Category: Ciarán Duffy

492 : Connacht v Leinster wrap

24 January 2026; Charlie Tector of Leinster scores his side’s third try despite the efforts of Caolin Blade of Connacht during the United Rugby Championship match between Connacht and Leinster at Dexcom Stadium in Galway. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

🏉 Comeback Kings

🏉 The gameplan

🏉 Opening night

🏉 Leinster negatives

🏉 Connacht’s form

THIS WEEK’S GUEST

CIARÁN DUFFY

Post to Post blog

Ciarán’s fundraiser

FULL TIME TAKES

Eamon Saunders

Another win on the road glad to get the 5 points but much improvement needed going forward 👍

Greg Kelly

Connacht were plucky and obvious up for the occasion. They applied a lot of pressure in the opening hour but fell away a bit afterwards. They were looking for big moments but fell short of a real catalyst. Leinster were sputtering along and wasteful in attack…again. Ultimately Leinster were the better team and on the hour you always felt they would pull away. As has been said week after week if we do that against the top opposition we’ll get caned but but was enough against a spirited but limited Connacht team.

Kevin Kelehan

Ireland lost big tonight unless Jack Boyle does a Lazarus, have a good bet on England for the Six Nations. The Leinster scrum did amazingly, Niall Smyth passed his exam as did Sparrow and Jerry Cahir again proving the academy let more than Tadhg Beirne slip through their fingers. Charlie Tector again superb but one of the Connacht back row should have got man of the match for over an hour they had the upper hand. Delighted to take 5 points out of a decent Connacht shift.

Chris McDonnell

Another game where harry shows why he was Leinster’s 4th choice last season. He’s good defensively and can kick goals but he’s got nothing in attack.

James Gill

Harry 💯 % kicking might get him an Ireland start. Charlie Tector should b in the A squad. Prendergast was good for connacht but need a few more forwards badly. Leinster building nicely

Eamon Phelan

Sam illo can scrummage

Get in the conversation yourself by leaving

your own thoughts each week after the full time whistle

in Leinster & Ireland matches on our Facebook page

URC WRAP

NEXT HARPIN’

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT : “IRISH 6N SQUAD”

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN 

484 : Munster v Leinster wrap

27 December 2025; Josh van der Flier of Leinster celebrates in the closing moments of the United Rugby Championship match between Munster and Leinster at Thomond Park in Limerick. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

🏉 Defending ✅

🏉 Scrum ✅

🏉 Game management ✅

🏉 Attack plan❓

🏉 Discipline❓

THIS WEEK’S GUEST

CIARÁN DUFFY

Post to Post blog

Fundraiser link

FULL TIME TAKES

Richard Collumb

Close game, Munster pushed hard & Leinster defence improving. Harry best 10 we have.

Lorcán Murphy

A dogfight of a game which will stand to both teams and Ireland in the longer run. This was all about the result and who wanted it more

Dave Murray

Two very tough inter-pros and 9 points from them, we can’t complain about that. Our attack was very one dimensional, but its a tough defence that wins games in Thomond and we defended superbly. NB Leo with Zebo after the game was also a nice bonus

Louis Hoffman

Just about Fair result, few bruised bodies tomorrow. Ruck was a mess

Kevin Kelehan

Munster pushed Leinster bloody hard, Leinster defence was back where it needed to be. The second half against Ulster may be the time we say that Leinster’s season clicked and where the believe came to win when the chances aren’t there.

Gavin Little

Scrums are a mystery… we win penalty after penalty and Munster don’t get penalised, then in the second half the ref calls “use it” almost immediately on every scrum completely nullifying our advantage

Christy O’Connor

Started off brilliant and the intensity was great, it dropped off as the game went on though. Our defense was great and our attack is still very one dimensional.

The highlight of the night was Leo absolutely ripping Zebo in the interview after the game.

Gerald Williamson

The Leinster defense was impressive. It was a close game with not much free flowing Rugby due to the tight marking. The Ref did not have a bad game.

Get in the conversation yourself by leaving

your own thoughts each week after the full time whistle

in Leinster & Ireland matches on our Facebook page

URC WRAP

NEXT HARPIN’

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT : “2025 YEAR IN REVIEW” (YOUTUBE)

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN (SUBSTACK) 

462 : Leinster v Sharks wrap

11 October 2025; Josh van der Flier of Leinster is tackled by Fez Mbatha of Hollywoodbets Sharks during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Hollywoodbets Sharks at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

🏉  Cohesion back

🏉  Gunne firing

🏉  Josh the skipper

🏉  Sleeping giants

🏉  Josh the debutante

THIS WEEK’S GUEST

CIARÁN DUFFY

FULL TIME TAKES

Gavin Hegarty

Normal (ISH) service resumes!

I thought Osbourne was great, most likely Irelands 15 for the autumn internationals in winter. Harry looked confident but did try a tad to hard in parts.

We were south lower and watched the ground covered by Baird to make a tackle, unreal!

Far from perfect but a step in the right direction

Get in the conversation yourself by leaving

your own thoughts each week after the full time whistle

in Leinster & Ireland matches on our Facebook page

URC WRAP

NEXT HARPIN’

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT : “THE FRAWLEY DILEMMA”

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN 

461 : Leinster v Sharks preview

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST

Our guest : CIARÁN DUFFY

Post To Post Sport

LEINSTER : 15. Jamie Osborne 14. Jimmy O’Brien 13. Robbie Henshaw 12. Ciarán Frawley 11. James Lowe 10. Harry Byrne 9. Fintan Gunne

1. Paddy McCarthy 2. Rónan Kelleher 3. Tadhg Furlong 4. Brian Deeny 5. Ryan Baird 6. Alex Soroka 7. Josh van der Flier (c) 8. Max Deegan 

16. Gus McCarthy 17. Jack Boyle 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. Diarmuid Mangan 20. James Culhane 21. Luke McGrath 22. Hugh Cooney 23. Joshua Kenny

SHARKS : 15 Edwill van der Merwe 14 Ethan Hooker 13 Jurenzo Julius 12 Lukhanyo Am 11 Makazole Mapimpi 10 Jean Smith 9 Jaden Hendrikse

1 Simphiwe Matanzima 2 Fez Mbatha 3 Ruan Dreyer 4 Jason Jenkins 5 Marvin Orie 6 Phepsi Buthelezi 7 Emmanuel Tshituka 8 Vincent Tshituka (c)

16 Bongi Mbonambi 17 Dian Bleuler 18 Vincent Koch 19 Bathobele Hlekani 20 Nick Hatton 21 Ross Braude 22 Siya Masuku 23 Francois Venter

BKT United Rugby Championship 25/26 Rd 3

Saturday, October 4, 2025

Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria

KO 5:30pm Irish time  

Live on : Premier Sports 1, URC.tv

Referee: Craig Evans (WRU)

AR 1: Keane Davison (IRFU)

AR 2:  Dan Carson (IRFU)

TMO: Keith David (WRU)

448 : Brumbies review, AUNZ & Portugal previews

@harpinonrugby

Mark joined me shortly after the FT whistle to quickly look back over Brumbies v Lions #rugbytiktok #lionsrugby

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.blog
@harpinonrugby

Mark Jackson joins me once more to look ahead to the Lions’ latest outing #lionsrugby #rugbytiktok

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.blog
@harpinonrugby

Ciarán Duffy joins me to look ahead to Ireland’s test in Lisbon on Saturday #rugbytiktok #Irelandrugby

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.blog

446 : WARvBIL & GEOvIRE previews

@harpinonrugby

Check out our latest Lions preview #rugbyunion #rugbytiktok #lionstour

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.blog
@harpinonrugby

Check out our Georgia v Ireland preview #rugbytiktok

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.blog

435 : Leinster v Zebre wrap

10 May 2025; Ryan Baird of Leinster celebrates after scoring his side’s third try during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Zebre Parma at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile

🏉 12 different tries
🏉 Tyler’s attack
🏉 Sam’s starts
🏉 That JB narrative
🏉 Improved forwards

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CONOR CRONIN

CIARÁN DUFFY

FULL TIME TAKES

Kevin Kelehan
Normal service is restored after last weeks slip

David Ryle
Better structure this week.

William Andrew
Flat track bullies. If they didn’t set up a drop goal, they have learnt nothing.

@harpinonrugby

Car thoughts after LEIvZEB #leinsterrugby #rugbytiktok #urc

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.blog

URC WRAP

NEXT HARPIN’

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT : “THE LIONS SQUAD”

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN 

THURSDAY

THROWBACK THURSDAY

434 : Leinster v Zebre preview

Our guest : CIARÁN DUFFY

(200th Harpin contribution)

LEINSTER : 15. Jamie Osborne 14. Jimmy O’Brien 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Jordie Barrett 11. James Lowe 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Luke McGrath

1. Jack Boyle 2. Rónan Kelleher 3. Thomas Clarkson 4. Joe McCarthy 5. Diarmuid Mangan 6. Ryan Baird 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Jack Conan (c)

16. John McKee 17. Andrew Porter 18. Rabah Slimani 19. James Ryan 20. James Culhane 21. Jamison Gibson-Park 22. Ciarán Frawley 23. Robbie Henshaw

ZEBRE : 15. Jacopo Trulla 14. Scott Gregory 13. Fetuli Paea 12. Enrico Lucchin 11. Simone Gesi 10. Giovanni Montemauri 9. Gonzalo Garcia

1. Luca Franceschetto 2. Giampietro Ribaldi 3. Juan Pitinari 4. Rusiate Nasove 5. Leonard Krumov 6. Bautista Stavile 7. Iacopo Bianchi 8. Davide Ruggeri (c)

16. Tommaso Di Bartolomeo 17. Muhamed Hasa 18. Ion Neculai 19. Matteo Canali 20. Giacomo Ferrari 21. Alessandro Fusco 22. Giacomo Da Re 23. Filippo Drago

BKT United Rugby Championship 24/25

Saturday, May 10, 2025

KO 5:15pm  Aviva Stadium

Live on : RTÉ News Channel, Premier Sports 1, URC.tv 

Referee: Sam Grove-White (SRU)

AR 1: Keane Davison (IRFU)

AR 2: Dan Carson (IRFU)

TMO: Colin Brett (SRU)

429 : Leinster v Ulster wrap

19 April 2025; Tommy O’Brien of Leinster evades the tackle of on his way to scoring his side’s first try during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Ulster at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

🏉  Late late change

🏉  Terrific TOB

🏉  Coach killers

🏉  Defensive stands

🏉  Triple Dan

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CIARÁN DUFFY

Post to Post blog

DAVID CORDIAL

FULL TIME TAKES

Christy O’Connor

Tommy is flying, definitely in with a great shout to be playing in the cup games. Will definitely be on the irish summer tour

Greg Kelly

Tommy O’Brien looking like the real deal these days

Michael Branagan

Great result. Porter needs to be “seen to be in control”. He’s throwing penalties away, 50:50 calls, that are damaging us and his reputation. I do think it’s harsh on a number of fronts but he has to “ease back” as it were. For a little while.

William Andrew

Ulster had a lot go against them, but still hung in there.

Some unfortunate, some self inflected.

Leinster were good but you can see some players are not quite the standard of the 1st squad.

Others are pushing on. Highlights were the chip to Dan and Gunn delaying his pass to Dan.

Smart play

Warren Doyle

Right person won man of the match. Class act. Well done Tommy O’Brien.

John Peeters

Only one comment; is RG ok?

URC WRAP

NEXT HARPIN’

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT : “LEINSTER PLAYER PROFILES PT 1”

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN INCLUDING FRONT 5 VIDEO

THURSDAY

THROWBACK THURSDAY

425 : Leinster v Harlequins wrap

Josh van der Flier of Leinster scores his side’s fourth try during the Investec Champions Cup Round of 16 match between Leinster and Harlequins at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

🏉  Quins purple patch

🏉  Some Leinster tries

🏉  More tries

🏉  Even more tries

🏉  Shutout

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CIARÁN DUFFY [Post to Post Sport blog]

HUGO GORDON

FULL TIME TAKES

David Ryle

I thought it was going to be a hard day at the office on the first 10 mins. I think the held up ball knocked the wind out of them.

Kevin Kelehan

Quins turned up, sadly only for 10 minutes, great to see JVdF back to his rampaging best, Ringrose lethal in defense and incisive in attack and Jordie Barrett’s team first and self second distribution showing why he was signed.

Chris McDonnell

As complete a performance as I have seen in ages.

Alan Murphy

Quins over 80 mins were never going to win that. Not taking the 6 points on offer for two kickable penalties in the first 10 mins was really naive. Aimless kicking to a Leinster back 3 was naive. Kicking all their restarts to the same space in the first half was naive. Very poor from a last 16 team. I hope they get rid of this round in future as very average teams are winning one game (Ulster) in 4 in the ‘group’ stages and making the knockouts. Others staggering in with 2 wins from 4. Go straight to the quarter finals in future.

Christy O’Connor

Dragons would’ve caused us more problems. I expect a much tougher game next week. I reckon Glasgow will beat Leicester and Glasgow will definitely give is a tough game

Get in the conversation yourself by leaving

your own thoughts each week after the full time whistle 

in Leinster & Ireland matches on our Facebook page

CHAMPIONS CUP WRAP

NEXT HARPIN’

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT : “EPCR QUARTERFINAL PREVIEW”

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN INCLUDING FRONT 5 VIDEO

THURSDAY

THROWBACK THURSDAY