Edinburgh – HARPIN' ON RUGBY

494 : Leinster v Edinburgh wrap

31 January 2026; Scott Penny of Leinster, second from left, celebrates after scoring his third and his side’s fourth try during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Edinburgh at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile

🏉 Offload overload?

🏉 NIQ benefits

🏉 Death. Taxes. Penny.

🏉 Tector at 10

🏉 Luke’s leadership

THIS WEEK’S GUEST

TOM COLEMAN

FULL TIME TAKES

Christy O’Connor

Great result for the players that were playing. Thought Tector done well considering it’s been a long time since he had a run of games at ten.

Still a lot of the same issues with our attack, it’s very 1 dimensional and we need a lot of entries into their 22 to come away with some points

Cormac Mannion

We really are winning the hard way this season but a welcome win and another bonus point.

Still lots to improve on but when you think we are down to the bare bones in terms of players, it was a very satisfactory win

Gavin Hegarty

We made very hard work of it. Simple things that just didn’t work.

For example why did RG continue to try offloads when they never worked?

All teams now know they can easily unlock our shoot up defence by quick passing yet we still do it? Reko got caught out tonight.

Eamon Saunders

Good win again and great to see so much young talent being used

Kevin Kelehan

We have discovered the new and improved version of Mick Kiernan at 12 to fix Ireland’s place kicking problem, his name is Charlie Tector and he will be well ready for RWC 2027. The block down of the conversion on 80 minutes was very frustrating, Embra deserved a point out of that game and conceding it cost Leinster nothing

Dave Murray

A hard earned, but well deserved, 5 points for the 2nd/3rd string. Stormers losing again was pleasing too.

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URC WRAP

NEXT HARPIN’

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT : “LEINSTER’S SEASON SO FAR” (YouTube)

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN (Substack)

France v Ireland preview (YouTube)

493 : Leinster v Edinburgh preview

Our guest : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

Leinster : 15 Andrew Osborne 14 Joshua Kenny 13 Rieko Ioane 12 Ciarán Mangan 11 Ruben Moloney 10 Charlie Tector 9 Luke McGrath (c)

1 Jerry Cahir 2 John McKee 3 Andrew Sparrow 4 RG Snyman 5 Brian Deeny 6 Max Deegan 7 Scott Penny 8 Diarmuid Mangan

16 Gus McCarthy 17 Alex Usanov 18 Niall Smyth 19 Conor O’Tighearnaigh 20 Josh Ericson 21 Will Connors 22 Fintan Gunne 23 Hugo McLaughlin

Edinburgh : 15 Harry Paterson 14 Malelili Satala 13 Wes Goosen 12 James Lang 11 Duhan van der Merwe 10 Ross Thompson 9 Ben Vellacott

1 Boan Venter 2 Jerry Blyth‑Lafferty 3 Paul Hill 4 Callum Hunter‑Hill 5 Glen Young 6 Ben Muncaster 7 Freddy Douglas 8 Magnus Bradbury (c)

16 Harri Morris 17 Mikey Jones 18 Ollie Blyth‑Lafferty 19 Tom Dodd 20 Connor Boyle 21 Charlie Shiel 22 Cammy Scott 23 Piers O’Conor

BKT United Rugby Championship 25/26 – Round 11

Saturday, January 31, 2026

Aviva Stadium

KO 5:30pm

Live on : Premier Sports 1, URC.tv

Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)

AR 1: Eoghan Cross (IRFU)

AR 2: Shane Gaughan (IRFU)

TMO: Matteo Liperini (FIR)

369 : Edinburgh v Leinster wrap

20 September 2024; Jamison Gibson-Park of Leinster scores his side’s fourth try during the United Rugby Championship match between Edinburgh and Leinster at Hive Stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile

also available on Apple & most major platforms

🏉 Mixed bag

🏉 Pro-Tector

🏉 Whiskey, neat

🏉 Bouncebackability

🏉 Two Healys

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

TOM COLEMAN

CIARÁN DUFFY

(Post To Post Sport)

FULL TIME TAKES

Kevin Kelehan

JGP’s try was the catalyst that delivered that burst of scores that changed the game, lucky the Edinburgh butchered their kicks 5 minutes out but on balance a decent start to the season that needs to deliver silverware

Chris McDonnell

We handed over 5 tries to the second worst attack in the league. If we don’t send him back to SA it’d going to get worse. Good to see some of the attack and Sam and Charlie were very good.

Gavin Hegarty

First game, away, mainly young team v full Edinburgh. A lot of positives. Sam was sublime, techtor could be a great 12 with his new bulk.

Scott Penny is relentless.

Can we talk about Byrne’s reaction to his yellow? Pathetic and I think he’ll get scolded for it in the review.

William Andrew

Tector, was competent at 12, that might be a better fit for him considering the glut at 10. Prendergast was very effective too. Nicely timed passing constantly. Defence a bit leaky, but a good start

David Lawlor

Nice to banish the opening game yips we seem to have been suffering from. A joy to watch a Leinster 10 take the ball to the line and his passing was sublime too. The last minute try makes it seem closer than it really was and while it’s disappointing to concede five tries I think the defence will improve as the season goes on. Roll on Friday in the Aviva!

5pts away from home in a season opener. I'll take it.

More importantly, welcome Rabah, that'll do pic.twitter.com/OKO1wnk5E5
— Jay Long (@Jay_Long_626) September 20, 2024

Poor finish handing over the 2nd point but happy with the 5 on our end, responded well to early 2nd half try, JGP superb, final qtr defence impressive until 80th min, cant ask for much more away from home to open the season. #EDIvLEI
— Harpin' On Rugby (@HarpinOnRugby) September 20, 2024

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URC ROUND 1 WRAP

@harpinonrugby
Check out our first wrap pod of the season, available on Spotify, Apple and most major platforms.
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368 : Edinburgh v Leinster preview

also available as a podcast

Our guest : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

LEINSTER : 15. Jamie Osborne 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Charlie Tector 11. Jordan Larmour 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Jamison Gibson-Park

1. Michael Milne 2. Gus McCarthy 3. Thomas Clarkson 4. Conor O’Tighearnaigh 5. James Ryan 6. Max Deegan 7. Scott Penny 8. Jack Conan (c)

16. John McKee 17. Cian Healy 18. Rabah Slimani 19. Brian Deeny 20. James Culhane 21. Luke McGrath 22. Ross Byrne 23. Rob Russell

EDINBURGH : 15 W Goosen 14 D Graham 13 M Tuipulotu 12 M Currie 11 D van der Merwe

10 R Thompson 9 A Price 1 P Schoeman 2 D Cherry 3 P Hill

4 M Sykes 5 G Cilchrist (c) 6 J Ritchie 7 H Watson 8 B Muncaster

16 E Ashman 17 B Venter 18 D Rae 19 J Hodgson

20 M Bradbury 21 Ben Vellacott 22 B Healy 23 E Boffelli

United Rugby Championship 24/25 Round 1

Friday, September 20, 2024

KO 7:35pm Hive Stadium

Live on: Premier Sports, TG4, SuperSport, Flo Rugby & URC.tv

Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)

AR 1: Jonny Perriam (SRU)

AR 2: Michael Todd (SRU)

TMO: Stefano Roscini (FIR)

290 : Leinster v Edinburgh wrap

4 November 2023; Charlie Shiel of Edinburgh kicks clear during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Edinburgh at the RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

🏉 Best Shield in the Best League?

🏉 AIL roundup

🏉 Defences on top

🏉 Harry’s pivotal moments

🏉 Too many SFPs

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CONOR CRONIN & CIAN O’MUILLEOIR

@harpinonrugby
Our Leinster v Edinburgh wrap now available on Spotify, Apple and most major platforms #irishtiktok #irelandtiktok #rugbyunion🏉 #LeinsterRugby
♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

FULL TIME TAKES

Gavin Hegarty

Tommy O’Brien is a class act! Always hungry. Culhane great also.

Harry Byrne is again failing to live up to the hype unfortunately and will most likely be overtaken by prendergast soon enough.

Where has Tector gone?

(reply to Gavin) Peter Tracey

he’s still training away Gav. Just Prendergast has moved ahead of him. Deegan doing a Ruddock and all the dirty work that’s not seen.

Need to develop a 9 for me with McGrath injured and only JGP for big games. Foley did well last season but trying too hard this season so far with his kicking game. Just do the basics. Murphy had a good passing game when he came on. Best to do it now in these games and at least they’re getting experience. Boyle did well. Another area we need to develop.

Odran John O’Brien

Great outing again for Jack Boyle he’s getting better every game

Christy O’Connor

The game was riddled with mistakes from both sides. Very sloppy passing at times, we gave away some very cheap tries. In the end it was a good win. Barron was motm for me.

Richard Kennedy

Very happy with that. Bonus secured by 51 mins against a team stacked full of Scottish internationals. A young team getting quality game time.

Alan Murphy

I seemed to have watched a different game to most posts – we sit on the 22. Our line-out was a shambles, we gave away 3 scrum penalties and handling was really poor. Lots of weak shoulders for Edinburgh’s tries. Great win but really poor game.

Closer than it needed to be, Edinburgh will be disappointed to come away with nothing given starting lineups, took their attack too long to get going.

Good day for TOB yet again, also Harry, Jamie, overall D & great to see Culhane on scoresheet.

5 welcome pts. #LEIvEDI
— Harpin' On Rugby (@HarpinOnRugby) November 4, 2023

FRONT FIVE ARTICLES

1 Depleted Ulster throw away 17 point lead as Connacht claim two-point win | BelfastTelegraph.co.uk [Michael Sadlier]

2 Munster continue unbeaten start to URC title defence with comfortable win over Dragons (irishexaminer.com) [Simon Lewis]

3 Irish Rugby | Energia All-Ireland League Men’s Divisions: Round 4 Results Round-Up

4 Rassie reveals Bok plans (sarugbymag.co.za)

5 Darren Sweetnam dots down as La Rochelle’s disastrous Top 14 start continues (the42.ie)

URC WRAP

ROUND 3

GLA 20-9 STO

OSP 19-5 SHA

ZEB 29-54 BUL

LEI 36-27 EDI

SCA 31-25 CAR

MUN 45-14 DRA

CON 22-20 ULS

BEN 15-10 LIO

ROUND 4

FRI NOV 10

ZEB V SHA

ULS V MUN

SAT NOV 11

CAR V BUL

BEN V STO

OSP V GLA

SCA V LIO

EDI V CON

SUN NOV 12

DRA V LEI

HARPIN MATCH WRAPS

ARE BROUGHT TO YOU BY

THE IRISH RUGBY SHOP

AT ELVERYS

289 : #LEIvEDI preview

also available as podcast

Our guest : TOM COLEMAN

Leinster : 15. Ciarán Frawley 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Jamie Osborne 12. Charlie Ngatai 11. Jordan Larmour 10. Harry Byrne 9. Cormac Foley

1. Jack Boyle 2. Lee Barron 3. Michael Ala’alatoa 4. Ross Molony 5. Jason Jenkins 6. Max Deegan 7. Scott Penny > CAPTAIN 8. James Culhane

16. Dylan Donnellan 17. Paddy McCarthy 18. Rory McGuire 19. Brian Deeny 20. Rhys Ruddock 21. Ben Murphy 22. Sam Prendergast 23. Rob Russell

Edinburgh : 15. Blair Kinghorn 14. Wes Goosen 13. Mark Bennett 12. Matt Currie 11. Duhan van der Merwe 10. Ben Healy 9. Charlie Shiel

1. Pierre Schoeman 2. Dave Cherry 3. WP Nel 4. Glen Young 5. Grant Gilchrist (c) 6. Tom Dodd 7. Hamish Watson 8. Luke Crosbie

16. Ewan Ashman 17. Boan Venter 18. Javan Sebastian 19. Marshall Sykes 20. Connor Boyle 21. Hector Patterson 22. James Lang 23. Chris Dean

United Rugby Championship 2023/24 Round 3

Saturday November 4, 2023 KO 3:05pm

RDS Arena

TV : RTÉ2, Premier Sports 1, URC.tv

Ref: Marius van der Westhuizen (SARU)

AR 1: Keane Davison (IRFU)

AR 2: Jonathan Erskine (IRFU)

TMO: Sean Brickell (WRU)

229 : Edinburgh v Leinster wrap

4 March 2023; Michael Ala’alatoa of Leinster scores his side’s sixth try as teammates including Michael Milne celebrate during the United Rugby Championship match between Edinburgh and Leinster at The Dam Health Stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

MARK JACKSON & CIARÁN DUFFY

Click here for info on Ciarán’s fundraiser

FULL TIME TAKES

FACEBOOK

Peter Murphy Sad to see so many doubters before the game

Kevin Kelehan The machine keeps delivering

Chris McDonnell Seriously good

TWITTER

Very difficult decision for my #MOTM tonight.

Frawley excellent on his return and Deegan and Penny were mighty as always but with his two tries and all his other play in the loose I have to go for Mikey Milne

#EDIvLEI
— Miriam Collins (@MiriamCol) March 4, 2023

So that’s Leinster winning the Irish Shield in the URC. #EDIvLEI #URC
— CatherineL (@CatherineL2288) March 4, 2023

Getting pumped by Leinster B but getting a 4 try bonus looks slightly prescient, no?
— Scottish Rugby Blog 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 (@ScotRugbyBlog) March 4, 2023

Penny worthy PotM but that Leinster 10-12-13 display plus that DK finish…#EDIvLEI pic.twitter.com/59zVnD6S2k
— Harpin' On Rugby (@HarpinOnRugby) March 4, 2023

MASTODON

RichardMifsud Poor start but credit Edinburgh for that. Good response from the boys very clinical in their 22. Absorbed the lessons and adapted. Once we did they were found out because our D was on point and allowed us to kick on. Great 9/10/12/13 interplay and Ciarán F added quality as required. Surprised by Edinburgh’s capitulation after 50” or so. Scott P worthy POTM but Harry B was thereabouts

BrianClontarf Best performance by Harry Byrne for some time. He’s growing into it.

FRONT FIVE ARTICLES

URC ROUND 15 WRAP

ROUND 15

GLA 50-8 ZEB

MUN 49-42 SCA

STO 29-23 SHA

BUL 25-29 LIO

EDI 27-47 LEI

OSP 20-21 BEN

DRA 20-22 CON

CAR 20-42 ULS

ROUND 16

MAR 24

ZEB V CAR

LEI V STO

MAR 25

BEN V LIO

OSP V DRA

CON V EDI

SCA V SHA

MUN V GLA

ULS V BUL

HARPIN’ MATCH WRAPS

ARE BROUGHT TO YOU BY

THE IRISH RUGBY SHOP

228 : Harpin Preview Show – #EDIvLEI

OUR GUEST : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

Leinster : 15. Ciarán Frawley 14. Jordan Larmour 13. Liam Turner 12. Jamie Osborne 11. Dave Kearney 10. Harry Byrne 9. Luke McGrath

1. Michael Milne 2. John McKee 3. Michael Ala’alatoa 4. Ross Molony 5. Jason Jenkins 6. Rhys Ruddock > CAPTAIN 7. Scott Penny 8. Max Deegan

16. Lee Barron 17. Jack Boyle 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. Brian Deeny 20. Will Connors 21. Nick McCarthy 22. Charlie Tector 23. Rob Russell.

Edinburgh : 15. Emiliano Boffelli 14. Damien Hoyland 13. Mark Bennett 12. James Lang 11. Wes Goosen 10. Charlie Savala 9. Ben Vellacott

1. Boan Venter 2. Stuart McInally 3. Lee-Roy Atalifo 4. Marshall Sykes 5. Sam Skinner 6. Luke Crosbie > CAPTAIN 7. Hamish Watson 8. Viliame Mata

16. Dave Cherry 17. Jamie Jack 18. Elliot Millar-Mills 19. Jamie Hodgson 20. Nick Haining 21. Charlie Shiel 22. Jaco van der Walt 23. Chris Dean.

BKT United Rugby Championship 2022/23

Round 15

Sat Mar 4 KO 5:05pm

DAM Health Stadium

Live on: TG4, Viaplay/Premier Sports, URC.tv

Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)

AR1: Sam Grove-White

AR2: Ian Kenny

TMO: Jon Mason

227 : Opposition view – Edinburgh & Scotland

With both Leinster & Ireland playing in the Scottish capital the next two weekends, our perfect guest to offer an opposition view was Sandy “@theburghwatch” Smith.

OUR GUEST : SANDY SMITH