Category: Contributors

228 : Harpin Preview Show – #EDIvLEI

OUR GUEST : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

Leinster : 15. Ciarán Frawley 14. Jordan Larmour 13. Liam Turner 12. Jamie Osborne 11. Dave Kearney 10. Harry Byrne 9. Luke McGrath

1. Michael Milne 2. John McKee 3. Michael Ala’alatoa 4. Ross Molony 5. Jason Jenkins 6. Rhys Ruddock > CAPTAIN 7. Scott Penny 8. Max Deegan

16. Lee Barron 17. Jack Boyle 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. Brian Deeny 20. Will Connors 21. Nick McCarthy 22. Charlie Tector 23. Rob Russell.

Edinburgh : 15. Emiliano Boffelli 14. Damien Hoyland 13. Mark Bennett 12. James Lang 11. Wes Goosen 10. Charlie Savala 9. Ben Vellacott

1. Boan Venter 2. Stuart McInally 3. Lee-Roy Atalifo 4. Marshall Sykes 5. Sam Skinner 6. Luke Crosbie > CAPTAIN 7. Hamish Watson 8. Viliame Mata

16. Dave Cherry 17. Jamie Jack 18. Elliot Millar-Mills 19. Jamie Hodgson 20. Nick Haining 21. Charlie Shiel 22. Jaco van der Walt 23. Chris Dean.

BKT United Rugby Championship 2022/23

Round 15

Sat Mar 4 KO 5:05pm

DAM Health Stadium

Live on: TG4, Viaplay/Premier Sports, URC.tv

Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)

AR1: Sam Grove-White

AR2: Ian Kenny 

TMO: Jon Mason

227 : Opposition view – Edinburgh & Scotland

DAM Health Stadium, Edinburgh

With both Leinster & Ireland playing in the Scottish capital the next two weekends, our perfect guest to offer an opposition view was Sandy “@theburghwatch” Smith.

OUR GUEST : SANDY SMITH

More links : SUBSTACK BLOG

@harpinonrugby

With both Leinster & Ireland playing in the Scottish capital the next two weekends, our perfect guest to offer an opp view was @theburghwatch

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

226 : ITALY v IRELAND WRAP

2023 Guinness Six Nations Championship Round 3, Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy 25/2/2023 Italy vs Ireland Ireland’s Mack Hansen Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

🏉 IRELAND’S CAAAA…..

🏉 Centre, Backrow & Halfback options

🏉 ……..AAAAAAAA………

🏉 Italy’s improvement

🏉 …AAAAAAAAAAAAALL.

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CONOR CRONIN & TOM COLEMAN

PLUS A SPECIAL REPORT FROM RICH MIFSUD

FULL TIME TAKES

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Imelda Reidy Great Italian performance. Job done. 5 points. On we roll.

Andrew Byrne Today showed one thing in particular, that Gary Ringrose is a world class operator and is streets ahead of the rest of them at playing outside centre. 12 and 13 are two very different positions, as shown by our defensive lapses today.

Alan Murphy Brilliant. Two teams playing the game in a positive way. Italy have really improved. Let’s be honest, some of our team today were 2-3rd choice and a few played out of position. We scored a bonus point, left some tries out there and also managed to think our way out of danger today. Previously we would have lost this game. Building strength in depth. So positive from me.

TWITTER

MASTODON

Joanne  In fairness to Kieran Crowley, not only has he got Italy playing brilliantly, he’s got them believing too. So good to see and long may it continue.

Koochulainn Another win with a bonus point without conceding a losing bonus.

The performance wasn’t perfect, and Italy found some flaws in the defensive system, but you can’t get any more than five points.

Italy were great value for money too. After today and the 20s last night Italian rugby is heading in a good direction.

POTM Mack Hansen dropping an F bomb in the post match interview was a lovely coda

Colm Splendid match. Continued resurgence and improvement from Italy, and as usual this year, Ireland responded magnificently to pressure. Really looking forward to Murrayfield next month.

FRONT FIVE ARTICLES

  1. Former Ireland international Tom Tierney, who coached Irish women’s team, dies aged 46 – Independent.ie [Ruairidh O’Connor]
  2. Ireland U20s withstand second-half surge to keep back-to-back Grand Slam ambitions alive (the42.ie) [Daire Walsh]
  3. Ulster stun Sharks with sensational victory in Durban | BelfastTelegraph.co.uk [Jonathan Bradley]
  4. Borthwick praises England’s tactical nous in ‘incredible Test match’ – england | Rugby365 [via AFP]
  5. Scotland suffer first Six Nations defeat in France despite valiant effort after early red cards | The Scotsman [Graham Bean]

6N RD 3 & URC ROUND 6 WRAP

6N WRAP

ROUND 3

ITA 20-34 IRE

WAL 10-20 ENG

FRA 32-21 SCO

ROUND 4

MAR 11

ITA V WAL

ENG V FRA

MAR 12

SCO V IRE

URC WRAP

ROUND 6

SHA 24-31 ULS

LIO 35-24 GLA

ROUND 15

MAR 3

GLA V ZEB

MUN V SCA

MAR 4

STO V SHA

BUL V LIO

EDI V LEI

OSP V BEN

DRA V CON

CAR V ULS

HARPIN’ MATCH WRAPS

ARE BROUGHT TO YOU BY

THE IRISH RUGBY STORE 

225 : Harpin Preview Show #ITAvIRE

OUR GUEST : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

IRELAND v Italy : 15 Hugo KEENAN 14 Mack HANSEN 13 Garry RINGROSE Bundee AKI 12 Bundee AKI Stuart McCLOSKEY11 James LOWE 10 Ross BYRNE 9 Craig CASEY

1 Andrew PORTER 2 Rónan KELLEHER 3 Finlay BEALHAM 4 Iain HENDERSON 5 James RYAN (c) 6 Caelan DORIS 7 Josh VAN DER FLIER 8 Jack CONAN

16 Dan SHEEHAN 17 Dave KILCOYNE 18 Tom O’TOOLE 19 Ryan BAIRD 20 Peter O’MAHONY 21 Conor MURRAY 22 Jack CROWLEY 23 Stuart McCLOSKEY Jimmy O’BRIEN

Italy : 15 A Capuozzo 14 E Padovani 13 JI Brex 12 T Menoncello 11 P Bruno 10 P Garbisi 9. S Varney

1 D Fischetti 2 G Nicotera 3 S Ferrari 4 N Cannone 5 F Ruzza 6 S Negri 7 M Lamaro (c) 8 L Cannone

16 L Bigi 17 F Zani 18 M Riccioni 19 E Iachizzi 20 G Pettinelli 21 A Fusco 22 L Morisi 23 T Allan

Guinness Six Nations 2023

Round 3

Sat Feb 25  KO 2:15pm

Stadio Olimpico

Live on: RTÉ2, ITV1

Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU)

AR1: Wayne Barnes (RFU)

AR2: Craig Evans (WRU)

TMO: Marius Jonker (SARU)

224 : Leinster v Dragons wrap

18 February 2023; Rhys Ruddock of Leinster celebrates with teammate Dave Kearney after scoring his side’s third try during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Dragons at RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

🏉 Welsh mess

🏉 Rhys Ruddock

🏉 Dragons fronting up

🏉 Harry Byrne

🏉 G**** S***

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

TOM COLEMAN & CIARÁN DUFFY

click here for Ciarán’s fundraising page

FULL TIME TAKES

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Greg Kelly

Not a great performance. Probably the worst or amongst the worst of the season. Quite disjointed and not as controlled as Leinster teams usually are.

Performance aside its yet another routine win that was never really in doubt. The URC is great for blooding players but week by week it becomes worse for challenging them.

Andrew Bailey

First up you have to play a referee who’s agenda from the start is to favour the home team. But you can’t do that with poor lineouts , Ruck protection snd an awful kicking game. A big win but worst performance of the season. Why not trust the outside backs more ??

TWITTER

MASTODON

RichardMifsud Had a bit of everything that one. Always love watching the young kids getting a run out. Second 40 saw a dip in intensity that let Dragons back into the game and gave the boys good practice on D. A bit of a flourish at the end with two well worked tries. Invaluable experience for the kids and Rhys a worthy POTM although Lukey pushed for that too Liam Turner had a good outing and it was great to see Jason J and Will on the pitch

INSTAGRAM

John Shine  I’m jumping aboard the Jack Boyle hype train!!! In all seriousness it was a nice little 20 mins for him.  Held up his end of the scrum. Couple of good carries and a great jackal turnover.  Bigger tests await but he’s an exciting prospect.

FRONT FIVE ARTICLES

  1. Welsh rugby’s almighty mess, the immoral treatment of players and the uncomfortable truths – Wales Online [Steffan Thomas]
  2. Blow for Ireland & Munster as full extent of Tadhg Beirne injury revealed | SportsJOE.ie [Jason Hennessy]
  3. Gavin Coombes stars as nine-try Munster rout Ospreys at Thomond (irishexaminer.com) [John Fallon]
  4. URC: Connacht score nine tries in comfortable victory over Zebre – The Irish Times [Linley MacKenzie]
  5. Glasgow v Ulster: bench impact helps Warriors extend unbeaten run (theoffsideline.com) [David Barnes]

URC ROUND 14 WRAP

ROUND 14

GLA 17-11 ULS

MUN 58-3 OSP

LIO 7-29 SHA

ZEB 37-57 CON

BUL 19-23 STO

CAR 30-13 BEN

SCA 42-14 EDI

LEI 43-14 DRA

REARRANGED MATCHES

ROUND 6

SHA V ULS

LIO V GLA

ROUND 15

MAR 3

GLA V ZEB

MUN V SCA

MAR 4

STO V SHA

BUL V LIO

EDI V LEI

OSP V BEN

DRA V CON

CAR V ULS

HARPIN’ MATCH WRAPS 

ARE BROUGHT TO YOU BY 

THE IRISH RUGBY STORE 

223 : Harpin Preview Show – #LEIvDRA

Our guest : CONOR CRONIN

Leinster : 15. Jimmy O’Brien 14. Jordan Larmour 13. Liam Turner 12. Jamie Osborne 11. Dave Kearney 10. Harry Byrne 9. Luke McGrath

1. Michael Milne 2. John McKee 3. Michael Ala’alatoa 4. Ross Molony 5. Brian Deeny 6. Rhys Ruddock > CAPTAIN 7. Scott Penny 8. Max Deegan

16. Lee Barron 17. Jack Boyle 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. Jason Jenkins 20. Will Connors 21. Nick McCarthy 22. Charlie Tector 23. Rob Russell

Dragons RFC: 15 A O’Brien 14  Tomkinson 13 S Hughes 12 J Dixon 11 A Hewitt 10 W Reed 9 R Williams (c)

1 R Jones 2 B Coghlan 3 L Fairbrother 4 M Screech 5 B Carter 6 B Fry 7 T Basham 8 R Moriarty

16 J Benjamin 17 A Seiuli 18 C Coleman 19 S Lonsdale 20 R Woodman 21 L Jones 22 JJ Hanrahan 23 J Williams

BKT United Rugby Championship 2022/23

Round 14

Sat Feb 18  KO 7:35pm

RDS Arena

Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU)

AR 1: Oisin Quinn (IRFU) 

AR 2:  Sam Holt (IRFU)

TMO:  Dave Sutherland (SRU)

Live on: RTÉ, S4C, Viaplay, Premier Sports, SuperSport, Discovery + & URC.tv

222 – The Book On How You Become A Pro Rugby Player feat. Brian Moylett

For this bonus pod I chat to Mindset & Performance Coach Brian Moylett about his book with the perfectly descriptive title of “The Book On How You Become A Pro Rugby Player”.   He outlines his own rugby journey and how it inspired him to help others.

TO BE IN WITH A CHANCE OF WINNING A SIGNED COPY OF BRIAN’S BOOK, DOWNLOAD THE FREE FANZO APP AND JOIN OUR PREDICTION LEAGUE, CODE = HARPIN .

Our guest…BRIAN MOYLETT

Home

The Off-Field Rugby Pod | Podcast on Spotify

221 : IRELAND v FRANCE wrap

©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

MARK JACKSON & CONOR CRONIN

FULL TIME TAKES

FACEBOOK

James Griffin

Given the travails experienced by the Murray family this past week, Conor showed immense fortitude and strength of character to even tog out today. Delighted for him and the whole squad! A fantastic performance.

Imelda Reidy

Some game. Outstanding from Ireland. There can be no argument now about the No. 1 team in the world. Need to drive on now and continue to improve. ☘☘

Gavin Hegarty

My god.what a game. We just got a bp over the second best team in the world.

Let’s not mention the definite red card.

Every man in green (bar Hanson in my view) was utterly outstanding.

Tom O’Toole, my god where did that come from? Was worried about bealham before the Wales games now we have three class tightheads.

Chuck Doris, world’s best 8. Completely outplayed alldrit.

Lowe’s try, Mon dieu c’est magnifique.

Take a bow Ireland, you have wrecked me.

TWITTER

MASTODON

Koochulainn @Koochulainn So that’s the “bogey match” and the “defacto title decider” out of the way Bring on the “gimme” (which isnt what it used to be), the “potential banana skin”, and the “Auld enemy”.

Séamus Mac an tSábhaisigh @jamessavage French rugby fans affronted by selective tv replays …  #karma winning big games well but with clear room for improvement each time is a very exciting place to be.

FRONT FIVE ARTICLES

  1. Worcester Warriors change name and drop down leagues amid anger at RFU | Worcester | The Guardian [Michael Aylwin]
  2. How would the Rugby World Cup pools look based on today’s rankings? [Sarah Rendell]
  3. U-20 star Sam Prendergast shows nerves of steel to get Six Nations weekend off to winning start – Independent.ie [Sean O’Connor]
  4. Scotland v Wales: Finn Russell pulls the strings as hosts rampage to record win (theoffsideline.com) [David Barnes]
  5. England 31-14 Italy: Pragmatic hosts claim first win under Steve Borthwick – BBC Sport [Mantej Mann]

SIX NATIONS ROUND 2 WRAP

ROUND 2

IRE 32-19 FRA

SCO 35-7 WAL

ENG 31-14 ITA

FEB 25

ITA V IRE

WAL V ENG

FEB 26

FRA V SCO

HARPIN’ MATCH WRAPS 

ARE BROUGHT TO YOU BY 

THE IRISH RUGBY STORE 

220 Harpin Preview Show #IREvFRA

OUR GUEST : CIAN O’MUILLEOIR

Ireland: 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Mack Hansen 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Stuart McCloskey 11. James Lowe 10. Johnny Sexton > (c) 9. Conor Murray 

1. Andrew Porter 2. Rob Herring 3. Finlay Bealham 4. Tadhg Beirne 5. James Ryan 6. Peter O’Mahony 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Caelan Doris

16. Ronan Kelleher 17. Dave Kilcoyne 18. Tom O’Toole 19. Iain Henderson 20. Jack Conan 21. Craig Casey 22. Ross Byrne 23. Bundee Aki 

France: 15 T Ramos 14 D Penaud 13 G Fickou 12 Y Moefana 11 E Dumortier 10 R Ntamack 9 A Dupont (C)

1 C Baille 2 J Marchand 3 U Atonio 4 T Flament 5 P Willemse 6 A Jelonch 7 C Ollivon 8 G Alldritt

16 G Barlot 17 R Wardi 18 S Falatea 19 R Taofifenua 20 F Cros 21 S Macalou 22 B Couillourd 23 M Jalibert

Guinness Six Nations 2023

Round 2

Sat Feb 11  KO 2:15pm

Aviva Stadium

Referee: Wayne Barnes (RFU)

AR1: Matthew Carley (RFU)

AR2: Jordan Way (RA)

TMO: Brendon Pickerill (NZR)

Live on: RTÉ 2

219 : “Becoming a rugby commentator/Promoting the AIL” feat. Justin Middleton

For this bonus pod I am joined by Justin Middleton, probably known by Leinster fans as the commentator along with James Lowe from Leinster v Chile earlier in the season, who tells us how he broke in to rugby broadcasting as well as explaining how more streaming can help raise the profile of the Energia Alll Ireland League.

Our guest…JUSTIN MIDDLETON