Category: Conor Cronin

Twitter : @ccbooms
HoR.net contributions : 18 pods, 22 overall

208 : Ospreys v Leinster wrap

7 January 2023; Jimmy O’Brien of Leinster celebrates after scoring his side’s third try during the United Rugby Championship between Ospreys and Leinster at the Swansea.com Stadium in Swansea, Wales. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

RICHARD MIFSUD

[plus a special report from CONOR CRONIN]

FULL TIME TAKES

FACEBOOK

Conor Cronin A few key things from this game that concern me.

The pack were bullied in the first half, and let themselves be.

Harry Byrne struggled behind the pack, but they’re not entirely to blame for his struggles. He needs a lot more time and needs to build confidence behind a dominant pack.

The scrum was awful. We have suffered as a province since Fogarty went to the Ireland set up, that needs to be dealt with.

Grinding out the win is great, and you learn much more from a game like that. But we need to learn fast, especially if the injury Ross Byrne picked up last night is bad.

Paul Smith Probably the poorest we’ve played in a good while, but the sign of a good team is to still manage to win while playing poorly so we’ll the gladly take the points and move on.

TWITTER

https://twitter.com/nigeljames2003/status/1611836796983463943?s=20&t=7MEWdDbd5jQ4LH84nkAxuA

MASTODON

WRRAP podcast @WRRAP@toot.wales It is not often you see a Leinster pack hit reverse but deserved the win

Brian Nisbet @natural20 19-24 in Swansea. Come back was quite late, but a win is a win and well done to the lads for doing what needed to be done.

Jay Long @Jay_Long_626 Seriously good win on the road and Ospreys were proper up for it. Turned it on when it counted, I think Nick McCarthy won us that game imo. Just slipped us into a flow. Never in doubt 

FRONT FIVE ARTICLES

  1. Munster secure vital bonus point win against the Lions (irishexaminer.com) [Simon Lewis]
  2. Benetton 31-29 Ulster: Struggling Irish province suffer late URC defeat in Italy – BBC Sport
  3. Conor Cronin report on Leinster v Connacht in Women’s Interpro
  4. Connacht outclass second-string Sharks (sarugbymag.co.za)
  5. Does Irish rugby have enough space for the talent it’s producing? (the42.ie) [Murray Kinsella] > bonus clip from the chat on this article available on our YouTube channel

URC ROUND 12 WRAP

ROUND 12

DRA 14-29 BUL

MUN 33-3 LIO

BEN 31-29 ULS

EDI 24-17 ZEB

CAR 22-28 SCA

CON 24-12 SHA

OSP 19-24 LEI

GLA 24-17 STO

ROUND 13

JAN 27

SCA V BUL

ULS V STO

JAN 7

BEN V MUN

DRA V GLA

LEI V CAR

EDI V SHA

CON V LIO

JAN 8

ZEB V OSP

HARPIN’ MATCH WRAPS

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206 : Leinster v Connacht wrap

1 January 2023; Ryan Baird of Leinster on his way to scoring his side’s sixth try during the United Rugby Championship between Leinster and Connacht at RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

TOM COLEMAN

CONOR CRONIN

FULL TIME TAKES

FACEBOOK

Gavin Hegarty Boring. It’s tiresome how even after they get ahead we don’t fear the result. Yes I know it’s a good position to be in but we’ve suffered as a result before, Saracens, la Rochelle etc. We need to be challenged more.

Chris McDonnell Another shocking day at the lineout. Its been a while since we had one if them but that was not acceptable. Kelleher will not get his starting jersey back from sheahan until he learns how to throw the ball

TWITTER

MASTODON

rhubarbsticks Ryan Baird in full flight is a sight to behold. A scrappy enough performance but plenty of positives to go forward with.

RugbyKino A tale of 3 parts to that match. A tight, well-matched fast-paced game gave way to more of a broken-up tussle in midfield in the second half. But come the final quarter Leinster flexed their handling muscle and put Connacht to the sword.

A shame Connacht don’t come away with something as the scoreline doesn’t do them justice.

However, Johnny coming off with a big dent in his face is a worry, possibly for the next 2-6 weeks.

RichardMifsud Really entertaining match at the RDS Connacht competitive deep into it but a couple of late tries put a gloss on the score line Good performance from the much changed side with a fair crop of youngsters Lineout issues need to be resolved but that apart a good enough performance Top of the pile in January 2023 let’s see how it pans out 🤷🏻‍♂️ Good performances from JL and Ryan B Deeny looked good and the Foley cameo was exciting 

james @gortoshay putting 40 pts on Connacht while still having plenty of work ons is a nice place to be. Leinster being made to work for their victories this season. I’m hoping it stands to them at the business end. Sexton definitely a worry.

FRONT FIVE ARTICLES

  1. Andy Farrell dressing room phonecall captured after Ireland beat All Blacks | SportsJOE.ie [Pat McCarry]
  2. What did Joe Marler say to Jake Heenan? – Rugby World 
  3. No relegation will produce more shocks – Baxter – Huge Rugby News 
  4. Stephen Jones and Gethin Jenkins leave Wales coaching jobs with immediate effect as Gatland shakes up his backroom team – Wales Online [Ben James]
  5. Dan McFarland calls Ulster ‘terrible’ in late defeat to Munster | Belfast News Letter [Ciaran Donaghy]

URC ROUND X WRAP

ROUND 11

EDI 25-32 GLA

ZEB 17-40 BEN

SHA 47-20 BUL

STO 40-8 LIO

CAR 19-22 OSP

ULS 14-15 MUN

SCA 33-17 DRA

LEI 41-12 CON

ROUND 12

JAN 6

DRA V BUL

MUN V LIO

JAN 7

BEN V ULS

EDI V ZEB

CAR V SCA

CON V SHA

OSP V LEI

JAN 8

GLA V STO

HARPIN’ MATCH WRAPS

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200th episode special featuring “Season So Far Quiz”

200th episode special featuring "Season So Far Quiz" – Harpin' On Rugby

Test your knowledge of Leinster & Ireland’s season so far, and see if you can beat our contributors, in this quiz to help celebrate our 200th episode. Our guests… CONOR CRONIN https://twitter.com/ccbooms TOM COLEMAN https://twitter.com/LeinsterRoyalty MARK JACKSON https://twitter.com/hoomanbear RICHARD MIFSUD https://twitter.com/Once_in_the_job Where to find Harpin’ On Rugby Website > https://harpinonrugby.com/ Mastodon > @HarpinOnRugby@mastodon.ie Twitter > https://twitter.com/HarpinOnRugby Facebook > https://www.facebook.com/HarpinOnRugby Instagram > https://www.instagram.com/harpinonrugby/ TikTok > https://www.tiktok.com/@harpinonrugby YouTube > https://youtube.com/@HarpinPreviewShow

If you think you can answer questions like the one in the graphic above in five seconds or less, then have a go at our quiz there’s 12 altogether, see if you can do better than three of our contributors.

183 : Scarlets v Leinster wrap

28 October 2022; Max Deegan of Leinster is tackled by Dan Thomas of Scarlets during the United Rugby Championship match between Scarlets and Leinster at Parc Y Scarlets in Llanelli, Wales. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

🎃👻CONOR “SCARECROW”-NIN👻🎃

🎃👻RICHARD “WEREWOLF”-SUD👻🎃

FULL TIME TAKES

Conor Cronin

BP win on the road, always a good thing. Was it perfect and world class? No. But it was enough against poor opposition. We continue to build players and get them experience, nothing wrong with that. Definitely something wrong with the penalty count though

Martin Lynch

Played Great . Great To See The New Lads Making Their Debuts . Top Of The Table . 👍🏉💙

Greg Kelly

If you’ve seen one of these games you’ve seen them all. Blood a few new players on the conveyer belt in a pretty run of the mill 5 pointer against poor opposition.

Ronan McManus

Rob Russell isn’t the flashiest player on the pitch but he has shown, so far this year, that his awareness, positioning and finishing are absolutely first class.

Scarlets were poor though.

FRONT FIVE ARTICLES

Leinster Rugby | Mick Dawson – A Celebration! [Marcus Ó Buachalla]

Rugby in the firing line as brain damage is linked to contact sport – The Irish Times [Gerry Thornley]

29 Irish women’s players take up contract offers worth €15k to €30k (the42.ie) [Murray Kinsella]

Fightback not enough as injury-hit Munster suffer third derby defeat (irishexaminer.com) [Simon Lewis]

Carty drop-goal seals Connacht win in Swansea | Rugby365

URC ROUND 7 WRAP

Round 7

GLA 37-0 BEN

SCA 5-35 LEI

LIO 22-31 STO

DRA 47-7 ZEB

MUN 14-15 ULS

OSP 19-22 CON

BUL 40-27 SHA

CAR 17-25 EDI

Round 8

FRI NOV 25

STO V SCA

ULS V ZEB

SAT NOV 26

BUL V OSP

BEN V EDI

LEI V GLA

MUN V CON

SUN NOV 27

LIO V DRA

SHA V CAR

HARPIN MATCH WRAPS ARE BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE IRISH RUGBY STORE

178 : Connacht v Leinster wrap

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CONOR CRONIN

MARK JACKSON

FULL TIME TAKES

Conor Cronin Messy night, and Connacht would’ve been deserving of the BP. But to focus on leinster, the lineout needs some work quickly. I appreciate that 2 of our ex players were in there but it, some poor hands and some poor discipline meant no opportunity to use good field position and meant we allowed Connacht to be in the game at half time. Must be more clinical in any game, but particularly with how fired up Connacht are and were tonight

Chris McDonnell There’s the reason that andy farrell has a restraining order keep ross byrne 10 miles from the irish squad.

Martin Loughrey Well that was an arm wrestle. I’m almost disappointed for Connacht. (I like Connacht and the way they play). Thought they did a lot really well and can feel a bit robbed to come away with nothing. Can’t remember a match with so many knock ons. 4gs pitches lie. A dirty night in Galway but hard to tell because the players were so clean. All in all, a win on the road is a win on the road. Luckily they sorted the lineout after the first 20 mins.

Craig Grehan The more I watch. The more I think that younger munster fella is looking like the next green 10.

Delighted to see JoeMcCarthy get a run.

Great up front “up the jumper” rugby match

Derek McGee To call it “one for the purists” is to overestimate the tolerance of the average purist. Both teams conspired to shoot themselves in both feet whenever it looked like they were gaining an advantage. Really silly errors by both teams. Yes, there was Weather with a capital W but it’s Galway, there’s always Weather. There was a real chance for Leinster to capitalise on the wind in the second half but they didn’t take the advantage offered. A game that further burnished Jason Jenkins’ reputation by dint of his absence. The lineout was a real worry all night & it’s something that needs work ahead of Munster next weekend. Not all doom & gloom, to be fair: Josh doing Josh things, Dan Sheehan good in the loose, Big Mike bringing a bit of power in the second half & I thought Liam Turner had a decent showing in an unfamiliar position. A win is a win is a win but the video session on Monday morning might have a 18 rating for excessive adult language…

Richard Collumb Always a tough battle with the boys from the west. Bit of rust from some of the returning players but still undefeated against an improving team and lots of ex Leinster players with points to prove.

Gerald Williamson Not a great advertisement for rugby to watch.

@harpinonrugby

Josh doing Josh things. #CapCut

♬ Thunderstruck – AC/DC

FRONT FIVE ARTICLES

2023 Rugby World Cup chief executive sacked due to ‘alarming management practices’ (the42.ie) [via AFP]

Wasps & Worcester: ‘If it can happen to a club the size of Wasps, who else might it happen to?’ – BBC Sport

France heroics still not enough | Scrum Queens [Alison Donnelly]

Ulster head coach Dan McFarland left ‘really proud’ as province secure first win in South Africa after taming Lions – BelfastTelegraph.co.uk [James Bradley]

Munster punish underwhelming Bulls (sarugbymag.co.za) [Rienk De Beer]

URC WRAP

Round 5

OSP 16-16 STO

CON 0-10 LEI

LIO 37-39 ULS

SHA 40-12 GLA

EDI 53-8 BEN

CAR 31-14 DRA

SCA 36-12 ZEB

MUN 31-17 BUL

Round 6

FRI OCT 21

BEN V BUL

CON V SCA

SAT OCT 22

ZEB V EDI

LIO V GLA

SHA V ULS

LEI V MUN

CAR V STO

SUN OCT 23

DRA V OSP

HARPIN ON RUGBY MATCH WRAPS ARE BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE IRISH RUGBY STORE

169 : Leinster v Benetton wrap

Catch the full pod using the player below

FRONT FIVE ARTICLES

Stuart Lancaster set to leave Leinster to take up Racing 92 post from next season – The Irish Times : Gerry Thornley

Fans In Awe Of Breathtaking Ulster Win Over Scarlets | Balls.ie : Colman Stanley

Bundee Aki sees red as Connacht well beaten by Stormers in URC clash – Independent.ie : John Fallon

Dragons 23-17 Munster: Welsh side secure thrilling win despite off-field upheaval – Wales Online : Tom Coleman

All Blacks happy with ‘hard’ title win (sarugbymag.co.za)

FULL TIME TAKES

Richard Collumb Positives: Frawley looked good at 10, line out functioned well as did scrum (mostly).

Negatives: too many aimless kicks, defence shaky, Ross Byrne didnt stamp authority on game

Gavin Hegarty Needing work: first up tackles. The backline seemed to have a nice rush defence but this broke down quite a bit when the first up tackles were missed or broke. It was very unleinsterlike.

Marcas Mac Siacais  much improved obv from a stronger side than last week..Baird is a 6 leave him there please…hope frawley off was precautionary…that Josh VDF has a future if he works hard….

Chris McDonnell Jenkins is better than i thought, mcgrath and byrne are playing the wrong sport, all they want to do is kick the ball. Frawley was good, josh was josh, dan is unstoppable, great achievement for healy, larmour was very good and was henshaw. worried about Doris.

Kevin OCeallaigh I was disappointed with Benetton. The final score didn’t reflect the gulf between the teams.

If you want to get involved in the discussion, just head to our Facebook page around the full time whistle and leave your thoughts.

URC ROUND 2 WRAP

Round 2

ZEB 37-42 SHA
GLA 52-24 CAR
LEI 42-10 BEN
SCA 39-55 ULS
BUL 33-31 EDI
STO 38-15 CON
OSP 27-28 LIO
DRA 23-17 MUN

Round 3

FRI SEP 30
BUL V CON
ULS V LEI
CAR V LIO

SAT OCT 1
STO V EDI
OSP V GLA
MUN V ZEB
BEN V SCA
DRA V SHA

HARPIN MATCH WRAPS ARE BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE IRISH RUGBY STORE

Pod 168 : #LEIvBEN preview

also available as podcast using player below

168 : #LEIvBEN preview – Harpin' On Rugby

LEINSTER :  15. Jimmy O’Brien 14. Jordan Larmour 13. Garry Ringrose > CAPTAIN 12. Robbie Henshaw 11. Dave Kearney 10. Ciarán Frawley 9. Luke McGrath  1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Michael Ala’alatoa 4. Jason Jenkins 5. James Ryan 6. Ryan Baird 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Caelan Doris  16. Rónan Kelleher 17. Ed Byrne 18. Cian Healy 19. Ross Molony 20. Will Connors 21. Cormac Foley 22. Ross Byrne 23. Charlie Ngatai.  Benetton : 15 Ignacio Mendy 14 Mattia Bellini 13 Joaquin Riera 12 Marco Zanon 11 Onisi Ratave 10 Giacomo Da Re 9 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne  1 Ivan Nemer 2 Giacomo Nicotera 3 Simone Ferrari 4 Niccolò Cannone 5 Scott Scrafton 6 Giovanni Pettinelli 7 Michele Lamaro (c) 8 Toa Halafihi  BENCH: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17 Federico Zani , 18 Filippo Alongi, 19 Carl Wegner, 20 Henry Time-Stowers, 21 Manfredi Albanese , 22 Tommaso Menoncello, 23 Ratuva Tavuyara  BKT United Rugby Championship 2022/23 – Round 2  Friday, September 23, 2022 KO 7:35pm  RDS Arena  Referee: Jaco Peyper  AR1 : Paul Haycock AR2 : Andrew Fogarty TMO : Ian Davies TV : TG4, Freesports, URC.TV Our guest… CONOR CRONIN https://twitter.com/ccbooms Where to find Harpin’ On Rugby Website > https://harpinonrugby.com/ Twitter > https://twitter.com/HarpinOnRugby Facebook > https://www.facebook.com/HarpinOnRugby Instagram > https://www.instagram.com/harpinonrugby/ TikTok > https://www.tiktok.com/@harpinonrugby

Benetton : 15 Ignacio Mendy 14 Mattia Bellini 13 Joaquin Riera 12 Marco Zanon 11 Onisi Ratave 10 Giacomo Da Re 9 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne

1 Ivan Nemer 2 Giacomo Nicotera 3 Simone Ferrari 4 Niccolò Cannone 5 Scott Scrafton 6 Giovanni Pettinelli 7 Michele Lamaro (c) 8 Toa Halafihi

BENCH: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi (25), 17 Federico Zani (64), 18 Filippo Alongi (19), 19 Carl Wegner (14), 20 Henry Time-Stowers (esordiente), 21 Manfredi Albanese (esordiente), 22 Tommaso Menoncello (17), 23 Ratuva Tavuyara

BKT United Rugby Championship 2022/23 – Round 2

Friday, September 23, 2022

KO 7:35pm (Irish time)

RDS Arena

Referee: Jaco Peyper

AR1 : Paul Haycock

AR2 : Andrew Fogarty

TMO : Ian Davies

TV : TG4, Freesports, URC.TV

Weather forecast for Friday evening (as of Thursday)

Pod 160 : Harlequins v Leinster wrapup

You can listen to pod using player below

EXTRA THOUGHTS

From 2008-last season the bulk of my Harpin’ On Leinster & Ireland rugby was done in the form of a “match writeup” which would post every Monday afternoon, while I added a weekly podcast in 2019 to cover broader topics around the sport.

This season just to mix things up I have chosen to do less articles and more pods and the weekend just gone gave me the first chance to try out a new type of “wrapup” pods where instead of reviewing the most recent match in my own words, I’ll instead chat to some fellow fans about it. And I think we gave it a decent go in our first attempt if I do say so myself, which I do. Obvs there are things that need to be ironed out and I plan to upgrade my equipment as the season goes along but I’m happy enough with the new format so far.

But that certainly won’t stop me writing and I’ve decided to create this ‘extra thoughts’ heading for these posts where I can add things I may have forgotten to add or perhaps clarify somethind a listener brougtup in some feedback, stuff like that.

For the win at Quins there were a couple of impressive performances I forgot to mention, like Alex Soroka who seems to have picked up where he left off after his PotM display in South Africa earlier in the year, and of the 19 year olds who had prolonged cameos, Ben Brownlee had an error or two but certainly nothing to suggest he wont improve and as for Sam Prendergast he did really well under the circumstances, particularly that territory kick that put us in a position to claim the match winning try.

On the Harlequins side I forgot to give an honourable mention to their centre Lennox Anyanwu who had some really strong carries, with himself and Dombrandt representing the home side’s most potent threats.

Also on the pod we spoke about “full time takes” and I realise I forgot to add my own so here’s what I tweeted…

Sadly there is no Leinster match next weekend so as well as using the time to go around the provinces to see how their squads are shaping up, I plan to follow both the Irish Women’s and Men’s 7s squads as they take part in the World Cup, with the men taking part in the very first match of the weekend on Friday morning, so stay tuned for that.

Don’t forget to follow us wherever you can, we’re well established on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram but also this season we’re aiming to increase our presence on both YouTube and TikTok so as the saying goes “smash that subscribe button”!!! JLP

FRONT FIVE ARTICLES

1) Another poor start sees Munster end pre-season winless (irishexaminer.com) by Stephen Barry

2) Jacob Stockdale’s try-scoring return caps Ulster’s night as victory over Exeter ramps up preparations for new season – BelfastTelegraph.co.uk by Jonathan Bradley

3) Leinster Rugby | Conor O’Brien to Retire from Rugby by Marcus Ó Buachalla

4) All Blacks bounce back strongly to punish Argentina 53-3 in Hamilton | Stuff.co.nz by Aaron Goile on Stuff

5) New faces revive old Boks (sarugbymag.co.za) by Zelim Nel on Sa Rugby Mag

HARPIN’ MATCH WRITEUPS ARE BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE IRISH RUGBY STORE