A WEEKLY COLUMN LOOKING AT TOPICS BEYOND THE SCOPE
OF OUR FEATURE MATCH OF THE WEEK
WRAP OF A (NOT REALLY A) WRAP
Had a brilliant chat with Messrs Kelly, Scully & Lockhart on Sunday evening, with another one earlier in the week with Mr Long to edit in, and the lads did brilliantly going over the RWC so far.
Then I sat down to do said editing and found out that my own audio sounded like I was talking from behind a cushion!!!! It was really, really, bad. So I had to go back and re-record all of my bits and I think I just about managed to fix it but it took ages.
For the first part the lads summarized Pool B so far, then they each took one of the other pools, and finally we got their expectations for the rest of the tournament. Click here to catch it on Spotify, and there’s a clip below
For the bonus clip since I had an all-provincial panel I thought it would be rude not to get them to also harp on their own URC squads with the kickoff just a few weeks away.
On the audio problems I mentioned above, I also had to re-record mine for this and in the intro I tried to slow down my words just a bit to get it to align with the video but instead I ended up sounding like I was stoned!!!! So needless to say I didn’t bother altering it for the rest of the video.
Honestly….I wasn’t stoned. HONEST!!!!! Stop looking at me like that!!!
DON’T TAKE THE BAIT
Truth be told, I never really liked the word “clickbait” because it suggests that it’s only bad faith actors online who are tricking you into giving them your attention. Why don’t we call a beautiful movie star holding a beer on a billboard “lookbait”?
But when you appreciate that it only really applies to specific types of links, for me it’s not called out often enough so when I saw this article on the totally-media-fabricated bullshit narrative that is the “Ireland and Scotland colluding to produce a result to qualify them both” non-story, I decided to make it the subject of this week’s 80+ TikTok.
Following on from my TikTok bit above, the X below shows what little I thought of the actual theories being shared by some Springbok fans as well as being stupidly suggested in a press conference.
Word has it Ireland's midweek plan has been locked down…
MON : secret meeting with 🏴 counterparts to arrange match to the millisecond TUE : Eiffel Tower WED : Louvre THU : Riverboat down the Seine FRI : Field trip to winery SAT : Relax until kickoff#TheCelticConspiracy
Now to the serious matter of what the actual permutations actually are. The bonus point system as used in this World Cup, which we also see in the URC, Premiership and HCC, means that there are a crazy amount of different ways the match points can be divided, which along with the added wrinkle of points difference means there’s a lot of ways Saturday’s match in Paris can go.
SIDEBAR : just to point out that the alternative bonus point system I have been harping on for years to be standard across the sport, namely the one used in the 🔝🐱🐴 and Super Rugby where you must get 3 more tries than your opponent to get the bonus point, reduces the amount of possibilities a LOT. But I digress.
Full kudos to Glasgow Warriors fan Kevin Millar who took the time to put together this graphic which fully outlines all the possibilities…
And finally, going back to the unlikely option where the Boks get eliminated, I could not have a segment on permutations without a RugbyKino contribution so here is an X from him on the likelihood (barring conspiracies of course)…
Off the back of this, I've looked for games where Scotland conceded more than 20 but still won with a difference of 21 or more.
In the last 10 years it happened vs Argentina away in Nov 22 (52-29) and vs Australia in Nov 2017 (53-24).
Can’t believe I can do a third segment on permutations but they are actually so confusing that even the World Rugby account got them mixed out, with Russ Petty having to point out the error of their ways as they tried to srt out what could happen in Pool A…
Tragic news for yet another club in the English system, with the Jersey Reds, ironically the reigning Championship, er, champions, suddenly announcing they’ve gone under, despite the fact that the 2023/24 season had already kicked off with the Premiership Cup which for the first time in a while includes the sides from the next tier down.
I really, really, really don’t understand how professional clubs aren’t forced to prove their financial viability not only before a season begins, but even before the fixtures are released!!!! Obviously going out of business is always terrible for news for all involved with a club, but to let a few matches go before pulling the plug surely has to affect everyone involved a whole lot more, from employees assuming job security right through to fans who had purchased season tickets and merch.
And what’s more it doesn’t look like this is the end of it. I know the Reds weren’t part of the PLR group, but their demise is clearly part of the problem the failed business model English club rugby has operated since the game went pro.
BALL IN PLAY
Had to laugh at Ian Foster’s soundbite about “ball in play”. Apparently the suggestion is that a match with a high BIP time is better entertainment for the fans than one with a low one.
Well if that’s the case, then using the All Black’s drubbing of Italy and the Springboks/Ireland classic weren’t really the best examples for him to use to make his case.
Now I totally get that when a low BIP can often be down to a frustrating series of reset scrums, and in general, I’d agree it would be a good idea to speed things up.
But as for that match last week….come on. Oftentimes, for me anyway, the time leading up to set pieces was a large part of the entertainment!!! Like when the Boks had a couple of scrums under the Irish posts in the first half. South Africa would have been expected to score more often than not, until you factor in the Irish defence.
We have often harped on how missed tackle stats can be misleading, IMO the only thing Foster has done with his remarks is point out that BIP can be too.
AIL UPDATE
Just one rearranged match in the Women’s AIL last week so not much change in the league table. The champions Blackrock travel to Wicklow in round 3 this weekend.
Meanwhile the men’s league gets underway with a full round of matches. Terenure begin the defence of their title by hosting Ballynahinch at Lakelands while the top division’s newly-promoted second Ulster club, City of Armagh, get their first taste of Division 1A action when they travel to Temple Hill to play Cork Con, a match which is to be livestreamed.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S AIL
Round 2
SUTTONIANS 10-47 RAILWAY UNION RFC
ROUND 3
SAT OCT 7
SUTTONIANS V UL BOHS
GALWEGIANS V RAILWAY UNION
COOKE V BALLINCOLLIG
WICKLOW V BLACKROCK
MEN’S AIL DIV 1A
ROUND 1
SAT OCT 7
DUBLIN UNIVERSITY V CLONTARF
LANSDOWNE V YOUNG MUNSTER
SHANNON V UCD
TERENURE V BALLYNAHINCH
CORK CON V CITY OF ARMAGH
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Back to Ireland action this weekend, so Ireland v Scotland will of course be getting the full Harpin treatment with a preview Friday, wrap pod Sunday and a whole lot more the rest of the week.
So please comment, like, share & subscribe to our feeds & channels whenever the mood takes you.
And as ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
Obviously after such a big Irish win the wrap pod is that much more enjoyable, but even on top of that I had two excellent analysts in Mark Jackson and Tom Coleman helping me harp on the 80 minutes. There may not have been a lot of scores but there were definitely a lot of critical moments and as ever we worked our way through the exciting timeline from start to finish. Click here to catch it on Spotify but you’ll also find it on Apple and most major platforms.
HARPIN ON…FINAL THOUGHTS AFTER RSAvIRE
With matches kicking off at both 4:45 and 8pm on Sundays during the World Cup, that puts time restraints on our wrap pod recording and unfortunately we had to ditch plans for a bonus pod this week, instead I put a clip from the actual pod up on YouTube which you see below.
But with Ireland off next weekend, Mark Jackson has kindly agreed to come back and harp on the topic we had chosen, namely how coaches adapt during a match when one part of the game plan isn’t working, hopefully I’ll be able to post this by Saturday.
TENACIOUS IRISH D
It goes without saying but the RSAvIRE rewatch was beyond fascinating, and I for one was fixated on a pair of Springbok scrums in our 22 around the mid point of the first half. We hadn’t even troubled the scorers at this stage and we were in grave danger of going ten points down but with some determined defending, helped out a bit by poor opposition decision making, we kept them out and we put together the TikTok below, all while knowing full well of course that at some point it will be taken down. #LetTheClipsPlay
Here’s another TikTok video, this my weekly “rant” I suppose you could call it. I didn’t really want to have to weigh in on the whole Zombie nothing-burger but in the end it seemed to be the perfect topic for this segment. I’ve added the tweet that appears in the clip plus another one I thought of using.
I’m very much kicking myself that I missed the Women’s AIL kickoff last week in this column so I’ll try to make up for it here (still means I’m giving the league more coverage than most outlets unfortunately).
As you can see, with a 9-team league plus a postponement and a Round 2 fixture still to be played this Thursday, this year’s league is still getting off the ground but still there have been some predictable results for the big teams, although the big opening day Dublin derby between Rock and Belvo was close and got good coverage with a live screening on YouTube.
We’ll be following the competition here throughout as well as the men’s when that kicks off in October.
Round 1
BLACKROCK COLLEGE 22 – 17 OLD BELVEDERE
GALWEGIANS 12 – 25 BALLINCOLLIG
SUTTONIANS P-P RAILWAY UNION RFC
WICKLOW RFC 7 – 27 UL BOHEMIAN
Round 2
OLD BELVEDERE 32 – 0 WICKLOW RFC
RAILWAY UNION RFC 71 – 7 COOKE
UL BOHEMIAN 82 – 0 GALWEGIANS
Thu Sep 28
SUTTONIANS v RAILWAY UNION RFC
WXV SQUAD
While we’re on the subject of the Women’s game the squad for the WXV3 tournament was announced by new head coach Scott Bemand. Obviously I’m not crazy about the fact that we’re in the third tier of this new competition, nor am I crazy about the whole “being played in Dubai” aspect of it either, and finally there’s this “your chances of playing for Ireland are better if you live in or around Dublin” mantra which really does sound tone deaf considering not only all the women’s game on these shores has gone through in recent years, but also how much it has progressed elsewhere.
Still, we plan to give the girls our full support ounce the competition rolls around.
WXV3 Ireland Fixtures
• 13th October v Kazakhstan 16.30 Irish time
• 21st October v Colombia 14.00 Irish time
• 28th October v Spain 14.00 Irish time
All games will be streamed for free on World Rugby’s RugbyPass platform.
Very sad to hear of the retirement of Ian Madigan, although it does look like he has a promising future in the punditry game as he has been demonstrating throughout the World Cup so far.
ICYMI we dedicated a Throwback Thursday post to him last week, looking back to an article I wrote when he announced he would be leaving Leinster, to which he graciously replied.
POSSIBLE RWC FORMATS
This is an issue which comes up every World Cup going way, way back. What is the best way of actually staging a RWC? The four pools of five has been going quite a while now, yet with one team missing out each round and an insistence on midweek matches it has offered some serious challenges to organisers. For example, France play their four pool matches over 30 days while Namibia complete theirs in just 19.
What is the answer? Honestly none will be perfect. Some say they are planning to move to 24 nations, which would be good in one aspect as it would include more lower tier nations, yet while four pools of six might solve the uneven fixture problem, it also adds one extra match which would put extra pressure on squads meaning they would probably have to be increased, thus putting financial pressure on those same smaller nations.
I’ve wondered if some kind of “cross pool” method might work with a draw instead creating six pools of four. With the pools paired off AB, CD and EF, everyone in one pool could get four matches against teams from the other one. Then the top eight (pool winners + 2, old school HCup style) could advance to the quarterfinals, with possibly a plate competition for the next eight with next RWC qualification on the line. That way no team plays more than 7 matches, plus with 3 set groups of teams playing each other, they could be held exclusively Friday, Saturday and Sunday thus ensuring 7-day turnarounds for all squads.
Everyone seems to be offering suggestions so that’s mine!
MORE PERMUTATIONS
When he’s not going back and forth to Paris offering excellent reports from Ireland’s RWC matches, Cian “RugbyKino” O’Muilleoir has also been known to produce excellent spreadsheets allowing us number crunching fans to look at all the possibilities with bonus points and what-not, and here he has done one for the four World Cup pools, simply plug in the results you think might happen and find out who makes the last 8 and who plays who. Simples!
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
By rights I should be taking things easy this week what with Ireland off next weekend, but I guess the World Cup bug has got hold of me so I have a few little things planned for the coming days. Biggest one is on Sunday and instead of a wrap pod I’m assembling another “all-provincial panel” to look at not only the tournament so far, but also the prospects for the 4 provinces with the URC kickoff coming think and fast.
Please comment, like, share & subscribe to our feeds & channels whenever the mood takes you.
And as ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
For this week’s TT, to honour his retirement confirmed on Wednesday, we’ve gone back to 2015 and an article I wrote on Ian Madigan as it was announced he would be leaving Leinster at the end of that season.
The date was September 11, 2010. Leinster defeated the Cardiff Blues 34-23 at the RDS Arena. Isa Nacewa was on exhilarating form that day and took home the Man of the Match award, but also catching the eye was a young outhalf named Ian Madigan.
From my seat in the Grandstand I had a perfect view of his first try in senior rugby and as you can see from the video, it was quite an impressive one. You had to admire the way the youngster backed himself to throw such a step at that stage of the game, when the visitors had fought back from an early deficit to get within touching distance and we had gone a long period without looking like troubling the scorers again.
But this was only the second match in the reign of a certain Mr Joe Schmidt at Leinster. The bonus point win was of course welcome to the RDS faithful, but we were still a bit concerned about how the lads were adapting to a new style of offloading, and when we went on to lose the next two on the bounce to make it just one win from our opening four, that concern naturally grew.
As we all know now, the Schmidt era really took off in earnest when BOD touched down in the closing stages against Munster at the Aviva – but then Isa was our starting number 10 with Johnny Sexton returning from injury on the bench.
By the end of the season however, Madigan had kept in touch with the Leinster matchday squad, and on that monumental day in Cardiff, he wore the number 22 jersey as Sexton led our almighty second half charge to victory over the Northampton Saints.
12 months later, the venue and the opposition were different but it was still Leinster triumphant in the final of Europe’s biggest competition, and once more Madigan wore the number 22.
2013 we did the seemingly unthinkable, failing to get out of our European pool. But we did get a reprieve of sorts in dropping down into what was then called the Amlin Cup, and at the quarterfinal stage Madigan got to wear his favoured 10 jumper as Leinster blew away Wasps away from home to reach the semifinals.
However, when it came to the final, which was actually in the RDS, while he avoided the number 22 this time around, he had to make do with 12 as Sexton was back to play outhalf, and it was the same a week later back at the same venue as we defeated the Ulstermen to finish off a unique treble of trophies.
That success signalled the end for both Schmidt and (for a couple of years anyway) Sexton at Leinster. It seemed the time was right for Madigan to step up and lead the line for us as it always appeared he would.
Skip ahead to the last day of May 2014. Leinster retain their Pro12 crown, but what jersey is Madigan wearing? 22.
And with Schmidt now heading the Irish coaching set up, despite Ian’s failure to nail down a regular starting role at Leinster as outhalf, he features heavily in Ireland’s matchday squads throughout the victorious 2014 & 2015 Six Nations campaigns. What jersey number is he wearing against France and Scotland respectively in those decisive final matches? Do I need to give the answer?
Finally, we have the most ironic fact of this whole bit I’m doing here. In Ireland’s final test match before his new contract is up for negotiation, Madigan actually gets to wear that 10 jumper for his country, although the circumstances are far, far from ideal.
Nobody, and I mean nobody, has ever considered pinning what happened against Argentina on him, but the reason I bring it up is that it signifies what incredible bad luck he has had over the years in the high-profile matches for both province and country.
There isn’t a single serious Leinster supporter who isn’t fully aware of the tremendous skill set at Madigan’s disposal…the consistent place kicking, the tough tackling, the speeding bullet of a miss pass, and we have all seen him display these in spades on numerous occasions.
If we must apportion “blame” for his decision to leave these shores, I don’t believe we can dump it all in one place, but you certainly can’t put any before the man himself.
It’s not his fault he arrived at senior level just when Johnny Sexton was reaching the peak of his powers. It’s not his fault he got injured at unfortunate times. It’s not his fault Joe Schmidt’s long-term plans with Leinster were curtailed, and that his successor was of a mind to give priority to a different style of out half.
And it is certainly not his fault that the ridiculous nature of the European rugby calendar is such that contract negotiations have to take place slap bang in the middle of the season meaning dozens of players across the continent have to see out a campaign with everyone knowing their future lies elsewhere.
But one thing is an absolute certainty. Ian “Mad-Dog” Madigan is a Leinster man through and through, and will always be considered as such. I don’t say that because he is a fellow “Rock boy” either. The province has worked hard over the years to grow its image as a “12 County Army”, and with stars like Darce, Shaggy, the Kearneys and Sean O’Brien we have seen that quality players can be drawn from all over.
What that proves most of all is that it’s your talent and attitude that make you a Leinster player, not where you come from nor where you went to school. And you haven’t heard Ian Madigan complain about his lot at the province over the years despite the misfortune. When he’s been injured, he has worked hard to come back. When asked to play 12, he gave everything. When asked to play 15, he gave everything. And even on all those massive occasions when asked to wear 22, he most certainly gave everything.
He has earned the right to go where he feels his rugby career will progress the most. If he feels Bordeaux is that place, he certainly won’t get anything from me but my full support. They seem to be an ambitious club in what is already a remarkably competitive league.
All we can hope for is that he gets the opportunity to take full advantage of his new surroundings, and if he is putting in the quality displays, that he gets the proper recognition when Ireland squads are named.
Posts similar to this one could have been written about JJ Hanrahan this time last year. They could soon be written about Simon Zebo or Robbie Henshaw. We all want our local heroes to play for our local teams, but we also must retain an acceptance of the realities of the modern professional game.
For now, I just have to say best wishes to Ian for the future; it must be a relief that it is all sorted and out in the open. What say the boys in blue give him the perfect send off in May. JLP
#ThanksMads #COYBIB
@HarpinOnRugby really appreciate your kind article. Top man. Hopefully go out with some silverware. Happy new year.
A WEEKLY COLUMN LOOKING AT TOPICS BEYOND THE SCOPE
OF OUR FEATURE MATCH OF THE WEEK
WRAP OF A WRAP
For new readers, listeners, our main feature each week here at Harpin On Rugby is a “wrap pod” where we go through Leinster or Ireland’s match from the previous weekend. This week I was joined by Conor Cronin and Rich Mifsud with a couple of reports from Cian “RugbyKino” O’Muilleoir recorded from the stadium in Nantes on the night. Also there’s more “time travel” like last week, since we now record at 6:30pm for RWC it means we can’t give our report on the 8pm kickoff so we hand over to “Future Jeff” who will be getting a lot of work over the coming weeks. As ever the lads did a bang up job, click here to listen on Spotify or you’ll find it on most major platforms, see a small sample below.
Should have been PotM last week, deservedly was PotM this, so we decided to dedicate our bonus clip to Bundee Aki and how he has made a strong claim for Ireland’s 12 jersey for the big matches to come.
SH*T RASSIE SAYS
For the week that’s in it, this week’s harpin’ point for TikTok is about our good friend Rassie Erasmus.
Although of course we’re mostly wearing our green goggles these days, the blue need to be kept close – after the comprehensive win down in Musgrave Park a couple of weeks ago Leinster are closer to home this Friday evening as they host Ulster at Navan RFC. Just over a month to go until the URC kicks off so it will be interesting to see how the squad is shaping up. I have a ticket but I’m still not 100% sure I’ll be able to make it, fingers crossed.
#LETTHECLIPSPLAY
As a counter to the really annoying call from certain quarters of the ruggersphere to “Let The Boys Play”, I’m trying to get this hashtag going in defence of much more prolific content creators like Squidge who are being denied by World Rugby (although it has the whiff of corporate overlords about it) when it comes to sharing and analysing clips and images from the Rugby World Cup.
It’s 2023 FFS. No matter how much broadcasters might live in a world where fans only want to consume their output, the fact remains that a significant portion rely on the independent sector, and while I certainly wouldn’t expect myself to be included, I really do think accommodation should be made for the top influencers, it has to be good for the sport and also has to be good for the sponsors.
Obviously it needs to be monitored but isn’t that the case with all broadcast material mainstream or no? Let the clips play!!!!
PS – literally as I finished typing the above bit, I spotted this poll on “x” so you can probably guess how I voted…
In “Future Jeff”s report on England’s win over Japan at the weekend he may have been a little bit harsh about the English performance, I mean any team would take two wins out of two to start a World Cup however they were achieved, and however the opposition was playing.
But you still need to check the reactions, and many on English media, mainstream and social, seem to have forgotten what caveats are. Yes, yes, I know this is an Irish rugby site so we’re far from their biggest fans, but goggles aside, if England are genuinely happy with their performances to date, especially when you factor in the standards they should be expecting given player pool etc, then I’ll have whatever they’re having, thank you very much.
PS found this quote on “x”…
IT’S VERY SIMPLE, SIMON
“There was one tweet that pissed me off, however, because rather than come from a random fan this was by an actual member of the Munster squad. Only thing I will add to posting it below is this : imagine the uproar if it were a Leinster squad player after the boys in blue won a trophy. Articles would be written about it. Hang on never mind articles….PLAYS would be written.“
I wrote the above in the final 80+ column of the 22/23 season about a tweet by Simon Zebo and I was careful not to use his name because I really thought it was a “one off” but no, it really does look like he has little or no control over either himself or his social media accounts.
Now I guess we have to take him at his word about the posts he was “liking” (although if it really was his kids I’m not sure I’d be too keen to involve them in all of this) but even without that side of it, I have to say he really needs to make a simple decision as to whether he wants to slag off Leinster fans or be a serious pundit, and when I say “serious” of course I know they need an element of humour and banter but he really has been not only crossing “the line” but also catapulting himself way beyond it.
I guess I qualify as a “Dermot” to him so he probably wouldn’t listen to me but hopefully someone around him has had a word.
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Next up here at Harpin Manor we’re all about the clash with the reigning World Champions. Preview will drop either late Thursday or in the afternoon on Friday, we’ll be on “x” throughout the match and finally of course the wrap pod on Sunday. If I can make it to Navan on Friday I hope to do a TikTok report so keep an eye out for that as well. Please comment, like, share & subscribe to our feeds & channels whenever the mood takes you.
And as ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
A WEEKLY COLUMN LOOKING AT TOPICS BEYOND THE SCOPE
OF OUR FEATURE MATCH OF THE WEEK
WRAP OF A WRAP
With World Cup matches coming thick and fast over the next couple of months, our pod recording schedule has to be modified. We normally kickoff the wrap pod at 8pm on a Sunday but due to Wales v Fiji we moved it up an hour. Plus, since that match was something we wanted to harp on, I had to use a time machine of sorts to get my report in! As ever both Cian O’Muilleoir and Ciarán Duffy did a bang up job going over the match be sure to check it our at this Spotify link or on whatever platform you use.
HARPIN ON…IRELAND WITH/WITHOUT SEXTON
With Sexton back on the pitch for the first time since the Grand Slam was in the bag, we had a chat for our bonus clip
DISAGREEMENT?👍DISRESPECT?👎
This week’s TikTok harpin point looks at whether or not it’s ok to analyse a referee’s performance. Since the Wales v Fiji match I’ve been hearing the “we must never criticise the ref” mantra from some surprising sources, I have to say.
In the video I mentioned one of the tweets I posted while the match was still on, for full disclosure I’m adding the other ones. Maybe, just maybe, the Oprah one is straying towards disrespectful? I don’t think so but others might.
The point is that while I know social media isn’t the be all and end all of anything, it can be a decent gauge of opinion from hard core fans and in all my years following rugby on Twitter/x I have never seen this much agreement across the board on a referee’s performance, including some Welsh fans.
Does it mean the ref in question should never hold a whistle again? I really don’t think so, and if there are to be “repercussions” I really don’t want to know. In fact he’s actually AR1 for Ireland’s next match against Tonga and I for one have no problem with that FWIW.
One last point on the video…you have no idea how close I came to taking out all the recording equipment and doing it over when I saw that curled up collar!!!! And if you haven’t noticed it yet it’s probably all you can see now!!!! Ah well….
Loads to say about that match but Radradra should not feel bad about that knockon. They did amazing to create that chance and let's face it they should have been attacking at MOST 14 red jerseys. Match Of The Round by far. #WALvFIJ
"Never question the ref" is as ridiculous as "It's always the ref". But when you do question it's about how you do it. Clear evidence of disparity in this one match, with majority twitter agreement including 🏴 fans. Legitimate talking point once kept respectful IMO.
Loads of TikToks in this week’s column, I pledged to get in front of the camera more this season, so here’s one I did Sunday morning on Leinster’s comprehensive preseason win down in Musgrave Park on Friday evening.
And as you can see I really pushed the boat out with the special effects – I tell ya, between time travel and magic jersey changes, we spare no expense here at Harpin Manor!!!!
Unfortunately there have many reports of fans having difficulties getting to matches on time, like Ireland’s opener against Romania. Obviously it’s very easy to go on social media and call the organisation (or lack of it) a “shambles” but Irish fan Aisling O’Connor has found a much more practical way forward.
I very much doubt they’ll be able to improve their transport infrastructure much in time for fan heading to matches over the coming weeks so Aisling, a former president of the Official Leinster Supporters Club and a well seasoned rugby traveller all over the world at this stage, has been posting logistical information as well as directing people how to get more. If you’re over in France or planning to travel I strongly recommend you follow her.
The #RWC2023 information for @irishrugby#Ire v Tonga at #StadedelaBeaujoire in #Nantes on Saturday, 16 September (KO 9pm) has just been sent to anyone who bought tickets directly from the RWC ticketing site.
All information received is below for anyone who needs it ⬇️
After my agreeing with most of social media over the Wales v Fiji officiating, I think I’m actually swimming against the tide when it comes to my thoughts on Dan Biggar giving his team mates a rollicking at the end of the first in the very same match.
He wanted the ball put dead but the others played on and while I do get the importance of showing a united front out on the pitch, I can also appreciate the frustration from the leadership because, let’s face it, it was absolutely right and proper that the ball needed to be put dead. I saw loads of comments directed at Dan but I think I’d be inclined to back him here. It’s a World Cup, emotions are high, you’ve just played 40m of test rugby, no matter how much experience you have it’s not always easy to switch on the filter.
SCREECHING TO THE CHOIR
I have four kids, and possibly more to the point I was one myself back in the day, so I can totally imagine how exciting a prospect it would be to be allowed to sing at a massive global event like the Rugby World Cup.
But let’s face it…while the choir might work for some national anthems like The Flower Of Scotland (remember at Murrayfield they actually stop playing instruments at one point and let everyone sing like they’re a choir anyway) the more military style ones like for Argentina and, yes, especially France, have had the life sucked out of them by the format.
Personally I’m not always the biggest fan of going too strongly into symbols of nationalism, however I don’t reckon singing anthems before international matches is too strong to begin with, and I have always been of the opinion that each nation should be able to have theirs performed in a manner of their choosing.
But anyway for this World Cup, I understand they are considering a change, and though that would be tough on those who have been looking forward to their moment in the spotlight, I think it would be the right call.
EITHER/OR FOR THE ALL BLACKS PLEASE
Speaking of performances before kickoffs, I was never a fan of the All Blacks and others getting to do extra ones when others can’t, although with the Haka, Cibi and such practically being part of the sport’s DNA at this stage it would probably be harsh to ban it altogether.
But I reckon for the All Blacks to take even more extra time to have a huddle before they did their haka ahead of the opener against France was very much taking the piss.
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Next up here at Harpin Manor we’re looking ahead to our next Pool B assignment with Tonga. There will be a preview at the end of the week, social media coverage throughout, a wrap pod on Sunday evening and all the usual extra bits in between. As well as the podcast feed we’re on X, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Mastodon so please follow us wherever you can
And as ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
Welcome to my 80+ column, a weekly post featuring final thoughts from the week season of rugby just gone.
WRAP TO WRAP ALL WRAPS
Well it didn’t exactly end how I wanted as a Leinster fan, but I still have to say this was by far and away the most enjoyable season of Harpin’ On Rugby yet.
Of course the Grand Slam in the midst of it all helped a lot, but even without it the switch from article- to podcast-based content went really well, mostly because it meant I was working a lot more with fellow fans over the course of the campaign.
So here’s the part where I offer thanks to all the amazing contributors who appeared on the pods for Season 4 going right the way back to Sunday, August 21. Here’s a list of the ‘main group’ including their total Harpin caps to date…
Neil ‘Keego’ Keegan (57)
Tom Coleman (38)
Conor Cronin (38)
Mark Jackson (37)
Rich Mifsud (26)
Cian ‘RugbyKino’ O’Muilleoir (21)
with very honourable mentions to Ciarán Duffy, Nathan Johns, ‘Big’ Joe Sheppard, Padraig Kelly, Caolan Scully, Peter Lockhart, Ian Frizzell, Stephen Murphy, @IrishWomens, Michelle Tobin, Sandy Smith, Francisco Isaac, Justin Middleton, AP Cronje, Brian Moylett, Lee Griffith, Rhys John, Illtud Dafydd & David Arnott.
One thing I knew from the outset was that I couldn’t possibly hope to produce 2, often 3 pods per week without much commitment from others and while it goes without saying, I’ll do it anyway, I am extremely grateful to all of the above for volunteering their time this season.
Just in case you missed our final pod here’s a link – if you’re a Leinster fan you may have intentionally missed it but still I reckon Tom, Mark & Kino did a bang up job going over the HCC final as well as Leinster’s season as a whole so why not check it out.
HARPIN ON…OUR YOU TUBE CHANNEL HIGHLIGHTS
While our main content this season has been via podcast, we also set out to develop a presence on both YouTube and TikTok. Being perfectly honest I didn’t exactly knock myself out in those areas but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with some of the feedback so it’s definitely something we’ll be doing more over the coming season.
For the YouTube the idea was to have a preview show with one guest every Friday, and this was mostly Keego logging on to a Zoom call just an hour after the Leinster or Irish team was named. Then for the Sunday night pod recording I’d include a “bonus chat” outside the main topic of conversation for sharing as a video and these have done pretty well if I do say so myself. Since we didn’t do a 80+ last week I instead posted a “top 5” videos of sorts from across the season, check out the link below and if you haven’t already, please do subscribe to make sure you get all our stuff in future.
For the most part I have tried to use TikTok as a means to promote the pods, and as the season wore on it became something of a challenge to select the most appropriate quote to use for it. Originally my intention was to produce brief “Squidge-type” (OBVS nowhere near as good but at least with my own spin) videos of my favourite moments from matches but they took a while to produce, although the one I did for what I felt was the critical moment the URC final did get the most views of the entire season so you may see more next season. I’ll post that one below as well as some links to others that got decent engagement throughout the season, if you’re not already following us please do it can help us get closer to 500 followers – that might be a humble total in the grand scheme of things but we had no idea we’d be anywhere near that by this stage, truth be told.
You may think I’m stalling to get to the Munster appreciation but, but look back over these columns throughout the season and they always start with the segments you see above!
But anyway again I am more than happy to offer congrats to our southern cousins, if it can’t be Leinster winning the URC, it has to be good for Irish rugby for another province to do it and not only have they been waiting a long, long time for this, but what a way for them to do it!!!!
After suffering some early season defeats which had us wondering if they’d even make it into the playoffs, they ended up pulling off not one, not two but THREE AWAY KNOCKOUT wins which has to be a record at this level of the game and proves that once you’re there or thereabouts come the beginning of May, literally anything is possible.
Obviously the next step for them on the road to returning to further glories will be to follow up with a higher regular season finish plus a deeper run in the HCC, but even if they replicate their 5th place finish, nobody will be ruling them out.
Just a quick word on the Stormers to round things off – I definitely expected a lot more from them. As well and all as Munster played you can’t deny we have seen the South African side play a lot better. Assuming both they and Leinster aim to get back to the top next season that should make for an exciting third instalment of the URC, as if the first two weren’t enough.
THE ABL NARRATIVE
For our first podcast of the season we had a chat about what I call the “ABL” or “Anyone But Leinster” in the ruggersphere and after Leinster won so many matches in the first two thirds of the season as well as supplying a large chunk of Ireland’s 100% test season, it was pretty easy to prove it’s existence week-in week-out on social media.
Naturally the way the season ended up for Leinster, there were always going to be those looking to stick the knife in, pushing a false narrative that as fans we somehow “assumed we were going to win everything” and for the most part it has been easy enough to stay away and tune it all out – the above tweet was posted from the Aviva Stadium press box moments after full time.
Fellow Leinster fans it has been an awesome season regardless, though we'll all feel these two one point defeats.
Just go easy on the social media plenty will aim to trigger you.
One thing you can be sure I’m NOT going to do however, is post a few screenshots of the abuse being levelled at Leinster and their fans over the past few weeks, because to my mind that gives an impression that ALL fans of a particular team do this kind of thing, when the reality is that being an asshole is no peculiar to any one jersey.
There was one tweet that pissed me off, however, because rather than come from a random fan this was by an actual member of the Munster squad. Only thing I will add to posting it below is this : imagine the uproar if it were a Leinster squad player after the boys in blue won a trophy. Articles would be written about it. Hang on never mind articles….PLAYS would be written.
While we’re on the subject of senior players who should know better behaving badly, much has been said of this “incident” involving Johnny Sexton after the Champions Cup final.
Before I go on, I’d like to divide this segment in two parts.
PART 1 – ASSUMING IT HAPPENED
If Johnny Sexton walked up to Jaco Peyper and called him a “f*cking disgrace” as is alleged, then there definitely needs to be some kind of action, but only after a proper enquiry. I’m no fan of that carry on, whatever the person’s colours.
PART 2 – GUILTY BEFORE ANYTHING PROVEN
But can we please call this incident for what it is. People were calling for Johnny’s head long before there was anything even remotely close to “evidence” available, and remember, even the video you see in the tweet below doesn’t tell us what was actually said (and ironically, Karl Dickson has something of a track record when it comes to bad hearing).
All of which means is that with these kind of levels of bias out there against Sexton (including a host of South African commenters keen to conflate the whole thing with RassieGate from the Lions tour – hilarious!) there is literally nothing we can say until there has been a full investigation. And if there isn’t one, then we have to assume that there’s “no there there”, although naturally that won’t stop the Sexton haters from forming conspiracy theories, in which I say let ‘em.
On a lighter note – on those dissing his outfit, I really don’t think they even have a case there. Not exactly my style, but still the comments are just another example of the hating IMO.
After the whistle went Sexton changes direction to approach the refereeing group. Dicko sees him coming and tries to block him but Johny won't be stopped from having at least a say pic.twitter.com/ij6Sl8J4Fl
Normally my update on the Harpin URC Prediction League comes towards the end of my 80+ column, but it won’t take you long to work out why I moved it up.
Last season, I finished dead last, which meant I had to wear The Jersey Of Shame on social media. I’ve already posted it here so I’ll just link to it rather than do it again. The main reason I lost was that I just could not discipline myself to post my predictions on Superbru week in week out, leaving me stranded in 6th place come the end of the campaign.
Well this time around I was determined to at very least we sure of kicking the “no picks” habit. And a few rounds into the season I was doing pretty well.
But gradually I gave way to Cian ‘RugbyKino’ O’Muilleoi,r who generally takes a stats-based approach to predictions, and it really did seem to do well over the course of a season, since having taken over top spot at Round 5 he proceeded to stay there all the way through the Six Nations and the gap never looked like closing…
…until I actually closed it towards of the regular season and thought I was on Cloud 9…
…only for Mark Jackson to nip ahead of us both and he seemed to have the title done and dusted with only the URC Final left.
Well folks, I only had one possible strategy when it came to predicting Stormers v Munster. With the South Africans the favourites (being reigning champions and having home advantage), I had to assume that both Mark and Kino ahead of me on the table would go for them so that meant my only hope would be to take a punt on Munster (and let’s be honest the way they’ve been playing it was hardly a “Hail Mary”). Just in case someone else also went for it, I made my prediction a double-digit win so that I’d have a chance of getting extra points if I got it right. Turns out I didn’t need that cushion as I was the only one and hey presto my four points pole vaulted me back into first!!!
Obvs I’d swap it for even one let alone two trophies for Leinster, but having also done well in the Six Nations prediction comp I’d say I’m pretty pleased with my showing this season.
Down at the other end of the table, the Jersey of Shame is wrapped and ready to send to Neil “No Picks Keego” Keegan and hopefully we’ll have a pic to share of him sporting it soon. Also hopefully we’ll get another few contributors into the HPL for the 23/24 campaign when I’ll be defending my crown.
HARPIN PREDICTOR LEAGUE 2022/23 FINAL STANDINGS
NOT ACTING IN GOODE FAITH
The tweet pretty much says it all, but one thing I’ll add is that I am actually ELEVEN YEARS OLDER than Andy Goode who’s whinging about a girl making what I thought was a very light hearted correction. You’d swear it was the other way around. I have no idea what makes these guys think pearl-clutching (and that’s definitely what this is) is somehow masculine…
Normally this section is for Leinster’s injury report, so since it’s the end of the season I’ll instead feature the end of season business from Leinster Rugby, starting with the awards…
Best Menswear Development School of the Year: St Mary’s CBS, Portlaoise
JUST EAT Tackle of the Year: Liam Turner (v DHL Stormers)
The Irish Times Try of the Year: Garry Ringrose (v Racing 92)
DigitalWell Junior Club of the Year: Mullingar RFC
Energia Senior Club of the Year: Old Belvedere RFC
BDO Supporters Player of the Year: Garry Ringrose
Guinness Hall of Fame: Gerry Murphy
BearingPoint Women’s Young Player of the Year: Aoife Dalton
Laya Healthcare Men’s Young Player of the Year: Scott Penny
Band of Ireland Women’s Player of the Year: Jenny Murphy
Bank of Ireland Men’s Player of the Year: Caelan Doris
Certainly can’t complain about the names honoured above, that’s for sure. And now the bad news, the list of players leaving the province…
Johnny Sexton (189 caps / 1,646 points)
Dave Kearney (186 / 275)
James Tracy (141 / 90)
Nick McCarthy (62 / 25)
Tadgh McElroy (4 / 0)
Charlie Ryan (0 / 0)
Seán O’Brien (3 / 0)
Max O’Reilly (11 / 10)
Marcus Hanan (4 / 0)
Andrew Smith (2 / 0)
Best wishes to all, and with all due respect to the other nine guys I’m sure we all agree that the best of best wishes go to yer man at the top when it comes to a certain egg-chasing tournament happening in France in September…
ALL EYES ON RWC2023
What’s that you say? My tweet looks like I’m being sarcastic??? Whatever could you mean???
Good to see the squad, congrats to all and I for one can't wait to see the fans of the four proud provinces come together and agree whole heartedly with the selections looking ahead to #RWC2023 😎
Look, some were always going to miss out. And yes, with Munster’s win freshest in the mind it’s obvious to notice if one or two names don’t get on the list, yet while no coach is ever perfect, if Andy Farrell hasn’t earned himself some street cred at this stage then nobody can.
Here’s my personal ideal matchday 23 from the group (assuming all players fully fit), we’ll see how it evolves over time.
Porter, Sheehan, Furlong, Henderson, Ryan, O’Mahony, van der Flier, Doris
Kelleher, Healy, Bealham, Beirne, Conan, Murray, Crowley, Aki
SEVENS UPDATE
With no 80+ column last week I didn’t get to update the London Sevens, where the men’s series came to an end after the women had finished in Toulouse. Apparently this last tournament of the season is done differently to all the others…the top 12 on the points table compete for the final standings while the others take part in a qualifying competition for next year’s circuit.
The Irish men’s squad may not have qualified for the Olympics directly as the women did, but still overall a 6th place finish in London wasn’t the worst outcome. Also while 8th place overall is definitely something we can improve on, reaching that final in Dubai was a highlight for sure and having watched them quite a bit over the course of the season I’d say they have done us proud.
I’ll be even more proud once I hear the announcement of an Irish leg on the calendar, get on it people!!!!!
MLR UPDATE
I hope the actual fans of the New England Free Jacks aren’t superstitious (although from what I know of sports in that neck of the woods I’m pretty sure they are) because as a Leinster fan who saw his team rack up easy wins throughout the season including multiple “50-burgers” only to fall agonisingly short in playoffs twice, they may not be so keen to know that I have adopted them as my team for the 2023 version of Major League Rugby.
We had no 80+ column last week so there are two weeks of results to catch up on and as you can see the Free Jacks have, to say the very least, consolidated their position at the top of the Eastern Conference, stretching their lead to 20 points and guaranteeing them a home “semifinal” in the playoffs after big wins over New Orleans and Toronto respectively.
They will have one tough opponent to get them ready however as they must travel in round 17 to face Seattle, who themselves are locked in a battle with the San Diego Legion for 1st place and in fact it’s kind of set up for the Western Conference to have a thrilling finale as the two rivals meet in Round 18.
This could be a problem for the Free Jacks as while they have the comfort of knowing their fate, both the Legion and the Seawolves will have multiple tough encounters between now and the championship game, assuming they do make it there of course.
But still it has been an interesting season and let’s face it, the way last year’s version ended up with two teams folding just before the playoffs, any kind of finish which involves only action on the pitch will be a positive.
ROUND 14
NEFJ 50-3 NOLA
SEA 35-13 CHI
UTAH 34-28 HOU
ATL 19-27 DAL
TOR 29-29 OGDC
ROUND 15
SD 36-13 NYI
UTAH 28-12 ATL
HOU 40-33 CHI
OGDC 19-41 SEA
NEFJ 57-20 TOR
ROUND 16
ATL V NEFJ
NOLA V OGDC
CHI V SD
TOR V HOU
NYI V DAL
SEA V UTAH
THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Right so that brings down the curtain on the 2022/23 season of Harpin on Rugby. Obviously I’ll still be tweeting over the coming weeks, both the Top 14 and Super Rugby are still to be decided as is Major League Rugby which I have been following as you will know. There might be the odd pod or two during the next month or so, you never know, along with bits & bobs on the other social media platforms.
But we won’t kick back into full swing until a week or so before the World Cup warmups come on the radar, that’s when we will formally launch Season 5 of the pod and a whopping season SIXTEEN of Harpin.
Many thanks for all your clicking and reading and sharing and commenting and what-not, looking forward to more.
In the meantime, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
Welcome to my 80+ column, a weekly post featuring final thoughts from the week of rugby just gone.
WRAP OF A WRAP
Friday, June 12, 2012 is when Keego posted his first article on the old HarpinOnRugby.net website, titled “Keego on…Kidney & Kryptonite”. Then on Friday, March 1, 2013 we got the first offering from Cian “RugbyKino” O’Muilleoir, titled “Stat of the Nation Address”. For over 10 years they have both added their own brand of awesome content and it was great to have two “old school” contributors help me wrap the win over the Sharks for our latest pod.
If you missed it, check it out on Spotify here or on most major platforms.
HARPIN ON…LEINSTER’S SQUAD MANAGEMENT
For our bonus clip we harped on Leinster’s enviable headache of keeping a 60-strong squad of players happy, over the season as a whole and particularly over this period of weekly knockout fixtures.
One point I forgot to mention was the critical cultivation of what I call “switch hitting props”, a kind of crude adaptation of baseball terminology but I still like to use it. Allowing the likes of Andrew Porter and Cian Healy to be match ready on both sides of the front row has played a major role in Leinster’s ability to react to injuries over the course of a match AND a season over the past couple of years.
If you’re playing the clip above maybe pop over and subscribe to the channel too? That’s where we post our Preview Show as well as other content throughout the week.
JORDAN LARMOUR TRY TIK TOK
Might have been against 14 (or as Kino pointed out just before this TikTok clip, essentially 13 due to an injury to du Toit) but Harry Byrne’s crossfield kick to Larmour for our third try was still a joy to watch.
I’m sorry but this really, really, REALLY bugs me. Just to be clear, I don’t mean the sporting act itself, rather the fact that people try to make out that you only see things like this in rugby. NOT. THE. CASE. It really is very simple – first, there are examples of good sportsmanship in all sports but also, it’s not like rugby is perfectly clean all the time either. The whole concept of “rugby values” never really sat well with me, partly because it’s not sport-specific but also there’s a tinge of elitism to it as well.
Can we not just say this was a nice thing to do and move on?
I’m calling it “Avivapalooza”, namely the festival of rugby at Irish HQ that goes way back to Ireland’s Grand Slam victory. From March 18 until now there have been 8 weekends, with 5 of them having Leinster/Ireland at the Aviva, 1 at the RDS and the other two literally in the other half of the world. All this with two and possibly three more to come over the next few weeks. Is this me complaining? Absolutely not. Am I agreeing with those ABL factions on social media who claim the sport is rigged? Also absolutely not – with the exception of the HCC final for which Ireland was due, home advantage is earned and Leinster have definitely done that on the pitch. Still worth noting how often we’re going to the venue these days, though. Reminds me of the 2012/13 season when a similar series of quirky happenings saw the RDS host 5 weeks of matches in a row. Not the easiest to sell when you live in a house where you’re the only egg-chasing nut!!!!
DOING THE DOUBLE
While I’m on the subject of Leinster’s knockout rugby fetish, I might as well take the excuse to bring up my constant bugbear over the structure of the European rugby season. I have said for a long, long time that it needs an overhaul to an extent where the two major competitions that every club can win each season are played in separate blocks over the season.
That way not only can a club be rewarded for being on form in the earlier half of the season, but also it would remove what I think is a ridiculous requirement for coaches to pick and choose which matches they want to prioritize over the course of a season. The ideal should be for coaches to select their best available squad for every weekend and while I know this can’t ALWAYS be done, the status quo rules it out altogether and just because it has been normalised over decades doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be changed as far as I’m concerned.
I know Leicester, Wasps, Toulouse, Exeter and Sarries have all managed to “do the double” over the years (although one or two of the more recent ones do come with COVID/salary cap asterisks) but as things stand right now I have to wonder if Leinster are the only team that could possibly have the resources to come close to winning both if something doesn’t change. I mean as much as that fact pleases me as a fan of the province, it certainly doesn’t when I look at it as a fan of the sport.
HCC FORMAT
There’s a lot in this Indo interview with the IRFU CEO but one sentence caught my eye on first read…I’ve mentioned the HCC format quite a bit on this column throughout the season, how it doesn’t bother me as much as it seems to bother a lot of fans, but it looks like we’re going to have it for the next campaign too which of course would mean more complaints.
“EPCR is so important to Irish Rugby and the provinces. Getting its structure right is critical,” he adds, stating that he is involved in a consultation process with EPCR to update the structures from 2024/’25.”
AI RUGBY : LEINSTER V SHARKS DRY RUN
My inner nerd loves doing it so whether you like it or not, this will become a regular Harpin’ feature. On Friday once the team is announced I’ll be feeding the two matchday squads into ChatGPT using the prompt below to see what it comes up with.
On our Preview Show the score will update throughout the pod and I’ll provide the actual receipts here in the 80+. As you can see below, the AI felt Leinster would also win well, albeit with a few more tries from our guests.
PROMPT
Imagine a game of 15-a-side rugby union between Leinster Rugby and Cell C Sharks over two halves of 40 minutes with the two lineups outlined below, taking into account the current reputation and form of all the players involved.
Leinster : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Jordan Larmour 13. Ciarán Frawley 12. Charlie Ngatai 11. Dave Kearney 10. Harry Byrne 9. Luke McGrath > CAPTAIN
1. Michael Milne 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Tadhg Furlong 4. Ryan Baird 5. Jason Jenkins 6. Max Deegan 7. Scott Penny 8. Caelan Doris
16. John McKee 17. Andrew Porter 18. Cian Healy 19. Joe McCarthy 20. Jack Conan 21. Jamison Gibson-Park 22. Ross Byrne 23. Liam Turner
Cell C Sharks : 15 Aphelele Fassi 14 Marnus Potgieter 13 Lukhanyo Am (c) 12 Ben Tapuai 11 Makazole Mapimpi 10 Boeta Chamberlain 9 Grant Williams
1 Ox Nche 2 Bongi Mbonambi 3 Thomas du Toit 4 Corne Rahl 5 Gerbrandt Grobler 6 James Venter 7 Vincent Tshituka 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe
16 Fez Mbatha 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu 18 Carlu Sadie 19 Jeandre Labuschagne 20 Phepsi Buthelezi 21 Cameron Wright 22 Nevaldo Fleurs 23 Rohan Janse van Rensburg
Write 2000 words on the progress of the match in the form of a timeline (no conclusion, just the timeline only) reporting incidents like tries, conversions, penalties, injuries and yellow or red cards.
PRINTOUT
0-10 minutes: The game starts with a lot of back-and-forth action as both teams try to find their footing. However, it is Leinster who strikes first as winger Jordan Larmour breaks through the Sharks’ defense to score a try. Harry Byrne converts the try to give Leinster an early 7-0 lead.
10-20 minutes: The Sharks respond with a try of their own as winger Makazole Mapimpi finishes off a counter-attack. Boeta Chamberlain’s conversion levels the scores at 7-7.
20-30 minutes: Leinster regains their lead as Charlie Ngatai scores a clever try following a quick tap penalty. Byrne once again adds the extras to make it 14-7 in favor of the home team.
30-40 minutes: The Sharks turn up the pressure and win a penalty that Chamberlain successfully kicks to reduce Leinster’s lead to 14-10.
40-45 minutes: Just before half-time, Leinster scores a third try as lock Ryan Baird crashes over the try line. Byrne’s conversion gives the home team a 21-10 lead at the break.
Half-time: Leinster 21-10 Sharks
45-55 minutes: The Sharks start the second half strongly and score two tries in quick succession through Aphelele Fassi and captain Lukhanyo Am. However, Chamberlain misses both conversion attempts, leaving the score at 21-20 in favor of Leinster.
55-62 minutes: Leinster fights back and scores their fourth try of the match through prop Tadhg Furlong. Byrne’s successful conversion increases Leinster’s lead to 28-20.
62-67 minutes: Sharks’ winger Marnus Potgieter is shown a yellow card for a high tackle on Larmour.
67-75 minutes: Leinster capitalizes on their numerical advantage and scores two more tries through replacement scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park and flanker Caelan Doris. Byrne converts both tries to extend Leinster’s lead to 42-20.
75-80 minutes: The Sharks score a consolation try through reserve center Rohan Janse van Rensburg, but it is too little too late as Leinster runs out comfortable 42-27 winners.
Full-time: Leinster 42-27 Sharks
INJURY REPORT
Some decent news this week, still makes for an interesting selection at the weekend though….
POSSIBLE 23 V MUNSTER
Frawley, Kearney, Ngatai, Ringrose, T O’Brien, McGrath, H Byrne
McKee, Porter, Clarkson, McCarthy, Conan, JGP, R Byrne, Larmour
(note – the above team is purely from my imagination, it’s certainly not one of those quasi-leaked Thornley teams which are always 22 out of 23 correct)
official report
Joe McCarthy came through the game at the weekend against Cell C Sharks with no issues after his recovery from an ankle injury.
Rónan Kelleher was involved in the wider match day squad at the weekend and will be available to train fully this week after his recovery from a shoulder injury.
Scott Penny has entered the Graduated Return to Play Protocols and will be further assessed as the week progresses.
Robbie Henshaw is expected to step up his rehabilitation from a minor quad issue this week and will be further assessed as the week progresses.
James Lowe is expected to step up his rehabilitation from a calf injury and will be further assessed as the week progresses.
Cian Healy picked up an ankle injury against Cell C Sharks and will be further assessed as the week progresses.
There are no further updates on: Vakhtang Abdaladze (neck), Ed Byrne (tricep), Rhys Ruddock (hamstring), Johnny Sexton (groin), Jamie Osborne (knee), Martin Moloney (knee)
AIL UPDATE
We’ve been updating this segment all season so even though we covered the AIL final on the pod, I’d still like to offer congrats to all involved at Terenure College RFC for capping off a fine campaign with the championship. It was a comprehensive win on the day for sure but overall after starting the league with a long unbeaten run it was no more than they deserve.
There were of course a host of other matches over the weekend as the promotion and relegation issues across the five AIL divisions were sorted out. Shannon’s win over Highfield means they remain in the top flight with City of Armagh being the only newcomers next season. Also congrats to my “alma mater” Blackrock College who beat MU Barnhall at Stradbrook to more them up to the second tier.
AIL FINAL
Clontarf 24 Terenure 50
DIVISION 1A PROMOTION/RELEGATION PLAY-OFF FINAL:
Shannon 32 Highfield 12
DIVISION 1B PROMOTION PLAY-OFF FINAL:
Blackrock College 29 MU Barnhall 21
DIVISION 2A PROMOTION/RELEGATION PLAY-OFF FINAL:
UL Bohemians 20 Dungannon 16
DIVISION 2B PROMOTION PLAY-OFF FINAL:
Skerries 30 Bruff 15
SEVENS UPDATE
The Sevens circuit kicks back into gear this weekend and for the women Toulouse is actually the final tournament of the series. The way the standings look I very much doubt we can crack the top four but we should be anxiously looking over our shoulders at both Fiji and GB behind us so we’ll need a strong showing with Brazil, Australia and hosts France in our pool.
Meanwhile for the men it is the penultimate leg of the series with Twickers still to come the following weekend. A shocker of a Singapore leg has us down in 9th on the ladder, a big drop since our excellent silver in Dubai at the start of the season. If we can click over the next two weeks however we can more up a place or two and we’re up against Samoa, Oz & Japan this weekend.
TOULOUSE SEVENS
FRIDAY MAY 12
10:28AM IRELAND WOMEN V FRANCE
11:45AM IRELAND MEN V SAMOA
4:04PM IRELAND MEN V AUSTRALIA
7:05PM IRELAND WOMEN V AUSTRALIA
SATURDAY MAY 13
9:43AM IRELAND WOMEN V BRAZIL
10:37AM IRELAND MEN V JAPAN
1:42PM WOMEN’S PLAYOFFS BEGIN
3:10PM MEN’S PLAYOFFS BEGIN
MLR UPDATE
Not going to be able to watch a game back this week, although that’s ok because as I said before I have adopted the New England Free Jacks as my team for this season and they were off for this round.
But even with the bye week they remain a healthy 9pts clear in the East, and they can extend that lead even further if they win next weekend against Old Glory. Meanwhile out West the San Diego’s win in Utak means they also have a cushion with Seattle and Houston, who meet next weekend, also in the playoff positions for now.
ROUND 12
ATL 27-12 CHI
DAL 3-7 OGDC
UTAH 16-26 SD
NYI 54-19 NOLA
ROUND 13
TOR V ATL
NOLA V SD
HOU V SEA
DAL V UTAH
OGDC V NE
CHI V NYI
HARPIN’ PREDICTION LEAGUE
Well. All season 1st place in the HPL has switched back and forth between myself and RugbyKino, only for Mark Jackson to leap over both of us into top spot with just three matches left to predict!!! Like I have always said I’m mostly happy not to be the cellar dweller this season (that honour was clinched by Keego literally months ago) but still to have come so close it’s a bit of a pain to drop to 3rd towards the end. My biggest errors recently were forgetting one match altogether in the last round, and not believing in Munster wanting victory more than Glasgow in this one.
THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
It’s all about Munster now. Things should be relatively normal for the coming week so be sure to stay tuned to all our usual corners of social media to keep up with our latest content.
In the meantime, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
Welcome to my 80+ column, a weekly post featuring final thoughts from the week of rugby just gone.
WRAP OF A WRAP
Hopefully Mark Jackson will be able to return to our pod lineup soon, and we’re grateful to Conor Cronin for stepping in for him on Sunday to join Tom Coleman, and as ever they did a bang up job covering all the harpin’ points. There were a couple of incidents that needed some video to help illustrate so I’ll deal with them further down the column, as well as the very selective interpretations from those who MIGHT have been using a little bias…
If you missed it, check it out here on Spotify or on most major platforms.
HARPIN ON…LEINSTER’S ⭐OF THE MATCH CONTENDERS
Disagreeing or at least debating the award of Player or Star of the Match awards (Sidebar – why are some people making such a big deal about the switch away from MotM? Get over it FFS) has been common this season which ain’t a bad position for any team to be in. This match was certainly no exception so for the bonus clip we each selected a player and harped on their performance. And even THAT wasn’t enough so there was an extra name thrown into our main TikTiok clip, see below.
If you’re playing the clip above maybe pop over and subscribe to the channel too? That’s where we post our Preview Show as well as other content throughout the week.
JACK CONAN & JAMES RYAN TIK TOKS
See above for the reason behind the Conan TikTok, but I also thought it was worth producing a 2nd from the Toulouse match because watching it with the naked eye I was blown away by James Ryan’s determined grab ahead of the JVDF try at the weekend. It really did look like it had been turned over but he simply wasn’t having it.
All day Sunday there was a heated discussion online about a supposed travesty that might have helped Leinster win…well, I suppose that could be said about pretty much ANY given Sunday over the past few seasons, but this time it was over the incidents involving Porter and Neti. When I was watching the match live I missed the Porter one, and while I did see the Neti hit on JVDF, I missed the very important context of the clash just before it, and after watching all the subsequent replays, I still missed it.
This continued online with sometimes still photos and more often slowed-down footage of the second clash somehow serving as “proof” that the incident shouldn’t have been a penalty. Thankfully someone ended up sharing the full incident which you can see below.
But I’d rather focus on the groupthink that is behind these campaigns for now. We started the season by talking about this ABL or “Anyone But Leinster” groupthink. To be clear, I don’t actually mind it, the only thing I’d want to do is acknowledge that it exists. A team that wins as often as Leinster do is bound to have haters, even or possibly especially Irish ones.
Generally their MO is to search for one or two gombeen Leinster fan comments (of which there will be some for sure, because being a gombeen has nothing to do with where you’re from) and make it out like that represents the whole province. Or in the case of Sunday, just make it look like there’s some grand conspiracy to help Leinster and/or Ireland win.
Sad, really.
Funny how different it looks when the clip shows the entire incident in full…. https://t.co/tF1IIWXG5b
I wouldn’t class this as an example of ABL, more someone trying to suit a narrative of online commentary in general.
But anyway I’ll include our exchange as well as my original tweet that sparked it. For full disclosure when Conor said on the pod that it shouldn’t have been a 5022 that was news to me so I went back to confirm it and just wanted to share that with my followers.
I mean, of COURSE it’s over analysis, but isn’t that what’s to be expected from a fansite????
Mate it's really, really simple. We made a podcast about a rugby match and a contributor made a point, so I shared a clip to go with it.
Have to say it is kind of funny to see someone call it out as over-analysis then proceed to over-analyse it. 😜
I’ve never met Greg, and all I’ve heard is that he’s a nice guy who apparently has been thrown under the bus. I really think his “I see them as my daughters” comment during the Six Nations campaign was incredibly tone deaf but overall to make it look like it was just his coaching that led to the results over the past month or so doesn’t exactly sit well.
As Tom pointed out on our pod, the fact that CliodhnaMoloney scored two tries and won PotM for Exeter in the Allianz Cup final on the very same day the test side was picking up the wooden spoon speak volumes.
For me this line in a recent article from Sinead Kissane says it all…
She was the only person in the player’s representative group after the explosive letter to the Government who didn’t retire from international rugby. Since then, she hasn’t had a look-in with the national squad.
…assuming this to be true, the question does need to be asked if there is a blackballing policy in place, and if so, then it surely must be a major contributory factor to all that is going on in Irish Women’s rugby.
And here we see what makes speaking out about these things very difficult. Because when you talk about the Moloneys and the Griffins who aren’t there, plus the likes of Parsons who are prioritised for the Sevens circuit, you end up throwing a good bit of shade at those who actually togged out for those five matches. Unless you’re Ewan McKenna of course, who chose simply to mock them to satisfy his Army of Incels followers.
I know I don’t follow the women’s game regularly but from my vantage point at least within the overall sport, it really does look like it’s not so much dinosaurs in the decision making positions, rather ostriches who don’t want to see what really needs to be done.
Just. Listen.
UPDATE – Just saw a report that rumours of his leaving the post were greatly exaggerated? Very strange to see a story linger in the news cycle for so long if it was that wrong. Anyway, whether he’s still the coach or not, the fundamental issues remain the same.
LONDON IRISH
Not sure where this story is heading but the point to be made is that it is hardly a surprise as it was clear when both Worcester and Wasps were in trouble that they weren’t the only ones.
It’s difficult enough to understand how 8th place in the Premiership can qualify for Europe when it only has 11 clubs without another one going under as well. Fingers crossed they are able to sort something out mostly for the sake of all those employed by the club.
Red flags at London Irish, where the club’s players and staff have not received their salaries for April. https://t.co/xCGWH3O4up
Been dabbling in AI in recent weeks, and this time I decided to ask ChatGPT on Friday to “play out” a match between Leinster and Toulouse using the selected teams. Below you see the prompt and how it played out, wasn’t a million miles off the actual result and I have to say I like the way it even had a try disallowed by the TMO!!!
Imagine a game of 15-a-side rugby union between Leinster Rugby and Stade Toulousain over two halves of 40 minutes with the two lineups outlined below, taking into account the reputation and form of all the players involved.
Leinster : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Jordan Larmour 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Charlie Ngatai 11. Jimmy O’Brien 10. Ross Byrne 9. Jamison Gibson-Park
1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Tadhg Furlong 4. Ross Molony 5. James Ryan (c) 6. Caelan Doris 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Jack Conan
16. John McKee 17. Cian Healy 18. Michael Ala’alatoa 19. Jason Jenkins 20. Ryan Baird 21. Luke McGrath 22. Harry Byrne 23. Ciarán Frawley.
Toulouse : 15 T Ramos 14 JC Mailla 13 PL Barassi 12 P Ahki 11 M Lebel 10 R Ntamack 9 A Dupont
1 C Baille 2 P Mauvaka 3 D Aldegheri 4 R Arnold 5 E Meafou 6 J Willis 7 T Flament 8 F Cros
16 J Marchand 17 R Neti 18 D Ainu’u 19 A Roumat 20 R Elstadt 21 A Placines 22 P Graou 23 A Retière
Write 2000 words on the progress of the match in the form of a timeline (no conclusion, just the timeline only) reporting incidents like tries, conversions, penalties, injuries and yellow or red cards.
0’ – The match kicks off with Leinster receiving the ball and making their way up the field with several phases of play.
2’ – Toulouse gives away a penalty in their own half, which Ross Byrne converts to give Leinster an early lead of 3-0.
7’ – Toulouse’s Romain Ntamack takes a quick tap penalty and makes a break into Leinster’s half, but is tackled well by James Ryan.
10’ – After a couple of turnovers, Leinster’s Hugo Keenan collects a high ball and makes a run down the wing, but is eventually tackled into touch by Toulouse’s Matthis Lebel.
12’ – Toulouse’s Antoine Dupont spots a gap around the ruck and makes a break, but is brought down just short of the try line by Garry Ringrose.
15’ – Toulouse gives away another penalty in front of their own posts, which Ross Byrne slots over to make the score 6-0 in Leinster’s favour.
18’ – Toulouse’s Romain Ntamack misses a long-range penalty attempt, with the ball going wide of the posts.
20’ – Leinster’s Caelan Doris makes a break down the middle of the field and offloads to Garry Ringrose, who finds Jordan Larmour on the wing to score the first try of the game. Ross Byrne converts to make the score 13-0 to Leinster.
24’ – Toulouse’s Cyril Baille gives away a penalty at the scrum, and Ross Byrne makes no mistake in slotting it over to extend Leinster’s lead to 16-0.
28’ – Toulouse’s Piula Faasalele is shown a yellow card for a high tackle on Leinster’s Jimmy O’Brien.
30’ – Leinster opt for a scrum from the penalty, and after several phases of play, Andrew Porter crashes over the line to score Leinster’s second try of the game. Ross Byrne converts to make the score 23-0 to Leinster.
35’ – Toulouse finally get on the scoreboard, with Romain Ntamack sending a perfectly-weighted crossfield kick for Matthis Lebel to catch and score in the corner. Ntamack misses the conversion, leaving the score at 23-5.
40’ – The referee blows for half-time, with Leinster leading Toulouse 23-5.
42’ – The second half begins with Toulouse receiving the ball and making a strong start, working their way up the field through several phases of play.
50’ – Toulouse’s Pita Ahki breaks through Leinster’s defence and is brought down just short of the try line by Hugo Keenan.
54’ – Leinster’s Dan Sheehan is shown a yellow card for collapsing the maul.
57’ – Toulouse opt for a scrum from the penalty, and after a few phases of play, Thomas Ramos scores their second try of the game. Romain Ntamack adds the extras to make the score 23-12.
61’ – Leinster’s Jack Conan makes a break down the wing and offloads to Ciarán Frawley, who crashes over the line to score Leinster’s third try of the game. Frawley converts his own try to make the score 30-12 to Leinster.
65’ – Toulouse makes several substitutions, bringing on fresh legs in an attempt to turn the game around.
70’ – Leinster’s Ross Byrne kicks a penalty to extend their lead to 33-12.
75’ – Toulouse’s Romain Ntamack sends a crossfield kick for Matthis Lebel, who collects and scores his second try of the game. Ntamack adds the extras to make the score 33-19.
79’ – Leinster’s Harry Byrne scores a try in the corner, but it is disallowed by the TMO for a forward pass in the build-up.
80’ – The referee blows for full-time, with Leinster sealing a convincing 33-19 win over Toulouse in a game that saw their defence hold strong and their attack score three tries.
INJURY REPORT
Good to see there are no new additions to the treatment table, but that doesn’t take away the headache of selection for the Sharks in the quarterfinal. With the HCC final date secured we really have no choice but to take out a decent amount of cotton wool even if the Sharks will use that to motivate them in their quest to prove us wrong to underestimate them.
I definitely think Hugo Keenan and our two props should be left out altogether, but elsewhere we might need some first team back up in case we’re chasing the game in the final quarter.
POSSIBLE 23 V SHARKS
Frawley, Larmour, Ringrose, Henshaw, Kearney, R Byrne, McGrath
Sheehan, Milne, Clarkson, Ryan, Conan, Foley, H Byrne, J O’Brien.
(note – the above team is purely from my imagination, it’s certainly not one of those quasi-leaked Thornley teams which are always 22 out of 23 correct)
Cormac Foley trained fully last week after recovering from a hamstring injury and is available for selection this week.
Ryan Baird came through the game at the weekend with no issues after his recovery from a shoulder injury.
Josh van der Flier came through the game at the weekend with no issues after his recovery from an ankle injury.
Charlie Ngatai came through the game at the weekend with no issues after his recovery from a hamstring injury.
Michael Milne has come through the Graduated Return to Play Protocols and will be available for selection this week.
Joe McCarthy will step up his rehabilitation this week as he recovers from an ankle injury.
Rónan Kelleher will step up his rehabilitation programme this week as he recovers from a shoulder injury.
Tommy O’Brien will be further assessed this week as he continues to recover from a shoulder injury picked up against Vodacom Bulls.
Robbie Henshaw will be further assessed this week after picking up a minor quad issue at training last week before a final decision is made on availability.
There are no further updates on:
Vakhtang Abdaladze (neck), Ed Byrne (tricep), Rhys Ruddock (hamstring), James Lowe (calf), Johnny Sexton (groin), Jamie Osborne (knee) and Martin Moloney (knee).
MLR UPDATE
My plan to watch a game every week via The Rugby Network has been foiled for the past few rounds by that ol’ thing called “real life” but over the bank holiday weekend I was able to catch the Eastern Conference derby between the New England Free Jacks and the reigning MLR Champions (albeit rebranded) New York.
Before I describe what happened, just to note that I have chosen New England as my adopted team for this season. I actually hail from the Bay Area but since they are yet to be represented I have to go for New England as I also have a good few relatives out there. And luckily, they are doing pretty well this season so for the rest of the 2023 campaign I’ll be focusing on their matches, although they are on a bye week in round 12.
Anyway for this clash they were at home in Veteran’s Memorial Stadium which is in a town called Quincy on the outskirts of Boston. The weather was awful throughout and the main camera angle was cursed with raindrops on the lens pretty much from start to finish.
Overall I enjoyed this match a lot more than I should have given the scoreline – at first it looked like the Free Jacks would romp to a big win as they went straight into the NY 22 from the kickoff and a sweet crossfield kick from outhalf Portroz to Balekana saw them 5-0 up after just 5m.
But from there thanks to a combination of stubborn NY defence, about a gagillion handling errors mostly forced by the conditions, and missed place kicks from Portroz, they really struggled to add to that lead. In fact there was to be only one more score throughout as Portroz did manage one before halftime.
Even though the second half was scoreless the fact that it remained so close kept the interest up, especially when a deliberate knockon by the NE fullback gave the visitors the last ten minutes with an extra man but they just couldn’t manage it and the home side held on right to the final whistle to secure the four points and keep themselves top of the east.
More on the league next week, since my new team has a bye I might look west and focus on the leaders San Diego as they face the Utah Warriors.
ROUND 11
SEA 61-19 DAL
NEFJ 8-0 NYI
NOLA 40-24 TOR
SD 29-16 HOU
ROUND 12
ATL V CHI
DAL V OGDC
UTAH V SD
NYI V NOLA
HARPIN’ PREDICTION LEAGUE
The URC is back for the next couple of weekends with 6 of the remaining 7 matches being played which means the title could be won or lost before the final. As you can see Kino went back ahead in Rd 18 and we certainly can’t rule out Mark Jackson from contention either, will be very interesting to see how the quarterfinals pan out.
THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Next up are the “Cell C Sharks” and I can confidently predict I will screw up saying that out loud at least once in both weekend pods. Keego will help me with the preview on Friday and will actually return for the wrap on Sunday along with Rugby Kino so be sure to subscribe to our pod feed to catch those as well as all our other online accounts where we post pretty much every day.
In the meantime, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
I know we played Toulouse just last season but for our latest TT I thought it best to go back a bit further to 2019 when we met them in the final four having already played them home and away in the pool phase.
That’s not exactly the kind of run we Leinster fans have gotten used to over the years, and coming as it did right after Ireland’s disappointment in Cardiff to round out the Six Nations, we’d be forgiven for having our expectation levels set at ‘apprehensive’ going into this Easter Sunday battle with our fellow four-star bearers.
But if our experience under the Cullen/Lancaster ticket has taught us anything, it’s that they know how to dig deep and find our A game when a big occasion demands it of them. And there was a hint of that in the run I mention above because on the one day the result actually meant something to Leinster’s season, we managed to find a way to win.
But with all due respect to our northern cousins, this semifinal was a step up again. Three of our titles have been won since Toulouse earned their fourth, yet this season they were starting to show that kind of form again, as we saw ourselves back in October, and the entire Top 14 has seen throughout the domestic campaign.
It was pretty clear that if there was even a hint of the lack of accuracy on Sunday that we had shown in recent weeks, we would be punished. And while we have been welcoming a host of our ‘elite’ squad members back to the first team lately, it was essential that they hit the ground running.
What a curious opening spell it was. For the first ten minutes we had only about three phases of possession, while our guests had built series of 6, 8 and 9 – yet thanks to our stringent defence, we came out of it with the scores level at 3-3.
Then came the game’s first major unforced error, when Toulouse’s full back Thomas Ramos put his restart over our end line giving us a scrum at halfway.
We had an earlier put in but it resulted in a free kick which Conan tapped quickly, so after twelve whole minutes we finally found ourselves in an attacking situation, or to put it another way, we had an opportunity to show the rest of Europe just how able we were to put the previous four weeks behind us.
What followed gave everyone the answer and then some. 10 well-thought out phases, with carries accompanied by good clear-outs, gain-lines broken regularly, offloads timed to perfection especially by Cian Healy, and eventually James Lowe, who probably wouldn’t have featured had Jamison Gibson-Park been fit, showed his usual mix of pace, strength and determination to get the ball down.
Now we know for sure which Leinster team has turned up. The only question left that needed answering was could the French outfit raise their game to meet us.
For me, that had already been answered. In that first pool meeting in round 2, they threw the kitchen sink at us and prevailed by just one point. In the return fixture in January, I felt they tried to adjust their game to knock us off our stride and failed badly.
Here I think they may have been guilty yet again of showing us too much respect. To be fair, they were without Zach Holmes and Ntamack was carrying a knock, but for me if an out half is good enough for the bench he should be good enough to start.
Antoine Duponte is a pesky scrum half who can definitely out shine his 10 on occasion and having impressed against Racing in the quarterfinals, there was definitely a case for him to do a job in the playmaker role.
But while we were setting about finding our best game, they appeared to be hell bent on tinkering with theirs, and if you’re going to do that on a stage like this one, you have to be absolutely sure it’s going to work. And it didn’t.
A look at Leinster’s defensive charts might raise an eyebrow as ten of our starters were ‘credited’ with more than one missed tackle. But as often is the case when crunching these numbers, it doesn’t tell the whole story. A high percentage of those missed ones were made up for by tackles made by a team mate.
We were generally hunting in groups of two or three, and often the offloads we would expect from Toulouse weren’t forthcoming. Conan led with 18 tackles, both our starting locks had 16 and perhaps most crucially our centres had 25 between them, with one or two by Ringrose proving particularly key.
So attack after attack was being shut down, even when faced by the ridiculous pace and guile of Kolbe, who after a couple of trademark runs made some inroads, grubbered one along the touchline only to be tidied by Jordan Larmour.
In the ensuing play, we had one of those rare moments on a rugby pitch when you can throw the ball forward to a team-mate and it can legally benefit you. I always thought this was an area that needed tidying up in the laws, but I wasn’t complaining when Larmour ran with the ball from behind his try line before chucking it ahead to James Lowe for him to take the drop out.
Always full of confidence to try something to catch the opposition napping, Lowe dinked a mini drop kick to himself and retained possession for us, and when the ball eventually went through the backs, Robbie Henshaw spotted a gaping hole in the Toulouse backfield and booted a monster kick to find touch on the far side of the pitch.
Yoann Huget retrieved the ball and was clearly keen to get keep the tempo moving so he took a quick throw and found Ramos. Maybe the full back had his overcooked restart on his mind, or maybe he was generally affected by not being trusted with the 10 jersey, but whatever the reason he hesitated and his kick was not only charged down, but pretty much the entire Leinster pack smelled blood in the water and eventually a combination of Fardy, Toner and Ryan wrapped him up in his own 22 to force a scrum.
So to summarise, from a situation where Toulouse’s danger man was running at us at pace in our 22, just moments later we had won an attacking set piece way down the other end of the park. Now we needed to go for the kill and turn this territory into more points.
I’m sure Richie Gray has gone over this moment in his mind several times, even after his 10-minute spell on the naughty step. And I actually think he was making a conscious effort to show Wayne Barnes he had no intention of waving his hand at the ball on the floor of the ruck yet his hand did it anyway. So to make matters even worse for his team, we now had an extra man into the bargain.
And with the iron even hotter than the Dublin Easter sun, we struck. Lineout, maul, over the line, Luke McGrath try. Just like that, we’re up by fourteen in a match I thought for sure would never have a margin of more than seven either way.
But here’s the thing – while this was definitely a day when we brought our A game, that doesn’t mean we always showed it. A lineout would go awry here, a carrier would get himself isolated there, and immediately after our second try Devin Toner struggled with the sun in his eyes and knocked on the restart. Time for Toulouse to have the prime attacking position.
And the repetition was to continue when a Leinster hand got in the way of a Toulouse attacking move. While pounding our try line with carry after carry, a pass to their prop Faumuina was swatted at by Robbie Henshaw and Barnes rightly flashed his yellow once more.
Was that a penalty try? There was certainly a case for it. Had the prop taken the ball his run would have gotten him over the line. That said, had he taken the ball then Scott Fardy and Johnny Sexton were in position to get under him. Call me biased if you want but I’m not sure that was a certain try.
But whatever about that debate, there was definitely a big game error from the French outfit when they sent the kicking tee onto the pitch before properly taking in the situation.
Had they considered that it was now 14 v 14 surely a kick to the corner was the way to go, yet they had to make do with just the three points, and despite the clock reaching 46 before the halftime whistle blew (thanks to a James Lowe try that was rightly disallowed for a block by Conan), there was to be no further score in the half.
Notice how long it took me to mention the name of Sexton? And even then it was in a defensive context? That might seem odd seeing how he was named man of the match, but that doesn’t mean I think he was unworthy. It was one of his more understated performances all round, but it was still one that was in stark contrast to the distinctly-less-than-assured outing by his opposite number.
This put the French coaches into one of those halftime quandries…do we leave things as they are and hope they work out or do we make a switch and admit we were wrong? Well they went for the former and the decision got exactly what it deserved when Duponte threw a pass straight into touch on 48m. Whatever out half prowess he had displayed before, he just couldn’t find it on this day.
And from there, Leinster’s ability to work their way to a crucial score kicked in once more. From the lineout following the Duponte error we stretched their defence through 6 phases before Sexton slipped through an immaculate grubber that sat up perfectly in the 22 forcing Kolbe to play it.
Now on an average day, even deep in his own corner, you wouldn’t bet against the Springbok dancing his way down to the other end of the pitch in a matter of seconds, but further proof the writing was on the wall for Toulouse came when that man Ramos mucked things up again by colliding with his team mate and forcing him into touch – suddenly it’s a lineout to Leinster within sight of the try line.
A penalty advantage and a bunch of phases later, this time it was Scott Fardy crashing over, and with nerves of steel his captain Sexton slotted over the crucial extras meaning the visitors now needed three scores to catch up with us.
NOW they make the switch, bringing on Ntamack and moving Duponte back to 9. Gate locked, horse bolted?
Well they did manage to switch on their famed offloading game and it was having an effect, with series of 13 then 11 phases getting them deep into our 22 before Médard, another who surely could/should have started, dinked one over our defensive line only for Garry Ringrose to make a last gasp lunge for the ball and force a simultaneous touch down.
All they could take from the visit was another three points and such was the order of the day. Sexton added another penalty minutes later to restore the lead and was immediately replaced by Ross Byrne, who got his own name on the score sheet with a penalty with minutes to go.
The final fifteen minutes were way more comfortable than anyone could have imagined going into the match. Ironically the last touch of the game went to young Hugh O’Sullivan, on for Luke McGrath in the closing stages, and possibly thanks to the form of James Lowe, set to take part in a European final in a few weeks.
So after a run of disappointing results, Leinster certainly found a way to produce the goods when it mattered. But despite the impressive display, it was clear at times that we had another level to reach for as well, and with Saracens awaiting for us in Newcastle, we will have to find it.
Thankfully we don’t have any season-defining rugby in the meantime – our trip to Belfast next weekend won’t affect either side while our guaranteed first place finish sees us idle the following week.
Meanwhile, Saracens will have two tough Premiership battles against teams with playoff intentions; first they return to the scene of their European semifinal triumph to face Wasps, then they get a chance to make up ground on league leaders Exeter.
I guess you could make arguments both ways on which is the better way to prepare for a major final but this I know – Leinster have proven time and time again that they can shift into the required gear regardless of what has gone before.
There will be no assumptions made by fans ahead of kickoff in Newcastle, but there will most certainly be an abundance of belief. Bring it on. JLP
Welcome to my 80+ column, a weekly post featuring final thoughts from the week of rugby just gone.
WRAP OF A WRAP
For this week’s wrap pod I was honoured to be joined by the Westmeath/Meath coaching combo of Mark Jackson & Tom Coleman and they did their usual excellent job of analysing what went on at the Aviva on Friday. They actually kind of apologised when we finished recording for harpin’ on for longer than usual but the thing about that is all that does is provide me with extra content so I’m not exactly compaining! As you can see below I managed a second bonus clip out of it.
If you missed the pod, check it out here or on most major platforms.
HARPIN ON…JIMMY O’BRIEN & LEINSTER’S SUCCESS
Like I said the lads gave me enough material for two bonus clips. The one we planned for was about Jimmy O’Brien – for the second week in a row I disagreed with the Star of the Match selection, not that Ringer played badly of course and scoring the first two tries was always going to put him up there, it’s just I felt JOB had so much opportunity to show off why he has not only cemented himself in Leinster’s European lineup but has even broken into Andy Farrell’s top tier as well.
Also for our Front Five segment at the start of the show I chose two articles which I felt covered areas usually left out of the discussion over the supposed “unfairness” regarding Leinster’s success – the first one actually turns the spotlight back on the other Irish provinces and their internal issues, while the second tries to appreciate the actual hard work put in across the 12 counties (which, I should probably point out, does not mean it’s ALL down to our hard work).
If you’re playing the clips above maybe pop over and subscribe to the channel too? That’s where we post our Preview Show as well as other content throughout the week.
DEFENCE MANIPULATION &HIGH BALL CATCHING TIK TOKS
I was also able to produce two TikToks for the pod – the first might get taken down at some point as I used footage from the match but I wanted to highlight the amazing work done under the high ball. I actually planned to just do the Leinster catches but there were so many by the Tigers as well I had to do the lot, eleven altogether.
Lots to savour there but for me one thing I havent seen mentioned much is how Stormers, Ulster & Leicester have tested Leinster under the high ball in last three matches and we have coped extremely well. Lots of fine catches made look easy, crucial. #LEINvLEIC
For the second TikTok I went our more traditional route by picking a quote from the pod and the second I heard Tom say “if you freeze it there…” I knew this was going to be my clip this was a perfect explanation of how Leinster were finding gaps in the second half.
Every week I have to react to more whinging and moaning about perceived advantages enjoyed by Leinster & Ireland, and this time I thought an extra YouTube clip from the pod would cover it for this column, yet in between producing that and writing this there has been yet more of it.
Now it’s over the possibility that all of Leinster’s knockout matches could well be in the Aviva Stadium. Is that an advantage for us? Well of course it is. But the way it’s being presented in the Birdhouse is making it look like the organisers of the Champions Cup went out of their way to make it so and that is simply not the case.
Many seem to be selectively ignoring these facts…
* Leinster earned home adv in L16 & QF AND SF from pool stage, and the pool stage draw itself was earned from reaching the final four of last season’s URC.
* Semifinal venues meant to be “neutral” yes, but to stage an event you know you can get a crowd of 50k+ anywhere smaller would be madness, especially if anyone is actually suggesting taking it off the island of Ireland. Leinster’s only viable options are the Aviva & Croke Park, with the latter kind of tied up with other sports besides it’s also in Dublin anyway.
* The Final venue changes every year, and rarely has it been in Ireland.
I suppose the question I have to ask myself is…would I be complaining if this were happening with another country? I do know we spent a lot of time talking about how referees seemed to show favouritism towards the All Blacks when they were conquering all before them? Is this what it looks like from the other side and if so, which side is actually right?
Maybe it’s a bit of both, but one thing is for sure, the endless griping after every win does get really boring.
So many different ways to push back on all the selective narratives over Leinster's success, yet no matter how much we try to discuss the full issue, it seems every win will continue to be followed by more tweets, more articles and more tweets about articles. pic.twitter.com/XrOdctacmR
For all my talk of whining after another Leinster win last Friday, to be fair I have to share this DM I got from Mike Cooper who hosts the great Leicester Tigers pod Rolling Maul. This is how you respond to a defeat in my book.
Just to say mate, what a privilege it was to see your boys execute in the second half. I was so proud of our chaps in the first 40, I felt we negated your power and carrying game (your ‘plan A’) – hopefully you were impressed by George Martin and Tommy Reffell! – but in the second 40, the switch of style to exploit our weakness out-wide was – on a second (painful) watch – breathtaking. The constant isolation of Potter (poor bastard, not the game to play your 4th pro game at 13!) was honestly the best accuracy and clarity I’ve seen at club level. Cullen/Lancaster, whoever pulled that trigger at half time, it is so, so impressive. I will still say some pundits (including your guest in the preview!) were not fair on where Leicester could trouble Leinster (and I thought that showed in the first half), but ultimately the quality and cohesion of your lads shone through in a big way. A privilege to watch Ringrose, too. Best of luck for the rest of the tourny – one of the best club sides I’ve ever seen!! Happy for you to throw this into your pod as “opposition feedback!”.
AI = AIRLINE IRRITATION
SA teams have travelled more, played away more and had odds stacked against them. Toulouse have yet to fly to SA Lyon, Bordeaux, Clermont, Racing 92 and Stade Francais all lost in SA. Easy when everything is in your favour.
Have to say I expected more from the Sharks and Stormers last weekend in Europe, especially the latter. Again there has been griping about the amount of travel they’ve had to do over the course of the season, and I guess that’s fair despite the similar distances in Super Rugby because our calendar is a lot more punishing in that regard.
That said, if we’re going to talk about perceived advantages in Europe when it comes to the South African teams, it’s worth pointing out something I have flagged here since it was announced they were joining the HCC – between the pool phase and the knockouts the European clubs all had to pray that their top players survived the Six Nations while the South Africans had no such test involvement.
Overall the answer to most of these cries of injustice is that rugby union is and always will be perfectly imperfect and trying to level the playing field in one area will generally make it more crooked in another.
AI = ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Since I’m on an AI theme for some of my headings in this column, I thought I’d share this experiment I did on Sunday morning when I downloading a ChatGPT app – I asked it to come up with a 500-word report on Leinster’s win over the Tigers and I didn’t give it the final score. As you can see, while it did have the scoreline right a lot of the details in the report were a tad wide of the mark, with a few retired and injured players put in the lineup plus the misconception that it was a pool game. But this definitely sounds like a match I would have like to have seen anyway!!!
“Leinster secured their place in the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup with a resounding 55-24 win over Leicester Tigers at the RDS Arena in Dublin on Saturday. The Irish team ran in eight tries to Leicester’s three to extend their lead at the top of Pool Five.
Leinster took the lead in the 12th minute through winger James Lowe, who collected a cross-field kick from fly-half Johnny Sexton and touched down in the corner. Sexton missed the conversion but made amends five minutes later with a penalty to extend Leinster’s lead to eight points.
Leicester responded with a try of their own in the 21st minute, with winger Kobus van Wyk finishing off a flowing move from the Tigers. But Leinster hit back almost immediately with a try from prop Tadhg Furlong, who powered over the line from close range.
The home side continued to dominate and added two more tries before half-time, with Jamie Heaslip and Garry Ringrose both crossing the whitewash. Sexton converted both tries to give Leinster a commanding 27-7 lead at the break.
The second half was a more even affair, with Leicester scoring two tries through Dan Cole and Jonny May. But Leinster had too much firepower and responded with tries from Ringrose, Jack Conan and a brace from replacement hooker Sean Cronin.
Leinster’s performance was impressive, with their attacking play causing Leicester all sorts of problems. Sexton was outstanding, controlling the game with his kicking and passing, while Lowe and Ringrose were a constant threat on the wings.
Leicester, on the other hand, were disappointing, with their defence leaking too many tries. They did show some attacking intent, but were unable to match Leinster’s intensity and skill.
The win means that Leinster are guaranteed a place in the knockout stages of the Champions Cup, with a home quarter-final looking increasingly likely. They will be considered one of the favorites to lift the trophy, given their dominant performances in the competition so far.
Leicester, on the other hand, have little chance of progressing to the quarter-finals, with only a slim chance of qualifying as one of the best runners-up. They will be looking to bounce back in domestic competitions, with the aim of qualifying for next year’s Champions Cup.
Overall, it was a thoroughly entertaining game of rugby, with Leinster’s class shining through. They will look to take this momentum into their remaining Champions Cup games, as they aim to lift the trophy for the fifth time in their history.”
“KILLING THE GAME” TWEET
I don’t always agree with Tim’s Twitter takes but I’m right there with him here…one of the best responses to the “killing the game” nonsense I have seen. PEOPLE HAVE DIED FROM HEAD INJURIES SUSTAINED IN RUGBY. Many others have experienced life-altering repercussions. Why oh why oh why are we allowing this debate to continue in such a way as to give so much oxygen to those who’s only inconvenience is to sit in their armchairs a bit longer while the officials review a call. The real debate is happening among people who actually want to save the game, not kill it.
Apparently, protecting players by punishing headshots – ie enforcing what have always been the laws of rugby because a shoulder to the head has always been foul play – is “actually killing rugby”.
And you know what? Good. Any idea of rugby accepting headshots needs to be killed. https://t.co/dMIqFGA76R
Obviously the worries from Friday mostly surround Ryan Baird and James Lowe, although following the Leinster report I’ve heard rumblings that Baird’s injury may not be as bad as first thought. As for Lowe, well if he misses knockouts because of a skip of delight following a try then I’ll challenge anyone who tries to say we’re getting all the luck!
At time of writing the squad hasn’t been announced for Leinster’s South African trek although I see Jason Jenkins was put front and centre for a presser so I’m thinking he might be one of the top tier players travelling, along with Luke McGrath and possibly Jordan Larmour.
UPDATE : Leinster have since announced the touring squad and with the likes of Larmour, Frawley and McGrath left behind so below is a revised possible 23…
POSSIBLE 23 V LIONS
Cosgrove, Russell, T O’Brien, Turner, Kearney, Tector, McCarthy
E Byrne, Barron, Ala’alatoa, Deeny, Jenkins, Ruddock, Connors, Deegan
McElroy, Milne, Clarkson, Soroka, Culhane, Murphy/Gunne, Prendergast, King
(note – the above team is purely from my imagination, it’s certainly not one of those quasi-leaked Thornley teams which are always 22 out of 23 correct)
INJURY UPDATE – AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
Caelan Doris: came through the game at the weekend with no issues after his return from the Graduated Return to Play Protocols
Garry Ringrose: came through the game at the weekend with no issues after his return from the Graduated Return to Play Protocols
INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:
N/A
INJURY UPDATE – UNAVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
Ryan Baird: injured his shoulder in the first half against Leicester Tigers and will be unavailable for a few weeks
James Lowe: injured his calf in the second half against Leicester Tigers and will be further assessed this week
There are no further updates on:
Josh van der Flier (ankle), Johnny Sexton (groin), Jamie Osborne (knee), Rónan Kelleher (shoulder), Joe McCarthy (ankle), Cormac Foley (hamstring), Martin Moloney (knee) and Charlie Ngatai (hamstring)
AI = ALL-IRELAND (LEAGUE UPDATE)
The good news for AIL fans is that all five matches in the final round robin stage have playoff/relegation implications. Even though the top four sides are decided the actual rankings and home advantages are still up for grabs. Tarf aren’t quite mathematically sure of 1st place yet although I reckon Terenure are a bit more concerned with overcoming relegation-playoff–threatened Shannon in case they get caught by Cork Con who travel to play the Cookies. And should Shannon cause an upset at Lakelands, the two Dublin universities will need wins although UCD have a tad more difficult task at Castle Avenue as Trinity host the bottom side Garryowen. Should be an interesting couple of hours from 2:30 on Saturday for sure.
Meanwhile in 1B there’s a three way race to qualify for the promotion playoff between Belvo, who have a tricky Dublin derby at Mary’s, Highfield who face Banbridge down the bottom of the table, and Buccaneers who host the newly crowned champions City of Armagh.
DIVISION 1A
ROUND 18
Ballynahinch v Lansdowne
Clontarf v UCD
Dublin University v Garryowen
Terenure College v Shannon
Young Munster v Cork Con
DIVISION 1B
ROUND 18
Banbridge v Highfield
Buccaneers v City of Armagh
Naas v Old Wesley
St Mary’s v Old Belvedere
UCC v Malone
SEVENS UPDATE
The Irish men’s side really had a Sevens stinker in Singapore for sure, losing five on the bounce finishing a dead last 16th to pick up just one point in the series. That knocks us out of the top eight and we’ll need a decent showing in the final two rounds to claw our way back up. We have definitely stumbled since our silver medal early in the season. The circuit resumes in May with men’s and women’s events in Toulouse before the final men’s one in London.
MLR UPDATE
For the past few weeks I’ve been featuring an MLR game for this column but with Easter and school midterm and all I just don’t have the time for this round. Stand out result from Round 8 was definitely the San Diego Legion toppling previously unbeaten Seattle making the Western Conference table look pretty interesting.
One thing I have yet to do for this feature is select a team to follow. Coming from the Bay Area of California as I do, there’s no natural choice although I do have quite a few relatives in New England as well so the Free Jacks seem the obvious alternative so maybe I’ll go for them, we’ll see.
More on the league next week.
ROUND 8
HOU 24-30 UTAH
SEA 20-23 SD
ATL 35-27 OGDC
TOR V NYI
NEFJ 31-19 CHI
ROUND 9
TOR V NEFJ
NOLA V ATL
HOU V DAL
UTAH V SEA
OGDC V NYI
SD V CHI
HARPIN’ PREDICTION LEAGUE
I know you’re all dying to be reminded of how the HPL stands going into the next round of the URC…there are only 23 more matches left for us to forecast and as you can see below, while the Jersey of Shame has long been decided, the top spot is very much up for grabs with up to four still in with a reasonable shout.
THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
It’s back to the URC for us and we will of course be giving Saturday’s match in Jo’burg the full Harpin’ treatment with a preview before, a wrap pod after and all the usual features in between. In the meantime, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 
