🏉 Lions v Leinster wrap
🏉 Around the provinces
🏉 Wonder Wallabies
🏉 Pollock. Discuss.
🏉 #StopTheGame
Our guests :
542 : Lions, Wallabies, Corn rows
Category: Emirates Lions
529 : Leinster v Lions wrap
🏉 Turning the page
🏉 Lowe Baller
🏉 Sam & Reiko
🏉 The Joe Show
🏉 …but the Lions…
THIS WEEK’S GUEST
FULL-TIME THOUGHTS
Gavin Hegarty
A win.
Twas nice.
I had wine.
Great to see lowe get the record but can see why he’s going.
Nice to see sam run the show and run it well.
On a side note we have Sheehan, kelleher and McCarthy at two. Three world class hookers. How long before Munster take one?
David Ryle
Sam was excellent. We need him firing with confidence, hopefully he blocks out the noise from the hateful.
David Ross
At last we have complimentary comments about Sam P. His game was not without mistakes but he is human and is certainly Ireland’s future. Good result it would be great to have a Leinster/Glasgow final!!
Craig Grehan
Great to see them bounce back from last week. But two very different teams. Do we know our best starting 15 yet ?
Vincent Duggan
Lions must have been on the beer for two weeks.
Eamon Saunders
Great result after last week ,and great to see Lowe get the record
Christy O’Connor
Obviously a great result, delighted for Lowe and hopefully he stays. Lions were very poor. I expect a much harder test next week
Did I see Neil (keego) Keenan celebrating the 4th try on TV?
Colin Mehigan
Great result. Great performance. Understandable reasons why crowd was so small but Leinster fans need to support our team when the team need it the most – and not only when we win trophies
Kevin Kelehan
Less than 10,000 supporters in the ground but real fans make a lot of noise. Leinster back to Leinstertainment after a harrowing ‘weather experience’ last week. Not saying Leinster would have beat UBB last week but playing a game in Spain mid afternoon in May in the era where climate change is advanced was reprehensible planning.
Pieter Bezuidenhout
We need to stop with the excuses. Connacht, Munster, Cardiff, and the Lions were clearly out of their depth this weekend. Watching a captain like Craig Casey hide behind an injury list rather than admitting they were outplayed is embarrassing. Real leaders show some humility. On top of that, the way Leinster carried on with those celebrations against the Lions was completely classless. It’s not a World Cup final, so stop acting like it is. It is time for everyone to stop the self-congratulations and get a grip.
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URC WRAP
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
TUESDAY
BONUS CHAT : “REMAINING URC CHALLENGERS” (YouTube)
WEDNESDAY
80+ COLUMN (Substack)
523 : Leinster v Lions wrap
🏉 Attacking inefficiency
🏉 Defensive efficiency
🏉 Bomb squad
🏉 SA Shield champs
🏉 Bilbao lessons
THIS WEEK’S GUEST
FULL TIME TAKES
Ted Maher
When Sam came off he didn’t take any hands from his team mates and he sat away from them. He knows himself things aren’t going well. I think a break from the game will do him good. We all love rugby but we can’t let it bring us down. He is a fantastic young man and hope things work out for him.
Lorcán Murphy
I get changes are necessary but it’s still more of the same disjointed performances. How we’re top 3 and in an EPCR final shows the quality we have but it’s hard to imagine any silverware will be won this year.
Christy O’Connor
Mangan was the highlight of the whole game. If the coaches don’t learn from this that Prendergast cannot be involved in the final in 2 weeks, then they need to step down. I’m not having a go at Sam, I feel sorry for him, he was thrown in at the deep end from early in his career and it hasn’t worked out for him yet.
Gavin Hegarty
It speaks volumes that we are that bad yet still in a euro final and 3rd in the URC.
This was a woeful game. So many idiotic mistakesfrom players that should know better.
Sebastian Brennan Tkacz
That was the most boring performance from Leinster I’ve ever seen. Loads of people started leaving the stadium at around 55 minutes. I agree with previous comments, Sam cannot be included for the final, his defence was extremely poor today again, and I really like his ball management. It’s between Byrne and Frawley now.
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URC WRAP
NEXT HARPIN’
TUESDAY
BONUS CHAT : “URC RACE TO THE 8”
WEDNESDAY
80+ COLUMN
522 : Leinster v Lions preview
LEINSTER : 15 Ciarán Frawley 14 Joshua Kenny 13 Rieko Ioane 12 Jamie Osborne 11 Jimmy O’Brien 10 Sam Prendergast 9 Luke McGrath
1 Ed Byrne 2 John McKee 3 Thomas Clarkson 4 Brian Deeny 5 James Ryan (c) 6 Max Deegan 7 Will Connors 8 James Culhane
16 Dan Sheehan 17 Andrew Porter 18 Rabah Slimani 19 Diarmuid Mangan 20 Scott Penny 21 Fintan Gunne 22 Hugh Cooney 23 Hugo Keenan
LIONS : 15 Quan Horn 14 Erich Cronje 13 Henco van Wyk 12 Richard Kriel 11 Angelo Davids 10 Chris Smith 9 Morne van den Berg
1 SJ Kotze 2 PJ Botha 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye 4 Etienne Oosthuizen 5 Reinhard Nothnagel 6 Siba Mahashe 7 Ruan Venter 8 Francke Horn (c)
16 Franco Marais 17 Eddie Davids 18 Sebastian Lombard 19 Darrien Landsberg 20 Batho Hlekani 21 JC Pretorius 22 Nico Steyn 23 Kelly Mpeku
BKT United Rugby Championship
2025/26 Round 17
Saturday, May 9, 2026
Aviva Stadium
KO 5:30pmpm
Live on : Premier Sports 1, URC.tv
Referee: Hollie Davidson (SRU)
AR1: Keane Davison (IRFU)
AR2: Stuart Gaffikin (IRFU)
TMO: Andrew McMenemy (SRU)
Here is the extra chat on the Leo v Indo situation as promised in the Preview Show…
379 : Leinster v Lions wrap
🏉 9/10 combinations
🏉 Proud Lions
🏉 Forcing knockons
🏉 Caelan & Josh
🏉 Late gloss
THIS WEEK’S GUESTS
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
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URC WRAP
378 : Leinster v Lions preview
LEINSTER : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Andrew Osborne 13. Hugh Cooney 12. Robbie Henshaw 11. James Lowe 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Luke McGrath
1. Michael Milne 2. Gus McCarthy 3. Rabah Slimani 4. RG Snyman 5. Ryan Baird 6. Max Deegan 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Caelan Doris (c)
16. Stephen Smyth 17. Andrew Porter 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. Brian Deeny 20. James Culhane 21. Cormac Foley 22. Ross Byrne 23. Charlie Tector
Emirates Lions : 15 Quan Horn 14 Richard Kriel 13 Henco van Wyk 12 Rhynhardt Jonker 11 Edwill van der Merwe 10 Kade Wolhuter 9 Morne van den Berg
1 Juan Schoeman 2 Jaco Visagie 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye 4 Reinhard Nothnagel 5 Ruben Schoeman 6 JC Pretorius 7 Jarod Cairns 8 Francke Horn (c)
16 Franco Marais 17 Heiko Pohlmann 18 RF Schoeman 19 Ruan Delport 20 Renzo du Plessis 21 Sanele Nohamba 22 Marius Louw 23 Erich Cronje
United Rugby Championship 24/25 Round 6
Saturday, October 26, 2024
KO 5:15pm Dexcom Stadium
Live on: RTÉ2, Premier Sports 2, & URC.tv
Referee: Craig Evans (WRU)
AR 1: Peter Martin (IRFU)
AR 2: Stuart Gaffikin (IRFU)
TMO: Aled Griffiths (WRU)
340 : Lions v Leinster wrap & URC run-in overview
🏉 Lions cohesion
🏉 No way back
🏉 Fast news week
🏉 Race for the top 8
🏉 May squad management
THIS WEEK’S GUESTS
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
HARPIN MATCH WRAPS
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AT ELVERYS
339 : Lions v Leinster preview
LEINSTER : 15: Ciarán Frawley 14: Rob Russell 13: Liam Turner 12: Charlie Ngatai 11: Andrew Osborne 10: Harry Byrne 9: Luke McGrath
1: Cian Healy 2: Lee Barron 3: Thomas Clarkson 4: Brian Deeny 5: Jason Jenkins 6: Diarmuid Mangan 7: Scott Penny (c) 8: Max Deegan
16: John McKee 17: Michael Milne 18: Michael Ala’alatoa 19: Ross Molony 20: Rhys Ruddock 21: Cormac Foley 22: San Prendergast 23: Ben Brownlee
LIONS : 15. Quan Horn 14. Richard Kriel 13. Erich Cronje 12. Marius Louw (c) 11. Edwill van der Merwe 10. Sanele Nohamba 9. Morne van den Berg
1. Morgan Naude 2. PJ Botha 3. Ruan Dreyer 4. Willem Alberts 5. Ruan Delport 6. JC Pretorius 7. Emmanuel Tshituka 8. Francke Horn
16. Jaco Visagie 17. JP Smith 18. Asenathi Ntlabakanye 19. Reinhard Nothnagel 20. Sibusiso Sangweni 21. Nico Steyn 22. Jordan Hendrikse 23. Henco van Wyk
BKT United Rugby Championship 2023/24 Round 14
Saturday, April 20, 2024
KO 2pm Emirates Airlines Park
Live on: RTÉ2, URC.tv
Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
AR1: Morne Ferreira (South Africa)
AR2: Christopher Allison (South Africa)
TMO: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
243 : Lions v Leinster wrap
THIS WEEK’S GUESTS
Click here for Joe’s site Three BOD Rugby
FULL TIME TAKES
Greg Kelly From the first scrum the Lions looked uneasy. They looked like they expected the young guns to have a crack but to fall away. However they didn’t. Lions lived off Leinster errors and a lack of cohesion.
Up the ladders and age grades Leinster lose very few games and sometimes that shows. Players that are not used to losing generally don’t fall away.
Christy O’Connor Lot of pressure on Prendergast, I originally thought it was a mistake to start him but after a bit of a shaky first half he got more into the game and made the difference in the end.
Big statement to come from behind when down to 13 men and we were nowhere near full strength
Andrew Potts Any win in SA is to be respected, fantastic result for young players and praise also for Ruddock and Deegan for keeping the lads focused when it could have gone South
MASTODON
FRONT FIVE ARTICLES
- Irish rugby likened to ‘old boys club’ with sexism commonplace (telegraph.co.uk) [Fiona Thomas]
- Leinster Rugby | Jacques Nienaber to Join Leinster Rugby [Marcus Ó Buachalla]
- Ulster increase strain on Stormers by knocking down Dragons | Belfast News Letter [Ciaran Donaghy]
- Huge win as Munster end Stormers’ two-year home streak in Cape Town (irishexaminer.com) [Craig Ray]
- Connacht give departing figures the perfect home send-off with bonus-point win (the42.ie) [John Fallon]
URC ROUND 17 WRAP
ROUND 17
SHA 43-33 BEN
GLA 12-9 SCA
ULS 40-19 DRA
BUL 78-12 ZEB
LIO 36-39 LEI
STO 24-26 MUN
EDI 45-21 OSP
CON 38-19 CAR
ROUND 18
FRI APR 21
STO V BEN
ULS V EDI
SAT SPR 22
LIO V ZEB
DRA V SCA
BUL V LEI
SHA V MUN
OSP V CAR
GLA V CON
HARPIN’ MATCH WRAPS
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242 : Harpin Preview Show – #LIOvLEI
Our guest : TOM COLEMAN
Leinster : 15. Chris Cosgrave 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Liam Turner 12. Ben Brownlee 11. Dave Kearney 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Nick McCarthy
1. Michael Milne 2. Lee Barron 3. Vakhtang Abdaladze 4. Brian Deeny 5. Jason Jenkins 6. Rhys Ruddock > CAPTAIN7. Will Connors 8. Max Deegan
16. Tadgh McElroy 17. Ed Byrne 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. Alex Soroka 20. James Culhane 21. Ben Murphy 22. Charlie Tector 23. Rob Russell
Lions : 15 Q Horn 14 S Pienaar 13 M Raas 12 M Louw (c) 11 E vd Merwe 10 G Lombard 9 S Nohamba
1 R Runsburger 2 PJ Botha 3 A Ntlabakanye 4 W Alberts 5 R Schoeman 6 J Kriel 7 R Delport 8 F Horn
16 M Brandon 17 JP Smith 18 R Dreyer 19 DL Landsberg 20 T Gordon 21 M vd Berg 22 R Jonker 23 A Coetzee
BKT United Rugby Championship 2022/23
Round 17
Sat Apr 15 KO 3pm
Emirates Airline Park, Johannesburg
Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU)
AR 1: Morne Ferreira (SARU)
AR 2: Stephan Geldenhuys (SARU)
TMO: David Sutherland (SRU)
Live on: RTÉ, Viaplay, Premier Sports & URC.tv
