Category: Contributors

348 : Ulster v Leinster wrap

18 May 2024; Charlie Ngatai of Leinster evades the tackle of Rob Herring of Ulster on his way to scoring his side’s first try during the United Rugby Championship match between Ulster and Leinster at Kingspan Stadium in Belfast. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

🏉 Disjointed

🏉 Somehow ahead

🏉 Much butchering

🏉 Take the three

🏉 Cool Cooney

@harpinonrugby

CHeck out our latest wrap pod on Apple, Spotify and other major platforms rugbytiktok LeinsterRugby URC

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

MARK JACKSON

JAY LONG

FULL TIME TAKES

Paul Smith

Whoever made the call to kick to the line when we are 1 point ahead with 10 minutes to go and straight in front of the posts probably cost us the chance to top the table. A win and we were top and had it totally in our own hands but for sone reason I still can’t fathom we decided to completely f**k it up. Totally sickened right now. Not to take anything away from Ulster who completely deserved the victory tonight but its very rarely you can be so outplayed and still have the chance to come away with a win. We need to see a completely different mindset from Leinster next weekend if we are finally going to get our hands on star number 5.

William Andrew

A dreadful lack of nous to lose that game. Continually kicking the ball away with 5 mins on the clock hoping to make ten meters is not great. A 30 meter through kick to force a Ulster line out in their 22 would have burned a min at least. Plus they are now in danger of conceding a penalty.

Several generations of former Leinster 10s and 9s must be shaking their heads.

Berchmans Gannon

From the sideline the box kicking is not the way to go.

Chasing a bonus point ahead of a win is questionable.

Shit happens! I will still support Leinster without the need for a slaughter of Managment.

Kevin Kelehan

Decent game that could have gone either way, the losing bonus point will get Leinster at least a home QF, the win will guarantee Ulster top tier cup rugby next season.

Colin Mehigan

Another uninspiring performance if I’m honest….our high profile coaching ticket need to rethink strategy

Get in the conversation yourself by leaving

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URC WRAP

ROUND 17

ZEBRE 18-32 SCARLETS

EDINBURGH 26-29 MUNSTER

BULLS 56-35 BENETTON

OSPREYS 26-13 DRAGONS

LIONS 44-21 GLASGOW

CONNACHT 12-16 STORMERS

SHARKS 14-36 CARDIFF

ULSTER 23-21 LEINSTER

ROUND 18 [final round]

FRI MAY 31

LEINSTER V CONNACHT

GLASGOW V ZEBRE

SAT JUNE 1

STORMERS V LIONS

BENETTON V EDINBURGH

SCARLETS V DRAGONS

SHARKS V BULLS

MUNSTER V ULSTER

CARDIFF V OSPREYS

HARPIN MATCH WRAPS

ARE BROUGHT TO YOU BY

THE IRISH RUGBY SHOP

AT ELVERYS

347 : Ulster v Leinster preview

also available as a podcast

Our guest : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

LEINSTER : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Jimmy O’Brien 12. Charlie Ngatai 11. Rob Russell 10. Harry Byrne 9. Cormac Foley

1. Cian Healy 2. Rónan Kelleher 3. Michael Ala’alatoa 4. James Ryan (c) 5. Brian Deeny 6. Max Deegan 7. Will Connors 8. Jack Conan

16. John McKee 17. Michael Milne 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. Ross Molony 20. Scott Penny 21. Luke McGrath 22. Sam Prendergast 23. Ben Brownlee

ULSTER :  15 Ethan McIlroy, 14 Mike Lowry, 13 Will Addison, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Billy Burns, 9 John Cooney;

1 Eric O’Sullivan, 2 Rob Herring, 3 Tom O’Toole, 4 Kieran Treadwell, 5 Alan O’Connor (C), 6 Cormac Izuchukwu, 7 David McCann, 8 Nick Timoney.

16 Tom Stewart, 17 Andy Warwick, 18 Scott Wilson, 19 Harry Sheridan, 20 Matty Rea, 21 Nathan Doak, 22 Stewart Moore, 23 Jude Postlethwaite.

BKT United Rugby Championship 2023/24 Round 17

Saturday, May 18, 2024

KO 7:35pm Kingspan Stadium 

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

Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)

AR1: Robbie Jenkinson (Ireland) 

AR2: Keane Davison (Ireland)

TMO: Leo Colgan (Ireland)

346 : Leinster v Ospreys wrap

11 May 2024; Jordan Larmour of Leinster scores his side’s third try during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Ospreys at the RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
also available on Apple podcasts and most major platforms

🏉 3 up 2 down

🏉 Just the JOB

🏉 Another JL hat-trick

🏉 🍔

🏉 A perfect 10?

@harpinonrugby

Check out our full Leinster v Ospreys wrap pod on Apple, Spotify etc #rugbytiktok #irelandtiktok #LeinsterRugby

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CONOR CRONIN

CIARÁN DUFFY

FULL TIME TAKES

Hubert Gallagher

Frawley looked very comfortable when he went to 10. Another very accomplished game for him. Just wished he got more game time there! Lots still to work on.

Peter Tracey

O’Brien looked sharp and has some serious pace. JGP and Frawley really sped the game up when they played together.

Frankie Taylor

Buzzing. Jimmy was incredible

David White

The spies from Toulouse in the stands leant nothing coz Ospreys were so poor

Tony Doyle

Good win and a great second half by Leinster

Get in the conversation yourself by leaving

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URC WRAP

ROUND 16

DRAGONS 21-44 STORMERS

EDINBURGH 40-14 ZEBRE

BULLS 40-34 GLASGOW

SCARLETS 20-31 ULSTER

SHARKS 24-25 BENETTON

MUNSTER 47-12 CONNACHT

LIONS 34-13 CARDIFF

LEINSTER 61-14 OSPREYS

ROUND 17

FRI MAY 17

ZEBRE V SCARLETS

EDINBURGH V MUNSTER

SAT MAY 18

BULLS V BENETTON

OSPREYS V DRAGONS

LIONS V GLASGOW

CONNACHT V STORMERS

SHARKS V CARDIFF

ULSTER V LEINSTER

HARPIN MATCH WRAPS

ARE BROUGHT TO YOU BY

THE IRISH RUGBY SHOP

AT ELVERYS

345 : Leinster v Ospreys preview

also available as podcast

Our guest : NEIL ‘ KEEGO’ KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

LEINSTER : 15. Ciarán Frawley 14. Jordan Larmour 13. Jamie Osborne 12. Robbie Henshaw 11. Jimmy O’Brien 10. Ross Byrne 9. Luke McGrath

 1. Andrew Porter 2. Rónan Kelleher 3. Tadhg Furlong 4. Ross Molony 5. Jason Jenkins 6. Ryan Baird 7. Will Connors 8. Caelan Doris (c)

16. Dan Sheehan 17. Michael Milne 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. Jack Conan 20. Josh van der Flier 21. Jamison Gibson-Park 22. Charlie Ngatai 23. Tommy O’Brien

OSPREYS :  15. Max Nagy 14. Luke Morgan 13. Owen Watkin 12. Keiran Williams 11. Keelan Giles 10. Dan Edwards 9. Reuben Morgan-Williams

1. Nicky Smith 2. Dewi Lake 3. Rhys Henry 4. James Ratti 5. Huw Sutton 6. Harri Deaves 7. Justin Tipuric (c) 8. Morgan Morris

16. Sam Parry 17. Gareth Thomas 18. Tom Botha 19. Victor Sekekete 20. Jac Morgan 21. Luke Davies 22. Jack Walsh 23. Evardi Boshoff

BKT United Rugby Championship 2023/24 Round 16

Saturday, May 11, 2024

KO 7:35pm RDS Arena 

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

Referee: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)

AR1: Keane Davison (Ireland)

AR2: Oisin Quinn (Ireland)

TMO: Andrew McMenemy (Ireland)

344 : Leinster v Northampton wrap

4 May 2024; James Lowe of Leinster celebrates after scoring his side’s second try during the Investec Champions Cup semi-final match between Leinster and Northampton Saints at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

🏉 Jamie & James
🏉 Chronic knockonitis
🏉 First score after break
🏉 Saints go marching
🏉 Captain Caelan

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

TOM COLEMAN

MARK JACKSON

FULL TIME TAKES

Ronan McManus

After the high of La Rochelle, there was always the risk of a down day.

That being said, we were great in bursts, and were in control for most of the game. The third try had as many “moments” in the buildup phases as any I can remember (I haven’t rewatched it, so I may be misremembering). Furlong’s reverse offload out of the tackle Bairds gallop, Henshaw somehow staying in field to keep the ball alive.

John Hyland

They did well kicking behind us, and using their wingers’ speed in the chase. Our back three look short of pace. Keenan is needed and I reckon Rob Russell might come in for Larmour.

Kevin Kelehan

Great stadium, great crowd, never say die opponents who were an absolute credit to themselves when down and out but dragged themselves back into make it very tight game. Leinster played well for 50 minutes but some very aimless kicking will doubtless be lacerated in the debrief, the pack who gave better than they got must have been super frustrated at times. Doris as always a terrier on the gainline

Gavin Hegarty

A great place to be in to say that we weren’t good but we still won a semi. If we play against Toulouse like that they will take us apart. At halftime we should have been further ahead but my god in the second half we fell asleep. The most unleinsterlike performance in a longtime.

Byrne left a few points out there from the tee but other than that was epic first half.

I was at it and feel as a club we let ourselves down. Atmosphere was lacking anything. Was dead quiet at times. Yes the stadium was blue but we failed to create the cauldron we needed.

I’ll watch it again but from the davin lower it looked like reynal was a bit indecisive. Not checking Frawley being taken out in the air again? I think peno and yellow

Pat Curran

Leinster will have to include Gary Ringrose, Hugo Keenan and James Ryan for the final. It could be what’s required for a European final.

Get in the conversation yourself by leaving

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HARPIN MATCH WRAPS

ARE BROUGHT TO YOU BY

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AT ELVERYS

343 : Leinster v Northampton Saints preview

also available as a podcast

Our guest :

CIAN ‘RUGBY KINO’ O’MUILLEOIR

LEINSTER : 15 C Frawley 14 J Larmour 13 R Henshaw 12 J Osborne 11 J Lowe 10 R Byrne 9 J Gibson-Park

1 A Porter 2 D Sheehan 3 T Furlong 4 R Molony 5 J McCarthy 6 R Baird 7 J van der Flier 8 C Doris (c)

16 R Kelleher 17 C Healy 18 M Ala’alatoa 19 J Jenkins 20 J Conan 21 L McGrath 22 H Byrne 23 J O’Brien

NORTHAMPTON : 15 George Furbank 14 James Ramm 13 Tommy Freeman 12 Fraser Dingwall 11 George Hendy 10 Fin Smith 9 Alex Mitchell

1 Alex Waller 2 Curtis Langdon 3 Trevor Davison 4 Alex Moon 5 Alex Coles 6 Courtney Lawes (c) 7 Sam Graham 8 Juarno Augustus

16 Sam Matavesi 17 Emmanuel Iyogun 18 Elliot Millar Mills 19 Temo Mayanavanua 20 Angus Scott-Young 21 Tom James 22 Tom Litchfield 23 Tom Seabrook

Investec Champions Cup 2023/24 Semifinal

Saturday, May 4, 2024

KO 5:30pm  Croke Park

Live on: RTÉ2, TNT Sports 2

Referee: Mathieu Raynal (Fra)

AR1: Pierre Brousset (Fra)

AR2: Luc Ramos (Fra)

TMO: Thomas Charabas (Fra)

342 : Stormers v Leinster/Ireland v Scotland wrap

2024 Guinness Women’s Six Nations Championship Round 5, Kingspan Stadium, Belfast 27/4/2024Ireland vs ScotlandIreland’s Katie Corrigan scores her sides first try despite Mairi McDonald and Alex Stewart of Scotland Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Ben Brady

🏉 Fastest wrap ever
🏉 Four provinces in top 8
🏉 Women’s heroics
🏉 Northampton’s threat
🏉 Roll on Croker

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CIARÁN DUFFY

JAY LONG

TOM COLEMAN

FULL TIME TAKES

William Andrew

We know why, but it still hurts.

Kevin Kelehan

Great to see Gus McCarthy step up, a steep learning curve for the emerging squad members, far from ideal to have back to back away games in South Africa when squad rotation is at its peak. The lads showed decent fight in the third quarter but the errors in the first half were mostly preventable.

Greg Kelly

*Copy and Paste last week’s comments*

On the bright side our young lads dominated the 3rd quarter but the inexperience and inaccuracies were evident. They’ll get better and they’ll learn from this. However if we end up trophyless again this season I’m not sure these “kids school trips” to SA will not cut the mustard.

In a wider sense I don’t like where the URC is going. Some of the fixure scheduling is…suspicious. I think the SA franchises are gaining more than they add to it and teams being forced by pragmatism, timing or necessity to give up 2 games and 10 points undermines true competition.

Richard Kennedy

A big rethink needed on sending our 2nd/3rd string down to get pummelled in by hardened pros in SA. Some of those young players simply aren’t ready for that level yet

Warren Doyle

Much as expected. Training ground stuff didn’t work in the heat of battle. Very little inivotive thinking once that failed. Experience – yes. Knowledge – ?. Could be critical but players don’t need that.

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

ROUND 15

SCARLETS 27-32 SHARKS

ULSTER 38-34 BENETTON

ZEBRE 9-40 GLASGOW

BULLS 61-24 OSPREYS

CARDIFF 7-24 EDINBURGH

LIONS 13-33 MUNSTER

STORMERS 42-12 LEINSTER

DRAGONS 27-34 CONNACHT

ROUND 15

FRI MAY 10

DRAGONS V STORMERS

EDINBURGH V ZEBRE

SAT MAY 11

BULLS V GLASGOW

SCARLETS V ULSTER

SHARKS V BENETTON

MUNSTER V CONNACHT

LIONS V CARDIFF

LEINSTER V OSPREYS

HARPIN MATCH WRAPS

ARE BROUGHT TO YOU BY

THE IRISH RUGBY SHOP

AT ELVERYS

341 : Stormers v Leinster preview

also available as a podcast

Our guest : NEIL ‘KEEGO’ KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

LEINSTER : 15. Henry McErlean 14. Liam Turner 13. Ben Brownlee 12. Charlie Ngatai 11. Rob Russell 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Cormac Foley

1. Michael Milne 2. John McKee 3. Michael Ala’alatoa 4. Brian Deeny 5. Jason Jenkins 6. Rhys Ruddock 7. Scott Penny (c) 8. Max Deegan

16. Gus McCarthy 17. Ed Byrne 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. Conor O’Tighearnaigh 20. Diarmuid Mangan 21. Fintan Gunne 22. Charlie Tector 23. Martin Moloney

STORMERS: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Dan du Plessis, 12 Damian Willemse, 11 Ben Loader, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies

1 Brok Harris, 2 Joseph Dweba, 3 Neethling Fouche, 4 Salmaan Moerat (c), 5 Ruben van Heerden, 6 Marcel Theunissen, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 8 Evan Roos 

16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Kwenzo Blose, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Connor Evans, 20 Willie Engelbrecht, 21 Hacjivah Dayimani, 22 Stefan Ungerer, 23 Wandisile Simelane

BKT United Rugby Championship 2023/24 Round 15

Saturday, April 27, 2024

KO 6:05pm  DHL Stadium

Live on: TG4, Premier Sports 2, URC.tv

Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)

AR1: Marius vd Westhuizen (SARU)

AR2: Christopher Allison (SARU)

TMO: Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR)

340 : Lions v Leinster wrap & URC run-in overview

20 April 2024; Charlie Ngatai of Leinster, supported by teammate Scott Penny, is tackled by PJ Botha of Emirates Lions during the United Rugby Championship match between Emirates Lions and Leinster at Emirates Airline Park in Johannesburg, South Africa. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

🏉 Lions cohesion

🏉 No way back

🏉 Fast news week

🏉 Race for the top 8

🏉 May squad management

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CONOR CRONIN & RICH MIFSUD

FULL TIME TAKES

Odran John OBrien

A game I’ve already forgotten 😉😂

Alastair McDermott

That was embarrassing. Performance was naive and inaccurate. Some of that is on the young lads not performing individually, but I think a major part is some of the older lads we’d hope to step up and lead in those circumstances failed to do so.

Greg Kelly

We were playing touch rugby in defence. If you are one of the teams fighting for 4th-8th you’d be excused for asking why Leinster don’t serve up 5 points away to you too?🤷‍♂️ We started dreadfully and then when we found a rythem we were woefully inaccurate.

Getting beaten like that is acceptable if we can walk away with silverware at the end. If not then questions need to be asked.

Éamonn Rogers

Honestly it was a game with little at stake played at 1700m (for context nearly 700m higher than Carrountoohil) I’d see it as nothing more than a blooding exercise/fixture we are obliged to fulfil. The stats show that there were a lot of positive elements. We (thankfully) don’t have the luxury of sending our primary team down like our southern cousins. Overall I’d say we could have done better but not the end of the world

Kevin Kelehan

A lot of players will be very disappointed with their performance, got the chance to shine and made unforced errors, hopefully a big improvement next week.

William Andrew

Looked like an unfocused Leinster. Distracted by the hype of this last week, etc etc. Everyone who has ever played knows you have to be dialed in 100% or you will struggle.

Lions were very sharp and handled the blitz defence with pace and good passing. Northampton are going to be all over this video.

A wake up call, last season we were great and not great for about the last three minutes in two games. 😢

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

ROUND 14

ULSTER 19-17 CARDIFF

GLASGOW 21-10 SHARKS

LIONS 44-12 LEINSTER

BENETTON 36-19 DRAGONS

BULLS 22-27 MUNSTER

STORMERS 21-27 OSPREYS

CONNACHT 54-16 ZEBRE

EDINBURGH 43-18 SCARLETS

ROUND 15

FRI APR 26

SCARLETS V SHARKS

ULSTER V BENETTON

SAT APR 27

ZEBRE V GLASGOW

BULLS V OSPREYS

CARDIFF V EDINBURGH

LIONS V MUNSTER

STORMERS V LEINSTER

DRAGONS V CONNACHT

HARPIN MATCH WRAPS

ARE BROUGHT TO YOU BY

THE IRISH RUGBY SHOP

AT ELVERYS

339 : Lions v Leinster preview

also available as podcast

Our guest : NEIL ‘KEEGO’ KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

LEINSTER : 15: Ciarán Frawley 14: Rob Russell 13: Liam Turner 12: Charlie Ngatai 11: Andrew Osborne 10: Harry Byrne 9: Luke McGrath

1: Cian Healy 2: Lee Barron 3: Thomas Clarkson 4: Brian Deeny 5: Jason Jenkins 6: Diarmuid Mangan 7: Scott Penny (c) 8: Max Deegan

16: John McKee 17: Michael Milne 18: Michael Ala’alatoa 19: Ross Molony 20: Rhys Ruddock 21: Cormac Foley 22: San Prendergast 23: Ben Brownlee

LIONS : 15. Quan Horn 14. Richard Kriel 13. Erich Cronje 12. Marius Louw (c) 11. Edwill van der Merwe 10. Sanele Nohamba 9. Morne van den Berg

1. Morgan Naude 2. PJ Botha 3. Ruan Dreyer 4. Willem Alberts 5. Ruan Delport 6. JC Pretorius 7. Emmanuel Tshituka 8. Francke Horn
16. Jaco Visagie 17. JP Smith 18. Asenathi Ntlabakanye 19. Reinhard Nothnagel 20. Sibusiso Sangweni 21. Nico Steyn 22. Jordan Hendrikse 23. Henco van Wyk

BKT United Rugby Championship 2023/24 Round 14

Saturday, April 20, 2024

KO 2pm  Emirates Airlines Park

Live on: RTÉ2, URC.tv

Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)

AR1: Morne Ferreira (South Africa)

AR2: Christopher Allison (South Africa)

TMO: Andrea Piardi (Italy)