16 October 2021; Jack Carty of Connacht celebrates scoring his side’s second try, as Joey Carbery of Munster looks on, during the United Rugby Championship match between Munster and Connacht at Thomond Park in Limerick. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sports Filey
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This week we harp on Saturday’s try fest at the RDS as well as taking a quick look at the other provinces, the Women’s World Cup, Emerging Ireland and the AIL.
Harpin’ On Rugby match wrap ups are brought to you by The Irish Rugby Store
Our guests…
TOM COLEMAN
https://twitter.com/LeinsterRoyalty
RICHARD MIFSUD
https://twitter.com/Once_in_the_job
FRONT FIVE ARTICLES
Ferns win as Aussies mourn what might have been | Scrum Queens – John Birch
'We dominated the physicality' says Andy Friend as Connacht kickstart season (irishexaminer.com) – Simon Lewis
Key wins for Clontarf, Trinity, Terenure and Ballynahinch in the AIL (the42.ie) – Dave Mervyn
Ulster ease back to winning ways by running seven tries past poor Ospreys on comfortable night at Ravenhill – BelfastTelegraph.co.uk – Jonathan Bradley
Emerging Ireland hold off Cheetahs to complete unbeaten tour in South Africa – The Irish Times – Daire Walsh
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Andrew Potts There is a gratuitous physicality to SA rugby, we lost a few players to careless confrontation, hopefully two of them will not be a serious as it looked.The refereeing needs sharpening up as both teams looked confused by what was being applied at the breakdown.Nice to see a very mean Leinster coming out in the second half and all the lads off the bench more than happy to dish it out.Not often Leinster hit 50 points and think it was a contest.One down side was not getting the last try. 60 points would have been nicenicely
Martin Loughrey Watched the 1st half live and just finished the 2nd after feeding the kids/animals. What a game!! So many good things, but the main thing that stands out is adaptablity. How many players were out of position at the end of that 80 minute 20 point win over a good strong opposition? Obviously I hope that Ruddock, Larmour, Ngaitai, but most of all Baird are ok. But a great team performance across the 23. Ringrose obviously impressed on the wing of all places. Byrne came on in the centre, and Martin Mololney and Foley got a lot more game time than originally planned, but the team stayed on course. Rob Russell did very little wrong on his debut and crossed the whitewash. Henshaw was his usual self, as was Sheehan, and Ngatai’s kick for Henshaw’s try wasn’t just incredible for it’s accuracy, but also the awareness in it. All in all a great performance. Roll on next week!
Sexton is an elite #10. You see it in every action he has on the field. Real quality.
You can see him fighting for his players too with the referee. That's what you want to see, even if you don't like it. Proper captain. #LEIvSHA
Dave Murray Questionable tackling aside it was a great end to end game of rugby. The addition of the 4 SA teams have definitely improved the league and will make it much more exciting to watch going forward and in Europe.
Richard Collumb Fantastic win, best game of rugby I’ve seen in while. Ringrose class, Foley great with quick ball & Sexton still the master. Tough games like this can only help Leinster (& Ireland) this season.
The standard of fare this evening at the RDS, from both sides, left one feeling very satisfied.
There are other teams who have a lot of work to do.#LEIvSHA
Roy Thompson Cracking game of Rugby. High scoring, and highly entertaining. Yes, there were errors, but both sides were fully committed, creating and taking scoring opportunities. A great game to watch.
Greg Kelly Not sure how the Baird one wasn’t red. Abrahams makes no attempt to challenge for the ball and flips him in the air causing him to land head first. You take the 2nd Sharks player out and Abrahams would have walked.
Gavin Hegarty Thoroughly enjoyable game. Some great flowing rugby but also some awful defensive mistakes from Leinster so I’d say they are going to have a rough week. The majority of the sharks tries came from our mistakes which created a large overlap for them.
Way too much to harp on in one tweet but what impressed me most was how we went for tap n go penalties early in 2nd half, despite our earlier breakdown woes, and backed them up with tries each time.
Oh, and is there anyone doubting URC=Best League now? 😜#LEIvSHA
LEINSTER : 15. Jimmy O’Brien 14. Jordan Larmour 13. Robbie Henshaw 12. Charlie Ngatai 11. Rob Russell 10. Johnny Sexton > CAPTAIN 9. Luke McGrath
1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Michael Ala’alatoa 4. Ross Molony 5. Jason Jenkins 6. Ryan Baird 7. Will Connors 8. Jack Conan
16. John McKee 17. Cian Healy 18. Vakhtang Abdaladze 19. James Ryan 20. Rhys Ruddock 21. Cormac Foley 22. Ross Byrne 23. Garry Ringrose.
Cell C Sharks : 15. Aphelele Fassi 14. Werner Kok 13. Rohan Janse Van Rensburg 12. Ben Tapuai 11. Thaakir Abrahams 10. Boeta Chamberlain 9. Grant Williams
1. Ntuthuko Mchunu 2. Kerron van Vuuren 3. Thomas du Toit (c) 4. Justin Basson 5. Hyron Andrews 6. James Venter 7. Dylan Richardson 8. Sikhumbuzo Notshe
Replacements : 16. Dan Jooste 17. Dian Bleuler 18. Carlu Sadie 19. Reniel Hugo 20. Phepsi Buthelezi 21. Cameron Wright 22. Nevaldo Fleurs 23. Marnus Potgieter
United Rugby Championship 22/23 Round 4
Saturday, October 8, 2022
RDS Arena
Kickoff 5:05pm
Referee: Craig Evans (WRU)
AR 1: Peter Martin (IRFU)
AR 2: Keane Davison (IRFU)
TMO: Sean Brickell (WRU)
Live on: RTÉ, Premier Sports, SuperSport, Discovery + & URC.tv
Welcome to my 80+ column, a new weekly post featuring my final thoughts from the week of rugby just gone.
Obviously, it was a good weekend to be a Leinster fan, no win in Belfast comes easily although we just about deserved the one we got on Friday. Had a great chat as always harpin’ on it with the lads on Sunday, check out the pod if you missed it, and while you’re at it maybe subscribe to the feed too if you don’t mind.
MUNSTER’S SEASON & LEINSTER’S LINEOUTS
I try to keep the pods to under an hour but often that means leaving out material I really want to keep in. That was definitely the case on Sunday night as during the “Front Five” section, where I try to keep things brief to get to the main topic quickly, Tom & Mark went off on an excellent riff about Munster’s season so far, so while I cut it from the main pod I thought I’d add it here as something of a bonus. There’s also a bit more to the audio as I put in a question I asked them about Leinster’s lineouts v Ulster as opposed to those against Benetton the week before.
BEST LEAGUE GETTING EVEN BETTER
I’ll harp on our contributors’ prediction league further down the column but apart from the banter it provides it also makes me focus even more on the full slate of matches every weekend and I have to say it has been a cracking competition so far, even just 23 matches in.
Normally I’m something of a “defensive purist” and multiple scorelines where the losing side has over 30pts isn’t always my idea of perfect, but it’s more about the sides that were towards the end of the table last season doing well, like Zebre and Dragons, both of which have already given top 8 opposition a serious run for their money.
Absolutely no match is a given and that’s as it should be. Who needs relegation eh?
RAININ’ HILL
I was obviously delighted with the Leinster win on Friday night but I always had soft spot for Ulster and I have said many a time over the years that they have had a continued run of shocking luck.
From losing key players for various reasons beyond the provincial branch’s control, to having controversial decisions go against them in big matches, to my personal favourite – in the one year they actually finish top of the Celtic League and earn a home final, that’s also the year they have to switch it to Dublin…and who do they happen to be playing???
And I know they deservedly did the double over us last season but in real terms that didn’t get them anything more than bragging rights as we ended up finishing first anyway, and even this weekend, the trademark Friday night downpour didn’t hit until after we had built a lead.
I was sure to bring that up when I was a guest on the Red Hand podcast on Saturday, check out the episode here.
EMERGING IRELAND
Not much I can add to Tom’s evaluation of the touring side’s opening fixture last Friday, only that perhaps the Griquas were playing as though they had been sampling some free Windhoek Draught courtesy of their sponsors. That’s not to take anything away from our lads of course, as the saying goes you can only play what’s in front of you, and it is true that as the game wore on they really started to gel nicely with Jack Crowley pulling the strings.
Obviously from a Leinster POV it was a shame that Ciarán Frawley was unavailable as he really does need some time in a 10 jersey so he can realise the potential we all know he has. Still, there’s always room for another quality 10 with the initials JC in a green jersey!!!
INJURY REPORT
Not a whole lot in the line of good news in this week’s report, would wish for the likes of Messrs Keenan and Lowe to be moving up the list soon. Also the withdrawals of Kelleher before kickoff in Belfast and Dave Kearney during halftime are both concerns, and with Sheehan getting so much game time the past couple of weekends I can’t imagine him also starting against the Sharks at the RDS on Saturday.
INJURY UPDATE – AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
James Ryan: came through the game at the weekend with no issues after recovering from a hamstring injury
Will Connors: came through the game at the weekend with no issues after recovering from a back injury
Liam Turner: has recovered from a toe injury and will return to full training this week
INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:
Caelan Doris: was withdrawn for a Head Injury Assessment in the first half against Benetton Rugby and will continue to be assessed this week as he comes through the Graduated Return to Play Protocols
Rónan Kelleher: was a late withdrawal from the Leinster Rugby match day 23 with a hamstring injury and will be further assessed this week
Dave Kearney: was withdrawn at half time against Ulster Rugby with an adductor injury and will be further assessed this week
INJURY UPDATE – UNAVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
Jamison Gibson-Park: picked up a hamstring injury in training last week and will be unavailable for selection this week
There are no further updates on:
Ciarán Frawley (shoulder), Hugo Keenan (abdominal & knee injury), James Lowe (calf), James Tracy (neck), Charlie Ryan (knee), Tommy O’Brien (knee)
ALL HAIL THE AIL
The Women’s All Ireland League kicked off a few weeks ago, with Old Belvedere leading the way, while the men returned to action the weekend just gone, with champions Clontarf beginning their defence of the title with a win over UCD. There were also wins for Trinity, Terenure, Ballynahinch & Cork Con.
I always say it – I would LOVE to be able to give the club game more coverage, we tried it a good few years ago with a series called “Roots & All” where we reached out to 5 different clubs throughout the season but it became too time consuming. What I’ll do instead is offer regular updates in this column, paying particular attention to players in the Leinster provincial system as I go.
For example, Charlie Tector was playing at 10 for Lansdowne as they were edged out by “The Hinch” on the Aviva back pitch, while the Terenure side that scored an impressive 39-3 win at Shannon included Marcus Hanan, as well as some familiar names from days gone by like Harrison Brewer, Jordan Coghlan & Cathal Marsh.
PREDICTION LEAGUE
So in Superbru whoever earned the most points in a week gets a “yellow cap” but despite the fact I have yet to earn one in the three rounds of the URC I am still somehow top of the Harpin League. I guess it’s a classic case of “slow and steady wins the race” or at least “leads the race after 1/6th of the race”…but like I’ve said before, this league is not about finishing first, it’s about not finishing last and having to wear The Jersey Of Doom and so far it’s Keego who sits in that position. He actually did really well on Friday, predicting the Ulster v Leinster margin on the button, but I think going for a Zebre win by 3 at Musgrave Park might have been a risk too far…
THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Sharks are up next for Leinster, at the RDS on Saturday evening. I’ll be talking to AP Cronje about their squad during the week, then on Friday I’ll have Keego with me for The Preview Show, with the usual wrapup recorded on Sunday evening and of course all the regular features during the week, stay tuned to any or all of our social media platforms. In the meantime, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
Is it terrible of me to be disappointed at being out scored in the second half?
Away from home that’s a good win, particularly against a decent Ulster side. Strong first half, dirty conditions spoiled it a bit, but happy out at that result.
Gav Heg
(reply to Conor Cronin) indeed but that’s the standards we set. A win up north at this stage is good. They’ve a good squad. But I am a little disappointed how they came back and got a point.
Not pretty, hanging on a bit at the end, but 4 points on the road in an Interpro will do very nicely, thank you very much #ULSvLEI
Good win tonight in tough conditions. Jenkins was very good again & looks like a great acquisition (about time we got someone coming up from Limerick). Seemed to switch off in second half a bit but Ngatai covering tackle was significant in the overall score.
A good win for Leinster in those conditions but Ulster will rightfully be disappointed with themselves, especially poor Aaron Sexton. #ULSvLEI
McGrath was very poor with the ball. (he can defend in fairness) brace was ulsters best player and james ryan on that form is behind moloney, jenkins, baird and joe mccarthy. He needs to get his act together.
Andrew Potts
Did well to get out of Belfast with that one. A little loss of focus, the ref went a little off and a big slice of luck with the non try.
Choke tackle from Sexton to secure the points.
Some shift from both sets of players.
Martin Loughrey
A good win away to a tough opponent on a dirty night. Score gap possibly would have been bigger had Leinster not switched off in the 2nd half. That said, Ulster were well up for it though, and the conditions made it a bit of a lottery. Their maul has become quite the weapon. Ngatai’s tackle on Aaron Sexton was pure gold and probably saved us the match. All in all, happy to have that match done and dusted with 4 points in the bag.
Neil ‘Keego’ Keegan
Even in the storm
When you come at the kings, best not miss!
Hell of a second half from Ulster. Just came up short but Leinster are a hell of a side. O’Sullivan and Moore made a difference. Leinster made such a mess of the breakdown and scrum in the first half. Fair play to Ulster for coming back from that at all #BKTURC#ULSvLEI#SUFTUM
Literally a game of two halves with Leinster owning the first and Ulster the second, albeit with the assistance of some questionable decisions by the referee. From a Leinster perspective they will be disappointed in several aspects of their game particularly with how they dealt with the Ulster maul. Jenkins seems the real deal and a extremely good acquisition. All in all a very good win in atrocious conditions
I'll take those match points all day long. What an interpro. Needed every bit of that early lead, great fightback by Ulster. Also very much needed Ngatai's last gasp challenge. Jenkins a big factor for us in multiple areas. #ULSvLEI#BKTURC
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.
Much more comfortable 5pts than last week, that's for sure. Still think we could have done more but def happy with the way a lot of the systems were working. Obvs Dan's tries the highlight but darts and play in the loose excellent too. Now to the Kingspan. #LEIvBEN#BKTURC
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