Category: Articles

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

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WRAP OF A WRAP

Hard to believe this week’s wrap pod is the 19th under the new format, and it was good to have Ciarán Duffy back on along of course with Mark Jackson to talk about St Stephen’s Night’s victory down in Thomond Park.

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

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HARPIN’ OFF… 

With the week that’s in it I’m leaving out a few of the website’s regular features, including YouTube & TikTok clips from the wrap pod.  Back to “normal” next week all going well.

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PENNY FOR MY THOUGHTS ON POTM

I hope it’s obvious that when I disagree with a Player of the Match selection it doesn’t mean I have anything against the winner of the award.  Scott Penny got the gong from the TG4 commentary team at Thomond Park while I felt it should have gone to Dan Sheehan.  It’s a simple point and since I write this column every week I might as well bring it up but I certainly don’t do it to put anyone down.

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I CAN’T COUNT

Maybe one of the reasons I don’t want to produce too much extra content from the wrap pod is that I made a major howler in the recording that I’d rather forget!  Although I will offer full disclosure here as it involves an issue I’m interested in… 

As I watched the game live, let’s just say, I had been enjoying “the Christmas spirit” a bit too much which, let’s also just say, “clouded my judgement” a tad.  One thing I misjudged was the amount of tries Leinster had scored, and in that final sequence as we were attacking the Munster line I was really hoping we’d go for it because I thought it would give us a fourth try and a BP.

Then my thoughts went on to the BP system itself, and how we’ve been saying on the pod this season that the “4 try” method used in URC, Prem, 6N & RWC isn’t as fair as the “3 tries more” one used in Super Rugby & the 🔝🐱🐴.  This led me to form the “harpin’ point” that if we had gotten the try it would actually prove the 4-try way needs to be scrapped as it wouldn’t have been right that this particular match could possibly end in a 5-0 split of match points to the visitors.

Now that’s all well & good when I had a few beers on me (ok, maybe more than a few) but somehow my brain held on to the harpin’ point for 24 hours and I brought it up on the pod only for Mark to rightly explain that we had in fact only scored the two tries so the point was as moot as moot could be.

So as you can imagine that clip didn’t survive the editing process, however I still think the bonus point system needs to switch to the “3-tries” method.

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ASSHOLES ARE ASSHOLES 

I am so, so, sick of this sequence and would love for it to be broken.  Sadly it usually comes to my attention most whenever Leinster play Munster 

1. Thing happens in rugby match
2. A few people claiming to be “fans” of one team get abusive on social media towards fans of the other
3. A few of those fans on the receiving end then expose the abuse, making it look like this is what fans of that team are like
4. A long exchange ensues which many blame entirely on “rugby twitter”

To be absolutely clear, the 2nd stage of the sequence is the worst by far.  Obviously.  All forms of insults, abuse and bullying are wrong wherever they are found and need to be called out.

But someone also needs to push back on stages 3 and 4.

No, this is NOT what fans of that team are like in general.

No, this is NOT what fans of rugby are like in general.

And no, this is NOT even what Twitter itself is like in general.

IMO people who are capable of this behaviour don’t need to follow any particular team, follow any particular sport, or even use one or another particular platform.

When it comes to these exchanges, we need to make sure 100% of the negative attention goes on these instigators, yet when we respond by tying them to decent people who follow the same team, or same sport, or use the same platform, I reckon we siphon off some of that negativity for ourselves.

Call out the assholes as assholes by all means.  But we must also be sure to separate them from the decent people who just want to have a conversation.  And most of all, mute/block them.  It may be a vicious cycle the way things are now, but I believe it is one we have the power to stop.  

It might be a worn out cliché by this stage, but “haters gonna hate” is as true as it is concise.  

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JOE MARLER

Speaking of assholes, Joe Marler.  

And actually he seems to be getting positive attention on social media because he apologised for what he is reported to have said to Jake Heenan on the rugby pitch.

Eh, no.  He’s got form.  He’s certainly no hero for apologising, that is the bare minimum of what he should have done.  Maybe, just maybe if he can go a whole calendar year without it happening again we can celebrate that, but in my book he has ruled himself out of any praise until then at the very very least.

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RULE CHANGES

This week’s column has already gone longer than I intended, with this point being the only one I originally intended to harp on.

Obviously I want to see rugby take measures to speed things up, yet I still feel somebody needs to push back a little against this introduction of rule changes, because I definitely have concerns.

First of all, while I know the rugby calendar is different all over the world, to make significant changes right smack in the middle of the European season goes against pretty much everything I believe is fair for a sporting competition.  I shouldn’t have to spell out reasons for why a tournament shouldn’t change its rules halfway through.

Plus there’s the added factor that we’re making changes just before a World Cup.  Maybe, just maybe I have too much “skin in the game” on this point being a Leinster & Ireland fan because Johnny Sexton does have a reputation for taking time on his placekicks, but since he’s such a high profile player, to bring the change halfway through a club season as well as three-quarters of the way through a RWC cycle would seem to affect him more than others.

But my biggest reason for pushing back on these changes has to do with player safety.  

Yes, we want to avoid time wasting in the game where possible and this will definitely help keep the “casual fans” interested, but I have to ask, just how much of a problem is this REALLY?  Is it possible we might be over-reacting a bit when it comes to stoppages?

The actual playing time of a rugby match is one hour and 20 minutes.  Factor in fifteen for halftime and you’d really hope the final whistle will blow well short of the two-hour mark after kickoff time.  And that’s what we should be aiming for.  

For example, Leinster’s recent Heineken Champions Cup match against Gloucester at the RDS kicked off at the later than usual time of 8pm of a Friday night.  That meant I was always going to be anxious getting my bus home as it can often take a while leaving the ground given the press box is right at the back of the Grandstand so I have to wait until the bulk of the supporters leave before I can.

Yet I not only made it to my bus stop to catch it at 10:15, I actually waited seven minutes before it came.  Maybe the one-sided nature of the scoreline helped but I still didn’t stand up to leave until the final whistle blew.  And for me personally, that’s fine.  I really don’t know how many tweaks and changes to the Laws we’d have to make that would actually be worthwhile getting me out of there any sooner.

On the subject of water breaks, they don’t bug me as much as they do most other viewers although one concern I would have about them is that I fear they are being brought in to facilitate matches being played in places like Dubai & Qatar in future, and there have been rumblings in the press recently that this does look like happening.

Which brings me back to player safety.  For me, this is a much bigger issue we need to address, and there are areas when it comes into direct conflict with the time-saving.  Whether we like to admit it or not, tackle technique is still a major grey area in our beautiful sport and it’s one we have to keep working at.

And unfortunately some of this “work” involves teams of officials making sure they get their calls right especially in the high profile matches as their exposure will hopefully trickle down to all levels through the sport.

So as I have said before on these pages and I won’t tire saying it again in the future, when it comes to TMO calls the last thing the officials need is added pressure from the viewing public simply because we’re worried about a few extra seconds being somehow taken from us.

Like I say, if matches start lasting two hours or more then we know things are going wrong, but we should also appreciate that efforts need to be made to help ensure that actual careers last as long as they possibly can.

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INJURY REPORT

Good news, there were no new names added to the list and it’s great to see Messrs Furlong & Connors close to being available.

The final group still contains many concerns however.  I don’t like suggesting some injuries are worse than others but Henshaw is a name Leinster & Ireland would want to see moving up the list sooner rather than later and for the province it doesn’t look good to see Jenkins there either. 

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THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

The 22 portion of the 22/23 is done for Leinster and we kick off the 23 at the RDS with Connacht the visitors.  We’ll have the preview on Friday and the wrap will record on Monday.  In the meantime, have a happy and safe New Year and 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.  

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WRAP OF A WRAP

All due respect to the Glasgow Warriors, but let’s just say Leinster’s win last Saturday is not one that will go down in the memory. Or at least not one that will inspire the province to bring out the available players who took part at half time in a match 10 years down the road, like Leinster did with the 2011/12 HCup winning teams!

Despite the comparative lack of importance, I still think the lads did a really good job describing the action in our Sunday pod, each of them providing their own expertise with Keego bringing the witty references and Mark the coaching expertise, just goes to show what a wide variety of Leinster fans are out there and while I have said it before I’m happy to say again that I’m lucky to have such an awesome set of contributors.

I also consider myself lucky to be able to go to these matches at the RDS since no matter what the overall importance of the occasion I never fail to enjoy being there on matchday.

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A post shared by Jeff Pagano (@harpinonrugby)

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HARPIN’ ON LEINSTER’S DEFENCE V GLASGOW

Our extra chat this week was on Leinster’s defence, we have harped on it before but as we continue to remain this consistent without the ball no matter what the lineup, I’ll feel like bringing it up again and again on these pages until the standards start to slip. And as I bring up the near perfection I see week in week out, it’s always good to have fellow fans to bring me at least a little bit back down to earth as you can see in the clip below.

Mark’s point that Glasgow didn’t really challenge us and Keego’s that we need to be wary of relying too much on it are both well made, in fact that all comes into play in last season’s Champions Cup final. We not only found out that keeping the opposition’s score down isn’t worth much if you can’t find the tries yourself, but also if anything our defending was TOO perfect in those closing minutes – ironically if we had let La Rochelle score much earlier in their late seige we would have at least had time left to respond! Anyway, here’s the chat…have a listen for yourself and maybe subscribe to the channel too if the mood takes you…

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DODDIE WEIR

A Lions Tour, 61 caps for Scotland where he scored 19 points from four tries (one under the old money of four points) and starring for both Newcastle Falcons and Border Reivers as the sport was just turning professional is a brief summary of Doddie Weir’s achievements on the pitch, but it’s what happened after his retirement for which he will be most remembered. Of course I don’t just mean the tragic ailment of MND but of course the lengths to which he went to help raise awareness through the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation. Here’s the opening couple of paragraphs from their post from Monday, click here for the full article and by all means feel free to contribute if you can.

Instantly recognised as an outstanding rugby player, Doddie was diagnosed with MND just two days before Christmas in 2016, eventually going public with the news the following summer on what was Motor Neuron Disease Awareness Day.

Since making his condition known, Doddie has championed the campaign for more to be done for sufferers of the disease, both in terms of finding a possible cure, and with the treatment and welfare of patients and their carers.

My Name’5 Doddie Foundation

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@IRISHWOMENS

We have interviewed the owner of the @IrishWomens account a few times for the pod, but understandably they wish to remain anonymous as their aim is to further the cause of the women’s game throughout the four provinces. We’re very sorry, if not entirely surprised, to learn that they have received a good bit of abuse on social media, especially recently and I hope my readers would join me in offering them and indeed anyone encountering such treatment online our full support.

I was glad to see this particular situation was resolved and I hope it doesn’t happen again although unfortunately I fear there are more bad faith actors than this one so we need to look out for each other and call it out when we see it.

Meanwhile those of us with a genuine interest in full inclusivity in the sport can go on having our rational adult discussions.

I'm relieved to see the defamatory tweet in question has finally been removed.

A difference of opinion is fine. Doxxing, defamation & bullying isn't. I hope now that the person in question can move on.

Women's rugby & it's best interests can continue to be the focus. https://t.co/leZPe2gjWG

— IrishWomensRugbySupportersClub (@IrishWomens) November 28, 2022

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TMO ANGLES

Rob Russell’s 1st try for Leinster on Saturday, coming as it did after an out-of-this-world offload by Charlie Ngatai, reminded me of technology I have seen in rugby league which could really be used in union.

Thankfully for the boys in blue the try I mention above was clear cut after a couple of looks on the replay, but often in tries in the corner it is difficult to see whether the grounding was made before or after a trailing foot drags into touch. Or at least it’s difficult when you only see one angle at a time.

I have to admit I don’t watch a whole lot of rugby league but I am pretty sure I have seen a feature used where your can watch four different angles at once played simultaneously so everyone can see exactly what they need to see to make a decision. Baffles me how something as helpful as that can’t be brought into Union. We often complain about TMOs for wasting time but sometimes maybe they can be improved.

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SEVENS ARE BACK

Unfortunately for all I have said on these pages about football being played in Qatar, Dubai isn’t a whole lot better when it comes to human rights and after the final RWC2023 qualifiers taking place there over the past few weeks, it’s now time for the Sevens circuit to pass through with both Ireland’s Women’s and Men’s teams taking part.

Both squads will be looking to improve on their respective 7th place finishes in Hong Kong in the first round, and the action is all being streamed on the World Rugby website from 5am (Irish time) on Friday.

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INJURY REPORTS

Delighted to see Messrs Larmour & Lowe continuing to move up the list and it would be great to see one or both of them involved against Ulster at the weekend. The news is not so great for Robbie Henshaw however and I doubt we’ll see him before the start of the 2023 Six Nations. That also means of course it would be extra beneficial for Leinster if Charlie Ngatai’s injury isn’t as bad as it looked when he was removed at halftime last Saturday, especially as he was playing so well.

AIL UPDATE

The Women’s AIL plays to a finish before Christmas with teams vying for a place in the final which will be screened live on TG4 on Dec 9. This weekend sees the semifinals with 1st seed Rock hosting UL Bohs in one while the other is a Dublin derby between Railway Union and Belvo.

Meanwhile in the men’s version they are at round 7 of 18 with Terenure continuing their perfectly perfect start with 35 points out of 35 although Clontarf did stay close enough to them in the round’s biggest clash for a losing bonus. The Nure have another 1st v 2nd clash in the next round when they host Trinity at Lakelands.

It was a good weekend for most of the Munster clubs in Div 1A with Shannon and Young Munster both defeating Dublin opposition while Cork Con stayed in touch at the top thanks in part to the ridiculously long penalty by George Coomber you see in the clip below.

Women’s AIL

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Men’s AIL

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There are long-range penalties, really long-range penalties and then there's *this* from @CorkConRugbyFC's George Coomber who landed this penalty from the car park against @HinchRFC in the #EnergiaAIL this weekend.

🥾➡️➡️➡️➡️🏉➡️➡️➡️➡️🎯 pic.twitter.com/m8BPiMP2sT

— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) November 27, 2022

HARPIN’ PREDICTION LEAGUE

The return of the URC also means the return of the Harpin’ Prediction League and the good news for me this week is that I made up a lot of ground on Kino who was getting a little too comfortable at the top. However the bad news for me was that I’d be an extra point closer if only I had remembered to get my prediction for Stormers and Scarlets in on time!!! Still though, at least the Ospreys came through for me this weekend, while the URC’s 2 upset results, namely Benetton beating Embra and Cardiff’s shock whitewash of the Sharks, not being forecast by any of us. Down at the bottom of the table as you can see, it’s not looking good for Keego who may have to don The Jersey Of Shame at season’s end.

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THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Ulster up next at the RDS so we’ll have Ian Frizzell back on the pod to offer an opposition view on Wednesday, Keego will be helping me with the preview and then for the wrap on Saturday it will be Conor Cronin and Tom Coleman on duty. Also we’ll have all the usual features including the return of Eurowatch with some TikTok videos showing how Leinster’s Champions Cup opponents are getting on in their domestic competitions.

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

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

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A WRAP OF A WRAP

With all due respect to Fiji, matches against them and others like Georgia are meant to be the “off” weekend in November but to us rugby nerds in particular they can be just as fascinating as the marquee matches.

Maybe last Saturday’s match wasn’t the best example of this but still on the Sunday pod (can’t believe it’s already the 3th under the new format) I was joined by Rich Mifsud and Caolán Scully to look back over the match as well as a few other bits and pieces from the rugby world, and between us I reckon we did a decent job making some points out of it, why not check it out yourself by clicking this link.

On the pod we follow a rigid enough structure to keep the whole recording under the hour so normally only one of us will get to harp on a particular topic before we move on, but my guests are encouraged to jump in if they want to prolong a conversation because even if it’s cut from the pod I can always release it separately and as you can see below there was one subject in particular we wanted to go into bit more detail on.

Hey, if he can make videos when something pisses him off why can’t we?

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MARTIN SCOR-RASSIE

So below you can see the chat we had on the pod surrounding Rassie, and here is a comment I got on our YouTube channel, along with my reply.

Albert Van den berg OK. Help me. The things that he shows on video, that is true. What will you do when it’s your team. And world rugby don’t do anything? What’s the use to play rugby. And the ref does not blow right. Please help me understand.

Harpin’ On Rugby Happy to help.

1) a few selected clips do not reflect the overall context of a rugby match. Does it confirm the same incident didn’t happen the other way?

2) You and I should of course be free to post all the videos we want on social media, that’s what it’s for. But a DoR of a top tier nations who has already been banned for the same thing? Absolutely not. There are mechanisms in place for him to make his concerns known and he should stick to them.

3) Rassie (who I admire as a coach, earned all of his success to date) knows all of the above yet still persists in dealing with what can only be called “referee coercion”.

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WORLD POTY

You don’t need me to tell you that I’m a big fan of both Messrs Sexton & van der Flier but even I have to admit I was surprised to see both in the four-man shortlist for World Player of the Year, and naturally there was a flurry of tweets suggesting those who were left out. Some referred to the national imbalance (France had a more successful year) while others put forward individual names they thought were missing.

Now I’m not suggesting this solution would prevent the whinging, because nothing will ever do that, but I do think it’s possible to maybe make that list a little longer.

Whatever about the fans’ opinion, going by the official graphic only the Irish lads are happy about being nominated…

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BUNDEE’S BACK

I love Bundee Aki as a player and I do think he should play a part in Ireland’s RWC preparations, so I do get why he’s in the frame for selection this weekend against the Wallabies, plus we’re down a couple of leading centers to injury, but still…given the recent ban was not his first I don’t think it would have been the worst idea to leave him out of the Irish squad for November.

Watch him get the winning try on Saturday after me saying that.

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CHIN UP MATE

Lot of talk about bad sportsmanship in rugby this week so how about a view of the other side…right after Ben Donaldson (on his test debut) missed the crucial kick at the end of #ITAvAUS not only did his team mates not hesitate to go console him but so did Italian 10 Tomasso Allan who chose to take the time to do likewise before celebrating. Awesome to see.

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ANGRY BIRDS

I recently saw someone describe Twitter as a “cess pit”, ironically in a tweet.

That narrative really, really bugs me because from my experience Twitter has enhanced my experience of rugby by a factor of infinity. Yes, there are those who either have no idea where “the line” is or worse, know full well and happily leap over it, but that’s what the mute, block and report buttons are for. Those muppets are far outnumbered by decent people who know how to have a conversation with dignity and this should never be forgotten.

And yes, I know Elon is there doing whatever it is that he’s doing so the censoring may not always work, but it should never prevent us from keeping the discussion going. A recent exchange on twitter involving someone I have a lot of respect for (without always agreeing, that’s how it’s supposed to work) was particularly annoying.

Not going to share the tweets aimed at @andymcgeady recently but I do want to say that I stand with him. Whether those who hurl abuse have personal issues or are just bad faith actors, we should still call them out and ensure that they do not define the community.

— Harpin' On Rugby (@HarpinOnRugby) November 15, 2022

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TRANSGENDER AWARENESS WEEK

It’s Transgender Awareness Week from Nov 13-19, click here for more information. I have harped on the trans rugby issue before in this column so all I’ll do is repost it below.

You may recall over the summer there was a pretty intense discussion over transgender participation in rugby. My position was, well, let’s just say, complicated, and I struggled to explain it the way I wanted to in the ruggersphere.

What I was trying to say was that as much as we want to leave politics out of sport, in areas like this we have to acknowledge the wider topic because it can often lead to abuse from verbal all the way to physical.

Essentially the argument of needing an outright ban simply because we’re imagining a grown man posing as a woman just to play rugby and the dangers that entails falls way short of the conversation that needs to be had on the matter.

Thankfully John Oliver did a decent job laying out the wider issue IMO so here’s his recent (NSFW) piece on it…

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INJURY REPORTS

With the URC returning the weekend after next we got two injury reports and unfortunately there was not a lot of good news, especially for Ciarán Frawley who just can’t string a run of games together at all.

There’s also a lot of concern over the “no further updates” list, that’s usually where my eyes go first.

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AIL UPDATE

The Women’s AIL is nearing its conclusion with just one more round of matches before the top four go into the semifinals. Rock ensured they will be at home with their 19-17 top of the table win at Railway Union ensures both clubs will be at home in the playoffs, with Belvo having already clinched their place. The fourth and final spot is up for grabs this weekend and two of the teams in contention UL Bohs and Galwaegians play each other while Wicklow have a tougher task against RU.

One extra thing about Wicklow RFC, it’s quite something to see them in contention for the final four this season after receiving much ridicule from some quarters (and not just them but the women’s game in general) following a series of heavy defeats.

Meanwhile over on the men’s side of things Terenure’s perfect start continued, with a 38-21 win over Hinch at Lakelands keeping them top, can’t do better than 30 points from 30! They travel to Castle Avenue to play Tarf next in what’s clearly the tie of the round although that’s not until the weekend of the 26th.

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THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

All about the Wallabies this weekend, with Tom Coleman joining me on Friday evening for a preview pod, while after having Munster representation for the wrap last Sunday, there will be harpin’ from Ulster and Connacht as Ian Frizzell and Stephen Murphy this time around. Plus of course there will be all the regular features to stay tuned to our social media channels, including Mastodon where we having been posting first of late.

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

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

A WRAP OF A WRAP

I can’t even begin to say how grateful I am for my contributors to all of the Harpin pods.  If you’re new to the site, while we’ve been harpin’ overall since 2008, this is only the fourth season of the podcast and for the first three we’d only do one per week but now it’s 2-3 as it has become our main platform which of course means I need my group of contributors more than ever.

And during what has been a very experimental (and also just plain mental) first few months they have all been absolutely amazing giving up their time, not just spent on the Zoom calls themselves, but also in what is clearly excellent preparation, so it goes without saying this will not be the last time I thank Tom & Mark this week, and also Keego, Conor, Rich & Kino from the “core Leinster crew” and also Michelle, Ian & Padraig on whom I usually call for a view from the other provinces, plus all the others who gave joined me for a chat over the past while.  All truly awesome fellow rugby nerds/nuts.

This latest wrap pod went really well I thought, why not listen for yourself, and when recording was finished it dawned on me that we have yet to do a show under the new format which covered a Leinster & Ireland defeat.  Then I said that out loud so if you’re worried about my jinxing it by writing it here I’m afraid that train has already left the station!

OTHER TESTS

On the main weekly pod we do a feature called “Front Five” where we offer quick thoughts on issues from around the ruggersphere – normally I would have used all five for other tests from the weekend but there were some areas I thought deserved more spotlight (IRE A, IRE 7s & Women’s RWC) so we just looked at the two matches which finished 30-29, Fra over Aus because we play the Wallabies in a couple of weeks, and Arg over Eng because, well, do I need to explain that one?

To turn the spotlight on the others briefly, I also got to see our other November opponents Fiji playing at Murrayfield and I have to say it will be very interesting to see hat kind of team we name because although the Scots did put them to the sword, it took them a while to get in control and seeing how we’re likely to name a 23 closer to the A than the elite, we’re probably going to need our boys to gel quickly because if you open the door to these Fijians to play their way just a bit, they can really hurt you.

Then there’s Wales – to be fair they had a few flashes of good rugby but were really overpowered by an All Black set up clearly still hurting from results earlier in the year and not at all content with the 2022 Rugby Championship crown.  For me the main highlight of this match was the duel between two of the top number 8s on the planet right now, Toby Faletau and Ardie Savea – obvs the latter doesn’t always play there but it helps my narrative to put it this way!

More media outlets should cover the @AllBlacks games this way. @bloodandmud pic.twitter.com/z9eTyMEYrg

— James Stafford 🇺🇦 (@jpstafford) November 5, 2022

On a side note, fair play to not only the guy who typed this on his Guardian live blog feed, but also the newspaper itself for leaving it there.  I know some take issue with the sentiment, using the whole “Why not give them a second chance” argument, but those same pearl-clutchers are often the very ones complaining about the right to free speech and “being cancelled” so maybe they’re not quite sure what they really want.

RWC2023 QUALIFIERS

With the Women’s RWC final next Saturday and the corruptly-hosted mens football version starting shortly afterwards, I suppose you could say it’s easy to forget the men’s RWC in France which isn’t until September, although of course Ireland’s win over RSA was a dress rehearsal for our Pool B encounter.

However I’m still a bit disappointed that the final qualifying tournament isn’t getting more coverage.  Maybe given what I said about corruption in the last paragraph, it’s a little disconcerting that it is taking place in Dubai, which together with the words “Qatar Airways” appearing on URC officials jerseys suggests our own powers that be are also having their heads turned by that corner of the world.

Still, when it comes to the rugby on the pitch, there’s one spot left up for grabs between USA, Portugal, Kenya & Hong Kong with the winner taking their place in Pool C alongside Wales, Australia, Fiji & Georgia.  The first round of matches saw USA & Portugal registering wins, and with them also avoiding each other this weekend it could set up a winner takes all match up which I’d hope would attract a decent amount of attention in the ruggersphere.

FROM MUSK TO NEW (MASTO)DAWN

I have been contemplating a ‘blue tick’ on the twitter for a few years now but let’s just say that is definitely not happening now!  Doesn’t mean I’ll ditch the platform altogether, I still think it is a decent one for rugby the way things stand, but with all the hullabaloo over this new thing Mastodon, I could hardly not join the crowd setting up over there so if you are also partaking, by all means follow me > LINK HERE

For now I’ll keep an eye on how things are progressing there when I can although the main conversation still has to be with the little bird as things stand.  Replacing it completely with similar numbers is definitely a mammoth task, pun fully intended, of course.

MUSIC AT MATCHES

Since we are primarily a site for fan opinion, I guess I really should weigh in on a number of issues that have cropped up ahead of the internationals, especially since my view seems to differ in many cases to that of the majority if social media posts are anything to go by.

At both the RDS on Friday and the Aviva on Saturday, they tried out playing little bursts of music during breaks in play.  It did not seem to go over well at all.  Since I wasn’t physically there either time, I can’t speak for the volume which may have been too loud but once they tone it down I have to say I can’t see it bothering me too much, sorry, I guess we can’t agree on everything!

I did particularly like the use of U2’s Vertigo after Mack Hansens try, really gives the celebrations a good little boost, although one wrinkle is that there’s always the possibility of it being called back by the TMO.  Going by the crickets I heard after tweeting about this on Sunday, I guess I’m on my own here too!!!

JERSEY CLASHES

I remember the kerfuffle the last time we hosted the All Blacks in 2017, we wore the Jersey with the “anthracite” colour.  I actually have that one (tho I didn’t buy it, got it in a Canterbury promotion) and I still wear it because it reminds me of the 2018 Grand Slam.

My complaint about what we wore on Saturday, however, has nothing to do with the possibility of a clash with our opposition.  It just doesn’t look at all like a test jersey.  And by that I don’t even mean the lack of collar (although I am quite partial to the old fashioned rugby jersey look) no, I mean the design would be fine if it was part of the kit they were warming up in, just not the one they actually play in.

Keep the alternate ones mostly white with green trim, I say.

ANTHEMS

My policy on anthems has been consistent over the years but these 80+ columns are relatively new so I’ll lay it out once more here.

Ireland’s Call may not get the pulse racing like Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau or La Marseillaise, but the constant complaining about it from the same people, many of whom I respect and agree with on virtually everything else to do with rugby, is something I find disappointing.  Some try to cop out by saying they just don’t like it because it’s a poor song but I reckon they wouldn’t be happy whatever the tune.

There’s a very specific reason we add it to Amhran na bhFian at home, and sing it on its own while away.  And it also happens to be a very good reason in my book, and once more I apologise if others disagree.  

Plus it seemed like the Aviva crowd were giving both songs a really good airing on Saturday, although that may have been the positioning of the microphones.

LATE ARRIVALS

This one I’m actually in agreement with the majority on, if you can’t make it to your seat before a half kicks off then you can wait.  Stewards can maybe look for a break in play to allow people in but that would be at their discretion and as they have many other roles, the stragglers need to be prepared to wait.

INJURY REPORT

Despite the fact that for the second week in a row the official report begins with the word “unfortunately”, I would call this a positive report, although not so much for Conor Murray who defied his critics with a good showing for his 100th cap before being forced off.  Hopefully he’ll be back soon for Munster at least because they definitely need him.

Elsewhere I’m delighted for Stu McCloskey and Tadhg Furlong because especially the former did not look good leaving the pitch on Saturday and definitely earned the right to feature again in this series.  Personally while I’d like to see Bundee back fighting fo his place in the future, whether or not he is available to face the Wallabies I don’t think he should unless it is absolutely necessary.

Meanwhile it’s more bad news on the injury front for Ciaran Frawley he really needs a decent run of games under his belt yet keeps getting denied, he’s getting into Carbery territory at this stage.

Unfortunately, Ireland’s latest centurion Conor Murray has been ruled out of the rest of the Series with a groin strain and will commence his rehab at Munster.

Robbie Henshaw, who missed out on Saturday’s game due to a hamstring issue, will reintegrate to training this week. Stuart McCloskey is recovering quickly from the arm issue that forced him off early against South Africa and will train this week.

Tadhg Furlong (ankle) is expected to take part in training this week while Ireland captain Johnny Sexton is recovering well from a dead leg.

From Friday night’s A game against the All Black XV, Ciaran Frawley suffered a twisted knee and will continue his rehab at Leinster. Joe McCarthy and Ryan Baird will continue their return to play protocols at Leinster.

Michael Milne, who featured against both the Pumas and the Cheetahs for Emerging Ireland in Bloemfontein, will train with the Ireland squad this week.

AIL UPDATE

There were top of the table clashes in both Women’s and Men’s top divisions last weekend, and by all accounts both were thrillers. It took a late try from Aoife O’Shaughnessy to clinch victory for Railway Union over Belvo, and for the second weekend in a row they will host a fellow 100% team when they host Blackrock College.

Meanwhile in the men’s top division it was another comeback as Clontarf reversed a 16-point deficit to overpower Dublin University although while they are still 100% their game in hand has them second behind Terenure who won convincingly at Lansdowne and host Ballynahinch next weekend while Tarf travel to play Young Munster.

Men’s AIL

THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

I’ve been neglecting the TikTok account of late unfortunately, haven’t had the time if truth be told, but will get back to it soon.  Definitely happening this week will be giving the match against Fiji the full Harpin treatment, with Mark Jackson returning for the preview on Friday, then Caolan Scully and Rich Mifsud pencilled in to do the wrap on Sunday.  Other regular features like Rugby On TV will still be posted as well so as always, stay tuned to all our regular social media channels, and also our new one on Mastodon if you dare.

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

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

A WRAP OF A WRAP

Obviously I was very happy with that rugby weekend, Leinster v Munster is always a great occasion and although the match didn’t always look like it would end up in a BP win, I certainly didn’t feel like we were lucky once we clinched it.

The wrap pod gave us plenty to harp on, Keego and Tom did a top drawer job going through what happened.  Below you’ll see a bonus clip of our chat over the Kleyn incident – only Keego’s initial take made the pod but we did some back and forth as I disagreed with the notion that a red card would have been harsh, and for topics like this it’s always good that there’s disagreement.

Just to clarify my position, it’s important not to be too black and white about these things – I’m sure many would assume since I suggest Kleyn could have seen red it means I’m only watching with blue goggles.  In fact I certainly don’t feel it’s a slam dunk red, but that it is definitely worth a conversation as I say in the clip.  That’s not to say I feel nobody should ever try to block a kick, far from it, but only go for it if you know you have a decent chance of actually doing it otherwise you, or indeed your opponent, could suffer the consequences.  Contact to the head should ALWAYS put a red card in play in my book and since Kleyn’s jump was nowhere near the ball, let’s just say it mitigates any mitigation.

Anyway, you can judge for yourselves, here’s how the chat went (why not subscribe to our new YouTube channel while you’re at it, it’s the best way to catch our preview show each week)…

NOVEMBER REIGN

Look – I’m just as disillusioned with the rankings as the next guy but that said, when you’re number one why not at least acknowledge it?  Not a bad little bonus for our amazing achievements down in NZ and it really sets up the visit of the reigning World Champions nicely.

For me personally, I’d want to reward as many of those Wellington warriors as I possibly could so here’s my (call it a “fantasy”) 23 for the Boks from the named squad, with alternatives in brackets for injury worries…

As you can probably tell, I’m deliberately ignoring form and a Bok-specific gameplan but like I say that squad is purely meant to be a nod to what we achieved over the summer since nobody seems to be talking about it anymore even when the panel was named.

We not only won a series in NZL, but we won it convincingly.  Of course we have to build on it, of course it guarantees nothing for RWC2023 but until we have another performance to harp on, I for one don’t mind still finding satisfaction from that sentence.

TRANSGENDER RUGBY

You may recall over the summer there was a pretty intense discussion over transgender participation in rugby.  My position was, well, let’s just say, complicated, and I struggled to explain it the way I wanted to in the ruggersphere.  

What I was trying to say was that as much as we want to leave politics out of sport, in areas like this we have to acknowledge the wider topic because it can often lead to abuse from verbal all the way to physical.  

Essentially the argument of needing an outright ban simply because we’re imagining a grown man posing as a woman just to play rugby and the dangers that entails falls way short of the conversation that needs to be had on the matter.

Thankfully John Oliver did a decent job laying out the wider issue IMO so here’s his recent (NSFW) piece on it…

NOVEL GRAPHIC

Been meaning to harp on this for a while – I’m very picky (nerdy?) when it comes to graphics being used by TV networks for rugby matches and there are things that should be standard across all networks that simply aren’t.  Phase counters that appear instantly once there have been 5 would be one.

Another is a timer for yellow cards, and as much as I’m mostly positive about the URC, this is a negative, albeit a tiny one.  But on South African TV, they have gone that extra step further again, by placing a number of the sin-binned player alongside the time, really nice touch and again, I’d hope they would all do this.

Trust me, I get the whole “why make things easier for the guy sitting at home” argument for these things but for one thing, a lot of those guys can’t actually make it to the game and for another, the game needs that market so any sensible way they can make the experience easier has to be a good thing. Below you see an example from the recent Cheetahs v Emerging Ireland clash while Cian Prendergast was on the naughty step.

LEINSTER INJURY REPORT

Obvs the Furlong situation is a concern but good to see Keenan, Josh & Whiskey on the right track with November around the corner.

INJURY UPDATE – AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:

Luke McGrath: came through the game at the weekend with no issues following his return from the Graduated Return to Play Protocols

Rhys Ruddock: will train this week following his return from the Graduated Return to Play Protocols

Ryan Baird: will be available to train this week with the IRFU squad following his return from the Graduated Return to Play Protocols

INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:

Tadhg Furlong: was withdrawn as a precaution from the starting XV against Munster Rugby having rolled his ankle at training last week. Will be further assessed by the IRFU medical team this week

Josh van der Flier, Hugo Keenan & Jamison Gibson-Park: will step up their rehabilitation this week as they return from injury and will be further assessed by the IRFU medical team

INJURY UPDATE – UNAVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:

Jamie Osborne: was withdrawn for a Head Injury Assessment against Munster Rugby and has now entered the Graduated Return to Play Protocols

There are no further updates on:

Jordan Larmour (foot), Will Connors (bicep), Rónan Kelleher (hamstring), Harry Byrne (hamstring), James Lowe (calf), James Tracy (neck), Charlie Ryan (knee) and Tommy O’Brien (knee)

AIL UPDATE

Just a reminder on the quality of the Women’s AIL, of the XV which started Ireland’s last test v Japan, ALL of the backline were in action for their clubs over the weekend just gone.  And to give this fact a little Leinster twist, they all hailed from three clubs, Railway Union, Blackrock College and Old Belvedere.

After 6 rounds those three have opened a gap at the top of the table, with only Belvo having lost a game and while they are all off this coming weekend, they return the following Saturday with the big contest clearly being Railway Union v Belvo at Park Avenue.  

Have to say 5pm is a curious kickoff time though.  You can almost see the DART which will be bringing fans to the Ireland v Springboks match at the Aviva from the Railway Union pitch, and that kicks off at 5:30pm the same day.

Anyway, over in the Men’s 1A division they took a weekend off and will return next Saturday Oct 29, with all 3 teams with 100% records Terenure, Trinity & Tarf all avoiding each other again playing Shannon, Hinch & UCD respectively.

PREDICTION LEAGUE

I’m starting to think it’s my duty to inform rugby fans of my Superbru pick for the Ospreys every week, or maybe instead of “inform” I should be using the word “warn”.

As I said on the pod, they seem determined to do the opposite of what I say.  Had I aa time machine I’d prove it to you by going back and switching my pick from Round 6 to be a Dragons win, trust me that would have ended well for fans of Those Pesky Birds.

Seriously though, there was no change at the top of the Harpin League, though at the bottom where the real “prize” is to be “awarded”, it was a great round for Mr Kristian Ross who not only got Leinster v Munster spot on but he created something of a gap between himself and Keego in the wooden spoon position.

THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Leinster travel to Llanelli on Friday night to round off this early season block of URC matches…no bonus pod this week but everything else is as normal with The Preview Show on Friday, the usual wrapup recorded on Sunday evening and of course all the regular features during the week, stay tuned to any or all of our social media platforms.  In the meantime, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are.  JLP

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

FINAL #CONvLEI THOUGHTS

Talk about making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear…Conor & Mark did an excellent job on our main pod this week pointing out key things to look out for in what looked like a forgettable contest.

What intrigued me most was our lineouts.  Although we have managed to win all our matches, we have still been shown just how critical the success of this set piece is to our chances.  Against Benetton the jumper was being hit again and again and again which led to a significant victory.  On Friday both Niall Murray and Gavin Thornbury were doing excellent jobs disrupting our rhythm and it kept the home side close right up to the closing stages.  Maybe in some ways it looks risky to be putting so much stock in one aspect of the game, and should we face an opposition that manages to stifle us BEFORE we manage to create a lead to defend, I hope we’ll be able to either fix it early or go an alternative route.

MUNSTER WEEK

Always, always, love Munster week no matter what the form book says, and besides, we’re bound to hear several times over the coming days about how said book “goes out the window” anyway.

They will no doubt be pumped up after that win over the Bulls, but that said, travelling to the Aviva might not be their ideal place to build on that confidence.  As I type, the injury report is yet to be released but I do see that Gerry “Thorinho” Thornley has already posted that although Sexton is poised to feature, the same cannot be said for Messrs Gibson-Park, Keenan and Lowe.

Here’s hoping the two lineups can be as strong as possible since it is rare we get to see that with these two great rivals.

A TWEAK TO THE URC SHIELDS?

Speaking of interprovincials, a thought occurred to me during the week…you know the way the URC awards a trophy to the winner of each of the four regional divisions, Ireland, Wales, South Africa and the ever-clunky Scots/Italian?

Well the table they use to decide those winners is based on the overall URC league table, which means for example if a team finishes 1st like Leinster did last season, then they automatically win the shield as well.

Just a suggestion…why not instead award the prize to the team that finishes first in a table created only from matches between the clubs?  Six matches each.  If that were happening in the Irish Shield now, the league would look like this so far…

Might raise the profile of the Shields a bit, especially as they will eventually no longer lead to HCC qualification anyway.  

Hey, even the Welsh might enjoy it.  Nah that’s pushing it, I guess.

RE-INVENTING THE PREMIERSHIP

Speaking of re-inventing competitions, and also speaking of Welsh anti-URC feeling, I see there are kites being flown all over the English media with suggestions of what to do with the Premiership after the demise of Worcester and Wasps (the latter’s administration being announced as I type) , with others reported to follow.

Much has been said about the obvious tragedy of these situations for the clubs, their staff and their fans, but it also has to be considered that the Premiership itself has to make drastic changes to its structure in order to prevent the possibility of similar things happening in the future.

One suggestion that was floating around was a 10-team Premiership, and as soon as I saw this I had only one thought on my mind which, naturally, had to go straight to the twitter machine…

If this were to happen, no way should they be getting 8 clubs in the HCC, just sayin'… https://t.co/5IJ1VOqmZy

— Harpin' On Rugby (@HarpinOnRugby) October 12, 2022

I have to say I was surprised this got the reaction it did, but it is a point that cannot be ignored.

But going back to the Prem itself, I reckon the 10-team structure would work, provided there was also a league of 10 or more teams below it with some kind of promotion/relegation mechanism in place.  

Under this scenario, I can imagine Welsh ears pricking up thinking it might be a route for them to their Promised Land as I’m sure a lot of their fans would much prefer playing in a Premiership second tier instead of currently existing in a de-facto URC one.  Not so sure the RFU would see it that way though.

Whatever they plan to do, I really hope they sort something out soon because this season’s competition with all its cancellations, not exactly a million years after Saracens’ demotion I might add, really does make it look farcical.

HOT TAKE ON THE HCC FORMAT

Going back to that tweet posted above on the Premiership for a moment, a word or two on the current HCC format. 

I agree it is very confusing, but it also seems to be something the EPCR is determined to stick with.  Rather than the tried and tested pools of four leading to eight quarterfinalists, we now have two pools of 12 where everyone’s schedule is different.  Each plays two others from the pool home and away and the final table is made from just those four matches, with the top 8 making it into the knockouts.

One aspect of this that makes it seem really weird for European rugby is that for the format to work they need a specific number of teams. 20 wouldn’t fit so they had to expand to 24, even though just a few years ago many went to great lengths to explain to us that the two-dozen figure was too big.

So why do it this way?  Why indeed.  Well, I distinctly remember reading that UEFA wanted to employ a similar model for its flagship tournament the Champions League.  For them it would be an even bigger, clunkier competition with two pools of EIGHTEEN and each team playing six matches, home and away against three different clubs in each case.

The key element for this in a football sense is that it would provide a mechanism for the “elite” clubs, ie the Barcelonas, Citys and Bayerns, to avoid each other completely in the group stage and give them (theoretically) easier routes to the knockouts.

So why is rugby doing it?  Here’s where the smoking hot take of mine comes in, so hot that I probably need to be wearing a tin foil hat as I type it.  What if we were taking that format for a “test drive” for our round ball counterparts?  It was so unpopular last season in the HCC (albeit with COVID cancellations also playing a factor) that you’d assume EPCR would go back to the old way but they seem determined to stick with it.

Are we doing UEFA a favour?  If so, what are we getting in return?  Yeah, crazy I know, but this wouldn’t be a blog if I didn’t at least have one crackpot theory on the go every now and again, right?

⚽ WORLD CUP CLASHES

While I’m harping on things football related, in case you needed reminding we have the crazy situation where their World Cup is taking place in November.

Now I know a lot of people, even hardcore fans, are talking about boycotting the competition altogether, yet while there are people like myself who are so into rugby they write blogs and produce podcasts, and there are also people like yourself, who are so into rugby they read blogs and listen to podcasts, are definitely going to follow the egg-chasing no matter what else is on, we have to remember that our sport is also keen to attract those who might have their attention snaffled by a football World Cup.

So I’ve been interested to see how Leinster’s home matches go up against the competition schedule and here’s what I found…

Thankfully these are the only times our home games come in any kind of conflict so hopefully it won’t be too much of an issue.

LA CRUNCH

As I said on the pod, I really enjoyed the big match in the Women’s World Cup at the weekend.  It was clear that England were the better side but the French were really well prepared to make thighs difficult for them to play and when they had a chance to score themselves they took it to make it a very close one.

LEINSTER INJURY REPORT

Good news about Messrs Doris, Frawley & Kearney, also nice to see Hugo Keenan’s name at least escaping the dreaded “no further news” section right at the end.

The one line that has three massive names from both blue and green camps, Conan, Ryan & JVDF, looks like it could go either way so we’ll see.

Connors out for 12 weeks and Kelleher out for 8 is a pain in the you know where.

AIL UPDATE

Normally when you want to do a brief feature on the AIL you would lead off with what’s happening in Division 1A, but even if the Tullow Tank hadn’t had his unfortunate injury in his debut for Naas in the next tier down, I reckon that match would still have grabbed the headlines.  I hope it’s not too bad, but as we all know hamstrings can definitely have you out for quite a while.

Meanwhile back in the elite division, Terenure with their host of names which would be known to Leinster fans like Marcus Hanan, Jordan Coughlan, Cathal Marsh and Adam La Grue, made it a maximum 15 pts from 15 with a third bonus point victory, this time on the very difficult trip to Dooradoyle to face Garryowen.

They now hold a 1-point lead over Clontarf and Trinity, both of whom also had way victories at the weekend against Hinch and Lansdowne respectively, with Harry Byrne now out for a number of weeks after being a late withdrawal for the Bulls last time out.

Down at the bottom of the table there is an unusual situation in that it’s not often you see as many as four clubs with 0% records in a 10-team divisions after 3 rounds but that is the case with Lansdowne, UCD, Garryowen and Shannon all having the dubious honour.

Over in the Women’s AIL, it is also a trio of 100% Leinster clubs leading the way, with Belvo at the top having played a game more than Railway Union and Rock behind them.

PREDICTION LEAGUE

OK first let me be absolutely clear – I have finally accepted that Those Pesky Birds (the Ospreys) do not play rugby for their fans, nor for the love of the sport, rather for the SOLE PURPOSE of screwing up my Superbru.  The evidence is indisputable.  A draw with the Stormers?   Really???

Seriously though, it was a bad week for me in the Harpin Prediction League with my lead evaporating and master statistician RugbyKino climbing to the summit.  In a way I am just happy to be far from last place where it is more than a wooden spoon waiting for whomever should sit there when all is said and done, but having been at the top for a few weeks I have to admit I was starting to feel comfortable!

It looks like there are three separate mini-battles going on in this league but much can change as we are only at round 5 of 18, with the playoffs as well in the mix.  Again I will say this kind of competition really does give following rugby over the weekend an extra edge.

THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

As mentioned earlier, Munster week awaits…  I’ll be talking to Caolán Scully about their squad and season so far during the week, then on Friday I’ll have Keego with me for The Preview Show, with the usual wrapup recorded on Sunday evening and of course all the regular features during the week, stay tuned to any or all of our social media platforms.  In the meantime, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are.  JLP