481: Leinster v Ulster preview

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST


LEINSTER :

15. Ciarán Frawley 14. Joshua Kenny 13. Rieko Ioane

12. Charlie Tector 11. James Lowe 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Luke McGrath

1. Jack Boyle 2. Gus McCarthy 3. Rabah Slimani4. Brian Deeny

5. James Ryan 6. Alex Soroka 7. Scott Penny 8. Jack Conan (c)

16. Dan Sheehan 17. Paddy McCarthy 18. Tadhg Furlong 19. Joe McCarthy

20. Max Deegan 21. Fintan Gunne 22. Harry Byrne 23. Ruben Moloney


ULSTER

15. Jacob Stockdale 14. Rob Baloucoune 13. Jude Postlethwaite

12. Stuart McCloskey 11. Werner Kok 10. Jack Murphy 9. Nathan Doak

1. Angus Bell  2. Tom Stewart 3. Tom O’Toole 4. Harry Sheridan

5. Charlie Irvine 6. David McCann 7. Nick Timoney (c) 8. Juarno Augustus 

16. John Andrew 17. Sam Crean 18. Scott Wilson 19. Joe Hopes

20. Bryn Ward 21. Conor McKee 22. Jake Flannery 23. Ethan McIlroy


BKT United Rugby Championship 25/26 – Round 2

Friday, December 19, 2025

Aviva Stadium

KO 7:45pm

Live on : TG4, Premier Sports 1 & URC.tv


Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU)

AR 1: Andrew Fogarty (IRFU)

AR 2: Tomás O’Sullivan (IRFU)

TMO: Olly Hodges (IRFU)

480 : Leicester Tigers v Leinster wrap

12 December 2025; Jamison Gibson-Park of Leinster scores his side’s first try during the Investec Champions Cup match between Leicester Tigers and Leinster at Mattioli Woods Welford Road in Leicester, England. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile


🏉 Reiko’s 1st start

🏉 Joe McC

🏉 Defensive concerns

🏉 The road ahead

🏉 Paddy McC


HUGO GORDON


FULL TIME TAKES

Cian O’Muilleoir (WhatsApp)

The more I think on that performance, the more I reckon the 1% is right. 

The previous big obvious things (scrum, lineout, discipline) are more or less fixed, certainly improved. 

Outside of that we’re getting into the right patterns and areas both sides of the ball, pretty much, but then… it falls apart. The reason differs. Sometimes it’s ruck resourcing. Sometimes it’s ball placement. Sometimes it’s offence or defence position or role confusion. Sometimes it’s accuracy/execution.

None of them feel like they’d be a massive issue to fix by themselves. But they’re all happening in every match like a random failure generator.

It needs fixing, and quick.

Darach Kennedy

An away win in Welford road. I’ll take that. Someone else can try and gather up some negatives.

Greg Kelly

Leinsters poor attack and sloppy execution continues. You wonder what’s really going on. We were the better team overall and they never really looked like scoring in the second half but our attack was woefully sloppy.

Irish rugby should be concerned overall with the loose head situation. Regardless of what happens referees seem to think we are weak there. There were some real garbage calls against McCarthy in the first half but as with Porter there is a perception.

Christy O’Connor

Another poor performance overall with some good individual performances. So many poor passes and spilled balls. At least our lineout was the best I’ve seen in a good while.

Doris needs to be careful moaning at the ref so much, the hit on Conan was a rugby incident and nothing more.

Our defense is not going to be good enough when we come up against better teams

Kevin Kelehan

Very happy that despite conceding two really well taken tries against the run of play the lads kept their belief and upped their work rate. The coming six weeks will make or break Leinster’s season, Ulster, Munster, Connacht, La Rochelle and Bayonne. Great to be heading into that run knowing that when the opportunity for players to go missing, they refused to take it.

Odran John OBrien

Brilliant win away from home but the Leinster attack is simply awful

anyone have Isa’s number? We could all do a whip around to persuade him to come back and coach

Chris McDonnell

If we could only put the straps Robbie henshaw has on his accordion on to a rugby ball, he might not drop the ball as much.

Craig Grehan

Win is a win. Grafted that one out

Tom Fingleton

Look at all the stats from tonight and the try return from the dominance . Tells you all really

Richard Collumb

4 points away, despite playing at times like they only met each other in the dressing room.

Eamon Saunders

Not a great team performance but again some very good individuals

Lorcán Murphy

The good news is they’re getting gritty away wins playing poorly with injury disruption. Can only get better

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CHAMPIONS CUP WRAP

ROUND 2

Leicester Tigers 15–23 Leinster

Stormers 42–21 La Rochelle

Clermont 14–35 Sale Sharks

Sharks 28-23 Saracens

Munster 31–3 Gloucester

Bordeaux-Bègles 50–21 Scarlets

Glasgow Warriors 28–21 Toulouse

Cardiff 29–26 Ulster

Castres 33–0 Edinburgh

Harlequins 68-14 Bayonne

Northampton Saints 50-5 Bulls

Toulon 45-34 Bath

Bristol Bears 61-12 Pau

Round 3

Friday, 9 January 2026

Castres v Bath

Edinburgh v Gloucester

Saturday, 10 January 2026

Bulls v Bristol

Clermont v Glasgow

Leinster v La Rochelle

Sale Sharks v Sharks

Scarlets v Pau

Leicester Tigers v Bayonne

Sunday, 11 January 2026

Harlequins v Stormers

Toulon v Munster

Bordeaux-Bègles v Northampton Saints

Saracens v Toulouse


NEXT HARPIN’

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT : “THE RISE AND RISE OF PADDY McCARTHY” (YOUTUBE)

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN (SUBSTACK) 


479: Leicester Tigers v Leinster preview

Our guest : MARK JACKSON


LEINSTER :

15. Jimmy O’Brien14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Rieko Ioane 12. Robbie Henshaw

11. James Lowe 10. Harry Byrne 9. Jamison Gibson-Park

1. Paddy McCarthy 2. Rónan Kelleher 3. Tadhg Furlong 4. Joe McCarthy

5. James Ryan 6. Jack Conan 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Caelan Doris (c)

16. Dan Sheehan 17. Jack Boyle 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. Diarmuid Mangan

20. Max Deegan 21. Luke McGrath 22. Sam Prendergast 23. Ciarán Frawley


LEICESTER TIGERS

15 Freddie Steward 14 Adam Radwan 13 Will Wand

12 Solomone Kata 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins 10 Billy Searle 9 Tom Whiteley

1 Nicky Smith 2 Jamie Blamire 3 Joe Heyes 4 Cameron Henderson

5 Harry Wells 6 James Thompson 7 Tommy Reffell (c) 8 Joaquin Moro

16 Finn Theobald Thomas 17 Archie van der Flier 18 Will Hurd 19 Tom Manz

20 Sam Williams 21 Ollie Allan 22 Orlando Bailey 23 Joseph Woodward


Investec Champions Cup 25/26 – Round 2

Friday, December 12, 2025

Mattioli Woods Welford Road

KO 8pm

Live on : Premier Sports 1


Referee – Pierre Brousset (Fra)

AR1 – Vincent Blasco Baque (Fra)

AR2 – Julien Caulier (Fra)

TMO – Tual Trainini (Fra)

477 : Leinster v Harlequins preview

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST

Our guest : MARK JACKSON


LEINSTER : 15. Jimmy O’Brien 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Ciarán Frawley 11. Jordan Larmour 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Jamison Gibson-Park

1. Paddy McCarthy 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Thomas Clarkson 4. RG Snyman 5. Joe McCarthy 6. Jack Conan 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Caelan Doris (c)

16. Rónan Kelleher 17. Jack Boyle 18. Tadhg Furlong 19. Diarmuid Mangan 20. Max Deegan 21. Luke McGrath 22. Harry Byrne 23. Rieko Ioane


HARLEQUINS : 15. Cameron Anderson, 14. Cassius Cleaves, 13. Oscar Beard, 12. Luke Northmore, 11. Cadan Murley (c), 10. Jarrod Evans, 9. Will Porter

1. Boris Wenger, 2. Jack Walker, 3. Harry Williams, 4. Kieran Treadwell, 5. Stephan Lewies, 6. Zach Carr, 7. Will Evans, 8. Tom Lawday

16. George Turner, 17. Will Hobson, 18. Pedro Delgado, 19. Joe Launchbury, 20. Lucas Schmid, 21. Lucas Friday, 22. Jamie Benson, 23. Bryn Bradley


Investec Champions Cup 25/26 – Round 1

Saturday, December 6, 2025

Aviva Stadium

KO 5:30pm

Live on : Premier Sports 1


Referee : Craig Evans (WRU)

AR1 : Adam Jones (WRU)

AR2 : Ben Breakspear (WRU)

TMO : Keith David (WRU)

475 : Dragons v Leinster preview



LEINSTER : 15. Jimmy O’Brien 14. Joshua Kenny 13. Hugh Cooney 12. Ciarán Frawley 11. Jordan Larmour 10. Harry Byrne 9. Fintan Gunne

1. Jack Boyle 2. Gus McCarthy 3. Thomas Clarkson 4. Brian Deeny 5. Diarmuid Mangan 6. Alex Soroka 7. Scott Penny 8. Max Deegan (c)

16. John McKee 17. Jerry Cahir 18. Rabah Slimani 19. RG Snyman 20. Josh Ericson 21. Luke McGrath 22. Charlie Tector 23. Ruben Moloney


DRAGONS : 15 Angus O’Brien (c) 14 Cai Evans 13 David Richards 12 Aneurin Owen  11 Huw Anderson 10 Tinus de Beer 9 Rhodri Williams

1 Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths 2 Oli Burrows 3 Robert Hunt 4 Seb Davies 5 Matthew Screech 6 Ryan Woodman 7 Thomas Young 8 Mackenzie Martin

16 Will Austin 17 Wyn Jones 18 Owain James 19 Levi Douglas 20 Shane Lewis-Hughes 21 Niall Armstrong 22 Joe Westwood 23 Ewan Rosser


United Rugby Championship 25/26 – Round 6

Friday, November 28, 2025

Rodney Parade, Newport

KO 7:45pm

Live on : TG4, Premier Sports 1, URC.tv 


Referee: Morne Ferreira (SARU)

AR 1: Craig Evans (WRU)

AR 2: Lucas Yendle (WRU)

TMO: Chris Allison (SARU)

465 : Leinster v Zebre preview




LEINSTER : 15. Hugo McLaughlin 14. Joshua Kenny 13. Hugh Cooney 

12. Charlie Tector 11. Andrew Osborne 10. Harry Byrne 9. Luke McGrath (c)

1. Jerry Cahir 2. John McKee 3. Rabah Slimani 4. Brian Deeny 

5. Diarmuid Mangan 6. Max Deegan 7. Scott Penny 8. James Culhane

16. Bobby Sheehan 17. Alex Usanov 18. Andrew Sparrow 19. RG Snyman 

20. Alex Soroka 21. Will Connors 22. Fintan Gunne 23. Caspar Gabriel


ZEBRE : 15 Lorenzo Pani 14 Mirko Belloni 13 Giulio Bertaccini 12 Marco Zanon 11 Albert Einstein Batista 10 Giacomo Da Re 9 Thomas Dominguez

1 Muhamed Hasa 2 Giovanni Quattrini 3 Matteo Nocera 4 Franco Carrera 5 Leonard Krumov (c) 6 Giacomo Ferrari 7 Samuele Locatelli 8 David Odiase

16 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo 17 Paolo Buonfiglio 18 Marcos Gallorini 19 Giacomo Milano 20 Giovanni Licata 21 Migael Prinsloo 22 Martin Roger Farias 23 Luca Morisi


BKT United Rugby Championship 25/26 Rd 5

Saturday, October 25, 2025

Aviva Stadium

KO 5:30pm Irish time  

Live on : Premier Sports 1, URC.tv


Referee: Ian Kenny (SRU)

AR 1: Stuart Gaffikin (IRFU)

AR 2:  Andrew Fogarty (IRFU)

TMO: Colin Brett (SRU)

464 : Leinster v Munster wrap

18 October 2025; Leinster players after their side’s defeat in the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Munster at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile


🏉  Multiple issues

🏉  Jack’s boot

🏉  Beirne unit

🏉  No warnings

🏉  Back to drawing board


HUGO GORDON


FULL TIME TAKES

Sarah Lennon

I feel for Cullen. All the riches in the world and none of them his. The team was disjointed, two dimensional and predictable. They played like strangers.

Munster, as good as they were, simply needed to do the basics well.

The end is nigh, for the team and for the ticket!

Kevin Kelehan

Munster came to Croker with a simple game plan and executed it, led by Tadgh Beirne who led from the front and dominated the breakdown, ending so many multi phase Leinster attacks with turnovers. Leinster were not cohesive and butchered so many decent attacks with bad handling. The ref was not test level, let Munster away with murder when not releasing the tackler going to ground, constantly half a yard offside at rucks, denied Josh van Der Flier a clear try and let a Munster deliberate knock on away as accidental. Leinster badly missed Joe McCarthy, Ryan Baird, Jack Conan, Hugo Keenan and Cealan Doris with Prendergast, Lowe and Snyman all extremely rusty. But hats off to Munster to playing to their game plan and executing scraps into 7 point scores, their new manager unlike Richie Murphy hit the ground full tilt in his first season.

Gavin Hegarty

I’m embarrassed by that performance. Lions and internationals on the pitch beaten by a team that just wanted it more.

I need to watch that penalty try again because from the Cusack stand it made zero sense. But that made no impact on the final score.

We thought the first two games were just blips,maybe not.

Colin Mehigan

We were missing key players and leaders (Doris, Conan, McCarthy, Keenan, Tommy OB, Baird etc). There’s too much hyperbole in modern sport and the aftermath of tonight from fan and media alike will be no exception.

I do have qualms about the Nienaber system which have been reinforced after that game but we did win a trophy 5 matches ago. Munster were due a win against us and they sensed our vulnerabilities before and during the game….now it’s time to see leaders step up for the rest of the season

Michelle Tobin

Injury count was horrendous on both sides. Having said that I’m happy tonight

Christy O’Connor

First off the better team by far won. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Nienabars tactics are awful. We are playing the same awful tactics that Van Graan did for Munster, stick it up the jumper and just try to barge through. We spent the majority of the 2nd half in their 22 and done nothing with it, not once did I feel confident that we would score. Superb defence from Munster but we never stretched them.

Felt sorry Frawley, was a brilliant tackle to deny the BP try only for the ref to make up some new law to give it.

Chris McDonnell

I have been saying this for years now, Cullen is not a head coach. He is a great servant to the club but simply has failed time and time again as coach. Pendergast didnt pick himself for ireland or leinster but simply isn’t any where near good enough at the minute and he may find it difficult to come back from this.

John Hyland

The breakdown was a free-for-all. Leinster lacked any pace or physicality. Crowley bossed our back three, and Prendergast was very poor. I’m not buying the ‘let him develop’ line. If he was good enough we would have seen it by now.

Conor Lowth

Actually refreshing to have a competitive Munster side back.

Leinster are on the decline the last couple of years and are persisting with mediocre players like Osborne, Frawley, Pendergast. These guys are rugby robots, slow with little flair , I fear for Leinster and Ireland

Get in the conversation yourself by leaving

your own thoughts each week after the full time whistle

in Leinster & Ireland matches on our Facebook page


URC WRAP


NEXT HARPIN’

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT : “IRELAND’S NOVEMBER SQUAD”

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN 


462 : Leinster v Sharks wrap

11 October 2025; Josh van der Flier of Leinster is tackled by Fez Mbatha of Hollywoodbets Sharks during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Hollywoodbets Sharks at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile


🏉  Cohesion back

🏉  Gunne firing

🏉  Josh the skipper

🏉  Sleeping giants

🏉  Josh the debutante


CIARÁN DUFFY


FULL TIME TAKES

Gavin Hegarty

Normal (ISH) service resumes!

I thought Osbourne was great, most likely Irelands 15 for the autumn internationals in winter. Harry looked confident but did try a tad to hard in parts.

We were south lower and watched the ground covered by Baird to make a tackle, unreal!

Far from perfect but a step in the right direction

Get in the conversation yourself by leaving

your own thoughts each week after the full time whistle

in Leinster & Ireland matches on our Facebook page


URC WRAP


NEXT HARPIN’

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT : “THE FRAWLEY DILEMMA”

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN 


461 : Leinster v Sharks preview

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST

Our guest : CIARÁN DUFFY


LEINSTER : 15. Jamie Osborne 14. Jimmy O’Brien 13. Robbie Henshaw 12. Ciarán Frawley 11. James Lowe 10. Harry Byrne 9. Fintan Gunne

1. Paddy McCarthy 2. Rónan Kelleher 3. Tadhg Furlong 4. Brian Deeny 5. Ryan Baird 6. Alex Soroka 7. Josh van der Flier (c) 8. Max Deegan 

16. Gus McCarthy 17. Jack Boyle 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. Diarmuid Mangan 20. James Culhane 21. Luke McGrath 22. Hugh Cooney 23. Joshua Kenny


SHARKS : 15 Edwill van der Merwe 14 Ethan Hooker 13 Jurenzo Julius 12 Lukhanyo Am 11 Makazole Mapimpi 10 Jean Smith 9 Jaden Hendrikse

1 Simphiwe Matanzima 2 Fez Mbatha 3 Ruan Dreyer 4 Jason Jenkins 5 Marvin Orie 6 Phepsi Buthelezi 7 Emmanuel Tshituka 8 Vincent Tshituka (c)

16 Bongi Mbonambi 17 Dian Bleuler 18 Vincent Koch 19 Bathobele Hlekani 20 Nick Hatton 21 Ross Braude 22 Siya Masuku 23 Francois Venter


BKT United Rugby Championship 25/26 Rd 3

Saturday, October 4, 2025

Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria

KO 5:30pm Irish time  

Live on : Premier Sports 1, URC.tv


Referee: Craig Evans (WRU)

AR 1: Keane Davison (IRFU)

AR 2:  Dan Carson (IRFU)

TMO: Keith David (WRU)