Category: Contributors

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

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CHAMPIONS CUP WRAP

NEXT HARPIN’

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT : “EPCR QUARTERFINAL PREVIEW”

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN INCLUDING FRONT 5 VIDEO

THURSDAY

THROWBACK THURSDAY

424 : Leinster v Harlequins preview

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST

Preview also available on our YouTube channel

Our guest : MARK JACKSON

LEINSTER : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Jamie Osborne 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Robbie Henshaw 11. James Lowe 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Jamison Gibson-Park

1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Rabah Slimani 4. Joe McCarthy 5. RG Snyman 6. Jack Conan 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Caelan Doris (C)

16. Gus McCarthy 17. Jack Boyle 18. Tadhg Furlong 19. Ryan Baird 20. Max Deegan 21. Luke McGrath 22. Ross Byrne 23. Jordie Barrett

HARLEQUINS : 15. Leigh Halfpenny 14. Tyrone Green 13. Oscar Beard 12. Ben Waghorn 11. Nick David 10. Marcus Smith 9. Will Porter

1. Fin Baxter 2. Jack Walker 3. Titi Lamositele 4. Joe Launchbury 5. Chandler Cunningham-South 6. Jack Kenningham 7. Will Evans 8. Alex Dombrandt (C)

16. Sam Riley 17. Wyn Jones 18. Simon Kerrod 19. Irne Herbst 20. George Hammond 21. Danny Care 22. Jamie Benson 23. Luke Northmore

Investec Champions Cup 24/25 Rd of 16

Saturday, April 5, 2025

KO 3pm  Croke Park

Live on : RTÉ2 & Premier Sports 2

Referee : Pierre Brousset (Fra)

AR1 : Kevin Bralley (Fra)

AR2 : Thomas Charabas (Fra)

TMO : Tual Trainini (Fra)

423 : Sharks v Leinster wrap

29 March 2025; Max Deegan of Leinster makes a break during the United Rugby Championship match between Hollywoodbets Sharks and Leinster at Hollywoodbets Kings Park in Durban, South Africa. Photo by Shaun Roy/Sportsfile

🏉  Low expectations

🏉  Toothless Sharks

🏉  Bridge pass

🏉  The Max Deegan All-Stars

🏉  Holding on

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CONOR CRONIN

DAVID CORDIAL

FULL TIME TAKES

Bert McLoughlin

Not really a great game for a neutral but I’m not neutral, great win. Max was superb

Kevin Kelehan

Noon last week hoped for 2 points out of both games, last week ahead for 83 minutes and just caught in the end by a super dogged Bulls side and this week won a proper dogfight. The scores weren’t spectacular, but players like Deegan, Soroka and Penny never stopped working, the depth that Leinster have is embarrassing. To take 5 points from a trip they have struggled on in recent seasons is really encouraging

Cormac Mannion

Fantastic win. Frawley still doesn’t seem to have recovered his mojo after last autumn, albeit he was great for Penny’s try

Bernie Cunningham

Grt win, boys left it all on the pitch, delighted for the younger lads and to bring home 4pts from SA brill.👏👏

Eamon Saunders

Great performance from such a inexperienced bunch at this level given the opposition 💪👏👏

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URC WRAP

NEXT HARPIN’

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT : “LEINSTER’S CHAMPIONS CUP 23”

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN INCLUDING FRONT 5 VIDEO

THURSDAY

THROWBACK THURSDAY

422 : Sharks v Leinster preview

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST

Our guest : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

LEINSTER : 15. Jimmy O’Brien 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Liam Turner 12. Charlie Tector 11. Andrew Osborne 10. Ciarán Frawley 9. Fintan Gunne

1. Cian Healy 2. John McKee 3. Thomas Clarkson 4. Diarmuid Mangan 5. Brian Deeny 6. Alex Soroka 7. Will Connors 8. Max Deegan (c)

16. Lee Barron 17. Michael Milne 18. Rory McGuire 19. Alan Spicer 20. Scott Penny 21. Oliver Coffey 22. Ross Byrne 23. Henry McErlean

SHARKS : 15 Yaw Penxe 14 Ethan Hooker 13 Jurenzo Julius 12 Andre Esterhuizen

11 Makazole Mapimpi 10 Jordan Hendrikse 9 Jaden Hendrikse

1 Ox Nche 2 Bongi Mbonambi 3 Vincent Koch 4 Jason Jenkins

5 Emile van Heerden 6 James Venter 7 Vincent Tshituka 8 Siya Kolisi (c)

16 Fez Mbatha 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu 18 Ruan Dreyer 19 Corne’ Rahl

20 Manu Tshituka 21 Bradley Davids 22 Siya Masuku 23 Francois Venter

BKT United Rugby Championship Round 14

Saturday, March 29, 2025

KO 5:15pm  Hollywoodbets Kings Park

Live on : RTÉ2, Premier Sports 2 & URC.tv 

Referee: Ben Breakspear (WRU)

AR 1: Christopher Allison (SARU)

AR 2: Hanru van Rooyen (SARU)

TMO: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)

421 : Bulls v Leinster wrap

22 March 2025; Fintan Gunne of Leinster offloads to teammate Jordie Barrett during the United Rugby Championship match between Vodacom Bulls and Leinster at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria, South Africa. Photo by Shaun Roy/Sportsfile

🏉  Preparedness

🏉  Pts left behind

🏉  Penalties galore

🏉  Separation anxiety

🏉  Scrum’s the word

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

TOM COLEMAN

RICHARD MIFSUD

URC WRAP

NEXT HARPIN’

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT : “THE RSA TOURS”

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN INCLUDING FRONT 5 VIDEO

420 : Bulls v Leinster preview

Our guest : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

LEINSTER

15. Jimmy O’Brien 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Hugh Cooney 12. Jordie Barrett 11. Andrew Osborne 10. Ross Byrne 9. Luke McGrath (c)

1. Jack Boyle 2. John McKee 3. Rabah Slimani 4. RG Snyman 5. Diarmuid Mangan 6. Max Deegan 7. Will Connors 8. James Culhane

16. Stephen Smyth 17. Ivan Soroka 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. Brian Deeny 20. Alex Soroka 21. Scott Penny 22. Fintan Gunne 23. Ciarán Frawley

BULLS

15. Willie le Roux 14. Sebastian de Klerk 13. David Kriel 12. Harold Vorster 11. Stravino Jacobs 10. Keagan Johannes 9. Embrose Papier 

1. Alulutho Tshakweni, 2. Akker van der Merwe, 3. Wilco Louw, 4. Ruan Vermaak, 5. JF van Heerden, 6. Marcell Coetzee (c), 7. Jannes Kirsten, 8. Cameron Hanekom, 

16. Johan Grobbelaar, 17. Jan-hendrik Wessels, 18. Mornay Smith, 19. Reinhardt Ludwig, 20. Marco van Staden, 21. Nizaam Carr, 22. Zak Burger, 23. Devon Williams

BKT United Rugby Championship Round 13

Saturday, March 22, 2025

KO 3pm  Loftus Versfeld

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

Referee: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)

AR 1: Cwengile Jadezweni (SARU)

AR 2: Sean Muller (SARU)

TMO: Ben Breakspear (WRU)

419 : Italy v Ireland wrap

2025 Guinness Six Nations Championship Round 5, Stadio Olimpico, Rome 15/3/2025Italy vs IrelandIrelands Dan Sheehan scores his third try despite Paolo Garbisi of ItalyMandatory Credit ©INPHO/Billy Stickland

🏉 Italian backs
🏉 Missed chances
🏉 Dan x 3
🏉 No try x 3
🏉 Polishing a 3rd

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

JAY LONG

DAVID CORDIAL

FULL TIME TAKES

Kevin Kelehan

Italy were solid and pumped, only for the cards they may well have won this game, Ireland were good in spells but a lot of unforced errors, something you did not see in the 2022/23 season

Eamon Saunders

Sorry to say but the second best team won today and sad to say the the ref and TMO were bad 5 mins looking at a knock on and 5 seconds looking a a perfect try

John Hyland

(reply to Eamon Saunders) I totally disagree. Ireland played poorly but they were not the second best team

Cormac Mannion

We looked badly coached today. Zero inventiveness and unsure in defence. Far too many unforced errors

Angela Cassin Jackson

Tough game but a win is a win. 4 out of 5 wins and a triple crown a lot to be proud of. Well done Ireland as usual they represented their country wonderfully 💚☘️💚☘️💚☘️💚

Gavin Hegarty

We were shit at the things you can’t coach. Bad knock ons and handling errors. Really not like us.

We looked unfit and unmotivated.

Crowley left too many points out there

,this is meant to be his strength. 2/5 just isn’t good enough.

Sean MacDonnchadha

Thank god this hobble towards the end of the tournament has come. Gameplan needs an overhaul, skill levels need to come up, fitness looks an issue, depth needs to be built, attack needs to be less reliant on just set piece plays and most importantly confidence needs to be rebuilt.

Monica Keeler

Lets just applaud the lads ..and our 3 Retirees Cian, Peter and Conor..we better regroup before next year…Dont see many Lions in our squad.. oh and no way Lowe was in touch 🤬

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SIX NATIONS WRAP

NEXT HARPIN’

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT : “IRISH DEPTH CHART”

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN INCLUDING FRONT 5 VIDEO

THURSDAY

THROWBACK THURSDAY (on Substack)

FRIDAY

BULLS V LEINSTER PREVIEW FEATURING KEEGO

418 : Italy v Ireland preview

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST

Our guest : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

IRELAND : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Mack Hansen 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Robbie Henshaw 11. James Lowe 10. Jack Crowley 9. Jamison Gibson-Park

1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Finlay Bealham 4. James Ryan 5. Tadhg Beirne 6. Jack Conan 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Caelan Doris (c)

16. Gus McCarthy 17. Jack Boyle 18. Tadhg Furlong 19. Joe McCarthy 20. Peter O’Mahony 21. Conor Murray 22. Sam Prendergast 23. Bundee Aki

 ITALY : 15 Tommaso Allan 14 Ange Capuozzo 13 Juan Ignacio Brex (c) 12 Tommaso Menoncello 11 Monty Ioane 10 Paolo Garbisi 9 Martin Page-Relo 

1 Danilo Fischetti 2 Gianmarco Lucchesi 3 Simone Ferrari 4 Dino Lamb 5 Federico Ruzza 6 Sebastian Negri 7 Manuel Zuliani 8 Lorenzo Cannone

16 Giacomo Nicotera 17 Mirco Spagnolo 18 Giosuè Zilocchi 19 Niccolò Cannone 20 Michele Lamaro 21 Ross Vintcent 22 Stephen Varney 23 Leonardo Marin

Guinness Six Nations 2025 Round 5

Saturday, March 15, 2025

KO 2:15pm  Stadio Olimpico

Live on : RTÉ2, ITV1

Referee: Luke Pearce (Eng)

AR1 : Angus Gardner (Aus)

AR2 : Morné Ferreira (SA)

TMO: Andrew Jackson (Eng)

FPRO: Tual Trainini (Fra)

417 : Ireland v France wrap

2025 Guinness Six Nations Championship Round 4, Aviva Stadium, Dublin 8/3/2025Ireland vs FranceIreland’s Andrew Porter Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

🏉  70% possession

🏉  Ruckgate

🏉  Peter O’Matador

🏉  Billy Barry

🏉  2 little 2 late

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CIAN O’MUILLEOIR

HUGO GORDON

FULL TIME TAKES

Warren Doyle

Game lost in first 20 minutes. We didn’t achieve the points to counter the French flair. What came after was very predictable.

Gavin Macarthur

France came to play rugby and they are a fantastic team. The Irish squad can learn a lot from this kind of defeat – at least the openings for the younger players are starting to appear. It is never good to see ‘supporters’ leaving the stadium early – poor form.

Cuan Mulligan

France deserved the win. However…. Odd decision about POM been taken out, French player then runs through that hole. Ref shouting at France to use the ball 3 or 4 times, well over 5 seconds and nothing. Conor Murray upright and we drive him over the line, utterly confusing strategy, should have got him to ground and gone again. Be interesting to get the stats of how many no tries Ireland have by been held up…

Ger Ecki

Another crunch match lost and lost comprehensively…..Another poor performance when challenged. Slams lost 2 years running by losing one crucial match. Got away with it last year by being over feted for winning the Championship…..not so lucky this time. Losing Lowe at the beginning meant we lost our only reliable backline try scorer but they lost DuPont so all bets were off. Ireland collapsed and didn’t fire a shot. Those last 2 trys were gifted by an exhausted French who knew they had the job done….

James Griffin

Outmuscled all day long. We didn’t have the power to break their defence or stop their offence.

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SIX NATIONS WRAP

NEXT HARPIN’

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT : “TEST TICKET PRICING”

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN INCLUDING FRONT 5 VIDEO

416 : Ireland v France preview

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST

Our guest : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

IRELAND : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Jamie Osborne 13. Robbie Henshaw 12. Bundee Aki 11. James Lowe 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Jamison Gibson-Park 

1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Finlay Bealham 4. Joe McCarthy 5. Tadhg Beirne 6. Peter O’Mahony 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Caelan Doris (c)

16. Rob Herring 17. Cian Healy 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. James Ryan 20. Jack Conan 21. Ryan Baird 22. Conor Murray 23. Jack Crowley

FRANCE : 15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Pierre-Louis Barassi, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Antoine Dupont (c)

1 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 2 Peato Mauvaka, 3 Uini Atonio, 4 Thibaud Flament, 5 Mickaël Guillard, 6 Francois Cros, 7 Paul Boudehent, 8 Gregory Alldritt

16 Julien Marchand, 17 Cyril Baille, 18 Dorian Aldegheri, 19 Emmanuel Meafou, 20 Hugo Auradou, 21 Oscar Jegou, 22 Anthony Jelonch, 23 Maxime Lucu

Guinness Six Nations 2025 Round 4

Saturday, March 8, 2025

KO 2:15pm  Aviva Stadium

Live on : RTÉ2, ITV1

Referee: Angus Gardner (Aus)

AR1: Matthew Carley (Eng)

AR2: Christophe Ridley (Eng)

TMO: Ian Tempest (Eng)

FPRO: Andrew Jackson (Eng)