498 : France v Ireland wrap

14 February 2026; Robert Baloucoune of Ireland dives over to score his side’s third try despite the tackle of Lorenzo Cannone of Italy during the Guinness 6 Nations Rugby Championship match between Ireland and Italy at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile


🏉 Attack still misfiring

🏉 Fresh faces

🏉 Brava Italia

🏉 Super Stu

🏉 15s & 7s


CONOR CRONIN


FULL TIME TAKES

Gerald Williamson

Quite frankly it was a wrestling match with Ireland just shading it.

Christy O’Connor

Lots of work needed to be done for next week. Sam is in a horrible position, Farrell is adamant about Sam starting, I’m not saying he’s a poor player, he’s just not ready. If any 10 can feel hard done by it’s Frawley. The championship is already over for us, so may as well test more players

John Kehoe

Ireland beat Italy by more points this year than last year

Greg McAuliffe

I thought once Crowley came on, we got a bit of an attacking shape back, which has been under Sam. Still not where we should be but the difference was obvious.

Michelle Tobin

Andy Farrell would do well to talk to Andrew Brown. Brown was so p*ssed off at the Irish performance last night despite the win. “A win is a win” is not the right mindset for the team that was formerly #1 in the world and should be aspiring to get back there, not barely beating Italy. We’re safe from 6th now but there are 3 big games left and I’m not confident

Ted Maher

I really really really hate to say it but Sam!

Chris McDonnell

3 of the 4 half backs are just not good enough. Doak for Casey and frawley and Murphy for Pendergast and Crowley.

Gavin Hegarty

Prendergast not good but then Crowley doesn’t take his chance and denies us a bonus point. Time to try Byrne.

Brian McKeon

Scotland did it last week, we did it this week, underestimated the Italians. Italy have lightening quick backs and a very strong pack.

I’ve never seen Tadhg Furlong get flying lessons in a scrum before today.

Ken Tancred PT

Ireland’s definitely in a rebuilding phase… It should have started last year except for the lions distraction. But Italy are starting to click so they so they have to take some credit

A worrying thing for me is how they team played under Casey and how they changed when JGP came on

Kevin Kelehan

Italy turned up and forced Ireland to work harder than they have for a long time against Italy. England will really target our scrum next week, what was the only blot on an otherwise really decent effort. I remain a huge Sam fan but not was clear that JGP and Crowley was a far better combination. Very decent debuts for Itzy, Balacoune and Edogbo with further enhancement of Timoney’s rep. 70% happy

Craig Boyd

Really poor, very one dimensional and Italy can feel really hard done by. V little to be positive about. Improved when Crowley and Gibson Park came on but missed out on the bonus point

Darragh Headen

2 yellows were harsh i taught, Italy were ferocious, will seriously test both England & France, good points were new debutants, and some great passing, we have concerns in the scrum. Crowley to start, Atmosphere looked desperate, too many there with no passion just in & out drinking & pissing like yo yo,s

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SIX NATIONS WRAP

Italy 18-15 Scotland  

England 48-7 Wales  

France 36-14 Ireland

Scotland 31–20 England  

Italy 13–20 Ireland  

Wales 12–54 France

Round 3 Fixtures

Sat 21 Feb

England v Ireland

Wales v Scotland  

Sun 22 Feb

France v Italy 


NEXT HARPIN’

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT : “MEDIA NARRATIVES”

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN 


497 : Ireland v Italy preview



IRELAND : 15 Jimmy O’Brien 14 Robert Baloucoune 13 Garry Ringrose 12 Stuart McCloskey 11 James Lowe 10 Sam Prendergast 9 Craig Casey

1 Jeremy Loughman 2 Dan Sheehan 3 Tom Clarkson 4 Joe McCarthy 5 James Ryan 6 Cian Prendergast 7 Caelan Doris (c) 8 Jack Conan

16 Ronan Kelleher 17 Tom O’Toole 18 Tadhg Furlong 19 Edwin Edogbo 20 Tadhg Beirne 21 Nick Timoney 22 Jamison Gibson‑Park 23 Jack Crowley


ITALY : 15 Lorenzo Pani 14 Louis Lynagh 13 Tommaso Menoncello 12 Leonardo Marin 11 Monty Ioane 10 Paolo Garbisi 9 Alessandro Fusco

1 Danilo Fischetti 2 Giacomo Nicotera 3 Simone Ferrari 4 Niccolò Cannone 5 Andrea Zambonin 6 Michele Lamaro (c) 7 Manuel Zuliani 8 Lorenzo Cannone

16 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo 17 Mirco Spagnolo 18 Muhamed Hasa 19 Federico Ruzza 20 Riccardo Favretto 21 David Odiase 22 Alessandro Garbisi 23 Paolo Odogwu


Guinness Six Nations 2026 – Round 2

Saturday, February 14, 2026

Aviva Stadium 

KO 2:15pm

Live on : Virgin Media 1


Referee: Hollie Davidson (SRU)   

AR1: Matthew Carley (RFU)   

AR2: Luc Ramos (FFR)   

TMO: Ian Tempest (RFU)   

FPRO: Tual Trainini (FFR)

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


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 🤬


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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


418 : Italy v Ireland preview

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST

IRELAND : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Mack Hansen 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Robbie Henshaw 11. James Lowe 10. Jack Crowley 9. Jamison Gibson-Park

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

16. Gus McCarthy 17. Jack Boyle 18. Tadhg Furlong 19. Joe McCarthy 20. Peter O’Mahony 21. Conor Murray 22. Sam Prendergast 23. Bundee Aki


 ITALY : 15 Tommaso Allan 14 Ange Capuozzo 13 Juan Ignacio Brex (c) 12 Tommaso Menoncello 11 Monty Ioane 10 Paolo Garbisi 9 Martin Page-Relo 

1 Danilo Fischetti 2 Gianmarco Lucchesi 3 Simone Ferrari 4 Dino Lamb 5 Federico Ruzza 6 Sebastian Negri 7 Manuel Zuliani 8 Lorenzo Cannone

16 Giacomo Nicotera 17 Mirco Spagnolo 18 Giosuè Zilocchi 19 Niccolò Cannone 20 Michele Lamaro 21 Ross Vintcent 22 Stephen Varney 23 Leonardo Marin


Guinness Six Nations 2025 Round 5

Saturday, March 15, 2025

KO 2:15pm  Stadio Olimpico

Live on : RTÉ2, ITV1


Referee: Luke Pearce (Eng)

AR1 : Angus Gardner (Aus)

AR2 : Morné Ferreira (SA)

TMO: Andrew Jackson (Eng)

FPRO: Tual Trainini (Fra)

318 : Ireland v Italy wrap

2024 Guinness Six Nations Championship Round 2, Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Ireland 11/2/2024Ireland vs ItalyIrelands Jack Crowley scores his sides opening try Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

🏉 50 club grows

🏉 Sluggish Azzurri

🏉 Offloads galore

🏉 Set piece dominance

🏉 The Lowe Show

TOM COLEMAN (50th cap) & JAY LONG

FULL TIME TAKES

Lee O Farrell

Two Six Nations games, two new records (biggest away win against France and first time holding Italy to zero points). The future’s looking pretty good right now…

Kevin Kelehan

Dan Sheehan may well end up as top try scorer. Job done 5 points and on to stiffer tests ahead.

Hubert Gallagher

Feel underwhelmed and unfulfilled after that! In some respects a great result with 6 changes and holding Italy to zero – and they were lucky to even get that – but at same time we were a bit disjointed, looked less fluent than French game and left a lot of points out there! Having said that no-one player badly but I think a lot could play better. Crowley, Henshaw, Keenan, Conan, Lowe and McCarthy were notably good.

Christy O’Connor

Glad I didn’t get tickets for this. Atmosphere was awful. I know we were expected to win, but the Irish rugby fans have to be one of the worst. I’ve seen more life in a funeral parlour.

Some great performances from Lowe, Conan and big Joe. Crowely is doing well, made some silly mistakes but it’s great that it doesn’t phase him.

Greg Kelly

Italy just parked the bus. Fairly poor spectacle for the 6 nations overall.

Ireland were a bit error strewn at times but tough to really hit your straps when the opposition don’t light a fire under you.

Eamon Saunders

A workman like performance but a win is a win ,some mistakes but a win none the less 👏👏


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SIX NATIONS WRAP

ROUND 2

SCOTLAND 16-20 FRANCE

ENGLAND 16-14 WALES

IRELAND 36-0 ITALY



ROUND 3

SAT FEB 24

IRELAND V WALES

SCOTLAND V ENGLAND

SUN FEB 25

FRANCE V ITALY


UNDER 20s

ROUND 2

SCOTLAND 14-29 FRANCE

ENGLAND 28-7 WALES

IRELAND 23-22 ITALY



ROUND 3

FRI FEB 23

SCOTLAND V ENGLAND

IRELAND V WALES

FRANCE V ITALY


317 : Ireland v Italy preview

Our guest : CIAN “RUGBY KINO” O’MUILLEOIR


IRELAND : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Calvin Nash 13. Robbie Henshaw 12. Stuart McCloskey 11. James Lowe 10. Jack Crowley 9. Craig Casey

1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Finlay Bealham 4. Joe McCarthy 5. James Ryan 6. Ryan Baird 7. Caelan Doris (captain) 8. Jack Conan

16. Ronan Kelleher 17. Jeremy Loughman 18. Tom O’Toole 19. Iain Henderson 20. Josh van der Flier 21. Jamison Gibson-Park 22. Harry Byrne 23. Jordan Larmour


Italy : 15 Ange Capuozzo 14 Lorenzo Pani 13 Juan Ignacio Brex 12 Tommaso Menoncello 11 Monty Ioane 10 Paolo Garbisi 9 Stephen Varney

1 Danilo Fischetti 2 Gianmarco Lucchesi 3 Pietro Ceccarelli 4 Niccolò Cannone 5 Federico Ruzza 6 Alessandro Izekor 7 Manuel Zuliani  8 Michele Lamaro (C)

16 Giacomo Nicotera 17 Mirco Spagnolo 18 Giosuè Zilocchi 19 Andrea Zambonin 20 Ross Vintcent 21 Martin Page-Relo 22 Tommaso Allan 23 Federico Mori 


Guinness Six Nations 2024 Round 2

Sunday, February 11, 2024

KO 3pm Aviva Stadium

Live on: Virgin Media One


Referee: Pierre Brousset (Fra) Luke Pearce (Eng)

AR1 : Mathieu Raynal (Fra)

AR2 : Luc Ramos (Fra)

TMO: Eric Gauzins (Fra)

266 : Ireland v Italy wrap

Bank of Ireland Nations Series, Aviva Stadium, Dublin 5/8/2023 Ireland vs Italy Ireland’s Caelan Doris scores a try Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Evan Treacy

OUR GUESTS : CONOR CRONIN & RICH MIFSUD



BONUS CLIP

HARPIN ON RUGBY MATCH WRAPS ARE BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE IRISH RUGBY STORE

265 : Harpin’ Preview Show #IREvITA

Our guest : MARK JACKSON


IRELAND : 15. Jimmy O’Brien 14. Keith Earls 13. Robbie Henshaw 12. Stuart McCloskey 11. Jacob Stockdale 10. Jack Crowley 9. Craig Casey

1. David Kilcoyne 2. Rob Herring 3. Tom O’Toole 4: Iain Henderson 5. Joe McCarthy 6. Ryan Baird 7. Caelan Doris 8.  Jack Conan

Replacements:16. Tom Stewart 17. Cian Healy 18. Tadhg Furlong 19. Tadhg Beirne 20. Cian Prendergast 21. Caolin Blade 22. Ciaran Frawley 23. Calvin Nash


ITALY : 15 Tommaso ALLAN 14 Paolo ODOGWU 13 Juan Ignacio BREX 12 Tommaso MENONCELLO 

11 Montanna IOANE 10 Paolo GARBISI 9 Stephen VARNEY

1 Danilo FISCHETTI 2 Giacomo NICOTERA 3 Marco RICCIONI 4 Dino LAMB 

5 Federico RUZZA (c) 6 Sebastian NEGRI 7 Manuel ZULIANI 8 Toa HALAFIHI

16 Luca BIGI 17 Paolo BUONFIGLIO 18 Simone FERRARI 19 Niccolò CANNONE 20 Michele LAMARO 21 Lorenzo CANNONE 22 Alessandro FUSCO 23 Lorenzo PANI


Summer Nations Series

Sat August 5 KO 8pm

Aviva Stadium, Dublin

Ref: Mathieu Reynal (FRA)

AR1 : Pierre Brousset (Fra)

AR2 : Luc Ramos (Fra)

TMO : Eric Gauzins (Fra)


Live on: RTÉ2

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

FACEBOOK

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


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