Conor Cronin – Page 3 – HARPIN' ON RUGBY

316 : France v Ireland wrap

2024 Guinness Six Nations Championship Round 1, Orange Velodrome, Marseille, France 2/2/2024France vs IrelandIrelands Joe McCarthy with Maxine Locu of FranceMandatory Credit ©INPHO/Ben Brady

🏉 Jack Friday

🏉 Les Deux Jaunes

🏉 That’s “Big Joe” to you

🏉 Irish confidence

🏉 Wonderful Wolfpuppies

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CONOR CRONIN (50TH CAP) & MARK JACKSON

FULL TIME TAKES

Rich Mifsud

Intensity ✅, performance very good but quite a few work ons eg scrum etc (perfect scenario for Faz & Co), our D Nienaberesque perhaps (happy to be proved wrong) it must have felt like a horrible cloying rash for the French, France were made to look like 💩 for long periods.

Players: the best compliment I can give Big Joe is he’s the kind of player you grudgingly admire but simultaneously hate if he’s playing against you, Jamo’s best performance for ages, Hugo continues to be class, ditto Doris and Bundee, pack as a whole performed, Robbie’s best outing for a while, Nash not really tested, Crowley solid ish but need loads of experience. JLo 🤌🏻

Bench ✅

Gavin Hegarty

Territory 49-51 and a scoreline of 17-38. Incredible.

Don’t know if France were that poor or if we just outplayed them.

And also that’s twice in two years Doris has played aldritt off the park. Simply unreal.

Kevin OCeallaigh

A terrific team performance, with some great individual efforts (Lowe, big Joe, Bundee) and good captaincy in dealing with some ‘interesting’ decisions. However, a result like that has to credited in large part to how the 10 controls the game. This was Crowleys best performance in green by a mile. Will stand to him for the rest of the 6N.

Josephine Boyd

A brilliant performance from our boys in green an excellent start to the championship.great game from our new lads on the team.☘️💚👏🏈🇮🇪.

Monica Keeler

The World cup final that should have been…hey ho..great start…keep it going lads..in my eyes the best in the world 💚

John Hyland

Watch the scrums again. Atonio was boring in and literally scrummaging vs Sheahan. Porter gets pinged again. The IRFU needs to grow a pair and present the video evidence to World rugby. Teams are obviously buying penalties against Porter. NZ got 4 key penalties in the World Cup because of it. Come on IRFU, GROW A PAIR!!

Colin McConaghie

80-85% superb. Got sloppy for 10 minutes. Biggest plus was the line out which was back to its best.

I think we can actually play better but won’t get too many better score lines than that

John O Halloran

Stunning performance, I said Ireland by5 this morning. The lineout and all round front 5 work was up a massive amount, the back 3 as abrasive as ever.

Crawley passed the pressure test ,individual decisions and discipline excellent. A lot of positives.

Wayne O’Brien

I thought we would lose narrowly. To win and by such a margin – unbelievable. Great attacking intent with room to improve by not letting teams in as was the case last night.

Jack Woods

Awesome performance. Great in defence at times. Very good start to the championship. France weren’t allowed to show their “flair” at times but it still came to the game at times.

William Andrew

Stunning win in France, ref was a homer but Ireland took him out by being so good, they made him irrelevant.

Oh if only our line out had functioned that well in the WC.

Ireland were full on for 80 and the bench came on like a pack of rabid dogs held back too long.

Celebrate those victories ✌️ they do not come around too often.

That was absolutely superb. Loads to harp on but all that needs to be said for now IMO is hats off to the whole set-up esp the new lads. #FRAvIRE #GuinnessSixNations
— Harpin' On Rugby (@HarpinOnRugby) February 2, 2024

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SIX NATIONS WRAP

ROUND 1

FRANCE 17-38 IRELAND

ITALY 24-27 ENGLAND

WALES 26-27 SCOTLAND

ROUND 2

SAT FEB 10

SCOTLAND V FRANCE

ENGLAND V WALES

SUN FEB 11

IRELAND V ITALY

UNDER 20s

ROUND 1

WALES 37-29 SCOTLAND

ITALY 11-36 ENGLAND

FRANCE 31-37 IRELAND

ROUND 2

FRI FEB 9

SCOTLAND V FRANCE

ENGLAND V WALES

IRELAND V ITALY

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310 : Leinster v Stade Français wrap

13 January 2024; James Lowe of Leinster dives over to score his side’s first try during the Investec Champions Cup Pool 4 Round 3 match between Leinster and Stade Francais at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

@harpinonrugby
Our Leinster v Stade Francais wrap pod is out now
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🏉 Accuracy issues

🏉 New kicking style

🏉 Ryan The Reliable

🏉 Ryan The Rampager

🏉 No 🍔, no Ø, no problem

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CONOR CRONIN & TOM COLEMAN

FULL TIME TAKES

Joe Sheppard

Wasn’t the strongest display V poorish opposition tbh. The pure world class of each individual player was clear but as a collective it lacked overall. I’m forever impressed by the strength, skill and athleticism of Baird, McCarthy and especially Doris…… Next week away V Tigers SHOULD be a proper test of where we are currently.

Jamie Bermingham

Looks like the team are still adjusting to a new play style, seeing flashes of great plays but also a lot of silly mistakes and errors. I’m going to hold judgement till later in the season, that being said we may just be holding back till the business end.

Gav Heg

Quite disappointed that we didn’t nil them. We should easily have topped 60 here but we’re let down by stupid and unforced mistakes. It could be put down to an adjustment period but we lacked the ability to just finish moves off.

Ringrose should have been motm but Doris also deserving. I felt sorry for Baird that he didn’t go over after that colossal run.

Can’t help but feel that a decent would have picked is apart. For Leicester we need a far better performance.

Johnny McGovern

Frawley in Leinster is jinxed …Is he robust enough for professional rugby ? I could say unlucky but he just isn’t …happening too often – he actually took two knocks during the game tonight and seemed to have effected his vision. The physios checked one eye and the second issue was the heavy tackle he took . I didn’t see the end of the tackle but he was in bits . Leo said he got a knee in the back which then spasmed but the tackler must have connected with his kidneys . Not a great Leinster performance given a very poor SF team .

Andrew Bailey

Let’s not get carried away. Given the selections – the result was a formality ((When is the last time there has been a decent contest in the Aviva group game). Sloppy game punctuated by mistakes and aimless kicking. The return of Lowe a huge positive. Lineout improvement once Ryan on the pitch marked. Just worry about sluggish performances by so many

Was really pulling for a zero there because the D deserved it but while far from perfect against a second string Stade that was a decent enough job done. Still much to work on but biggest concern Frawley's injury. Doris rightful PotM, congrats to Luke on 200. #LEIvSTF
— Harpin' On Rugby (@HarpinOnRugby) January 13, 2024

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FRONT FIVE ARTICLES

Front Five can now be found as part of our weekly 80+ column.

CHAMPIONS CUP WRAP

ROUND 3

NORTHAMPTON 61-14 BAYONNE

LYON 34-20 CONNACHT

EXETER CHIEFS 19-17 GLASGOW WARRIORS

TOULON 18-29 MUNSTER

BRISTOL BEARS 17-31 BULLS

LEINSTER 43-7 STADE FRANCAIS

STORMERS 31-24 SALE SHARKS

CARDIFF 15-54 HARLEQUINS

ULSTER 24-48 TOULOUSE

BATH 29-25 RACING 92

LA ROCHELLE 45-12 LEICESTER

BORDEAUX 55-15 SARACENS

ROUND 4

FRI JAN 19

GLASGOW V TOULON

CONNACHT V BRISTOL

SAT JAN 20

HARLEQUINS V ULSTER

BULLS V BORDEAUX

RACING 92 V CARDIFF

LEICESTER V LEINSTER

MUNSTER V NORTHAMPTON

STADE FRANCAIS V STORMERS

SARACENS V LYON

SUN JAN 21

SALE SHARKS V LA ROCHELLE

TOULOUSE V BATH

BAYONNE V EXETER

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307 : #LEIvULS preview

also available as podcast

our guest : CONOR CRONIN

Leinster : 15. Jimmy O’Brien 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Liam Turner 12. Robbie Henshaw 11. Rob Russell 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Jamison Gibson-Park

1. Cian Healy 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Thomas Clarkson 4. Jason Jenkins 5. James Ryan (c) 6. Ryan Baird 7. Will Connors 8. Caelan Doris

16. Lee Barron 17. Jack Boyle 18. Michael Ala’alatoa 19. Joe McCarthy 20. Jack Conan 21. Luke McGrath 22. Harry Byrne 23. Josh van der Flier

Ulster : 15 Will Addison 14 Rob Baloucoune 13 Luke Marshall 12 Stuart McCloskey 11 Jacob Stockdale 10 Billy Burns 9John Cooney

1 Steven Kitshoff 2 Rob Herring 3 Tom O’Toole 4 Kieran Treadwell 5 Iain Henderson 6 Matty Rea 7 Sean Reffell 8 Nick Timoney.

16 Tom Stewart 17 Andy Warwick 18 Scott Wilson 19 Alan O’Connor 20 Dave Ewers 21 Nathan Doak 22 Mike Lowry 23 Jude Postlethwaite

BKT United Rugby Championship 23/24 Round 9

Monday, January 1, 2024

KO 5:15pm RDS Arena

Live on: RTÉ2, Premier Sports 1, URC.tv

Referee: Frank Murphy (IRFU)

AR 1: Eoghan Cross (IRFU)

AR 2: Tomas O’Sullivan (IRFU)

TMO: Joy Neville (IRFU)

300 : Connacht v Leinster wrap

2 December 2023; Harry Byrne of Leinster kicks a conversion during the United Rugby Championship match between Connacht and Leinster at the Sportsground in Galway. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

@harpinonrugby
Our 300th pod featuring a wrap of Connacht v Leinster is now available on Apple, Spotify and most major platforms #rugbytiktoks🏉 #irishtiktok #irelandtiktok
♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

🏉 MUN, ULS & 7s reviews

🏉 Set pieces in pieces

🏉 Cutting Blade

🏉 Unforced Error Tennis

🏉 That Frawley Step

THIS WEEK’S GUEST

CONOR CRONIN

FULL TIME TAKES

Andrew Byrne
A last minute try can’t paper over those cracks. We were far below where we should be. Is our squad just too big, all this rotation seems to be causing a lack of cohesion in our playing combinations. I only hope we have a better performance in the bank for next week.

Chris McDonnell
Seriously not good enough. This rotating the whole team had to stop. Too many players just not good enough to play for Leinster.

Darran Kearney
Kinda liking that we are playing so poorly early season, instead of beating everyone out the door and learning nothing. Coaches have 6 months to work with the team for the business end of the season. Hoping we can end this season better than we have in the more recent seasons

Christy O’Connor
Way too much rotation, players playing out of position. Lots of schoolboy errors. Have we not learned anything from the last 2 seasons. We rested players that only played 1 or 2 games. This is now getting ridiculous. Stop giving lads time just for the sake of it. We need to give the core players more time and the others should possibly look to move abroad.

Conor O’Shea
Poor performance, but a wins a win. No major injuries for next week from tonight

Eamon Saunders
A lot of mistakes from both sides but good to get the win 👏👏

Went from deserving to be behind to deserving to be ahead to deserving to lose….to a BP win!!! Way to many unforced errors by both sides, just needed that composure at the end. Talk about getting out of jail. Tough on Connacht. Draw would be better result tbf #CONvLEI
— Harpin' On Rugby (@HarpinOnRugby) December 2, 2023

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URC ROUND 7 WRAP

ROUND 7

MUNSTER 40-29 GLASGOW

BULLS 44-10 SHARKS

CARDIFF 23-29 SCARLETS

LIONS 49-24 DRAGONS

ULSTER 24-27 EDINBURGH

STORMERS 31-7 ZEBRE

CONNACHT 22-24 LEINSTER

BENETTON18-13 OSPREYS

ROUND 8

FRI DEC 22

GLASGOW WARRIORS V EDINBURGH

ULSTER V CONNACHT

SAT DEC 23

ZEBRE V BENETTON

STORMERS V BULLS

TUE DEC 26

CARDIFF V DRAGONS

SCARLETS V OSPREYS

MUNSTER V LEINSTER

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292 : Dragons v Leinster wrap

12 November 2023; Dan Sheehan of Leinster on his way to scoring his side’s first try during the United Rugby Championship match between Dragons and Leinster at Rodney Parade in Newport, Wales. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

🏉 Conway tribute

🏉 Big Joe Mac

🏉 Charlie’s 1st

🏉 15v13 fail

🏉 Death, Taxes, Penny

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CONOR CRONIN & JAY LONG

@harpinonrugby
Catch our Dragons v Leinster wrap pod on Spotify, Apple and most major platforms #LeinsterTikTok rugby #Irishtiktok #rugbyunion🏉 #irelandtiktok
♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

FULL TIME TAKES

Christy O’Connor

Overall a good result, but why can’t we take advantage when teams are down a man. They were down 2 players and we just made mistake after mistake.

Need to give Zebre a special mention, first win in 18 months

Dave Murray

Poor conditions but 5 points on the road is most welcome. Would’ve liked some more points to boost the points difference but beggers can’t be choosers I guess. Hopefully injuries aren’t too serious, especially for Tommy O’Brien, who can’t seem to catch a break at all.

Micheal Mac An TSagart

Pointless matches playing poor teams, which ultimately does Leinster no good in the long run when they play the top European teams.

Jamie Donohoe

Let’s hope that coward Basham receives a long ban for that disgraceful late elbow on Ross Byrne. Thuggish behaviour

Anne Byrne Spollen

A wins a win condition dreadful congratulations guy’s 🧢🏉

Alastair McDermott

Ugly conditions, job done.

Far from a classic but many great performances, Joe Mac worthy PotM , captains performance from Dan and pack altogether on top. Couldve won by more but with conditions and all, happy to take 5 pts and run. Up into 2nd place now.#DRAvLEI
— Harpin' On Rugby (@HarpinOnRugby) November 12, 2023

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FRONT FIVE ARTICLES

1 Donncha O’Callaghan names the ‘difference’ that inspired Ulster’s win over Munster (extra.ie) [Martin Healy]

2 Healy drop-goal breaks Connacht hearts in Edinburgh (rte.ie)

3 Munster’s Andrew Conway forced to retire with immediate effect (irishexaminer.com) [Simon Lewis]

4 Irish provinces to combine for series of matches in development plan | Independent.ie [Brendan Fanning]

5 Young French Star Rescues Ronan O’Gara In Last Gasp La Rochelle Win | Balls.ie [Colman Stanley]

URC WRAP

ROUND 4

ZEB 12-10 SHA

ULS 21-14 MUN

CAR 12-18 BUL

BEN 20-17 STO

OSP 23-31 GLA

SCA 23-24 LIO

EDI 25-22 CON

DRA 10-33 LEI

ROUND 5

FRI NOV 17

EDI V BUL

ULS V LIO

ZEB V CAR

SAT NOV 18

SHA V CON

DRA V OSP

MUN V STO

GLA V BEN

LEI V SCA

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290 : Leinster v Edinburgh wrap

4 November 2023; Charlie Shiel of Edinburgh kicks clear during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Edinburgh at the RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

🏉 Best Shield in the Best League?

🏉 AIL roundup

🏉 Defences on top

🏉 Harry’s pivotal moments

🏉 Too many SFPs

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CONOR CRONIN & CIAN O’MUILLEOIR

@harpinonrugby
Our Leinster v Edinburgh wrap now available on Spotify, Apple and most major platforms #irishtiktok #irelandtiktok #rugbyunion🏉 #LeinsterRugby
♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

FULL TIME TAKES

Gavin Hegarty

Tommy O’Brien is a class act! Always hungry. Culhane great also.

Harry Byrne is again failing to live up to the hype unfortunately and will most likely be overtaken by prendergast soon enough.

Where has Tector gone?

(reply to Gavin) Peter Tracey

he’s still training away Gav. Just Prendergast has moved ahead of him. Deegan doing a Ruddock and all the dirty work that’s not seen.

Need to develop a 9 for me with McGrath injured and only JGP for big games. Foley did well last season but trying too hard this season so far with his kicking game. Just do the basics. Murphy had a good passing game when he came on. Best to do it now in these games and at least they’re getting experience. Boyle did well. Another area we need to develop.

Odran John O’Brien

Great outing again for Jack Boyle he’s getting better every game

Christy O’Connor

The game was riddled with mistakes from both sides. Very sloppy passing at times, we gave away some very cheap tries. In the end it was a good win. Barron was motm for me.

Richard Kennedy

Very happy with that. Bonus secured by 51 mins against a team stacked full of Scottish internationals. A young team getting quality game time.

Alan Murphy

I seemed to have watched a different game to most posts – we sit on the 22. Our line-out was a shambles, we gave away 3 scrum penalties and handling was really poor. Lots of weak shoulders for Edinburgh’s tries. Great win but really poor game.

Closer than it needed to be, Edinburgh will be disappointed to come away with nothing given starting lineups, took their attack too long to get going.

Good day for TOB yet again, also Harry, Jamie, overall D & great to see Culhane on scoresheet.

5 welcome pts. #LEIvEDI
— Harpin' On Rugby (@HarpinOnRugby) November 4, 2023

FRONT FIVE ARTICLES

1 Depleted Ulster throw away 17 point lead as Connacht claim two-point win | BelfastTelegraph.co.uk [Michael Sadlier]

2 Munster continue unbeaten start to URC title defence with comfortable win over Dragons (irishexaminer.com) [Simon Lewis]

3 Irish Rugby | Energia All-Ireland League Men’s Divisions: Round 4 Results Round-Up

4 Rassie reveals Bok plans (sarugbymag.co.za)

5 Darren Sweetnam dots down as La Rochelle’s disastrous Top 14 start continues (the42.ie)

URC WRAP

ROUND 3

GLA 20-9 STO

OSP 19-5 SHA

ZEB 29-54 BUL

LEI 36-27 EDI

SCA 31-25 CAR

MUN 45-14 DRA

CON 22-20 ULS

BEN 15-10 LIO

ROUND 4

FRI NOV 10

ZEB V SHA

ULS V MUN

SAT NOV 11

CAR V BUL

BEN V STO

OSP V GLA

SCA V LIO

EDI V CON

SUN NOV 12

DRA V LEI

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283 : Ireland v New Zealand wrap

***2023 Rugby World Cup Quarter-Final, Stade de France, Paris, France 14/10/2023 Ireland vs New Zealand Ireland fans celebrate after Bundee Aki scores a tryMandatory Credit ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan***

🏉 WXV kicks off

🏉 Other QFs review

🏉 Where we were short

🏉 Where they were strong

🏉 Thanks to all esp JS & KE

OUR GUESTS

MARK JACKSON & CONOR CRONIN

with special reports from…Cian O’Muilleoir & “Future Jeff”

FRONT FIVE LINKS

1 Rugby World Cup 2023: Eddie Jones quits as Wallabies coach, Japan, contract, payout, next Wallabies coach, reaction (foxsports.com.au)

2 WXV 3 Round One: Ireland V Kazakhstan – The Irish Times – October 14 2023 | Dáire Walsh (dairewalsh.com) [Daire Walsh]

3 Dupont produces his best on biggest stage but South Africa deliver the pain | Rugby World Cup 2023 | The Guardian [Jonathan Liew]

4 Wales’ Rugby World Cup over as problems emerge at worst possible time – Wales Online [Ben James]

5 England 30-24 Fiji: Owen Farrell’s boot seals Rugby World Cup semi-final spot – BBC Sport

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276 : Ireland v Tonga wrap

2023 Rugby World Cup Pool B, Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes, France 16/9/2023 Ireland vs Tonga Ireland’s Jonathan Sexton Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Our guests…

CONOR CRONIN & RICH MIFSUD

with reports from CIAN O’MUILLEOIR & “FUTURE JEFF”

🏉 Minnows Minimized

🏉 “Future Jeff” reports

🏉 MH > 7

🏉 Record Breaker

🏉 The Bundee Minutes

FRONT FIVE LINKS

1 France overcome impressive Uruguay for second World Cup win (therugbypaper.co.uk) [Nick Powell]

2 All Blacks v Namibia: Cam Roigard sends statement to New Zealand selectors in maiden test start – NZ Herald [Liam Napier]

3 England use lucky break to beat Japan but bonus-point win marred by boos | Rugby World Cup 2023 | The Guardian [Robert Kitson]

4 Match Centre: Rugby World Cup Pool C: Australia 15-22 Fiji (talkingrugbyunion.co.uk) [Frank Nickson]

5 South Africa 76-0 Romania: Cobus Reinach scores second-fastest World Cup hat-trick – BBC Sport

@harpinonrugby
Bundee PotM, Sexton breaks the record, and more Irish tries raining in…we particularly liked this one. #RWC2023 #ShoulderToShoulder
♬ Juliana Hyper Techno Rave Mystical – Beat Charger

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