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
227 : Opposition view – Edinburgh & Scotland
Category: Leinster Opposition
224 : Leinster v Dragons wrap
🏉 Welsh mess
🏉 Rhys Ruddock
🏉 Dragons fronting up
🏉 Harry Byrne
🏉 G**** S***
THIS WEEK’S GUESTS
click here for Ciarán’s fundraising page
FULL TIME TAKES
Greg Kelly
Not a great performance. Probably the worst or amongst the worst of the season. Quite disjointed and not as controlled as Leinster teams usually are.
Performance aside its yet another routine win that was never really in doubt. The URC is great for blooding players but week by week it becomes worse for challenging them.
Andrew Bailey
First up you have to play a referee who’s agenda from the start is to favour the home team. But you can’t do that with poor lineouts , Ruck protection snd an awful kicking game. A big win but worst performance of the season. Why not trust the outside backs more ??
MASTODON
RichardMifsud Had a bit of everything that one. Always love watching the young kids getting a run out. Second 40 saw a dip in intensity that let Dragons back into the game and gave the boys good practice on D. A bit of a flourish at the end with two well worked tries. Invaluable experience for the kids and Rhys a worthy POTM although Lukey pushed for that too Liam Turner had a good outing and it was great to see Jason J and Will on the pitch
John Shine I’m jumping aboard the Jack Boyle hype train!!! In all seriousness it was a nice little 20 mins for him. Held up his end of the scrum. Couple of good carries and a great jackal turnover. Bigger tests await but he’s an exciting prospect.
FRONT FIVE ARTICLES
- Welsh rugby’s almighty mess, the immoral treatment of players and the uncomfortable truths – Wales Online [Steffan Thomas]
- Blow for Ireland & Munster as full extent of Tadhg Beirne injury revealed | SportsJOE.ie [Jason Hennessy]
- Gavin Coombes stars as nine-try Munster rout Ospreys at Thomond (irishexaminer.com) [John Fallon]
- URC: Connacht score nine tries in comfortable victory over Zebre – The Irish Times [Linley MacKenzie]
- Glasgow v Ulster: bench impact helps Warriors extend unbeaten run (theoffsideline.com) [David Barnes]
URC ROUND 14 WRAP
ROUND 14
GLA 17-11 ULS
MUN 58-3 OSP
LIO 7-29 SHA
ZEB 37-57 CON
BUL 19-23 STO
CAR 30-13 BEN
SCA 42-14 EDI
LEI 43-14 DRA
REARRANGED MATCHES
ROUND 6
SHA V ULS
LIO V 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
HARPIN’ MATCH WRAPS
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223 : Harpin Preview Show – #LEIvDRA
Our guest : CONOR CRONIN
Leinster : 15. Jimmy O’Brien 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. Brian Deeny 6. Rhys Ruddock > CAPTAIN 7. Scott Penny 8. Max Deegan
16. Lee Barron 17. Jack Boyle 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. Jason Jenkins 20. Will Connors 21. Nick McCarthy 22. Charlie Tector 23. Rob Russell
Dragons RFC: 15 A O’Brien 14 Tomkinson 13 S Hughes 12 J Dixon 11 A Hewitt 10 W Reed 9 R Williams (c)
1 R Jones 2 B Coghlan 3 L Fairbrother 4 M Screech 5 B Carter 6 B Fry 7 T Basham 8 R Moriarty
16 J Benjamin 17 A Seiuli 18 C Coleman 19 S Lonsdale 20 R Woodman 21 L Jones 22 JJ Hanrahan 23 J Williams
BKT United Rugby Championship 2022/23
Round 14
Sat Feb 18 KO 7:35pm
RDS Arena
Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU)
AR 1: Oisin Quinn (IRFU)
AR 2: Sam Holt (IRFU)
TMO: Dave Sutherland (SRU)
Live on: RTÉ, S4C, Viaplay, Premier Sports, SuperSport, Discovery + & URC.tv
215 : Leinster v Cardiff wrap
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SIX NATIONS GUINNESS PINT PREDICTOR LEAGUE
THIS WEEK’S GUESTS
CONOR CRONIN & CIAN O’MUILLEOIR
FULL TIME TAKES
Gavin Hegarty
We beat a Cardiff team with our thirds. We had the bp quick enough and took the foot off the gas in the second half to allow them two tries back.
Delight to have chopper Connors back and to see him doing what he does best.
Great to see the debutants, Leinster are going to be a force for years to come.
Brian Corr
Feel Cardiff came thinking they were going to have an easy game with so many Leinster players on Ireland duty, they realised their mistake too late.
It’s great to see Deegan playing so well and even better to see Connors back.
It’s a great testament to Cullen and his coaches that they have the back up squad so tuned in and able to step up when needed, even if Cardiff were not really at the races.
Tector getting his first points, Turner with another great try.
Great outcome for Leinster, especially racking up the points for home games in the knockouts.
Karen Brennan
Well done to new young players getting their first cap,a great occasion for them,especially Balbriggan rugby clubs Aitzol King👍🏻
MASTODON
RichardMifsud I always love watching @leinsterrugby play but I particularly love it when the young guns get a run out. TBH I was expecting a tougher game but Cardiff disappointed Deegs very worthy POTM Good outings from Milne Brownlee Turner as well as our starting back row and halfbacks Disappointing 10 minutes in the final quarter but that’s great learning for the kids
Andrew Byrne Harry Byrne’s kicking out of hand was very good, amazing the difference a bit of game time makes. We got a bit sloppy in the final quarter but to be expected with so many changes. Cardiff’s coaches must be pulling their hair out, their team was outclassed by an inexperienced Leinster team.
FRONT FIVE ARTICLES
- RFU Apologise After Severe Criticism Over Controversial New Tackle Laws | Balls.ie [Colman Stanley]
- Bernard Laporte resigns from FFR president role after corruption conviction (talkingrugbyunion.co.uk)
- Ulster sink Stormers with home success | Belfast News Letter [Ciaran Donaghy]
- Six-try Munster bank bonus in Treviso thriller (irishexaminer.com) [Kevin Fallon]
- Jack Carty becomes Connacht’s all-time top points scorer as Lions tamed at Sportsground – The Irish Times [Linley MacKenzie]
URC ROUND 13 WRAP
ROUND 13
ULS 35-5 STO
SCA 37-28 BUL
BEN 30-40 MUN
DRA 28-42 GLA
LEI 38-14 CAR
EDI 19-22 SHA
CON 43-24 LIO
ZEB 24-28 OSP
Feb 4 (Round 1)
SHA v STO
Round 14
Feb 17
MUN V OSP
GLA V ULS
Feb 18
LIO V SHA
BUL V STO
ZEB V CON
SCA V EDI
CAR V BEN
LEI V DRA
HARPIN’ MATCH WRAPS ARE
BROUGHT TO YOU BY
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214 : Harpin Preview Show #LEIvCAR
OUR GUEST : MARK JACKSON
Leinster: 15. Chris Cosgrave 14. Max O’Reilly 13. Liam Turner 12. Ben Brownlee 11. Dave Kearney 10. Harry Byrne 9. Luke McGrath
1. Michael Milne 2. John McKee 3. Michael Ala’alatoa 4. Ross Molony 5. Brian Deeny 6. Rhys Ruddock CAPTAIN 7. Scott Penny 8. Max Deegan
16. Tadgh McElroy 17. Marcus Hanan 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. James Culhane 20. Will Connors 21. Nick McCarthy 22. Charlie Tector 23. Aitzol King
Cardiff: 15 R Priestland 14 O Lane 13 R Lee-Lo 12 B Thomas 11 J Harries 10 J Evans 9 L Williams
1 B Thyer 2 K Myhill 3 Keiron Assiratti 4 L Timani 5 S Davies 6 J Turnbull (capt.) 7 J Botham 8 J Ratti
16 K Dacey 17 C Domachowski 18 W Davies-King 19 R Thornton 20 S Lewis-Hughes 21 E Bevan 22 A Summerhill 23 M Morgan
BKT United Rugby Championship 22/23
Round 13
Sat Jan 28 KO 5pm
RDS Arena
Referee: Jaco Peyper (SARU)
AR 1: Joy Neville (IRFU)
AR 2: Andrew Fogarty (IRFU)
TMO: Marius Jonker (SARU)
Live on: RTÉ, S4C, Viaplay, Premier Sports, SuperSport, Discovery + & URC.tv
213 : Opposition view – Cardiff & Wales
For our first Opposition View pod of 2023 I was delighted to speak to Lee & Rhys from the excellent WRRAP pod about the regions’ season so far plus the Welsh Six Nations squad.
Our guests…
LEE GRIFFITH &
RHYS JOHN
Their pod on the Welsh 6N squad > https://anchor.fm/wrrap/episodes/Bonus-pod—The-Wales-squad-e1tl9ph/a-a8qnq0j
212 : Leinster v Racing 92 wrap
THIS WEEK’S GUESTS
FULL TIME TAKES
Conor Cronin The number of penalties is a concern. A strong win, and some great individual performances weren’t. We’d a strong first and last 20, needed to be more conscious of the ruck in the middle 40, that’s where we lost our most to Racing. I found a group of Racing fans after the game and brought them to the pub, great group, great fans who really love the game and are very passionate about good rugby, I’m really glad we could meet up expectation, particular the O’Brien try
Gavin Hegarty I actually enjoyed how they challenged us. They clearly did their homework. But still, the good will out. Yes we were not at the level we were last week, but class is permanent. Highlight was ringer flick, sublime.
Richard Collumb Racing slowing the game right down caused us problems. Scrum, some sloppy passing & silly penalties will be punished in later rounds, but last 20 minutes was great. Ringrose just gets better & better.
John Hyland (reply to Richard Collumb) don’t agree re scrum. Other teams are cheating and getting away with it. Our scrum is collapsing on the loosehead side because opposition tightheads are boring in, leaving Porter / Milne nothing to push against. Refs have been clueless.
MASTODON
Richard Mifsud We weren’t at our best for long periods and credit R92 for parts of that but it’s an 80 minute game and when we clicked it was sublime. We need these tests to keep us honest and sharp it’s about finding a way and thus far this season we’ve been pretty good at that this season. Very satisfying BPW
Koochulainn The numbers do not lie LEINSTER 4 games 20 points (and did not concede a single losing BP) 28 tries +150 points difference #PerfectRecord
RugbyNerd Too good again! But good game for around 60 minutes and good refereeing. Very clear communication.
FRONT FIVE ARTICLES
- Ireland squad for Six Nations announced with Joey Carbery the major omission – Pundit Arena [James Fenton]
- Munster retain Women’s Interprovincial Championship title after win over Connacht – The Irish Times
- Bealham hat-trick not enough to stop Connacht losing away to Newcastle (the42.ie) [John Fallon]
- Ulster v Sale Sharks LIVE: Rob Lyttle try the difference at half-time as province edge towards European knockouts – BelfastTelegraph.co.uk [Jonathan Bradley]
- Frustrated Munster face away day in Champions Cup Round of 16 (irishexaminer.com) [Simon Lewis]
HCC ROUND 4 WRAP
ROUND 4
LYN 31-7 BUL
LEIC 26-27 OSP
HAR 39-29 SHA
NOR 13-31 LAR
BOR 17-26 GLO
LEIN 36-10 R92
STO 30-16 CLE
EXE 40-3 CAS
ULS 22-11 SAL
MON 21-21 LIR
TLS 20-16 MUN
EDI 20-14 SAR
LAST 16 (weekend of Mar 31/Apr 1,2)
LEIN V ULS
LEIC V EDI
TLS V BUL
SHA V MUN
EXE V MON
STO V HAR
LAR V GLO
SAR V OSP
HARPIN’ MATCH WRAPS
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211 : Harpin Preview Show #LEIvR92
Leinster: 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Jordan Larmour 13. Garry Ringrose > CAPTAIN 12. Jamie Osborne 11. Jimmy O’Brien 10. Ross Byrne 9. Jamison Gibson-Park
1. Andrew Porter 2. Rónan Kelleher 3. Michael Ala’alatoa 4. Joe McCarthy 5. James Ryan 6. Caelan Doris 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Jack Conan
16. Dan Sheehan 17. Michael Milne 18. Cian Healy 19. Ross Molony 20. Ryan Baird 21. Luke McGrath 22. Harry Byrne 23. Scott Penny
Racing 92: 15 W Gelant 14 C Wade 13 O Klemenczak 12 G Fickou (c) 11 L Dupichot 10 F Russell 9 N Le Garrec 1 E Ben Arous 2 J Tarrit 3.T Nyakane 4 B Chouzenoux 5 B Palu 6 W Lauret 7 M Coulibaly 8 K Kamikamica
16 P Narisia 17 G Gogichashvili 18 G Kharaishvili 19 A Hemery 20 M Baudonne 21 A Gibert 22 F Saili 23 M Spring
Heineken Champions Cup 22/23
Round 4
Sat Jan 21 KO 3:15pm
Aviva Stadium
Ref: Matthew Carley (ENG)
AR1: Craig Maxwell-Keys (ENG)
AR2: Gareth Holsgrove (ENG)
TMO: Ian Tempest (ENG)
Live on: RTÉ 2, BT Sport 2
210 : Gloucester v Leinster wrap
210 : Gloucester v Leinster wrap – Harpin' On Rugby
🏉 MUN, ULS & CON
🏉 Jamie Osborne
🏉 Clinical finishing
🏉 Cian Healy’s career
🏉 Leinster’s scrum
Harpin’ On Rugby match wraps are brought to you by The Irish Rugby Store
Our guests…
MARK JACKSON
https://twitter.com/hoomanbear
CONOR CRONIN
https://twitter.com/ccbooms
FRONT FIVE ARTICLES
RFU intervenes to let Borthwick pick Farrell in England Six Nations squad | Owen Farrell | The Guardian [Gerard Meagher]
Women’s interprovincials: Munster claim bonus-point win over Leinster to move closer to title – The Irish Times
Fourteen-man Munster hold off Northampton in Champions Cup thriller | Rugby365
‘Heartbroken’ Dan McFarland bemoans decision not to award Ulster penalty try in late La Rochelle defeat – BelfastTelegraph.co.uk [Jonathan Bradley]
Clinical Connacht put 61 points on Brive to progress to Challenge Cup knockouts (the42.ie) [Daragh Small]
Where to find Harpin’ On Rugby
Website > https://harpinonrugby.com/
Mastodon > @HarpinOnRugby@mastodon.ie
Twitter > https://twitter.com/HarpinOnRugby
Facebook > https://www.facebook.com/HarpinOnRugby
Instagram > https://www.instagram.com/harpinonrugby/
TikTok > https://www.tiktok.com/@harpinonrugby
YouTube > https://youtube.com/@HarpinPreviewShow
THIS WEEK’S GUESTS
FULL TIME TAKES
Andrew Potts The scrum is a concern, probably just needs a little collective focus. Nice to see them using short penalty moves in the red zone, it’s a good variation then going to a line out, plus suits Leinster tempo.
Some of the Leinster play was excellent and Ross has developed into quite the facilitator
Richard Collumb Says it all about current European competition when URC is providing more challenges.
Great to see Osborne step up & some game time to replacements.
Chris McDonnell Too good just too good.
MASTODON
Brian Nisbet @natural20 14-49 A match with a couple of lessons for Leinster (discipline, line-outs), but ultimately another emphatic victory in Europe and the match goes on.
Colin Mehigan @colinmehigan@mas.to @vnvobit @HarpinOnRugby @rugby Lots of impressive performances in Kingsholm today – Jamie Osborne really standing out
Adam Ashby (Gloucester fan) @adamashby@mas.to Well. That was worse than I expected.
FRONT FIVE ARTICLES
- RFU intervenes to let Borthwick pick Farrell in England Six Nations squad | Owen Farrell | The Guardian [Gerard Meagher]
- Women’s interprovincials: Munster claim bonus-point win over Leinster to move closer to title – The Irish Times
- Fourteen-man Munster hold off Northampton in Champions Cup thriller | Rugby365
- ‘Heartbroken’ Dan McFarland bemoans decision not to award Ulster penalty try in late La Rochelle defeat – BelfastTelegraph.co.uk [Jonathan Bradley]
- Clinical Connacht put 61 points on Brive to progress to Challenge Cup knockouts (the42.ie) [Daragh Small]
HCC ROUND 3 WRAP
ROUND 3
CLE 29-44 LEIC
SAL 5-27 TLS
GLO 14-49 LEIN
MUN 27-23 NOR
SHA 32-3 BOR
LAR 7-3 ULS
BUL 39-28 EXE
OSP 35-29 MON
SAR 48-28 LYN
CAS 21-34 EDI
LIR 14-28 STO
R92 30-29 HAR
ROUND 4
FRI JAN 20
LYN V BUL
LEI V OSP
SAT JAN 21
HAR V SHA
NOR V LAR
BOR V GLO
LEI V R92
STO V CLE
EXE V CAS
ULS V SAL
SUN JAN 22
MON V LIR
TLS V MUN
EDI V SAR
HARPIN’ MATCH WRAPS
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209 : Harpin’ Preview Show #GLOvLEI
Leinster: 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Jordan Larmour 13. Garry Ringrose > CAPTAIN 12. Jamie Osborne 11. Jimmy O’Brien 10. Ross Byrne 9. Jamison Gibson-Park
1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Michael Ala’alatoa 4. Ross Molony 5. James Ryan 6. Ryan Baird 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Caelan Doris
16. Rónan Kelleher 17. Michael Milne 18. Cian Healy 19. Brian Deeny 20. Jack Conan 21. Nick McCarthy 22. Harry Byrne 23. Liam Turner
Gloucester: 15 G Barton 14 J May 13 C Harris 12 S Atkinson 11 O Thorley 10 S Carreras 9 B Meehan
1 V Rapava-Ruskin 2 G McGuigan 3 K Gotovtsev 4 F Clark 5 M Alemanno 6 R Ackermann 7 L Ludlow (c) 8 B Morgan
16 S Blake 17 H Elrington 18 C Knight 19 C Jordan 20 J Clement 21 S Varney 22 B Twelvetrees 23 T Seabrook
Heineken Champions Cup 22/23
Round 3
Sat Jan 14 KO 1pm
Kingsholm Stadium
Ref: Pierre Brousset (France)
AR1: Vincent Blasco Baqué (France)
AR2: Flavien Hourquet (France)
TMO: Denis Grenouillet (France)
Live on: ITV1, BT Sport 2
WOMEN’S RUGBY TWITTER ACCOUNTS MENTIONED
