541 : The Leinster Listen

🏉 The Leinster Listen podcast (Spotify link)

🏉 WXV : IRE 36-40 USA

🏉 “Roots & All” 2.0 (link to sample of our old Harpin’ feature)

🏉 Leinster’s prospects

🏉 Tullowgate (link mentioned on pod here)

Our guest : 

MICK LINNANE

540 : Season 8 premiere

🏉 A sort of homecoming

🏉 Earning their stripes

🏉 Great expectations

🏉 The other provinces

🏉 Greater rivalries

Our guests : 

538 : New Zealand v Ireland preview


IRELAND : 15 Hugo Keenan 14 Robert Baloucoune 13 Garry Ringrose 12 Stuart McCloskey 11 Jimmy O’Brien 10 Sam Prendergast 9 Jamison Gibson‑Park

1 Tom O’Toole 2 Dan Sheehan 3 Tadhg Furlong 4 Joe McCarthy 5 James Ryan 6 Tadhg Beirne 7 Josh van der Flier 8 Jack Conan

16 Rónan Kelleher 17 Jeremy Loughman 18 Thomas Clarkson 19 Nick Timoney 20 Sean Jansen 21 Craig Casey 22 Ciarán Frawley 23 Bundee Aki


NEW ZEALAND : 15 Damian McKenzie 14 Will Jordan 13 Quinn Tupaea 12 Jordie Barrett 11 Joshua Moorby 10 Ruben Love 9 Cam Roigard

1 Ethan de Groot 2 Codie Taylor 3 Tyrel Lomax 4 Josh Lord 5 Patrick Tuipulotu 6 Tupou Vaa’i 7 Luke Jacobson 8 Ardie Savea

16 Asafa Aumua 17 Xavier Numia 18 Fletcher Newell 19 Anton Segners 20 Peter Lakai 21 Cortez Ratima 22 Anton Lienert‑Brown 23 Caleb Clarke


Nations Championship

2026 Round 3

Saturday, July 18

Eden Park, Auckland

KO 8:10am (Irish time)

Live on : Virgin Media One

Referee: Nic Berry (RA)

AR1: Luc Ramos (FFR)

AR2: Damon Murphy (RA)

TMO: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)

FPRO: Andrew Jackson (RFU)

536 : Japan v Ireland preview

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST

IRELAND : 15 Jamie Osborne 14 Jimmy O’Brien 13 Robbie Henshaw 12 Stuart McCloskey 11 Jacob Stockdale 10 Ciarán Frawley 9 Craig Casey

1 Tom O’Toole 2 Rónan Kelleher 3 Thomas Clarkson 4 Tadhg Beirne (c) 5 James Ryan 6 Jack Conan 7 Nick Timoney 8 Sean Jansen

16 Tom Stewart 17 Billy Bohan 18 Sam Illo 19 Cormac Izuchukwu 20 Bryn Ward 21 Nathan Doak 22 Harry Byrne 23 Bundee Aki


JAPAN : 15 Takuro Matsunaga 14 Kazuma Ueda 13 Dylan Riley 12 Yuya Hirose 11 Taira Main 10 Ryunosuke Ito 9 Naoto Saito

1 Takato Okabe 2 Mamoru Harada 3 Shuhei Takeuchi 4 Harry Hockings 5 Warner Dearns (c) 6 Ben Gunter 7 Kanji Shimokawa 8 Jack Cornelsen

16 Hayate Era 17 Sojiro Otsuka 18 Keijiro Tamefusa 19 Michael Stolberg 20 Michael Leitch 21 Tiennan Costley 22 Itsuki Kamimura 23 Sam Greene


Nations Championship

2026 Round 2

Saturday, July 11

McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle

KO 11:10am (Irish time)

Live on : Virgin Media One

Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)

AR1: Ben O’Keeffe (NZR)

AR2: Morné Ferreira (SARU)

TMO: Matteo Liperini (FIR)

FPRO: Ian Tempest (RFU)

534 : Australia v Ireland preview



IRELAND : 15 Hugo Keenan 14 Robert Baloucoune 13 Garry Ringrose 12 Stuart McCloskey 11 Jamie Osborne 10 Sam Prendergast 9 Jamison Gibson‑Park

1 Tom O’Toole 2 Dan Sheehan (c) 3 Tadhg Furlong 4 Joe McCarthy 5 James Ryan 6 Cian Prendergast 7 Josh van der Flier 8 Jack Conan

16 Rónan Kelleher 17 Jeremy Loughman 18 Thomas Clarkson 19 Tadhg Beirne 20 Nick Timoney 21 Craig Casey 22 Ciarán Frawley 23 Bundee Aki


AUSTRALIA : 15 Jock Campbell 14 Max Jorgensen 13 Joseph Suaalii 12 Len Ikitau 11 Dylan Pietsch 10 Carter Gordon 9 Ryan Lonergan

1 Angus Bell 2 Josh Nasser 3 Allan Alaalatoa 4 Jeremy Williams 5 Miles Canham 6 Rob Valetini 7 Fraser McReight 8 Harry Wilson (c)

16 Brandon Paenga-Amosa 17 James Slipper 18 Taniela Tupou 19 Lachlan Shaw 20 Tom Hooper 21 Tate McDermott 22 Ben Donaldson 23 Tom Wright


Nations Championship

2026 Round 1

Saturday, July 4

Allianz Stadium, Sydney

KO 11:10am (Irish time)

Live on : Virgin Media One

Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (NZR) 

AR1: Karl Dickson (RFU)

AR2: Andrea Piardi (FIR)

TMO: Matteo Liperini (FIR)

FPRO: Glenn Newman (NZR)

533 : URC Grand Final wrap

19 June 2026; Leinster captain Caelan Doris lifts the cup alongside teammates after the United Rugby Championship grand final match between Leinster and Vodacom Bulls at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile


🏉 Intent & desire

🏉 Super Sam

🏉 Keenan eager

🏉 Pack mentality

🏉 Bad Bulls


CONOR CRONIN


FULL-TIME THOUGHTS

Chris McDonnell

Job done. Excellent performance. Max deegan has had a fantastic season. Well done to Sam, he had one of his better games hopefully it’s the step he needed.

Gavin Hegarty

I honestly thought we’d get nothing out of the season @xmas but to reach two finals and win one is epic.

The abuse online Leinster got after a few games and lying at the bottom of the table was shocking.

Sam showed the player he can be yday and is now in the driving seat again.

Can’t say anything about Keenan that hadn’t be said before, simply immense.

All the talk of Frawley leaving, what about jerry???? Epic season for him.

Christy O’Connor

Credit were credit is due, Sam played great as did Keenan and big Joe. The Bulls never showed up and played a kicking game that just didn’t work for them. One of Leinster’s best attacking displays in a long time and hopefully we see more of it

Lorcán Murphy

Coaches and players showed how capable and utterly ruthless we are against strong opposition. Makes it more frustrating what was left behind during the year and how the selection policy is applied. Absolutely delighted for Sam. I really hope he carries his self belief for the fight into the future. His potential is still huge

Ruairi Niall Eiméid

A badly needed tonic after the severe disappointment of yet another European Final loss. Immense win and performance by the Boys in Blue

Click here for real-time thoughts from

the Harpin WhatsApp group during the match

Join the conversation yourself

by leaving your thoughts at the FT whistle

on our Facebook page


URC WRAP


NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT : “LONG LIST OF LADS LEAVING LEINSTER” (YouTube)

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN (Substack)

532 : URC Grand Final preview



LEINSTER : 15 Hugo Keenan 14 Tommy O’Brien 13 Rieko Ioane 12 Jamie Osborne 11 James Lowe 10 Sam Prendergast 9 Jamison Gibson‑Park

1 Jerry Cahir 2 Rónan Kelleher 3 Tadhg Furlong 4 Joe McCarthy 5 James Ryan 6 Max Deegan 7 Josh van der Flier 8 Caelan Doris (c)

16 Dan Sheehan 17 Alex Usanov 18 Thomas Clarkson 19 Diarmuid Mangan 20 Jack Conan 21 Luke McGrath 22 Harry Byrne 23 Garry Ringrose


BULLS : 15 Willie le Roux 14 Kurt‑Lee Arendse 13 Canan Moodie 12 Harold Vorster 11 Stravino Jacobs 10 Handré Pollard 9 Embrose Papier

1 Gerhard Steenekamp 2 Johan Grobbelaar 3 Francois Klopper 4 Ruan Vermaak 5 Ruan Nortje 6 Marcell Coetzee (c) 7 Elrigh Louw 8 Cameron Hanekom

16 Marco van Staden 17 Jan‑Hendrik Wessels 18 Wilco Louw 19 Cobus Wiese 20 Jeandre Rudolph 21 Zak Burger 22 Stedman Gans 23 Nizaam Carr


BKT United Rugby Championship

2025/26  Grand Final

Friday, June 19, 2026

Croke Park

KO 7:30pm

Live on : Premier Sports 1, URC.tv

Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)

AR 1: Adam Jones (WRU)

AR 2: Ben Breakspear (WRU)

TMO: Matteo Liperini (FIR)

531 : Leinster v Stormers wrap

6 June 2026; Jamison Gibson-Park of Leinster, centre, celebrates with teammates after scoring their side’s second try during the United Rugby Championship semi-final match between Leinster and DHL Stormers at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile


🏉 Rolls Royce 9

🏉 Physicality

🏉 Imperfect Stormers

🏉 Stats stats stats

🏉 And now the Bulls


CIAN O’MUILLEOIR


FULL-TIME THOUGHTS

Liz Power

Scoreline flattered us. Stormers were full of brute force but the lack of discipline did for them

Christy O’Connor

Started off bright, but as the game went on we were struggling. Wasted a number of decent chances when in their 22.

The stormers also wasted a number of chances to punish us. I don’t think the bulls will waste as many chances

Joe Shep

Tbh, a lot of “Muscle Memory” rugby from the likes of JGP (well deserved POTM) but Stormers had our card well marked with strong elements of UBB….. We were lucky they let themselves down with indiscipline and they lacked the game changing flair of Sascha F-M…..A final beckons but more required

Overall we’ve got the individuals but we are NOT a cohesive unit…… I genuinely don’t understand why AF can get the best as a cohesive team having players for only a few weeks yet Leinster don’t 🤔🤷

Kevin Kelehan

Delighted with the game, knew Stormers would be formidable but their hits were massive, they made us work for every yard.

That they won their first card period 3-0 showed how streetwise they are, wasted 3 minutes on one passage of legitimate scrum resets.

The bench was the catalyst, even before the loss of 2 players you could feel the momentum shifting our way. Whilst Conan s brute force and Ringers deftness were probably the main catalysts, you have to mention Usanov, Gus and Mangan all of whom really made an impact against world class opponents.

Finally Sam being a speed bump for massive Stormers loose head in his first tackle situation of today is displaying the fight we need from him to be our 10

Chris McDonnell

A semi final win is a win. Can’t play rugby without a 10 and simply Leo first 2 choices are not good enough.

Jo Kerr

Would have been interesting if the Stormers had Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Cobus Reinach

Tricia Cormac Timothy

Need a decent 10

Odran John OBrien

Sorry to say it’s time for Cullen and Nienaber to go bring in Scott Robertson and Owen Farrell at Five Eighth

Niall O’Higgins

Win is a win but i feel stormers coaching was better – they knew what to do, excellent ruck speed , made leinster appear chaotic by comparison – game plan seems limited compared to skill set of players and wasteful. Scrum is dire. It beggers belief that these players are lions yet are asked to be donkeys – one up runs without support, kick chase – all low percentage plays

Eamon Saunders

Trying to beat the South Africans by playing their game not working but another final to try win

Caroline Wynne

👌💪🤘

Dave Murray

Another final and possibly another URC (which isn’t to be sniffed at) but our tactics and style is not great at all, in my opinion anyway. Nienaber opened the door on an early exit and that is fine by me.

Ruairi Niall Eiméid

Not vintage by Leinster, very stuttering and bland attack but ground out another win to get to the URC Final. Feel a little Déjà vu playing Bulls again in Croker but on Friday Night Lights

Click here for real-time thoughts from

the Harpin WhatsApp group during the match

Join the conversation yourself

by leaving your thoughts at the FT whistle

on our Facebook page


URC WRAP


NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

TUESDAY

80+ COLUMN (Substack)

530 : Leinster v Stormers preview


LEINSTER : 15 Hugo Keenan 14 Jimmy O’Brien 13 Rieko Ioane 12 Jamie Osborne 11 James Lowe 10 Sam Prendergast 9 Jamison Gibson‑Park

1 Andrew Porter 2 Rónan Kelleher 3 Thomas Clarkson 4 Joe McCarthy 5 James Ryan 6 Max Deegan 7 Josh van der Flier 8 Caelan Doris (c)

16 Gus McCarthy 17 Alex Usanov 18 Rabah Slimani 19 Diarmuid Mangan 20 Jack Conan 21 Luke McGrath 22 Harry Byrne 23 Garry Ringrose


STORMERS : 15 Damian Willemse 14 Wandisile Simelane 13 Ruhan Nel (c) 12 Dan du Plessis 11 Leolin Zas 10 Jurie Matthee 9 Imad Khan
1 Ntuthuko Mchunu 2 André‑Hugo Venter 3 Neethling Fouché 4 Adré Smith 5 Connor Evans 6 Paul de Villiers 7 Ben‑Jason Dixon 8 Evan Roos
16 JJ Kotzé 17 Vernon Matongo 18 Zachary Porthen 19 Salmaan Moerat 20 Ruan Ackermann 21 Marcel Theunissen 22 Stefan Ungerer 23 Warrick Gelant


BKT United Rugby Championship

2025/26  Semifinal

Saturday, June 6, 2026

Aviva Stadium

KO 5:30pm

Live on : TG4, Premier Sports 1, URC.tv

Referee: Hollie Davidson (SRU)

AR 1: Sam Grove-White (SRU)

AR 2: Adam Jones (SRU)

TMO: Mike Adamson (SRU)