Category: Richard Mifsud

13 pod, 12 overall on HoR.net

392 : Bristol Bears v Leinster wrap

8 December 2024; Jordie Barrett of Leinster during the Champions Cup Round 1 match between Bristol Bears and Leinster at Ashton Gate in Bristol, England. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

🏉 Defences up

🏉 Scrum lottery 

🏉 Yellow fever

🏉 Euro mode

🏉 Bench press

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

RICHARD MIFSUD

CIARÁN DUFFY

Post To Post Sport blog

FULL TIME TAKES

Aonghus O’Brien

First half was poor, but the second half was loads of fun and I especially enjoyed the two tries from Sam ‘Not A Running Threat’ Prendergast

Louis Hoffman

Could a scrum ‘expert’ explain to me, what all that nonsense was about? Was it the refs fault?

Kevin Kelehan

Dreadful ref, his scrum time nearly wrecked the game completely. The bench was ridiculously over strength but thankfully it worked a charm when introduced, a BP on the road is all that history will record in a game of two halves.

Jackie McEachern

Definitely a “game of two halves”. As others have said, our bench obviously made a huge difference. While the reffing was horrible, we showed good composure in the first half when we had two yellow cards to attack and score a try.

Brian Patrick Donnelly

match ruined by inept, pedantic, awful refereeing. We were good for 20 minutes and that was that.

Shane Mcdonald

Just watching it it now at half time but how on gods green earth did the ref linesman tmo miss the very very very obvious hands in the ruck when jvdf nearly got over in the corner

Stevie wonder could have seen that and tv kept showing it over over over 🤦

Greg Kelly

BP away to the 2nd placed team in England is not to be sniffed at. The officiating was poor. We got little change from the officials in the first half but credit to the lads they worked around it well. Not sure how the TMO doesn’t intervene to card Thacker for pulling the ball out of Joshs hands on the goal line in the first half but comes in to reverse a lineout🤷‍♂️

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CHAMPIONS CUP WRAP

390 : Ireland v Australia wrap

IRFU 150 Test Match, Aviva Stadium, Dublin 30/11/2024 Ireland vs Australia Ireland’s Cian Healy Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

🏉 Just not clicking

🏉 Schmidt tactics

🏉 Ten point swing

🏉 Back to adversity

🏉 Saved by the bench

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

RICHARD MIFSUD

CIARÁN DUFFY

Post to Post Sport blog

FULL TIME TAKES

Cormac Mannion

I’m not too worried about the attack just yet. It took Catt a bit of time to sort that out when he took up the role so let’s hope Goodman makes improvements by the 6N.

However, our lineout is appalling and this is nothing new. Serious questions to be asked of O’Connell and what he’s doing there.

Big step up for Prendergast today and he’ll learn from it. Suddenly we now have options at 10 post Johnny. Crowley was really up for it when he came on too.

Another issue though seems to be the back row. We seem to get isolated an awful lot at the breakdown and giving away a lot of turnovers. Ruck clearance has definitely gone downhill this year.

Ronan McManus

I’m not sure that Prendergast’s more languid passing style helped us against the Aussie rush defence. They were in among us by the time the ball came into the centre.

Some real flashes of quality from him though.

Sort.out.the.lineout.

Kevin Kelehan

Bench was the difference between the sides, Dan Sheehan will be back once fit and Gus McCarthy should be on the bench, you need to win your own line outs, something that only happened once McCarthy came on. Jack Crowley also showed so much more accuracy and energy in his time, Prendergast just not up to the pace aged 21. Craig Casey also full of energy when introduced. Josh VDF also superb and was Doris as was Big Joe and Porter.

Sean MacDonnchadha

Can’t sweep this under the rug and say a win is a win and move on. That lazy mentality has only ever gotten us to the same QF exit in world cups. Lineout and attack are serious issues and can no longer be ignored – changes needed.

Jackie McEachern

Lineout needs to be sorted. Bench made a big impact (esp Crowley, Casey and McCarthy). Glad we got the win but that could easily have gone the other way.

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382 : Ireland v New Zealand wrap

Autumn Nations Series, Aviva Stadium, Dublin 8/11/2024 Ireland vs New Zealand New Zealand’s Will Jordan celebrates scoring their first try as Josh van der Flier of Ireland looks on dejected Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Ken Sutton

🏉 Decent defence

🏉 Errors & Penalties

🏉 There for the taking

🏉 No bench impact

🏉 Adapt or else

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

TOM COLEMAN

RICHARD MIFSUD

FULL TIME TAKES

John Hyland

Undercooked. A few performances to forget but they have credit in the bank. A lot of fair weather fans throwing out demands and ultimatums. This was our first loss in 19 games at the Aviva, and it was to an All Blacks team with a lot more recent game time than us.

Sean MacDonnchadha

Worrying lack of aggression first and then lack of leadership. They’ve gone on and on about unfinished business from the World Cup and getting revenge. Didn’t see that tonight.

Kevin Kelehan

The best team Ireland has ever produced were more error prone than I’ve seen them in many years. 3 more games to keep the direction of travel in the right direction

James Murphy

Our front men standing back??

Letting them bully use in lineouts and scrums,

Crowley very poor, frawley not much better

But frawley deserves start next week

Poorest Irish performance in a long time

Brian Corr

Too many errors and then too many players losing it or dropping the heads.

Decision making was terrible and lineout was very poor.

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AUTUMN NATIONS SERIES WRAP

WEEK 1

IRELAND 13-23 NEW ZEALAND

ENGLAND 37-42 AUSTRALIA

ITALY 18-50 ARGENTINA

FRANCE 52-12 JAPAN

WA;ES 19-24 FIJI

SCOTLAND 15-32 SOUTH AFRICA

WEEK 2

FRI NOV 15

IRELAND V ARGENTINA

SAT NOV 16

SCOTLAND V PORTUGAL

ENGLAND V SOUTH AFRICA

FRANCE V NEW ZEALAND

SUN NOV 17

ITALY V GEORGIA

WALES V AUSTRALIA

379 : Leinster v Lions wrap

26 October 2024; Josh van der Flier of Leinster is tackled by Edwill van der Merwe and Erich Cronje of Emirates Lions during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Emirates Lions at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

🏉 9/10 combinations

🏉 Proud Lions

🏉 Forcing knockons

🏉 Caelan & Josh

🏉 Late gloss

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

TOM COLEMAN

RICHARD MIFSUD

FULL TIME TAKES

Cormac Mannion

Sad to see McGrath’s decline. He seemed quite hesitant last night and the time when the ball popped out of the ruck and went between his legs was a prime try scoring opportunity.

Our scrum is now a serious area for concern. “If in doubt, ping Porter”

Jackie McEachern

Tough match although I think we likely would have scored more/gone a bit easier if JGP had been playing. I thought Sam did well and Doris and JVF were excellent! Glad to see Robbie back.

Jamie Bermingham

A tough game and exactly what we needed, the young lads impressed and Doris was an absolute wrecking ball. Lions definitely came for a battle and the scoreboard does not reflect how well they played

Chris McDonnell

Jvdf is just a magnificent 7. I can’t understand why mcgrath was kept and 3 better 9s are playing for other clubs

Tom Clarke

Breakdown needs some attention. Robbie looked sharp and Cooney looks a good prospect. Dorris is a top top player, but we know that!!

Alan Jacob

#1Vs #2 ….. good outing for the boys…. Dori’s ridiculous as always!! Prendergast had a solid game especially considering Lions had the ruck under serious pressure…. Needed a proper pressure game & an 80 min performance which were both delivered in spades.

Kevin Kelehan

Way too much aimless kicking in the first half which gave the Lions great opportunities to run at a Leinster in the 13-14 channel, once that was tightened up Leinster improved. Crowd got going at times but needed to give better support

https://twitter.com/KarlBrophy/status/1850236067011801358
https://twitter.com/gortoshay1/status/1850235867522085150
https://twitter.com/CaptSpringbok/status/1850235765508190377
https://twitter.com/HarpinOnRugby/status/1850235380941095191

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URC WRAP

371 : Leinster v Dragons wrap

27 September 2024; Cian Healy of Leinster after the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Dragons at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
also available on Apple & most major platforms

🏉 D for Dragons

🏉 Jamie kicking on

🏉 Dev Jr cameo

🏉 Joe & Josh impact

🏉 The Gunne Show

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

RICHARD MIFSUD

JAY LONG

FULL TIME TAKES

Greg Kelly

Whenever Ross Byrne wears 10 custard skins worldwide breath a sigh of relief.

Leinster looked disjointed in the first 40. Could be early season problems but to be fair I think the Dragons were better than they have been in recent years. They knew they were going to end up on the end of 30-50 before they travelled but they stuck in and really lived off their big moments in the opening half. I think they’ll beat a few teams this year and I wouldn’t fancy Newport on a wet and windy night in the winter.

Things looked a little cleaner when Joe and Josh came in.

Deegan had another good showing and really I have to wonder what he’s still doing here. He should have gone last year and quite frankly he is squandering his talent at Leinster.

Gavin Hegarty

2/6 for Byrne from the Tee simply isn’t good enough. He was nervy and it showed.

Jimmy OBrien looked electric every time he got the ball.

We now have 3 world class hookers in Sheehan, Kelliher and Gus, a great problem to have. Gus’ lineouts were excellent and he was everywhere. Lineout dropped when Barron came on, something he needs to work on if he wants any sort of a look in.

The way osbourne is going Hugo might have a huge challenge ahead of him when he comes back.

Larmour has bulked up but I think he’s sacrificed fitness as a result, he seemed tired after 30 minutes.

Can’t help but feel a bad dragons team brought us down to their level, we should have topped 60 tonight.

Dave Murray

Wasn’t even any near misses from the tee, they were all terrible kicks. Ross has given us good service over the years, but we won’t be winning many/any major trophies with himself at 10 imo. Need to be investing in Frawley/Prendergast at 10, they’ll make us play a lot better.

Dave Ryle

I thought Osborne was more deserving of POTM.

Turner had a good game as well.

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URC WRAP

@harpinonrugby

Our latest wrap pod is now available on Apple, Spotify and most major platforms rugbytiktok urc LeinsterRugby

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364 : RSAvIRE 2nd test wrap

Castle Lager Incoming Series Second Test, Hollywoodbets Kings Park, Durban, South Africa 13/7/2024 South Africa vs Ireland Ireland’s Ciaran Frawley Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

🏉 Osbourne catches
🏉 10-point leads
🏉 Croc rolls
🏉 3 by 3
🏉 Frawley time

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CONOR CRONIN

RICHARD MIFSUD

FULL TIME TAKES

Alastair McDermott

One of the worst performances I’ve seen from South Africa in the first half and one of the worst performances I’ve seen from Ireland in the second. officials tried to screw us again but incredible finish

‪Dickson made quite a few 50-50 calls that always seemed to go in favour of the home team. From an Irish point of view, it felt almost endless. ‬

‪But this happens in every game to every away team, so I don’t think it’s any particular conspiracy, it’s just the nature of sport!

Kevin Kelehan

Delighted Frawley got the chance to exorcise the ghost of Tottenham, ugly game but Farrell has built some team, 6 first choice players missing today, 5 of them in the back line and still got it done. Farrell is 80:20 win rate, Boks are 20:80 against the green machine in recent years!!

Sean MacDonnchadha

Very lucky I feel. Springboks only able to force penalties. We should’ve buried them in the first half with the energy, territory and possession we had. All the same, some balls from frawley

Paul Smith

Despite SA cheating and a horrendous performance by Dickinson, Ireland fully deserved the win and I’m absolutely delighted for Frawley who buried the memories of the Champions Cup last minute not once but twice with 2 superb drop goals.

John Willie Conroy

Osborne was unbelievable fair play to Andy Farrell for blooding. Questions need to be asked regarding Frawly not being picked at 10 at Leinster he’s a quality ball player and is head and shoulders above the Byrne brothers.

Brian Corr

So happy, what Irish team in the past could lose their starting scrum half, starting fullback, starting hooker and go to the world champions and get a result. 8 years since they’ve lost in Durban.

Delighted for Frawley to get the chance to make such a huge impact with two fantastic drop goals.

It’s said that tries win matches and that was the difference today

Hope the lads have a great celebration

https://twitter.com/Jay_Long_626/status/1812170593812226252
https://twitter.com/ItstheRefsfault/status/1812175044811923920

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352 : Leinster v Connacht wrap

31 May 2024; Jimmy O’Brien of Leinster scores his side’s fifth try during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Connacht at the RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
pod also available on Apple & most major platforms

🏉 Early scores
🏉 Sam composure
🏉 TYVM RR,RM,EB,RDS
🏉 BP eventually
🏉 Tricky path ahead

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

RICHARD MIFSUD

DAVID CORDIAL

@harpinonrugby

Pod is now available on Apple, Spotify and most major platforms. rugbytiktok LeinsterRugby #URC

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

FULL TIME TAKES

Brian Corr

Connacht seemed way off the pace, it was clear early on so much was going wrong for them.

Ruddock was immense he put everything into that game it was brilliant. Maloney and Byrne were also brilliant and gave excellent performances for their last games. I thought Ala’alatoa was unlucky for his card, yes he was high and he did hit Blades head, I’m not sure he hit it as hard as Blades reaction but that’s my bias(probably?). You could see though he wanted to out in a good shift.

Anyone doubting Leinster’s strength in depth can see in this game why it’s often quoted as being brilliant, no other club could make 14 changes and have a performance as strong as that. Keeping so many players involved and happy at the club is mind blowingly difficult, yet Leo does it year after year.

There was lots of things to like about that game even though 4 of the stalwarts are moving on & one of our backline was pretty jittery it was a pretty excellent performance from the other 19.

Chris McDonnell

Great performance from lots of the lads. Showed how awful last week’s selection was. Jenkins ahead of Molony, no Jimmy o brien , frawley just a lovely attacking player.foley I’d just miles better than mcgrath. Anyways hopefully ruddock and Molony gets to play again for us.

Cuan Mulligan

Felt Sam P had a great game, offered more options than other 10s in the squad. Was integral to a few of the tries; tried things, mixed it up. Should be where we invest and give him as much game time as possible. Might need some extra protein over the summer to bulk up

William Andrew

It was a good indicator of how valuable players like Ross, Max Ed and Ruddock are to Leinster. They provide the steel through a season.

Form was also on display, in some of the younger players

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URC WRAP

ROUND 18 [final round]

LEINSTER 33-7 CONNACHT

GLASGOW 38-26 ZEBRE

STORMERS 29-24 LIONS

BENETTON 31-6 EDINBURGH

SCARLETS 32-15 DRAGONS

SHARKS 14-26 BULLS

MUNSTER 29-24 ULSTER

CARDIFF 29-33 OSPREYS

QUARTERFINALS

FRI JUNE 7

MUNSTER V OSPREYS

SAT JUNE 8

BULLS V BENETTON

LEINSTER V ULSTER

GLASGOW WARRIORS V STORMERS

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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. 😢

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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

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329 : Ireland v Scotland wrap

2024 Guinness Six Nations Championship Round 5, Aviva Stadium, Dublin 16/3/2024 Ireland vs Scotland Ireland celebrate winning the 2024 Guinness Six Nations ChampionshipMandatory Credit ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy

🏉 Late late change

🏉 Defences on top

🏉 Tentative lead

🏉 Tackle count showing

🏉 Champions

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

TOM COLEMAN & RICH MIFSUD

FULL TIME TAKES

Jamie Bermingham

Well we got the win and that’s great, but it’s back to the drawing board not just for SA but for next year as well.  Delighted with the win though 😂

Kevin Kelehan

Won the game and the championship, was happy to see Ireland come through yesterday with Keenan and Ringrose off the pitch from the start against a Scotland side a lot stronger out wide than in tight. What England has exposed is Ireland need a second row size 6 to compliment Van Der Fliers speed, Ireland are only pressured by teams with a weight advantage 4-8. Fix that weight deficit whilst retaining poachers like Doris and Van Der Flier and Ireland will reach the next level.

Craig Boyd

Job done, our expectations have all changed so today was a bit of an anticlimax. All the same what a great team they are.

John O Halloran

Great to get the wins and the championship but big tests and rejigging needed.

England and Scotland were well up to that Irish attack.

The Scottish 6 was excellent.

Alastair McDermott

I was hoping to see Andy Farrell bringing his kids out on the pitch to celebrate

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SIX NATIONS WRAP

ROUND 5

WALES 21-24 ITALY

IRELAND 17-13 SCOTLAND

FRANCE 33-31 ENGLAND

UNDER 20s

ROUND 5

IRELAND 36-0 SCOTLAND

WALES 27-15 ITALY

FRANCE 31-45 ENGLAND

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320 : Leinster v Benetton wrap

17 February 2024; Liam Turner of Leinster evades the tackle of Ignacio Mendy of Benetton, right, on his way to scoring his side’s third try during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Benetton at the RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile

🏉 Get #IrelandWeek trending

🏉 Death by 1,000 scrums

🏉 The Osbourne Supremacy

🏉 Pesky Leprechauns

🏉 Sam’s Glam Cameo

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CONOR CRONIN & RICH MIFSUD

FULL TIME TAKES

Brian Corr

Great result considering how well Benetton are doing this season and all the missing internationals.

Love Prendergast’s cool under pressure ability, he took a wrong option and was immediately swamped by the defence but had the ability to keep calm and place the ball back so well.

Lots of rusty performances and mistakes due to weather and no recent games.

Delighted to see Byrne get a chance to rinse the spiderwebs off his game and McErlean get a solid game behind him, again pity the weather was so naff for his first tog out.

Greg Kelly

Leinster sticking 47 points on the 2nd placed team tells you all you need to know about the URC

Craig Grehan

Good to see that mixture of players running well. Few fumbles here & there. But very good

Eamon Saunders

Good win nice to see a Wexford man get a try #Brian Deeny

Christy O’Connor

Very scrappy at times from both sides. Have to hand it to Benetton, they fought really well and I don’t think the scoreline does them justice

Dave Murray

Not a spectacular performance but good 5 points.

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URC WRAP

ROUND 10

SCARLETS 7-42 MUNSTER

ZEBRE 19-24 EDINBURGH

LIONS 10-25 BULLS

LEINSTER 47-18 BENETTON

SHARKS 21-25 STORMERS

CARDIFF 12-16 CONNACHT

GLASGOW WARRIORS 40-7 DRAGONS

OSPREYS 19-17 ULSTER

ROUND 11

FRI MAR 1

EDINBURGH V OSPREYS

MUNSTER V ZEBRE

SAT MAR 2

LIONS V SHARKS

BENETTON V GLASGOW WARRIORS

BULLS V STORMERS

CONNACHT V SCARLETS

CARDIFF V LEINSTER

ULSTER V DRAGONS

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