Category: Ireland

473 : Ireland v South Africa preview

Our guest : HUGO GORDON

IRELAND :15. Mack Hansen 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Bundee Aki 11. James Lowe 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Jamison Gibson-Park

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

16. Rónan Kelleher 17. Paddy McCarthy 18. Finlay Bealham 19. Cian Prendergast 20. Jack Conan 21. Craig Casey 22. Jack Crowley 23. Tom Farrell

SOUTH AFRICA : 15 Damian Willemse 14 Canan Moodie 13 Jesse Kriel 12 Damian de Allende 11 Cheslin Kolbe 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu 9 Cobus Reinach 

1 Boan Enter 2 Malcolm Marx 3 Thomas du Toit 4 Eben Etzebeth 5 Ruan Nortje 6 Siya Kolisi (c) 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit 8 Jasper Wiese

16 Johan Grobbelaar 17 Gerhard Steenekamp 18 Wilco Louw 19 RG Snyman 20 Kwagga Smith 21 Andre Esterhuizen 22 Grant Williams 23 Manie Libbok

Quilter Nations Series – Round 4

Saturday, November 22, 2025

Aviva Stadium, Dublin

KO 5:40pm

Live on : RTÉ2, TNT Sports 1

Referee: Matthew Carley (Eng)

AR1: Karl Dickson (Eng)

AR2: Christophe Ridley (Eng)

TMO: Andrew Jackson (Eng)

FPRO: Dan Jones (Eng)

472 : IRELAND V AUSTRALIA wrap

2025 Quilter Nations Series, Aviva Stadium, Dublin 15/11/2025Ireland vs AustraliaIrelands Mack Hansen scores his sides third try of the match despite Australias James O’ConnorMandatory Credit ©INPHO/Gary Carr

🏉 Full-Mack at 15 

🏉 Options galore

🏉 Baird The Poacher

🏉 Smart decisions

🏉 Think inside the Boks

THIS WEEK’S GUEST

No guest this week, flying solo

FULL TIME TAKES

Kevin Kelehan

Questioned in recent weeks, accused of being a team in serious decline, players being told in the media they were past their sell by date, line out coach and best lock in Irish history told he was shyte at his job. Then we get the best Irish performance since RWC 2023 and one as unpredicted as smashing France in Marseilles in 2024. Australia absolutely failed to deal with the weather conditions and coughed up a lot of easy possession in the red zone but this was the Irish team giving Andy Farrell and Paul O’Connell a performance they’ve been owed for a while. Despite the absence of lions Joe McCarthy, Van Der Flier, Ringrose and Keenan the team was rejigged into a cohesive unit and its clear there is more depth in the squad than has been thought for a couple of years, players like Henshaw and Hansen look reinvented whilst McCloskey looks to be the most unlucky player in recent history in only getting short stints. Hopefully the team can match this performance again next week and hopefully the BOK evolution hasn’t moved on too much since last summer’s drawn series.

Adrian Hickey

Australia still in shock after the Lynagh/Ioane show last week I reckon. When our very sick, reintroduced fb Mack can help himself to a hattrick out of position says quite a bit. Ronan not cutting the mustard the last bit. Gus on bench at hooker next week to back up Dano or he has to do 80. Kudos to Sambo for the drop btw

Bert McLoughlin

A lot more cohesive this week and apart from poor discipline in the 1st half we should have kept their score lower

Kettlebell Padawen

Sam’s best game in green. Australia were shocking

David Ryle

Sam should have shut his detractors up but no they’re still nit picking his performance.

‪Rob Gardner‬ (via BlueSky)

JPG could give anywhere between 1-15 a good go.

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NOVEMBER SERIES WRAP

ITALY 14-32 SOUTH AFRICA

PORTUGAL 58-12 HONG KONG

ENGLAND V NEW ZEALAND

GEORGIA 38-17 CANADA

ROMANIA 18-26 USA

WALES 24-23 JAPAN

IRELAND 46-19 AUSTRALIA

FRANCE 34-21 FIJI

SCOTLAND 24-33 ARGENTINA

NEXT HARPIN’

TUESDAY

GUEST POST : “Who could replace Leo?” (blog)

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN (Substack)

471 : Ireland v Australia preview

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST

Our guest : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

IRELAND : 15. Mack Hansen 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Robbie Henshaw 12. Stuart McCloskey 11. James Lowe 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Jamison Gibson-Park 

1. Paddy McCarthy 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Tadhg Furlong 4. James Ryan 5. Tadhg Beirne 6. Ryan Baird 7. Caelan Doris (c) 8. Jack Conan 

16. Rónan Kelleher 17. Andrew Porter 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. Nick Timoney 20. Cian Prendergast 21. Craig Casey 22. Jack Crowley 23. Bundee Aki

AUSTRALIA : 15. Max Jorgensen 14. Filipo Daugunu 13. Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii 12. Len Ikitau 11. Harry Potter 10. James O’Connor 9. Jake Gordon

1. Angus Bell 2. Matt Faessler 3. Allan Alaalatoa 4. Jeremy Williams 5. Tom Hooper 6. Rob Valetini 7. Fraser McReight 8. Harry Wilson (c)

16. Billy Pollard 17. Tom Robertson 18. Zane Nonggorr 19. Nick Frost 20. Carlo Tizzano 21. Ryan Lonergan 22. Tane Edmed

Quilter Nations Series – Round 3

Saturday, November 15, 2025

Aviva Stadium, Dublin

KO 8:10pm

Live on : RTÉ2, TNT Sports 1

Referee: Karl Dickson (Eng)

AR1: Pierre Brousset (Fra)

AR2: Adam Leal (Eng)

TMO: Ian Tempest (Eng)

FPRO: Dan Jones (Eng)

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST

Our guest : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

IRELAND : 15. Jamie Osborne 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Tom Farrell 12. Robbie Henshaw 11. Jacob Stockdale 10. Jack Crowley 9. Craig Casey

1. Andrew Porter 2. Rónan Kelleher 3. Thomas Clarkson 4. James Ryan 5. Tadhg Beirne 6. Ryan Baird 7. Nick Timoney 8. Caelan Doris (c)

16. Gus McCarthy 17. Paddy McCarthy 18. Finlay Bealham 19. Cian Prendergast 20. Jack Conan 21. Caolin Blade 22. Sam Prendergast 23. Jimmy O’Brien

JAPAN : 15. Yoshitaka Yazaki 14. Kippei Ishida 13. Dylan Riley 12. Charlie Lawrence  11. Tomoki Osada  10. Seungsin Lee 9. Naoto Saito  

1. Kenta Kobayashi 2. Kenji Sato 3. Shuhei Takeuchi  4. Epineri Uluiviti  5. Warner Dearns  6. Ben Gunter   7. Kanji Shimokawa   8. Faulua Makisi 

16. Shodai Hirao  17. Ryosuke Iwaihara  18. Keijiro Tamefusa  19. Jack Cornelsen  20. Michael Leitch  21. Shinobu Fujiwara  22. Shinya Komura  23. Yuya Hirose 

Quilter Nations Series – Round 2

Saturday, November 8, 2025

Aviva Stadium, Dublin

KO 12:40pm

Live on : RTÉ2, TNT Sports 3

Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (Ita)

AR1: Andrea Piardi (Ita)

AR2: Federico Vedovelli (Ita)

TMO: Matteo Liperini (Ita)

FPRO: Eric Gauzins (Fra)

ALSO

SPAIN V IRELAND XV

Sat Nov 8, 4pm, Rugbypass.tv 

IRELAND XV : 15. Michael Lowry 14. Robert Baloucoune 13. Jude Postlethwaite 12. Dan Kelly 11. Shayne Bolton 10.Harry Byrne 9. Ben Murphy

1. Michael Milne 2. Tom Stewart (c) 3. Tom O’Toole 4. Evan O’Connell 5. Darragh Murray 6. Alex Soroka 7. Ruadhan Quinn 8. Paul Boyle

16. Lee Barron 17. Alex Usanov 18. Scott Wilson 19. Diarmuid Mangan 20. David McCann 21. Nathan Doak 22. Cathal Forde 23. Zac Ward

467 : Ireland v New Zealand preview

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST

Our guest : JAY LONG

IRELAND : 15. Jamie Osborne 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Stuart McCloskey 11. James Lowe 10. Jack Crowley 9. Jamison Gibson-Park

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

16. Ronan Kelleher 17. Paddy McCarthy 18. Finlay Bealham 19. Iain Henderson

20. Caelan Doris 21. Craig Casey 22. Sam Prendergast 23. Bundee Aki

NEW ZEALAND : 15.  Will Jordan 14.  Leroy Carter 13. Quinn Tupaea 12. Jordie Barrett 11. Caleb Clarke 10. Beauden Barrett 9. Cam Roigard

1. Ethan de Groot 2. Codie Taylor 3. Fletcher Newell 4. Scott Barrett (c) 5. Fabian Holland 6. Simon Parker 7. Ardie Savea 8. Peter Lakai

16.  Samisoni Taukei’aho 17. Tamaiti Williams 18. Pasilio Tosi 19. Josh Lord 20.  Wallace Sititi 21. Cortez Ratima 22. Leicester Fainga’anuku 23.  Damian McKenzie

Gallagher Cup Test Match

Saturday, November 1, 2025

Soldier Field

KO 8:10pm Irish time  

Live on : Virgin Media One, TNT Sports 2

Referee: Pierre Brousset (FFR)

Assistant Referee 1: Karl Dickson (RFU)

Assistant Referee 2: Luc Ramos (FFR) 

TMO: Ian Tempest (RFU)

FRPO: Dan Jones (RFU)

448 : Brumbies review, AUNZ & Portugal previews

@harpinonrugby

Mark joined me shortly after the FT whistle to quickly look back over Brumbies v Lions #rugbytiktok #lionsrugby

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.blog
@harpinonrugby

Mark Jackson joins me once more to look ahead to the Lions’ latest outing #lionsrugby #rugbytiktok

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.blog
@harpinonrugby

Ciarán Duffy joins me to look ahead to Ireland’s test in Lisbon on Saturday #rugbytiktok #Irelandrugby

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.blog

446 : WARvBIL & GEOvIRE previews

@harpinonrugby

Check out our latest Lions preview #rugbyunion #rugbytiktok #lionstour

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.blog
@harpinonrugby

Check out our Georgia v Ireland preview #rugbytiktok

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.blog

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 🤬

Get in the conversation yourself by leaving

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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