMEN’S CELTIC CHALLENGE

ROUND 1

WOLFHOUNDS 21-15 CLOVERS

EDINBURGH 28-12 GLASGOW

BRYTHON THUNDER 5-20 GWALIA LIGHTNING

ROUND 2

SAT JAN 6

EDINBURGH V WOLFHOUNDS

CLOVERS V BRYTHON THUNDER

SUN JAN 7

GWALIA LIGHTNING V GLASGOW WARRIORS

WOMEN’S AIL

NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND

Round 11

SAT FEB 10

SUTTONIANS V BALLINCOLLIG

COOKE V RAILWAY UNION

GALWEGIANS V UL BOHS

WICKLOW V BELVO

MEN’S AIL

NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND

ROUND 10

FRI JAN 12

LANSDOWNE V UCD

SAT DEC 16

BALLYNAHINCH V CITY OF ARMAGH

SHANNON V CLONTARF

TERENURE V DUBLIN UNIV

CORK CON V YOUNG MUNSTER

HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE

The Welsh regions have been good to me in this round but still my lead at the top has been whittled down to just 1.5pts with a group forming right down to 6th ready to pounce.  Round 9 is unusual as it includes two extra fixtures for the Lions in January so we’ll see how the lads get on remembering their picks!  If they’re lucky I might even remind them in the WhatsApp group…

NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

We’re going to take full advantage of the URC off week here at Harpin Manor to do absolutely NOTHING content-related for a few days.  The plan is to be back with another 80+ column which will be back on it’s regular day, which I guess means I’ll actually see you next Tuesday!!! 😜

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

80+ column : Dec 29 & Rugby on TV Dec 29-31

A WEEKLY COLUMN LOOKING AT 

TOPICS BEYOND THE SCOPE OF OUR

FEATURE MATCH OF THE WEEK

WRAP OF A WRAP

Keego usually does the previews so just to mix things up I asked him to do the wraps over Christmas with a much simpler format than usual we essentially just harped on the match itself though despite the low scoring there was much to go over. 

If you didn’t catch the wrap pod itself, here’s a link to Spotify and we’re also on Apple and most major platforms.

HARPIN’ ON…LEINSTER & IRELAND 2023

For the bonus clip myself & Keego went back over the rollercoaster of results from the year.

THE HARPIN ‘WITHOUT WHOM’ DEPARTMENT

As I say in the TikTok, thanking my contributors is the very, very least I can do.  To a man they all go above and beyond preparing for our chats as well as giving up their time to actually record them.  Here is the actual list of 2023 caps…

Keego 31 

Tom Coleman 20 

Conor Cronin 20 

Mark Jackson 18 

RugbyKino 15 

Rich Mifsud 11

Jay Long 8

Ciarán Duffy 5

Nathan Johns 3

Stephen Murphy 2

Pádraig Kelly 2

Peter Lockhart 2

Francisco Isaac 1

Ian Frizzell 1

Justin Middleton 1

Bryan Moylett 1

Ball handling Hooker 1

Thala Msutu 1

Also my apologies for Thala Msutu for pronouncing his name wrong in the video!

@harpinonrugby

Many many thanks to all the Harpin contributors throughout 2023, have a safe and happy new year everyone.

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE

Fingers crossed the JGP injury wasnt too bad sounded like a precaution.  That really does lookk like the lightest injury update we have seen in quite a while although I reckon a good few will still be held back for the visit of Ulster with Europe & 6N on the horizon, although there is an off week to come which will help.

Normally I post a predicted team here but since this is posting on Friday rather than the usual Tuesday I can go one better by posting the team itself.

Available for Selection:

Luke McGrath: came through the game at the weekend with no issues after returning from a knee injury

Harry Byrne: came through the game at the weekend with no issues after returning from the Graduated Return to Play Protocols

John McKee: has returned to full training after recovering from a hamstring injury

Further Assessment Required:

Jamison Gibson-Park: was withdrawn before the game against Munster Rugby as a precaution and will be further assessed this week

No Further Updates:

Charlie Ngatai (calf), Cormac Foley (shoulder), Ross Byrne (arm) and Jamie Osborne (shoulder)

UPCOMING RUGBY ON IRISH TV 

We normally do this as a separate post but just this once I’ll include it here.

FRIDAY DECEMBER 29

4PM – WOLFHOUNDS V CLOVERS – CELTIC CHALLENGE – RUGBYPASS.TV

7:45PM – BRISTOL BEARS V EXETER – PREMIERSHIP – TNT SPORTS 1

8PM – CLÉRMONT V BORDEAUX – 🔝🐱🐴 – PREMIER SPORTS 1

SATURDAY DECEMBER 30

12PM – EDINBURGH V GLASGOW WARRIORS – CELTIC CHALLENGE – RUGBYPASS.TV

1:30PM – BENETTON V ZEBRE – URC – PREMIER SPORTS 2, – URC.TV*

2:30PM – HARLEQUINS V GLOUCESTER – WOMEN’S PREM – TNT SPORTS 2

3PM – EDINBURGH V GLASGOW WARRIORS – URC – PREMIER SPORTS 2, URC.TV*

3PM – SARACENS V NEWCASTLE – PREMIERSHIP – TNT SPORTS EXTRA

3:05PM – NORTHAMPTON V SALE SHARKS – PREMIERSHIP – TNT SPORTS 1

5PM – STORMERS V SHARKS – URC – PREMIER SPORTS 2, URC.TV*

5:15PM – RGC1404 V CARDIFF – WELSH PREM – S4C

5:30PM – HARLEQUINS V GLOUCESTER – PREMIERSHIP – TNT SPORTS 1

6PM – TOULON V STADE FRANCAIS – 🔝🐱🐴 – PREMIER SPORTS 2

8PM – LA ROCHELLE V TOULOUSE – 🔝🐱🐴 – PREMIER SPORTS 1

SUNDAY DECEMBER 31

1PM – CASTRES V PERPIGNAN – 🔝🐱🐴 – PREMIER SPORTS 1

3PM – LEICESTER TIGERS V BATH – PREMIERSHIP – TNT SPORTS 1

MONDAY JANUARY 1

3PM – CONNACHT V MUNSTER – URC – TG4, PREMIER SPORTS 1,  URC.TV*

3PM – OSPREYS V CARDIFF – URC – BBC1 WALES, PREMIER SPORTS 2,  URC.TV*

5:15PM – DRAGONS V SCARLETS – URC – S4C, PREMIER SPORTS 1,  URC.TV*

5:15PM – LEINSTER V ULSTER – URC – RTÉ2, PREMIER SPORTS 2.

URC IRISH SHIELD UPDATE

Obviously the Leinster fan in me wants to point to the top of this table but actually I’d rather draw attention to the full collection of results between the provinces so far, all of which have been decided by 7 points or less which speaks volumes.  Leinster v Ulster on New Year’s Day will obviously go a long way towards deciding the destination of the shield.

NOV 4 CONNACHT 22-20 ULSTER

NOV 10 ULSTER 21-14 MUNSTER

NOV 25 LEINSTER 21-16 MUNSTER

DEC 2 CONNACHT 22-24 LEINSTER

DEC 22 ULSTER 20-19 CONNACHT

DEC 26 MUNSTER 3-9 LEINSTER

JAN 1 CONNACHT V MUNSTER

JAN 1 LEINSTER V ULSTER

MAY 11 MUNSTER V CONNACHT

MAY 18 ULSTER V LEINSTER

MAY 31 LEINSTER V CONNACHT

JUNE 1 MUNSTER V ULSTER

🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE

I suppose it’s natural these days for a Leinster fan to be drawn to La Rochelle in this portion for all the obvious reasons but even without that their Round 10 defeat to Stade (whom we play next in Europe) plus their Round 11 date with Toulouse (repeat of last year’s Brennus decider) are easily the standout matches.  Racing still top the league after a 60-burger on Oyonnax.

Round 10

PERPIGNAN 36-10 BAYONNE

BORDEAUX 46-10 LYON

MONTPELLIER 30-21 CASTRES

RACING 92 66-10 OYONNAX

PAU 22-11 CLÉRMONT

STADE FRANCAIS 18-13 LA ROCHELLE

TOULOUSE 25-17 TOULON

Round 11

FRI DEC 29

OYONNAX V PAU

CLÉRMONT V BORDEAUX

SAT DEC 30

LYON V MONTPELLIER

BAYONNE V RACING 92

TOULON V STADE FRANCAIS

LA ROCHELLE V TOULOUSE

CASTRES V PERPIGNAN

PREMIERSHIP UPDATE

Sale Sharks bounced back from their Dublin defeat to overcome Sarries and they have the most wins at the halfway stage of the Premiership but Bath pip them to top spot at this stage thanks to their bonus points. Their visit to Leicester will be a tricky one in round 10 while there’s a 3rd v 2nd clash at Franklins Gardens.

ROUND 9

NEWCASTLE 13-21 BRISTOL

SALE SHARKS 22-20 SARACENS

EXETER 29-10 LEICESTER

GLOUCESTER 29-31 NORTHAMPTON

BATH 25-17 HARLEQUINS

ROUND 10

FRI DEC 29

BRISTOL V EXETER

SAT DEC 30

SARACENS V NEWCASTLE

NORTHAMPTON V SALE SHARKS

HARLEQUINS V GLOUCESTER

SUN DEC 31

LEICESTER TIGERS V BATH

HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE

I was kicking myself after missing my prediction for the Zebre v Benetton match (or as we call it in our Harpin WhatsApp group “doing a Keego”) but I recovered pretty well the rest of the round to stretch my lead at the top of the HPL.  True story of the round was Kristian Ross who got the yellow cap to leap frog Conor and Kino into 2nd.

NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

That’s it for 2023, next there’s the Ulster preview which will be ready by Saturday morning, the wrap pod will record Tuesday night and with an off week to follow we’ll be taking things easy-ish though keep up with our usual social media channels we’ll be doing the odd post here and there.

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

80+ column : Dec 19

A WEEKLY COLUMN LOOKING AT 

TOPICS BEYOND THE SCOPE OF OUR

FEATURE MATCH OF THE WEEK

WRAP OF A WRAP

First things first….not one but TWO Harpin contributors have had milestone birthdays in the last week, best wishes to both Tom Coleman and Conor Cronin I hope the celebrations went well!

Well that match certainly didn’t go like we thought it would, did it?  On the preview with Keego, we were trying to be nice about the Sale lineup but truth be told it really did look like a comprehensive Leinster win was on the cards but although we did get the bonus point win, this Sale squad really put it to us and both Tom and Kino made this point perfectly clear as they wrapped the 80 minutes.

If you didn’t catch the wrap pod itself, here’s a link to Spotify and we’re also on Apple and most major platforms.

HARPIN’ ON…ANDY FARRELL APPRECIATION

After skipping the bonus clip the previous week, we recorded one to honour Andy Farrell’s much-deserved gong at the RTÉ Sports Awards.

CHALLENGES FACING IRISH WOMEN’S RUGBY

It’s pretty clear the point I’m making with the editing wizardry in the TikTok below but I’m still actually saying stuff in the speeded up bits so here is a transcript…

  1. CLUB RUGBY We start with club rugby. The principal club competition is of course the Women’s AIL which for the past couple of seasons has consisted of a ringfenced top division of 9 clubs.  Last year the league was done and dusted by this stage of the season in mid-December so now they’ve increased it to a home and away schedule extending the regular season to April.  Problems still remain at this level however and just one look at the league table shows that in reality there are only four clubs in real contention for the title, with the other five sometimes struggling to put a team out like Wicklow in the last round who had to concede a walkover due to injuries, something that really should not be happening at senior level, and just to be perfectly clear, I certainly would not lay a whole lot of blame at the door of the club in question.
  1. INTERPROS Next we have the interprovincial championship, where the women’s game surely has much scope to resonate with Irish rugby fans already well used to cheering for one of the four provinces.  The problem with this level is that like the clubs they also are badly in need of more games and this season’s title had already been won by Leinster before the men’s World Cup had even kicked off.
  1. THE CELTIC CHALLENGE Then we have the Celtic Challenge, a new competition along the lines of the original men’s Celtic League with teams from Ireland Scotland and Wales competing for the prize.  They started last season with one team from each nation and have expanded to two each this year with Ireland fielding newly formed clubs called the Clovers who represent Munster and Connacht, and the Wolfhounds who will draw players from Leinster and Ulster and the two will meet each other in the opening round at Musgrave Park on December 29.  It would of course be awesome for this level to succeed but from an Irish perspective I can’t really see these manufactured teams capturing much attention, so hopefully it won’t be long before all four provinces can afford to field teams and the competition can find a sustainable place on the rugby calendar.
  1. SEVENS This brings us to sevens rugby, and this year the World Series has rebranded itself to make sure both men and women play the same amount of rugby at all of the events.  However for the Irish programme there is still a profound difference between the genders in that the men can field a dedicated sevens squad while the women need to draw many of the best players out of the XVs pool, a decision which has certainly brought rewards like qualification for the Paris Olympics, but also which can’t avoid hurting the chances for the full test team in the process, for example the Hong Kong Sevens event takes place right in the middle of the Women’s Six Nations.
  1. TEST RUGBY Which of course brings us to the test team itself.  Whatever we say about the levels below, if there is to be significant fan engagement it is critical that the Irish women’s programme finds a way to drastically improve on their disastrous last place finish in the 2023 Six Nations.  Victory in the 3rd tier of the new WXV competition is definitely a start but there is still a long way to go, and like I already said losing key players like Beibhinn Parsons to the sevens programme certainly doesn’t help, nor does a reliance solely on players who are able to be on call for training and such in and around the greater Dublin area.  It surely would be much easier to attract our top female athletes to the sport if there were at the very least proper training bases at each of the four provinces.
  1. WHAT CAN FANS DO Finally, there’s the issue of what we can do as fans.  At a practical level offering financial or volunteer support to your local club is one of the best ways to help out but actual engagement with the top teams is also critical.  Ironically one of the most important things you can do in that regard is not listen to me!  While we’d encourage you to keep up with the IRFU site for latest news and fixtures and such, I’d also suggest following dedicated websites like Scrumqueens and twitter accounts like @IrishWomens and @JC200022 to get a sense of what more needs to be done.
@harpinonrugby

To read the rant at normal speed check out our latest 80+ column which posts every Tuesday at harpinonrugby.com #rugbytiktoks🏉

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE

Update didn’t arrive until Wednesday afternoon this week, it looks like the news on Charlie Ngatai isn’t as bad as we first feared, fingers crossed. As you can see from my 23 I’m holding out hope we’ll see James Lowe back for the trip to Thomond but he can of course take as long as he feels he needs…

Harpin’ matchday 23 v Munster

Larmour, O’Brien T, Turner, Henshaw, Russell, Prendergast, McGrath

Healy, Kelleher, Ala’alatoa, Molony, Deeny, Conan, Penny (c), Deegan

Barron, Boyle, Clarkson, Ryan, Culhane, Murphy, Tector, Lowe.

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

INJURY UPDATE – AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:

Luke McGrath: has returned to full training after returning from a knee injury

Tommy O’Brien: has returned to full training after returning from an ankle injury

INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:

Harry Byrne: will be further assessed this week as part of the Graduated Return to Play Protocols

Jason Jenkins: was withdrawn at half-time against Sale Sharks with a minor back issue and will be further assessed this week

INJURY UPDATE – UNAVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:

Charlie Ngatai: picked up a calf injury against Sale Sharks and will be unavailable for selection this week

NO FURTHER UPDATES ON:

Cormac Foley (shoulder), Ross Byrne (arm), Jamie Osborne (shoulder) and John McKee (hamstring)

NO TO CO CAPTAINS

When Leinster are losing there are many who take great pleasure from pointing out what we’re doing wrong, but when that stick isn’t there to beat us with, the scramble to find an alternative can be entertainment in itself.  

This latest one is more twig than stick but still it has to be said that the “co-captain” experiment hasn’t gotten off to an ideal start at the province, and judging by the feedback from refs in the opening two weeks in Europe, we might have to rethink the  policy very soon.

My completely hot take is that this was a decision made to appease their respective agents?  Having the Leinster captain on your books would be quite the feather in the cap so (remember I have ZERO info on this, all speculation) I can imagine a situation where pressure is exerted from representatives for both players with this being a compromise.  If so, or indeed whatever led to the decision, here’s hoping they can quickly go back to the drawing board because one captain at a time is definitely the way to go.

SEXTON AS COACH

Really mischievous headline here “IRFU Don’t Rule Out Possible Ireland Return For Johnny Sexton” and I suppose I can’t blame the media for cranking up the old outrage-baiting headline generator for this one.  And to be honest, if anyone who has ever played the game could make the difficult transition from player to coach work quickly, it’s Johnny since I’d argue that he has essentially been an extra coach most his career.  But even with that, I very much doubt there’s much chance of him going straight to the Irish job replacing Mike Catt.  Right now I reckon Mike Prendergast looks a good fit FWIW.

LOS PUMAS TURN TO DR. PHIL 

Monday was a “fast news day” for sure, including the announcement that Felipe Contepomi had been appointed to head coach of the Pumas, which of course means it’s more than likely he’ll be leading them when they come to play the Lions at the Aviva Stadium in 2025.  It goes without saying that we wish him every success unless it’s against us at a World Cup!!!!

TOP SHELF IRISH WHISKEY

Have to admit I didn’t even know this was on the cards but I’m delighted to learn that Jamison Gibson-Park has earned his Irish citizenship, great news for him, and of course for both Leinster & Ireland rugby.   I always got the sense when he started playing at the province that he wasn’t wild about the kicking game and when Andy Farrell opted for a more pass-focused high-tempo style that was when he came into his own and fingers crossed he has many seasons left to do it.

URC IRISH SHIELD UPDATE

No harm leaving this in the column with the interpros on the horizon…

NOV 4 CONNACHT 22-20 ULSTER

NOV 10 ULSTER 21-14 MUNSTER

NOV 25 LEINSTER 21-16 MUNSTER

DEC 2 CONNACHT 22-24 LEINSTER

DEC 22 ULSTER V CONNACHT

DEC 26 MUNSTER V LEINSTER

JAN 1 CONNACHT V MUNSTER

JAN 1 LEINSTER V ULSTER

MAY 11 MUNSTER V CONNACHT

MAY 18 ULSTER V LEINSTER

MAY 31 LEINSTER V CONNACHT

JUNE 1 MUNSTER V ULSTER

AIL UPDATE 

No action at AIL level for the women this week, though as you see in the TikTok rnt segment I had a comment or two to make there.

Over on the men’s side there were some close derbies as UCD out scored Lansdowne in a 44-40 shootout at Belfield Bowl and the Cookies edged out Cork Con, and that result allowed Clontarf to extend their lead at the top after dispatching Shannon at Castle Ave.  In the other two local tussles Hinch won at Armagh while Terenure heaped more misery on Trinity.  Division 1A is now at its halfway stage and Round 9 fixtures get reversed for the next round in mid January.

#SupportYourLocalClub

WOMEN’S AIL

NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND

Round 11

SAT FEB 10

SUTTONIANS V BALLINCOLLIG

COOKE V RAILWAY UNION

GALWEGIANS V UL BOHS

WICKLOW V BELVO

MEN’S AIL

ROUND 9

UCD 44-40 LANSDOWNE

CITY OF ARMAGH 18-29 BALLYNAHINCH

CLONTARF 38-21 SHANNON

DUBLIN UNIV 14-31 TERENURE

YOUNG MUNSTER 22-21 CORK CON

ROUND 10

FRI JAN 12

LANSDOWNE V UCD

SAT DEC 16

BALLYNAHINCH V CITY OF ARMAGH

SHANNON V CLONTARF

TERENURE V DUBLIN UNIV

CORK CON V YOUNG MUNSTER

CHALLENGE CUP UPDATE

Obviously Black Lion stole the headlines in the Challenge Cup but Tom harped on that for the pod.  4 of the 18 teams have gotten off to perfect starts including two from SA, the Lions and the Cheetahs, who overcame the Sharks in the local encounter.   From the Round 3 schedule you’d have to pick out Black Lion who will have no fear travelling to Castres as the home side could well have one eye on their domestic standing, but I also wouldn’t mind checking out Embra v Glaws could be a decent contest.

ROUND 2

SCARLETS 7-23 BLACK LION

GLOUCESTER 28-17 CLÉRMONT

OYONNAX 14-21 ZEBRE

EDINBURGH 34-21 CASTRES

BENETTON 29-7 PERPIGNAN

LIONS 35-13 NEWCASTLE

PAU 24-21 DRAGONS

CHEETAHS 32-29 SHARKS

MONTPELLIER 38-5 OSPREYS

ROUND 3

FRI JAN 12

NEWCASTLE V BENETTON

SAT JAN 13

OSPREYS V PERPIGNAN

SHARKS V OYONNAX

CLÉRMONT V SCARLETS

ZEBRE V DRAGONS

CASTRES V BLACK LION

EDINBURGH V GLOUCESTER

MONTPELLIER V LIONS

SUN JAN 14

CHEETAHS V PAU

HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE

Still in first, so still going to include here.  All will likely change over the festive interpros!!!

NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Right – that’s it, will give this column a well earned break until after the holiers.  We will of course be covering Leinster’s matches against Munster & Ulster, stay tuned to the social media channels for more details.

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

80+ column : Dec 13

A WEEKLY COLUMN LOOKING AT 

TOPICS BEYOND THE SCOPE OF OUR

FEATURE MATCH OF THE WEEK

WRAP OF A WRAP

We had already decided long before kickoff that our wrap pod recording would be moved 24 hours later to Monday evening to allow for maximum time to prepare after the Sunday afternoon fixture, but given the way it worked out we were even more glad of the extra time.

Unfortunately RugbyKino was unable to join us as planned with him having a sore throat but thankfully Tom Coleman was able to come on from the bench to join Rich and as it turned out we had so much to harp on from this epic encounter that I had to completely alter how I present the pod.

Normally we record an extra “bonus clip” on an extra topic but our chat went on so long I decided to ditch it for this week, and when I went to edit I realised that there really wasnt anything worth cutting from what the lads had to so as you can see below the “Front Five” and “Final Thoughts” portions went to our YouTube channel, all to keep the actual wrap pod under an hour, but as ever I reckon it’s all well worth the listen.

If you didn’t catch the wrap pod itself, here’s a link to Spotify and we’re also on Apple and most major platforms.

LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE

Mixed news from the report especially on the dreaded bottom line…we already knew Ross Byrne would be there but seeing Jamie Osborne’s name is also worrying…and also Cormac Foley being out for months is a blow for him and the team, he was progressing really well.

Also any squad would miss names like Conan and Furlong hopefully they are both minor issues while we will probably be without Harry Byrne for the visit of Sale.

On the plus side it’s great to see both Tommy O’Brien and Luke McGrath at least moving their way up the list.

On my selection for Saturday, while I am with what seems to be a majority of Leinster fans who want to see Frawley get a run at 10, I may have put him there in my selection but I still appreciate that if we feel we have to go for a 6/2 bench he may need to be on the bench.

We all of course wish James Lowe to only come back when he’s ready, would love to see him at least at 23 to ease him back in but then again Charlie Ngatai is having an amazing season himself so he makes my 23.

Harpin’ matchday 23 v Sale Sharks

Keenan, Larmour, Ringrose (cc), Henshaw, O’Brien J, Frawley, Gibson-Park.

Porter, Sheehan, Ala’alatoa, McCarthy, Ryan (cc), Baird, van der Flier, Doris.

Kelleher, Healy, Clarkson, Molony, Connors, Murphy, Prendergast, Ngatai

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

INJURY UPDATE – AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:

Michael Milne: has returned to full training after returning from a shoulder injury.

INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:

Jack Conan: will look to increase his training load this week as he returns from a minor injury and will be further assessed later in the week ahead of selection.

Tadhg Furlong: will look to increase his training load this week as he returns from a minor injury and will be further assessed later in the week ahead of selection.

Tommy O’Brien: will look to increase his rehabilitation programme further this week as he nears a return from an ankle injury.

Luke McGrath: will look to increase his rehabilitation programme further this week as he nears a return from a knee injury.

INJURY UPDATE – UNAVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:

Cormac Foley: picked up a shoulder injury in training last week and will have a procedure this week. He will be unavailable for selection for the next few months.

Harry Byrne: was withdrawn for a Head Injury Assessment at the weekend and has now entered the Graduated Return to Play Protocols.

NO FURTHER UPDATES ON:

Ross Byrne (arm), Jamie Osborne (shoulder) and John McKee (hamstring).

LIONS – STILL A THING?

Had we done a bonus clip, it was to be all about the Lions, with the panel discussing both the announcement of the famous feline franchise playing the Pumas at the Aviva Stadium and also Gerry Thornley’s article questioning the viability of the whole concept what with concerns over player welfare.

My view is pretty simple – when the matches and tours are on, I love them as a fan of top level rugby.  Who wouldn’t love to see a combined team from four of the Six Nations take on the best of the Southern hemisphere in a test series, and having a test happen in Dublin is long overdue and would be on its own a great occasion for Irish rugby in particular.

However this obviously goes out the window when there’s even a suggestion of too much rugby on the calendar and there’s also my wish for there to be more opportunities for the “Tier 2” nations to play rugby.  And when a Lions squad assembles every four years, it automatically takes FIVE Tier 1 nations out of the equation when it comes to arranging matches and for me if it’s a case of “something has to give”, and I really think it is, then consigning the Lions tours to the history books wouldn’t be the worst thing for the sport.

I’ll look to bring it up in a future pod when I can to try and get some views from other Harpin panellists.

CHAMPIONS CUP FORMAT

No, the headline doesn’t mean I intend to moan about the format, in fact if anything I’m sick of all that moaning.  Actually all I want to do here is point out how the knockout phase is organised for this year’s competition as I only learned it myself since last week’s 80+ column.

As you probably know there are four pools of six with two from each league in each pool and everyone plays four matches, avoiding only the team that comes from the same league.

The top four in each pool go forward to the last 16 and the seedings are very straightforward, the pool winners get 1-4 (ranked by pool performance), runnersup are 5-8, 3rd place teams 9-12 and finally 4th placed teams 13-16.   For the last 16 round, the pairings are set as follows…1v16, 2v15, 3v14, 4v13, 5v12, 6v11, 7v10, 8v9.

What this means is that it is very possible (1 in 4 chance to be precise) that teams from the same pool can meet each other in the last 16.  For example, not completely out of the question that Leinster play La Rochelle again!!!!

This isn’t a new thing by the way…in the format most people wish we could return to, with 6 pools of 4 producing 8 quarterfinallists, it has often happened that one of the two best runnersup faced a team they already faced in the pool phase.

I can’t say I’m a fan of this and would rather they kept the pools apart at least for that first knockout round, but I certainly wouldn’t dwell on it too much since that would itself be moaning!!!  I’ll stick to hoping Leinster get as high a seeding as we can possibly get.

GUINNESS AS WOMEN’S 6N SPONSOR

On the surface this looks like good news, since the women’s game in particular will always need sponsorship, but I still have reservations.

It wasn’t so long ago that the league formerly known as the “Pro12/14” went a long time with having a sponsor before Guinness stepped in at virtually the 11th hour, and the same thing happened to the men’s Six Nations as the famous Irish stout was only announced to be offering its name to the 2019 tournament in December of 2018.  Pretty sure these deals are ideally done and dusted much longer in advance of the competitions kicking off.

This leads me to think that Guinness may well be something of a “sponsor of last resort” for rugby and if so this could mean that it may not be as lucrative for the competition as it could be.  I really, really hope I’m wrong but it does seem to make sense that a deal negotiated with a different company would bear more fruit.

ANOTHER MAJOR LEAGUE RUGBY FOLDS 

Absolutely devastating news from the USA, with Toronto Arrows already pulling out of Major League Rugby for 2024, now even New York can’t hold down a team with the Ironworkers also folding.  With the Miami Sharks joining this season, that leaves them with just ten for this season and surely there must be more teams struggling as well.

It’s very important for the sport that they get a foothold in the US, but it really looks like trying to model their product on the MLS isn’t the way to go, which is ironic because the reason it took soccer so long to take off over there was that they originally modelled themselves too much on the “established” American sports.  

Looks like rugby there is going to have to find its own way forward.

UPDATE – since publishing I have learned that the league plans to expand into Mexico for 2025. Sounds like the plans aren’t finalised so I guess they figured they needed to get this news out there asap to push back on all the Toronto/NY negativity. Interesting move with Mexico hardly a rugby hotbed but we’ll see how it pans out.

EDDIE JONES

I really, really, REALLY don’t want to devote too many words to this guy, and Paul Williams sums up my feeling pretty well in the tweet below.  But one thing I will say is that as much as I say in the previous segment how much I want the game to flourish in the USA, the same goes for Japan.  We really need a strong foothold in both markets.  Sadly now I can’t help but wish for EJ to be a flop out there which if it were to happen would probably set the game back further.

URC IRISH SHIELD UPDATE

Now for the “Update” portion of the column and while there were obviously no URC games to update this table I might as well leave it here anyway.

NOV 4 CONNACHT 22-20 ULSTER

NOV 10 ULSTER 21-14 MUNSTER

NOV 25 LEINSTER 21-16 MUNSTER

DEC 2 CONNACHT 22-24 LEINSTER

DEC 22 ULSTER V CONNACHT

DEC 26 MUNSTER V LEINSTER

JAN 1 CONNACHT V MUNSTER

JAN 1 LEINSTER V ULSTER

MAY 11 MUNSTER V CONNACHT

MAY 18 ULSTER V LEINSTER

MAY 31 LEINSTER V CONNACHT

JUNE 1 MUNSTER V ULSTER

“SVNS” UPDATE

For the second week in a row I’m simply going to paste in my copy from the pod (actually it’s in the first YouTube clip above) as it pretty much says all I have to say on the sevens…

I’ll start with the women – because while a seventh place finish is one down from the previous weekend in Dubai, there were still some fine performances, arguably the best of which was one they lost against Australia, as a brace of Bebhinn Parsons tries kept the eventual tournament winners honest and 14-24 was a very respectable result all things considered.  They also ended the competition on a high defeating Great Britain avenging an earlier defeat in the pool stages to finish 7th which is also where they sit in the overall standings after two rounds.

Meanwhile the men had a better time of it – any Irish rugby team defeating New Zealand in a quarterfinal would make headlines but this was also not only our first ever win over them in 7s but also the first time they had lost at this stage of the competition since 2015.  And it’s not like it was a fluke, not only was it a comprehensive 36-21 victory that included a Terry Kennedy hat-trick, but it came after an equally impressive win over the hosts at the end of Day 1, with the Irish men often deploying absolutely suffocating defensive sets that made it look like we had 15 out there not 7.  

However those levels of physicality can take their toll and having reached the final four we finally came unstuck against eventual tournament winners Argentina in the semifinals and also against Fiji in the playoff which meant a fourth place finish that keeps us in 5th on the series table.

I said last week both squads can definitely get higher finishes and I still believe this to be the case.  The series now moves on to Perth for a 3-day event from January 26th to 28th, make a note in your diaries and try to catch as much of the action as you can it is generally streamed live for free on rugbypass.tv

CAPE TOWN 7s

#IRLW7s

POOL

IRELAND 39-14 BRAZIL

IRELAND 15-19 GREAT BRITAIN

IRELAND 7-33 NEW ZEALAND

QF

IRELAND 14-24 AUSTRALIA

7TH PLACE PLAYOFF

IRELAND 17-5 GREAT BRITAIN

#IRLM7s

POOL

IRELAND 31-0 USA

IRELAND 19-14 GREAT BRITAIN

IRELAND 14-12 SOUTH AFRICA

QF

IRELAND 36-21 NEW ZEALAND

SF

IRELAND 19-26 ARGENTINA

3RD PLACE PLAYOFF

IRELAND 7-14 FIJI

NEXT IN THE SERIES…

PERTH JAN 26-28

VANCOUVER FEB 23-25

LOS ANGELES MAR 2-3

HONG KONG APR 5-7

SINGAPORE MAY 3-5

MADRID MAY 31-JUN 2

AIL UPDATE 

“Match conceded by Wicklow due to injuries” is not a sentence we want to see in any level of senior rugby in 2023, especially when the top league in the country has only 9 teams so for any to be unable to put a matchday squad together it shows the game is still in major trouble.

And going on history, the 28-0 scoreline which was awarded to league leaders UL Bohs was something of a blessing for Wicklow – I have to admit I winced before looking at the scoreline and would not have blinked if it was in triple figures.  That’s in no way an indictment of the rugby club itself by the way, rather the continued poor investment in the club game in general.

The league may have nine clubs officially, but actually there are only four with any real chance of winning it with three of them based in Dublin and surely there must be more talent available across the island that we can get playing the sport on a regular basis.

The league now takes a break until February 10, while in the meantime there will be the new “Celtic Challenge” competition including two new Irish franchises, the Wolfhounds and the Clovers who will play each other in Round 1 on December 29.

Meanwhile on the men’s side of things, Clontarf earned a win away to Lansdowne in round 8 to stay top while Cork Con stayed in touch by defeating UCD.  Champions Terenure continued their recent form by sneaking into the top 4 thanks to a 29-17 win over City of Armagh, who have an Ulster derby to look forward to next weekend as they host Ballynahinch, although the tie of the round would seem to be the all Munster affair when Young Munsters host Cork Con. 

#SupportYourLocalClub

WOMEN’S AIL

Round 10

SAT DEC 9

GALWEGIANS 10-34 COOKE

BELVO 37-14 BLACKROCK

RAILWAY UNION 88-19 SUTTONIANS

[WICKLOW 0-28 UL BOHS]

Match conceded by Wicklow due to injuries.

Five match points awarded to UL Bohemians along with a 28-0 scoreline

Wicklow are deducted five points for conceding

Round 11

SAT FEB 10

SUTTONIANS V BALLINCOLLIG

COOKE V RAILWAY UNION

GALWEGIANS V UL BOHS

WICKLOW V BELVO

MEN’S AIL

ROUND 8

BALLYNAHINCH 13-16 YOUNG MUNSTER

CORK CON 38-25 UCD

LANSDOWNE 27-31 CLONTARF

SHANNON 14-13 DUBLIN UNIV

TERENURE 29-17 CITY OF ARMAGH

ROUND 9

FRI DEC 15

UCD V LANSDOWNE

SAT DEC 16

CITY OF ARMAGH V BALLYNAHINCH

CLONTARF V SHANNON

DUBLIN UNIV V TERENURE

YOUNG MUNSTER V CORK CON

CHALLENGE CUP UPDATE

All Irish provinces may be in the main competition but the Challenge Cup is still worth updating here, partly because it’s possible a province or two may end up dropping down into its knockout stage, but also as there are some interesting entrants in this years pool stage, not least of which is Black Lion from Georgia.

It wasn’t the worst debut for them either as although they lost to Premiership side Gloucester, it was only by a respectable 10-15 result to give them their first match point in European rugby.  Elsewhere there were wins for the Sharks and Castres, two of the sides who may be fancied to be there or thereabouts in the latter stages, and also for the Dragons, who surely won’t care how little Oyonnax put into their fixture as they needed any kind of win they could get!

The South African derby between Cheetahs and Sharks seems to be the pick of round 2, although Black Lion will fancy having a go at the Scarlets given how things went the last team a Georgian side played in Wales.

ROUND 1

NEWCASTLE 19-24 MONTPELLIER

PERPIGNAN 12-28 LIONS

DRAGONS 24-7 OYONNAX

OSPREYS 43-34 BENETTON

SHARKS 45-5 PAU

CASTRES 34-16 SCARLETS

BLACK LION 10-15 GLOUCESTER

ZEBRE 15-33 CHEETAHS

CLÉRMONT 31-18 EDINBURGH

ROUND 2

FRI DEC 15

SCARLETS V BLACK LION

GLOUCESTER V CLÉRMONT

SAT DEC 16

OYONNAX V ZEBRE

EDINBURGH V CASTRES

BENETTON V PERPIGNAN

LIONS V NEWCASTLE

PAU V DRAGONS

SUN DEC 17

CHEETAHS V SHARKS

MONTPELLIER V OSPREYS

HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE

Yeah I know this league is for the URC only and there were no matches last weekend but hey, I’m top of the league so Imma gonna keep posting the standings every chance I get!!!

NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Premiership leaders Sale Sharks come to the RDS on Saturday evening, we’ll have a preview with Keego on Friday while Tom Coleman and RugbyKino are slated to help with the wrap which will be back in its Sunday evening recording slot.  Be sure to keep in touch with all our social media channels and offer your own thoughts where you can.

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

80+ column : Dec 5

A WEEKLY COLUMN LOOKING AT 

TOPICS BEYOND THE SCOPE OF OUR

FEATURE MATCH OF THE WEEK

WRAP OF A WRAP

Hello there and welcome to our latest 80+ column…every weekend we focus on the 80 minutes of rugby played by Leinster and/or Ireland, and here is where we keep tabs on pretty much everything else.

For our latest wrap myself and Conor Cronin harped on Leinster’s robbery victory in Galway on Saturday evening, normally I have two contributors but one had to pull out (the cheek of these people having actual lives!) so I took up the slack myself and prepared some extra chat and while my voice only barely held up (made a lot of use of both the cough button and the editing software) I reckon we did a decent job going over the match between us.

ICYMI, here’s a link to Spotify and we’re also on most major platforms.

And one thing I keep forgetting to do in these columns is give a shout out to our preview show – it generally goes live 24 hours ahead of kickoff and I guess the reason I forget it is the “mootness” of the previews once the match is actually played, but I am of course grateful to Keego (and the others who occasionally step in) for sitting with me for a quick recording once each matchday squad is named. 

HARPIN ON…CHANGES WE’D MAKE TO RUGBY

Last week I mentioned that I had abandoned Mastodon in favour of Blue Sky as I can only handle one Musk alternative at a time.  Engagement has been pretty good there so far so I threw out a general question to see what kind of responses I’d get.  It helped give us a decent topic for our bonus chat on Sunday, where Conor and myself read out some of the top responses as well as offering a few of our own.  

As you can see I have included more of the answers below.

ORIGINAL QUESTION : OK time throw a topic out there see how it flies in the BlueSky….You are put in charge of the entire sport of rugby union for long enough to make just ONE (realistic) change that will be permanent.  What’s it gonna be.

Dr Harley Worthy – Lifetime ban for anyone using the phrase “bring back rucking”, you can still ruck the ball backwards with your foot. You just miss people being given a shoeing

Andrew Byrne – If it’s only one thing then it’s….Global Season…. #GoBigOrGoHome

Brian Donnelly – Put the right level of funding, structures and support into the process of creating a panel of consistently competent top level referees.  It’s too haphazard at moment.

Sei Williams – I would invent a time machine, go back to 1995 and do Welsh professional rugby properly. Thanks.

Edward Jenkins  – Ban union ownership of non-test pro teams.

Cian Ó Muilleoir – Ban private ownership of non-test pro teams.

Stephen Murphy (Master Of None Pod) – Appoint me as the Rugby Czar and I will review every red card individually and dish out appropriate punishments.

Cian Ó Muilleoir – My actual real and genuine suggestion is that if a try is scored with a penalty advantage still accrued the advantage is carried to a penalty kick for the restart.

Kevin Beirne – If you score a try under penalty advantage you can choose take the conversion from the location of the penalty

Caolán Scully – All outside backs must their hair cut by a team barber, and oblige to a style that suits their position

Richard Mifsud – My realistic one is one I’ve often mentioned, you only get a try bonus with three clear tries à la Top14

David O’Crampeasy –  Scrum reset/free kick/penalties better, I don’t know how, just better. Much better scrum/lineout commentary talk about the power/mass/height involved, celebrate the technicalities of the game rather than try to hide them

James Gotoshay –  All games, URC,Champions cup,internationals and all other leagues including southern hemisphere leagues and summer tours are available in one subscription pack.

Sarah Lennon – Crouch, touch, pause, engage.

Bill Byrne – Properly addressing media rights and new media issues. Low key massive issue. Needs to be comprehensively addressed.

Cian Ormond –  Establish a women’s touring team akin to the B&I Lions, but not just copying what already exists.  Realistically, a current B&I womens team would be all England. Perhaps England could be one of the big opponents for an Irish-Scottish-Welsh team (for example), establishing a new and unique brand.

Rob Gardner – If a technical infringement doesn’t materially impact the game state then it is to be ignored.  Example: if a lineout throw isn’t straight but opposition didn’t put a man in the air they are deemed to have conceded possession and it’s play on.

Sale Ben – Rucking. If you’re on the wrong side it’s your responsibility to get out of there. Would speed up the game and reduce head contact at the ruck with players flying in to clear the ruck zone of debris

Peel – pump money into Unions that need/deserve it (Madagascar would be a big one, they bloody love rugby)

Maz McMillan – Tier 1 nations must play at least one tier 2 nation every year. I dislike the word “tier” but you know what I mean

Ross Rugby Ref – Rewrite the laws to the game we want, if crooked scrum feeds are ok, then write laws that way – give us community refs a chance!

LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE

The news on Ross Byrne was pretty much expected but Jamie Osborne as well…I actually had him in my team before the injury report was released but now I’m hoping James Lowe is available. I understand he has been back in Dublin after some compassionate leave and although it would be asking a lot to expect him to dive into the deep end against La Rochelle if anyone could do it, he can. If he’s not in the frame I’d be more than happy to see Rob Russell get the nod.

Harpin’ matchday 23 v La Rochelle

15 Keenan 14 O’Brien 13 Ringrose 12 Henshaw 11 Lowe 10 Frawley 9 Gibson-Park

1 Porter 2 Sheehan 3 Furlong 4 McCarthy 5 Ryan 6 Conan 7 van der Flier 8 Doris

16 Kelleher 17 Healy 18 Ala’alatoa 19 Molony 20 Baird 21 Foley 22 H Byrne 23 Penny

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

INJURY UPDATE – AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:

Cormac Foley: came through the game at the weekend with no issues after his return from a shoulder injury.

Cian Healy: came through the game at the weekend with no issues after his return from a shoulder injury.

Alex Soroka: has returned to full training after recovering from a foot injury.

INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:

Michael Milne: will be further assessed later this week as he continues his return from a shoulder injury.

INJURY UPDATE – UNAVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:

Ross Byrne: had a procedure on an arm injury last week and will be unavailable until the new year.

Jamie Osborne: picked up a shoulder injury in the win over Connacht and is having a procedure this week and will be unavailable for selection as a result.

NO FURTHER UPDATES ON:

Tommy O’Brien (ankle), Luke McGrath (knee) and John McKee (hamstring)

WHAT THE FOCAL?

Might have stepped in a minefield here but more often than not I find my view to be right in the middle of two extremes so I’ve decided to address it in my latest TikTok vid.  Apologies if my Irish and Welsh pronunciations aren’t what they should be but I couldn’t do this bit without at least having a go!

@harpinonrugby

This is part our weekly 80+ column, check it out every Tuesday afternoon at HarpinOnRugby.com #rugbytiktoks🏉 #irishtiktok #irelandtiktok

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

JUXTAPOSED SEXFIEND VIDEO

That headline is about as “IYKYK” as you can get!!!  Although I very much doubt that if you love rugby enough to be reading these pages, you haven’t also heard of Squidge!

Having been denied the chance to offer his trademark takes from the World Cup, as well as being denied a decent explanation, all Irish fans will be glad he turned his attention to the career of Johnny Sexton, and this time he reproduces all his hilarious various on the name, and you have to say he left the best until last.

I can’t leave out the fact that both “Rathgar” and “Bective” get mispronounced at the start (though it could be intentional given the running gag on his name) but trust me…as the video goes on all of that ceases to matter and even though I’ve been running this site for pretty much the length of th guy’s career, even I learned a few things.

So just in case you haven’t see in yet, here’s a link.

WELSH RUGBY – WHAT WENT WRONG?

That’s a question that most rugby fans around the world would like answered and thankfully someone has literally written the book on it.

Seimon Williams is the author and I am delighted to say he has agreed to come on the pod for a chat – I reckon the best time to do this will be just before Ireland play Wales in the Six Nations (with Leinster playing Cardiff the following weekend) so it’s a bit down the line but with Christmas “around the corner” I thought I’d get in an early mention, this link is for Amazon but it’s available in several different places.

Here’s the official blurb…

The 2022-23 season may just be the bleakest in Welsh rugby history. Accusations of misogyny, sexism, racism and homophobia against the Welsh Rugby Union led to resignations, independent inquiries, Senedd intervention and rushed governance reform. Budget cuts, strike threats, uncertainty for players, embarrassing defeats and the dismissal of the national coach presaged another poor Six Nations campaign.

This book looks at the issues which have seen Welsh rugby stumble from crisis to crisis over the past 40 years. At how a nation which led the rugby world in the 1970s declined into the fractured, riven, divided rugby nation of today. At how occasional successes at club, regional and Test level were achieved despite the system, not because of it, and did little more than paper over the cracks. At, fundamentally, what went wrong.

FAZ BREAK

Keego touched on this for the preview pod but I’d just like to add my two cents, totally in agreement with him that there is absolutely nothing wrong with a player taking a break from the game for whatever reason.  

The schedule can be hectic, particularly if you are captain for both club and country with all the extra media responsibilities, and although we might have a go at him now and again on these pages, I really do hope none of it is considered anywhere near the kind of treatment that has led to this break.

We all want our teams to win, but we also want them to do it against the top players available and he is of course right up there on that list so here’s to a speedy return for him.

URC IRISH SHIELD UPDATE

I can’t believe the mainstream media never made anything out of the fact that Ciaran Frawley’s late try catapulted Leinster to the top of the Irish Shield!!!  All of course could change over the Christmas schedule…

NOV 4 CONNACHT 22-20 ULSTER

NOV 10 ULSTER 21-14 MUNSTER

NOV 25 LEINSTER 21-16 MUNSTER

DEC 2 CONNACHT 22-24 LEINSTER

DEC 22 ULSTER V CONNACHT

DEC 26 MUNSTER V LEINSTER

JAN 1 CONNACHT V MUNSTER

JAN 1 LEINSTER V ULSTER

MAY 11 MUNSTER V CONNACHT

MAY 18 ULSTER V LEINSTER

MAY 31 LEINSTER V CONNACHT

JUNE 1 MUNSTER V ULSTER

“SVNS” UPDATE

Since I covered the 7s kickoff on the main pod I’ll just copy my piece here…some may call that lazy but I prefer to see it as “eco-friendly recycling”…

I’d like to take a quick look at Ireland’s involvement in the World Series Sevens, or “SVNS” as it’s called now since they removed the e’s.  Sure who needs vowels anyway, amirite?

Anyway…changing the name wasn’t the only rebrand, and probably the most significant new feature is that they have brought equity to the genders by not only ensuring that every leg has both a men’s and women’s event, but also they reduced the number of men’s teams from 16 to 12 same as the women.

Both Irish teams have been doing reasonably well since we finally invested in the code with qualification for the Paris Olympics something to look forward to later in the year, but over the weekend the new SVNS series kicked off in Dubai and Ireland got off to flying starts with the women defeating Japan and Brazil and the men overcoming Australia and Spain.

Three matches in one day in that Dubai heat proved too much for us in the third pool matches, however, with the women falling to Australia and the men against Argentina, and this left our task in the cup quarterfinals that little bit tougher.

The Irish women were up against a Canadian side which had already caused an upset on Day 1 by defeating the USA but although we were down by 7pts with less than a minute left on the clock we were perhaps too impatient with an extra player as Aimee Leigh Murphy Crowe went over in the corner making the conversion too much meaning Canada went through.

Meanwhile over on the men’s side there was a crazy quarterfinal as Ireland’s only involvement in the first half was one overthrown lineout as Fiji ran in five tries to be 29-0 up at the break before Ireland responded with four unanswered tries of their own until Mark Roche tried to be a bit too clever with an attempted restart to himself, knocking on in the process and leaving the Flying Fijians as the winners 29-24

This dropped both sides into the playoffs for placings but still every point counts in the series and the teams had mixed fortunes as the women fell 19-24 to Fiji to finish in 6th place while the men overcame Samoa to end up 5th.  Ending up in the top half in both competitions wasn’t the worst result for Ireland but you still feel our ceiling is a little bit higher.

When it came to the tournament winners in Dubai, Australia took the women’s title beating New Zealand 26-19 in the final while the South African Blitzbokke defeated Argentina 12-7 on the men’s side.  The series now moves on to Cape Town next weekend, with the remaining destinations being Perth, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Singapore and finally Madrid at the end of next May.  As ever we live in hope that one day a venue in Ireland might be added to that list.

#IRLW7s

POOL

IRELAND 35-7 JAPAN

IRELAND 19-14 BRAZIL

AUSTRALIA 33-5 IRELAND

QF

IRELAND 12-14 CANADA

5TH PLACE PLAYOFF

IRELAND 19-24 FIJI

#IRLM7s

POOL

AUSTRALIA 12-19 IRELAND

IRELAND 35-10 SPAIN

ARGENTINA 17-7 IRELAND

QF

IRELAND 24-29 FIJI

5TH PLACE PLAYOFF

IRELAND 28-7 SAMOA

NEXT IN THE SERIES…

CAPE TOWN DEC 9-10 

Cape Town pools – 

Women: Pool B: New Zealand, Ireland, Brazil, Great Britain

Men: Pool A: South Africa, Ireland, USA, Great Britain

PERTH JAN 26-28

VANCOUVER FEB 23-25

LOS ANGELES MAR 2-3

HONG KONG APR 5-7

SINGAPORE MAY 3-5

MADRID MAY 31-JUN 2

🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE

All Leinster eyes of course will have been on La Rochelle, and it was interesting to see the tables turned for once as while we were the ones grinding out a victory, it was the CC holders who had the run of the mill BP home win against a side at the bottom of the table!  Have a feeling the lineups on Sunday will be very different…

We should also keep an eye on Stade who we play after Christmas, they returned to winning ways with a decent result against the Brennus holders Toulouse, and with La Rochelle next on the list for them in round 10, their task does not get easier.

Stu Lancaster’s Racing are top going into the Champions Cup kickoff.

Round 9

TOULON 36-13 PAU

BAYONNE 34-19 MONTPELLIER

OYONNAX 23-29 BORDEAUX

CASTRES 29-14 LYON

LA ROCHELLE 35-6 PERPIGNAN

CLÉRMONT 23-18 RACING 92

STADE FRANCAIS 27-12 TOULOUSE

Round 10

FRI DEC 22

PERPIGNAN V BAYONNE

BORDEAUX V LYON

SAT DEC 23

MONTPELLIER V CASTRES

RACING 92 V OYONNAX

PAU V CLÉRMONT

STADE FRANCAIS V LA ROCHELLE

TOULOUSE V TOULON

PREMIERSHIP UPDATE

Getting thumped 3-36 and remaining top of the league isn’t easy to do but Leinster’s Champions Cup opponents Sale Sharks managed it this week, although it has become very tight in the Premiership with just the four points separating the top six in the ten-team league.  I wonder when they play Leinster at the RDS will they have half a mind on the visit of Saracens to their ground the following week…

Leicester Tigers probably didn’t learn too much from thumping lowly Newcastle but I’m pretty sure a trip to Sandy Park after the European matches will offer a decent education.

ROUND 8

HARLEQUINS 36-3 SALE SHARKS

BRISTOL 51-26 GLOUCESTER

BATH 41-24 EXETER

SARACENS 12-18 NORTHAMPTON SAINTS

LEICESTER TIGERS 47-3 NEWCASTLE

ROUND 9

FRI DEC 22

NEWCASTLE V BRISTOL

SALE SHARKS V SARACENS

SAT DEC 23

EXETER V LEICESTER

GLOUCESTER V NORTHAMPTON

BATH V HARLEQUINS

AIL UPDATE 

Absolutely no doubt that UL Bohs are hot favourites to lift the Women’s AIL title…their 20-15 at Belvo made it 8 wins from 8 in the first half of the season, and in a league that has already seen a lot of big scorelines, you almost fear for the fate of Wicklow RFC when they travel to Limerick in the next round.  The three Leinster clubs remain hot in pursuit with Belvo hosting Rock in the pick of the ties in the next round.

Before I move on from the Women’s league, the composition of the teams for the Celtic Challenge, a potential precursor to a Celtic League equivalent, has been announced.  Leinster and Ulster will combine to play as the Wolfhounds, while Munster and Connacht will be the Clovers.  More details plus the fixture list to be found here.

Meanwhile on the men’s side, Clontarf won the big top of the table clash holding off Cork Con while Lansdowne overcame lowly Trinity to go stay 3rd and Hinch had a great win at Belfield Bowl to remain in the playoff places.  Terenure sent a message to the rest of the league that they’re not ready to give up their crown just yet as they thumped Shannon at Lakelands.  The Dublin derby between Lansdowne and Tarf seems to be the pick of round 8.

#SupportYourLocalClub

WOMEN’S AIL

Round 9

SUTTONIANS 45-12 WICKLOW

BALLINCOLLIG 14-21 GALWEGIANS

RAILWAY UNION 38-22 BLACKROCK COLLEGE

BELVO 15-20 UL BOHS

Round 10

SAT DEC 9

GALWEGIANS V COOKE

BELVO V BLACKROCK

RAILWAY UNION V SUTTONIANS

UL BOHS V WICKLOW

MEN’S AIL

ROUND 7

CLONTARF 30-26 CORK CON

DUBLIN UNIV 3-17 LANSDOWNE

TERENURE 58-7 SHANNON

UCD 17-31 BALLYNAHINCH

YOUNG MUNSTER 32-17 CITY OF ARMAGH

ROUND 8

SAT DEC 9

BALLYNAHINCH V YOUNG MUNSTER

CORK CON V UCD

LANSDOWNE V CLONTARF

SHANNON V DUBLIN UNIV

TERENURE V CITY OF ARMAGH

RE SUPER CUP UPDATE

The predicted final matchup between Black Lion and Tel Aviv Heat has come to pass as both comfortably got through their semifinals, but now the timing is an issue as it was meant to be played on Dec 16 but the Georgian side kind of have other things to worry about like a trip to Llanelli for a Challenge Cup fixture.  They begin their historic involvement in European cup rugby this weekend by hosting Gloucester.

SEMIFINALS

BLACK LION 41-0 CASTILLA

TEL-AVIV HEAT 31-6 ROMANIAN WOLVES

5TH-8TH PLACE SEMIFINALS

BRUSSELS DEVILS 44-10 BOHEMIAN WARRIORS

DELTA 8-53 LUSITANOS

SAT DEC 16

RE SUPER CUP FINAL

BLACK LION V TEL AVIV*

PLAYOFF FINALS

3RD – CASTILLA V ROMANIAN WOLVES

5TH – LUSITANOS V BRUSSELS DEVILS

7TH – DELTA V BOHEMIA WARRIORS

HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE

Wait – who’s that at the top of the league?  Is that really me???  And what’s more I actually have that late Frawley try to thank for it as well.  having dropped to 4th a few weeks ago it’s great to see my name back up there but as you can see it’s very close and there are bound to be a lot more changes before this league is done.

NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

So that’s it for another week.  La Rochelle are up next, we’ll have a preview on Friday as usual, but with the match on Sunday, we won’t record the wrap until Monday night so keep an eye out for it on the Tuesday morning.  Please do keep in touch on all the usual social media channels in the meantime.

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

80+ column : Nov 28

A WEEKLY COLUMN LOOKING AT 

TOPICS BEYOND THE SCOPE OF OUR

FEATURE MATCH OF THE WEEK

WRAP OF A WRAP

I give a shout out to Mark Jackson on the pod but I’d just like to give another one here, hope things are better after that weekend and that we can have you back on the pod soon.

Normally I try to avoid having contributors on the pod for two weeks in a row…whether that’s because I have so many who are keen to chat to me or because they generally need a break after chatting to me I’ll leave to your imagination!

Anyway Tom Coleman was thankfully willing to return for a second week in a row along with Irish Times columnist Nathan Johns and they combined to bring a top notch perspective to Saturday.  When this was an article based site back in the day my writeups were totally coming from my own point of view but now the pods offer a much broader perspective thanks to my team of fellow fans volunteering their time and expertise. 

ICYMI, here’s a link to Spotify and we’re also on most major platforms.

HARPIN ON…LEINSTER’S CHAMPIONS CUP POOL

For this week’s bonus clip for YouTube my pod guests offered some insights to the teams Leinster must overcome to qualify from Champions Cup pool 4.  Tom looked at our first two opponents La Rochelle and Sale, Nathan covered Stade Francais and Leicester whom we face in January and finally I harped on the Stormers who we avoid playing yet still mustn’t ignore altogether.

Definitely worth a look between now and the tournament kickoff in over a week, and sure while you’re there why not subscribe as well we often put up other videos including match previews there.

LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE

Some very interesting choices to be made for Leinster’s impending trip to Galway.  Far from a match we can afford to take for granted, especially with them hurting from defeat in Pretoria and also likely to have the Akis and the Hansens back in their lineup.  That said, it’s hard to ignore the assignment at the Stade Marcel Deflandre eight days later.

The Ross Byrne injury makes our 10 selection the most crucial one.  With Frawley seeming to be the best bet to be first receiver against La Rochelle does he need game time or cotton wool?  The consensus in the Harpin WhatsApp group is, quite rightly when you think of it, to lean towards the latter by starting Harry Byrne or Sam Prendergast in Galway and give Frawley 20-30 minutes.  

But since this column is where I give my own view, I’d rather push the risk v reward side of things, possibly drawing lessons from that URC semifinal, and give Frawley the 10 jersey so he can go the week preparing for a starting role and thus be ready for the following week.  If the worst should happen injury-wise, then so be it.

Those are just my thoughts for that particular position, however.  As you can see by the 23 below I have gone mostly for a conservative team, yet still one that could do a job in the Sportsground.

Harpin’ matchday 23 v Connacht

Larmour, Russell, Ngatai, Osborne, Lowe, Frawley, Murphy

Boyle, Kelleher, Ala’alatoa, Molony, Jenkins, Conan, Penny (c), Deegan

Barron, Porter, Clarkson, McCarthy, Doris, Gibson-Park, H Byrne, O’Brien J

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

INJURY UPDATE – AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:

N/A

INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:

Michael Milne: will be further assessed later this week as he continues his return from a shoulder injury

Cian Healy: will step up his rehabilitation programme this week as he continues his return from a shoulder injury

INJURY UPDATE – UNAVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:

Ross Byrne: will have further examination for an arm injury picked up at the weekend but has been ruled out of selection this week

Cormac Foley: will step up his rehabilitation programme this week as he looks to return from a shoulder injury

NO FURTHER UPDATES ON:

Tommy O’Brien (ankle), Luke McGrath (knee), John McKee (hamstring) and Alex Soroka (foot)

BLUE SKY AHEAD

Don’t really have time for a Tik-Tok rant this week, they may only be around two minutes of actual content but they take over an hour to produce and I barely have that on “normal” weeks.  

So instead I’ve decided to take the plunge and give another Musk-less Twitter alternative a go.  I went big into Mastodon last year but I have to say the engagement was underwhelming and after resisting the move for a good while now I finally caved and set up an account at Blue Sky, thanks to long time friend of the pod and super Leinster/Ireland fan Catherine Kavanagh who hooked me up with an invite.

Liking it so far, the follower count after less than 24 hours is already a third of what I got at Masto in over a year.  They still don’t publish videos and GIFs yet but no doubt that will come.  

Anyway the main feature of my decision is that by starting a Blue Sky account I now must forget Mastodon completely, as my list of social media accounts had grown too large as it was.

Curse you Elon and the sink you walked in with!!!

https://bsky.app/profile/harpinonrugby.bsky.social

BE NICE TO REFS…

Having Nathan Johns on the wrap pod every so often gives us a decent glimpse into the world of the “official” media and while often sources like to decry them for being “mainstream” the fact remains their access gives them insights which can’t be ignored.

After covering one of his own articles as part of our “Front Five” portion, he went on to pen this article on Monday which looked at the two times Jamison Gibson-Park was punished 10 metres for dissent after penalties were awarded to Munster at the Aviva Stadium.

Since it’s my own team involved I reckon it’s a good opportunity for me to point out that I agree that once the second rebuke happens there should be a further sanction and Whiskey was very lucky not to get sent to the naughty step.  I certainly wouldn’t blame ref Chris Busby for having an attitude like “look, lads, you guys already have TWO captains, I certainly don’t need to be hearing from a third!” 

I’ve always been in favour of a zero tolerance approach when it comes to awarding that extra 10 metres and it really can punish teams.  Hopefully if there is to be more of it, we will see it done consistently.

…AND VICE VERSA 

Now to the flip side – much has been made of this exchange between Owen Farrell and Luke Pearce in the Premiership over the weekend.

Look – it’s a top flight sporting contest.  Adrenaline is pumping, tensions are high, and that’s just with the fans commenting on social media so I can only imagine what it’s like for the players and officials!!!

Obviously your opinion on this is going to greatly depend on your allegiance, whether it’s for or against Saracens, for or against Owen Farrell, maybe even for or against officials in general.

My first impression was that Faz’ response seemed a bit precious, with possibly an air of “do you not know who I am?” about it.  Pearce was definitely being a smart-arse but I don’t know if it quite went as far as being “rude”…

O TO BE (ON THE) 18 AGAIN

For the 40+ years I’ve lived in Ireland I have lived in several different addresses and all but one have been close to at least one of the two bus routes that crossed South Dublin without ever going near the City Centre, namely the 17 and 18.  And for the years I have been Harpin’ when I’m planning on a beverage or two after the rugby it has been the 18 that always saw me safely home, but now the number has been retired with two different routes replaces it, an “S4” that goes near me but not to RDS and an “S2” that covers the other half.

It was always great to see the 18 full of Leinster fans on match days, and there would be plenty already on it having travelled through Ballyfermot/Drimnagh/Crumlin/Kimmage before it ever got to the likes Rathmines.

The only time I never enjoyed being on it was for Christmas fixtures when as well as the rugby fans there would also be legions of youngsters heading to Funderland in various states of inebriation!

But as the tweet below points out, the route will still be an institution long remembered.

GEORGIA ON EPCR’S MIND 

We’ve harped a lot about the whole “get the likes of Georgia more top class rugby” over the years, hopefully this statement is just one point on the road to actually doing it.

ARROWS SHAFTED

Before we leave what I call the “Middle Aisle” portion of the column and go into the “Updates”, some sad news from Major League Rugby, which I plan to include below for the 2024 season.  Most professional sports in the US include at least one Canadian team but sadly it has transpired that the Toronto Arrows won’t be able to field a team for the coming season, and given neither country qualified for the 2023 World Cup the news does not bode well for things getting better in 2027.

At least there has been a team added from last season, with Miami Sharks joining for the coming season.  No doubt eventually we’ll reach a stage where every league in the world has Sharks, and I’m not suggesting that’s a bad thing, once they don’t put mouthfuls like “Hollywoodbets” before the name, of course.

URC IRISH SHIELD UPDATE

Saturday’s win in the Aviva was Leinster’s first match in defence of our Irish Shield title (you can’t see me but my tongue was definitely in my cheek while typing that).  As you can see Ulster still lead the way but the winner  of Saturday evening’s interpro at the Sportsground will lead the table after two matches.  Munster haven’t started well although a pair of losing BPs definitely keeps them in the hunt.

NOV 4 CONNACHT 22-20 ULSTER

NOV 10 ULSTER 21-14 MUNSTER

NOV 25 LEINSTER 21-16 MUNSTER

DEC 2 CONNACHT V LEINSTER

DEC 22 ULSTER V CONNACHT

DEC 26 MUNSTER V LEINSTER

JAN 1 CONNACHT V MUNSTER

JAN 1 LEINSTER V ULSTER

MAY 11 MUNSTER V CONNACHT

MAY 18 ULSTER V LEINSTER

MAY 31 LEINSTER V CONNACHT

JUNE 1 MUNSTER V ULSTER

🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE

With Leinster & Munster battling on Saturday, it’s hard to avoid referencing the same rivalry 24 hours later when Stu Lancaster’s Racing faced ROG’s La Rochelle.  A resounding win for the Paris-based club which sent them to the top of the table although Pau are the real story of the season so far as they are close behind them in 2nd after a similar scoreline against the other Parisiens whom Leinster play in January and now sit in 3rd.  Stade v Toulouse  seems to be the pick of Round 9.

Round 8

TOULON 31-10 CASTRES

BORDEAUX 46-22 PERPIGNAN

LYON 42-29 BAYONNE

MONTPELLIER 21-26 OYONNAX

PAU 30-6 STADE FRANCAIS

TOULOUSE 31-10 CLÉRMONT

RACING 92 32-10 LA ROCHELLE

Round 9

SAT DEC 2

TOULON V PAU

BAYONNE V MONTPELLIER

OYONNAX V BORDEAUX

CASTRES V LYON

LA ROCHELLE V PERPIGNAN

CLÉRMONT V RACING 92

SUN DEC 3

STADE FRANCAIS V TOULOUSE

PREMIERSHIP UPDATE

Leinster’s Champions Cup pool mates Sale stay top of the pile here after grinding out a 11-9 with over Bath, while Leicester Tiger, also in Pool 4, crawled out of the bottom two with a big win at Kingsholm.  Much like the 🔝🐱🐴 there’s a 3rd v 4th clash in the next round that catches the eye as Exeter travel to the Rec.

ROUND 7

NORTHAMPTON 36-33 HARLEQUINS

SALE SHARKS 11-9 BATH

GLOUCESTER 20-38 LEICESTER TIGERS

SARACENS 39-31 BRISTOL

NEWCASTLE 14-20 EXETER

ROUND 8

FRI DEC 1

HARLEQUINS V SALE SHARKS

SAT DEC 2

BRISTOL V GLOUCESTER

BATH V EXETER

SARACENS V NORTHAMPTON SAINTS

SUN DEC 3

LEICESTER TIGERS V NEWCASTLE

AIL UPDATE

Just the one rescheduled match in both genders last weekend, with the scoreline between Railway and Wicklow pretty much what you’d expect.  Some big matchups coming up this weekend with the top four playing against each other which will bring the season to its halfway point.

Over on the men’s side the match of the round is an easy one to spot, with Clontarf, 1st place with 26pts, hosting Cork Con, 2nd with 25.  UCD v Hinch also has top four implications while Trinity really need to start putting some points on the board when they host Lansdowne.

Also on the club scene it was announced that an Irish Club XV will travel to play a Portugal A side in March 2024.

#SupportYourLocalClub

WOMEN’S AIL

Round 6 (rescheduled)

SAT NOV 25

WICKLOW 10-78 RAILWAY UNION

Round 9

SAT DEC 2

SUTTONIANS V WICKLOW

BALLINCOLLIG V GALWEGIANS

BLACKROCK V RAILWAY UNION

BELVO V UL BOHS

MEN’S AIL

NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND

ROUND 7

SAT DEC 2

CLONTARF V CORK CON

DUBLIN UNIV V LANSDOWNE

TERENURE V SHANNON

UCD V BALLYNAHINCH

YOUNG MUNSTER V CITY OF ARMAGH

RE SUPER CUP UPDATE

Semifinal time already in the Super Cup and expectations will be high for a Black Lion v Tel Aviv final, we’ll see if the Spaniards or Romanians can have something to say about that.

SEMIFINALS

SAT DEC 2

BLACK LION V CASTILLA

TEL-AVIV HEAT V ROMANIAN WOLVES

5TH-8TH PLACE SEMIFINALS

SAT DEC 2

BRUSSELS DEVILS V BOHEMIAN WARRIORS

SUN DEC 3

DELTA V LUSITANOS

HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE

The wins for Cardiff and Benetton on Friday night made it a bad start to the weekend for all of us, but the rest of the weekend went much much better for yours truly as I got my second “yellow cap” in three weeks to jump into 2nd spot in the table right behind Conor.  Meanwhile “No Picks Keego” continues to live up to his name, he must really like that jersey…

NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Connacht are up next for Leinster, I’ll be chatting to Stephen “Master Of None” Murphy for an Opposition View pod which will publish on Wednesday, then it’s the usual Friday preview and wrap pod on Sunday.  Stay tuned to all the usual social media channels, plus the new one on Blue Sky of course, for all the latest harpin’.

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

80+ column : Nov 21

A WEEKLY COLUMN LOOKING AT 

TOPICS BEYOND THE SCOPE OF OUR

FEATURE MATCH OF THE WEEK

WRAP OF A WRAP

As ever Tom & Rich did a bang up job wrapping Leinster’s win over the Scarlets.  I’ve tried to simplify the format this season, where before I split each half into five segments for the guests to wrap they now just cover 20 minutes each per half.  That can lead to a lot of harping so I’ve tried to jump in to help were I can but I still reckon this works as a better system.

ICYMI, here’s a link to Spotify and we’re also on most major platforms.

HARPIN ON…NEINABER’S TASK

Classic Harpin luck…less than 24 hours after we record a bonus clip about what Neinaber can bring to Leinster, the news breaks that he’s likely to be delayed arriving with the squad until after we play Munster.  Still, as Tom says you can already see some of his influence in our play and no doubt there is some kind of Zoom-like communication going on.   Anyway, the boys still did a good job harpin’ on what he will add to the province.

LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE

Would you believe I completely forgot about this 80+ feature this season until now?  Well if you knew me you certainly would believe it! #scatterbrain

Anywho…while it is good news about Ed Byrne, and also that Messrs Milne & Healy are close to making it five, yes, count ‘em, FIVE quality loose head props available for selection, I reckon Jack Boyle’s form over the first five rounds should be enough to earn him a spot in our 23 for this Saturday at very least.

Obviously the names at the bottom of the list are concerning and we’d want them returning ASAP but overall it’s far from the worst injury report we’ve seen.

Harpin’ matchday 23 v Munster

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

Porter, Sheehan, Furlong, McCarthy, Ryan, Baird, van der Flier, Doris.

Kelleher, Boyle, Ala’alatoa, Molony, Conan, Foley, Frawley, Osborne.

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

INJURY UPDATE – AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:

Ed Byrne: has returned to full training after recovering from his hamstring injury

INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:

Michael Milne: will be further assessed later this week as he continues his return from a shoulder injury

Cian Healy: will step up his rehabilitation programme this week as he continues his return from a shoulder injury

INJURY UPDATE – UNAVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:

N/A

NO FURTHER UPDATES ON:

Tommy O’Brien (ankle), Cormac Foley (shoulder), John McKee (hamstring), Luke McGrath (knee) and Alex Soroka (foot)

WE STAND WITH UGO

Easy choice of topic for this week’s TikTok.  Pretty much said my piece in the video but I will also add a relevant tweet from fellow Leinster fan Catherine Kavanagh on the matter.

@harpinonrugby

Check out our 80+ column posting every Tuesday afternoon at HarpinOnRugby.com #rugbytiktoks🏉

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com
https://twitter.com/ugomonye/status/1726288438356513181?s=20

IRISH “SVNS” SQUADS ANNOUNCED

I think I’ve finally settled on a structure with these 80+ columns…starting with a few segments on the wrap pod from last weekend, ending with updates from other competitions, and here we’re in what I call “The Middle Aisle” where I cover a few topics that caught my eye in the last week.

First we have the announcement of the squads for the two senior 7s teams which will be representing Ireland both in the rebranded “Svns” series which starts in Dubai on the weekend of December 2.

As you can see below, the biggest difference between the two groups is that the Women’s includes many who would be expected to featured in XVs, so clearly this continues to be a problem for the programme.  Apparently the only actual clash with the 2024 Six Nations will be on the Hong Kong leg but realistically I’d expect there to be minimal back and forth between the versions.

On the men’s side, all the big names are there like Kennedy, Conroy, McNulty plus some new ones as well and they will really want to crack on from last season where they reached their first final yet disappointed in other events.

We’ll be covering the series on this column and eventually it will move to the Updates section starting next week.

Ireland Women’s Sevens – 2024 Squad: Kathy Baker, Claire Boles, Megan Burns, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe, Alanna Fitzpatrick, Stacey Flood, Eve Higgins, Katie Heffernan, Erin King, Lucinda Kinghan, Vicky Elmes Kinlan, Emily Lane, Amy Larn, Kate Farrell McCabe, Anna McGann, Lucy Mulhall, Beibhinn Parsons, Aoibheann Reilly, Vikki Wall.

Ireland Men’s Sevens – 2024 Squad: Niall Comerford, Jordan Conroy, Sean Cribbin, Billy Dardis, Ed Kelly, Jack Kelly, Terry Kennedy, JJ Kenny, Hugo Lennox, Matt McDonald, Harry McNulty, Bryan Mollen, Gavin Mullin, Chay Mullins, Dylan O’Grady, Aaron O’Sullivan, Connor O’Sullivan, Mark Roche, Zac Ward.

WOMEN’S CELTIC LEAGUE GETS CLOSER

Last season there was a new competition called “The Celtic Challenge” where Irish, Scottish and Welsh women’s teams competed to help prepare for the Six Nations – now it has been expanded to involve two teams from each nation so I assume it will be a round robin format.  

As my headline suggests, this brings us ever closer to the formation of a proper Women’s Celtic League and it would be perfect if they could eventually include all four provinces.

One drawback however seems to be the fact that this expanded competition will run right into the also-expanded format of the Women’s AIL which switched to a home-and-away format this season.

I’m all for more women’s rugby but when the sevens, club, test and now this new level all clash at the same time it really looks like they are creating more problems than they are solving.

SIOBHÁN CATTIGAN 

I’m not really in a position to comment too much on any Scottish rugby let alone the women’s game there but it was hard not to be moved by the tragic story of Siobhán Cattigan plus the horrible way in which the SRU handled the aftermath.  

Hopefully the way the union has engaged with the family together with the apology has gone a way towards mending the fences.  If they are happy with the sincerity of the apologies than so should we.

HOGG WASH

Not my intention to pick on Scottish rugby this week but I just have one thing to say about the whole Stuart Hogg thing…if the reports are true then he definitely does not sound like a good guy.  

That said, if he goes on to stay out of rugby then there’s not much more for me to say about him on a platform dedicated to opinion on what happens within the game.  And it certainly seems that Rugby Pass aren’t singing from the same hymn sheet.

I mean – if we want to focus on players who have wronged women, there are plenty of those still playing the sport now.

ITALIAN CLUBS

Many have pointed out that the two Italian clubs are now above all four Welsh regions on the URC table, but I also noticed one other fact from the first five rounds of the season.

Last season, over the 18 regular season rounds of the URC, both Italian clubs lost in as many as 10 of them.  This season so far, there have been ZERO.  Maybe that includes a couple of draws but that is still certainly quite the improvement, and long may it continue.  Except when they both play Leinster, of course…

MIKE AND THE PRE-MATCH MECHANICS

I covered Mike McCarthy’s pre-kickoff Viking clap routine on this column a few weeks ago for Leinster’s first match at the RDS, well they didn’t do it for the visit of Edinburgh yet brought it back last Saturday and this time I took a brief video for TikTok.

@harpinonrugby

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com

URC IRISH SHIELD UPDATE

No Irish Shield action last weekend, rather four proud wins for the provinces, but the race resumes at the Aviva this Saturday as Leinster finally join the fray.  I’ve revised the info below to include all the 12 matches and we’ll continue to track the table’s process throughout the season if the URC have yet to do it on their website.

NOV 4 CONNACHT 22-20 ULSTER

NOV 10 ULSTER 21-14 MUNSTER

  1. ULSTER P 2 PTS 5
  2. CONNACHT P 1 PTS 4
  3. MUNSTER P 1 PTS 1
  4. LEINSTER P 0 PTS 0

NOV 25 LEINSTER V MUNSTER

DEC 2 CONNACHT V LEINSTER

DEC 22 ULSTER V CONNACHT

DEC 26 MUNSTER V LEINSTER

JAN 1 CONNACHT V MUNSTER

JAN 1 LEINSTER V ULSTER

MAY 11 MUNSTER V CONNACHT

MAY 18 ULSTER V LEINSTER

MAY 31 LEINSTER V CONNACHT

JUNE 1 MUNSTER V ULSTER

🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE

Big win for Stu Lancaster’s Racing in the Parisien derby which moves them up to second place level on points with their capital city rivals with Castres also on 23pts and Pau just one behind.  Things don’t exactly get easier for Racing as they host La Rochelle who seem to be getting their mojo back after a third win on the bounce saw them creep to the edge of the playoff picture.

Round 7

STADE FRANCAIS 9-13 RACING 92

BAYONNE 35-16 PAU

PERPIGNAN 26-13 MONTPELLIER

OYONNAX 38-20 LYON

CLÉRMONT 27-30 TOULON

CASTRES 31-23 TOULOUSE

LA ROCHELLE 25-21 BORDEAUX

Round 8

SAT NOV 25

TOULON V CASTRES

BORDEAUX V PERPIGNAN

LYON V BAYONNE

MONTPELLIER V OYONNAX

PAU V STADE FRANCAIS

TOULOUSE V CLÉRMONT

SUN NOV 26

RACING 92 V LA ROCHELLE

PREMIERSHIP UPDATE

Leinster’s Euro opponents are heading in opposite directions these days – we play Sale in December and they went to the top of the table after their win over Newcastle while Quins got humbled at the Stoop by Saracens.  Leicester did manage to win their derby against the Saints yet they remain in the bottom two. 

ROUND 6

BATH 20-19 BRISTOL BEARS

SALE SHARKS 40-22 NEWCASTLE

LEICESTER 26-17 NORTHAMPTON

HARLEQUINS 10-38 SARACENS

EXETER 25-24 GLOUCESTER

ROUND 7

FRI NOV 24

NORTHAMPTON V HARLEQUINS

SALE SHARKS V BATH

SAT NOV 25

GLOUCESTER V LEICESTER TIGERS

SARACENS V BRISTOL

SUN NOV 26

NEWCASTLE V EXETER

AIL UPDATE 

Round 8 of the Women’s AIL has once again highlighted the gap between the top 4 clubs and the rest, with the two matches involving sides from both ends of the table being blow outs and the two more evenly matched contests being close.  UL Bohs held out Belvo to keep their 100% record intact, but their schedule doesn’t get any easier as they must travel to Belvo the weekend after next while another potential semifinal matchup between Rock and Railway takes place at the same time, and when those matches are complete the league will be at its halfway point.

Meanwhile on the men’s side, even though I am a blue jersey supporter I still have to admit it’s always good to see as many as three provinces represented in the top four of the AIL 1A.

Recent Leinster debutant Dylan Donnellan marked his return to the AIL with two tries but leaders Clontarf could only manage a draw away to Hinch although they still remain top.  Cork Con’s demolition of lowly Trinity brought them to within a point of 1st while champions Terenure continue to struggle to stay in touch with the top 4 as they fell away to Young Munster.

The men’s clubs take a break this coming weekend with the big interpro derby at the Aviva but there’s to be another one in Round 7 when 1st place Tarf hosts 2nd place Con.  Hopefully there will be a stream for that one, definitely worth a watch.

#SupportYourLocalClub

WOMEN’S AIL

Round 8

BALLINCOLLIG 0-50 BELVO

COOKE 0-65 BLACKROCK

WICKLOW 5-12 GALWEGIANS

UL BOHS 10-7 RAILWAY UNION

Round 6

SAT NOV 25

WICKLOW V RAILWAY UNION

Round 9

SAT DEC 2

SUTTONIANS V WICKLOW

BALLINCOLLIG V GALWEGIANS

BLACKROCK V RAILWAY UNION

BELVO V UL BOHS

MEN’S AIL

ROUND 6

BALLYNAHINCH 24-24 CLONTARF

CITY OF ARMAGH 18-25 UCD

CORK CON 33-5 DUBLIN UNIV

LANSDOWNE 42-12 SHANNON

YOUNG MUNSTER 13-6 TERENURE

ROUND 7

SAT DEC 2

CLONTARF V CORK CON

DUBLIN UNIV V LANSDOWNE

TERENURE V SHANNON

UCD V BALLYNAHINCH

YOUNG MUNSTER V CITY OF ARMAGH

RE SUPER CUP UPDATE

The two decisive matches when it came to deciding on semi finalists each went different ways in the final round.  The Romanian Wolves rolled over the Brussels Devils while the Iberian peninsula derby was a whole lot closer with Castilla holding out Lusitanos to join the Wolves in the final four. Meanwhile in what could very possibly be a rehearsal for the final, champions Black Lion edged Tel Aviv.  At time of writing dates and times of the semifinals are yet to be decided.

ROUND 3

BOHEMIA WARRIORS 0-74 DELTA

TEL-AVIVA HEAT 27-29 BLACK LION

BRUSSELS DEVILS 5-60 ROMANIAN WOLVES

CASTILLA 18-13 LUSITANOS

SEMIFINALS (DATES TBD)

BLACK LION V CASTILLA

TEL-AVIV HEAT V ROMANIAN WOLVES

HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE

Bad week for me this time around, I tried backing Zebre again and although they didn’t lose, they didn’t win either and other results went against me meaning I was overtaken by Kino, who apparently is deploying a new system (and I’m not mocking it – he literally has a degree in this sort of thing) so we’ll see if I can keep in touch with himself, Kristian and Conor, the HPL rookie who this week jumped into the top slot.  Will be very interesting to see what the predictions are for Leinster v Munster this Saturday given only Ulster fan Kristian has no skin in the game…will any of the other seven take a gamble and plump for red?

NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Our Opposition View series of pod returns this week, although due to time restrictions I may only do them for interpros for the next while.  Caolán Scully joins me for a chat, watch out for it on the feed around Wednesday morning.  I may even give him a bit of time to gloat over their URC title, you never know.

But after that it’s down to business giving Saturday’s big one at the Aviva the full Harpin treatment with Keego joining me for the preview on Friday, then Mark & Nathan are due to help me with the wrap on Sunday so stay tuned to all the usual social media channels and get involved in the discussion in any way you can. 

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

Throwback Thursday : Andrew Conway’s debut

Following on from our tribute to Andrew Conway on our wrap pod and 80+ column, and also looking ahead to Saturday night’s visit to the RDS of the Scarlets, this week’s Throwback Thursday features our Harpin writeup from 2010 when the Llanelli region came to D4, a night which included the Conway’s first Leinster cap.

THIS SEXTON’S ON FIRE!

How many times does a player have to prove he can handle pressure?

Jonny Sexton did it coming on for Felipe at Croker.  He did it again at Murrayfield.  He did it at the RDS in his first Ireland start.  He even did it whilst beating the 2009 Team of the Year.

And in many ways, with the taste of the first competitive defeat of the Kidney era still fresh on the palates of Irish fans, Saturday night’s Magners League contest against the Scarlets represented the 24-year-old’s biggest pressure outing of all.

With Ronan O’Gara shooting himself in both feet by whinging about a journalist, the stage was set to show he was worthy of stepping in at Twickenham next weekend.

So let’s see…how did he handle it?

22 of his side’s 27 points, including a try and 2 kicks from the touchline.  Several crunching tackles.  Tremendous versatility with the ball in hand.  What the hell more do we want?

Let’s face it – we all know that O’Gara is a quality international out-half, but that’s just the point.  WE ALL KNOW IT.  And so do the other five nations.  There’s a playbook on how to go up against him, and there’s no other country in this competition more likely to go by a playbook than Martin Johnson’s England.

So as well as another four Magners League points, Leinster fans were celebrating a display from their super Number 10 that surely has earned him the starting jumper.

We’ll see.

As for the rest of the team, well, to be honest they played like a unit that hasn’t been together in a long time, and guess what, that’s exactly what they were.  Had it not been for McCusker’s blooper moment (see YouTube clip below) the outcome could have been very different, but I’m satisfied we did just enough over the 80 minutes to come out on top.

Despite putting in a strong performance himself on the night, it looks as though Girvan Dempsey’s hopes of making the 22 for the weekend are non-existent with the call up of Geordan Murphy to the squad.  It looks like it’s between the Leicester Tiger and Keith Earls for the vacant 15 jersey.

And spare a thought for poor Sean O’Brien.  He probably wouldn’t have started against England, but what an impact sub to have off the bench.  It has been a great season for the Carlow man and it would be a shame if it were over for him already with so many big matches in the coming weeks.

Last, and certainly not least, even though it was only for a couple of minutes, what a debut from young Rock boy Andrew Conway.  I blogged about a feature on him in Rugby World magazine last May and with a try-producing offload at one end and a try-saving tackle at the other in his brief appearance, he is surely one to watch.

Overall it was an entertaining Saturday evening at the RDS, even if it was kind of like Something Happens coming on to play one song halfway through a U2 gig.