Leinster Opposition – Page 8

397 : Munster v Leinster preview

ALSO AVAILABLE AS PODCAST

LEINSTER : 15. Jamie Osborne 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Robbie Henshaw 11. Jimmy O’Brien 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Luke McGrath

1. Jack Boyle 2. Rónan Kelleher 3. Rabah Slimani 4. Joe McCarthy 5. James Ryan 6. Ryan Baird 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Caelan Doris (c)

16. Lee Barron 17. Andrew Porter 18. Cian Healy 19. Brian Deeny 20. Scott Penny 21. Fintan Gunne 22. Ross Byrne 23. Jordan Larmour

MUNSTER : 15 Mike Haley; 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Tom Farrell, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Shane Daly; 10 Billy Burns, 9 Ethan Coughlan

1 Dian Bleuler, 2 Niall Scannell, 3 Oli Jager; 4 Fineen Wycherley, 5 Tadhg Beirne (C); 6 Tom Ahern, 7 Alex Kendellen, 8Gavin Coombes.

16 Diarmuid Barron, 17 Kieran Ryan, 18 John Ryan, 19 Brian Gleeson, 20 John Hodnett, 21 Paddy Patterson, 22 Tony Butler, 23 Ben O’Connor.

United Rugby Championship 24/25 Rd 9

Friday, December 27, 2024

KO 7:35pm Thomond Park

Live on: TG4, Premier Sports 2, URC.tv

Referee: Sam Grove-White (SRU)

AR 1: Keane Davison (IRFU)

AR 2: Chris Lough (IRFU)

TMO: Mike Adamson (SRU)

396 : Leinster v Connacht wrap

21 December 2024; RG Snyman of Leinster makes a break past Josh Murphy of Connacht during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Connacht at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

🏉 Makeshift?

🏉 Ref communication

🏉 Well taken tries

🏉 Holding on

🏉 Mackgate

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

TOM COLEMAN

HUGO GORDON

FULL TIME TAKES

Lorcán Murphy

Changes and early injuries proved very disruptive. Came out the right side of a dogfight two weeks running. Better than cakewalks and nothing to show at the end of the season

Eamon Saunders

Not a great game but as I always say a win is a win. Great to see 2 Wexford men on the field Charlie Tector and Brian Deeny

Andrew Bailey

On paper a very strong Connacht team nullified. Just find a Lineout and we could be comfortable

David Ryle

Some dodgy decisions on both sides.

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

***no 80+ column this week so we’ll include the latest comp updates here***

Irish Shield

Celtic Challenge

All Ireland Leagues

WOMEN’S AIL

MEN’S AIL

SVNS

NEXT ROUND : PERTH JAN 24-26, 202

Premiership

🔝🐱🐴

ProD2

Japan League One

Harpin Prediction League

THIS SEASON THE HPL IS ADDING A NEW KNOCKOUT COMPETITION

CALLED “THE HARPIN MUG”

(BECAUSE THE PRIZE IS AN ACTUAL MUG SO WE COULDN’T CALL IT A ‘CUP’)

THE SEEDINGS ARE DETERMINED BY THE STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 6

AND YOU CAN SEE THE FULL BRACKET BELOW

395 : Leinster v Connacht preview

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST

Our guest : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

LEINSTER : 15. Jimmy O’Brien 14. Aitzol Arenzana-King 13. Charlie Tector 12. Jordie Barrett 11. Andrew Osborne 10. Ross Byrne 9. Luke McGrath

1. Jack Boyle 2. Gus McCarthy 3. Rabah Slimani 4. Diarmuid Mangan 5. RG Snyman 6. Alex Soroka 7. Scott Penny 8. Jack Conan (c)

16. Lee Barron 17. Michael Milne 18. Cian Healy 19. Brian Deeny 20. Ryan Baird 21. Jamison Gibson-Park 22. Harry Byrne 23. Max Deegan

CONNACHT : 15. Piers O’Conor 14. Mack Hansen 13. Cathal Forde 12. Bundee Aki 11. Shane Jennings 10. Josh Ioane 9. Ben Murphy
1. Denis Buckley 2. Dave Heffernan 3. Finlay Bealham 4. Josh Murphy 5. Darragh Murray 6. Cian Prendergast (C) 7. Shamus Hurley-Langton 8. Paul Boyle

16. Dylan Tierney-Martin 17. Jordan Duggan 18. Jack Aungier 19. Oisín Dowling 20. Sean Jansen 21. Caolin Blade 22. Santiago Cordero 23. Conor Oliver

United Rugby Championship 24/25 Rd 8

Saturday, December 21, 2024

KO 5:30pm Aviva Stadium

Live on: RTÉ2, Premier Sports 1, URC.tv

Referee: Chris Busby (IRFU)

AR 1: Peter Martin (IRFU)

AR 2: Stuart Gaffikin (IRFU)

TMO: Mark Patton (IRFU)

394 : Leinster v Clérmont wrap

14 December 2024; Andrew Porter of Leinster is tackled by Pierre Fouyssac of ASM Clermont Auvergne during the Champions Cup Pool 2 match between Leinster and ASM Clermont Auvergne at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

🏉 Lineout shambles

🏉 Wraparound Sam

🏉 Tries left behind

🏉 Misty second half

🏉 Peak Porter

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CONOR CRONIN

DAVID CORDIAL

FULL TIME TAKES

Cormac Mannion

I can’t actually remember a worse Leinster lineout performance in over 20 years. Some of the handling was also atrocious.

Again, similar to some of Ireland’s performances recently, our players seem to constantly get isolated at the breakdown.

We also appeared to unnecessarily overcomplicate a lot of our handling and passing when being a bit more direct would have been the wiser choice.

Some worrying flaws from Ireland that have seeped into Leinster’s performances.

Kevin Kelehan

Line out is dysfunctional, I know Dan Sheehan is out but without him it has been a disaster, making sure he is fully fit has to be the number 1 objective for Leinster, the throwing today was so bad you’d nearly have JVdF throwing in and Kelliher/McCarthy in for scrummaging and loose play. Fix that problem and there are so many positives from today. The signings of Barrett, Snyman and Slimani are all hits, Sam Prenddergast was outstanding, his tactical kicking, distance to touch off penalties and passing were all really great. Henshaw and Ringrose both superb and Jimmy O’Brien looking close to his best again. A point dropped today but equally 4 points won against a slumbering European giant that was awake today.

Paul Lacey

Will we ever find another Andrew porter. He has to be burnt out .clarkson is playing brilliant rugby. Jvd & Morris need a break..

David Ryle

Scrappy game but a win is a win.

Colette Caddle

An amazing game, two excellent sides but Leinster line outs need a lot of work.

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

CHAMPIONS CUP WRAP

393 : Leinster v Clérmont preview

ALSO AVAILABLE AS PODCAST

Our guest : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

LEINSTER : 15. Jordie Barrett 14. Liam Turner 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Robbie Henshaw 11. Jimmy O’Brien 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Jamison Gibson-Park

1. Andrew Porter 2. Rónan Kelleher 3. Thomas Clarkson 4. Joe McCarthy 5. James Ryan 6. Max Deegan 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Caelan Doris (c)

16. Gus McCarthy 17. Cian Healy 18. Rabah Slimani 19. RG Snyman 20. Jack Conan 21. Fintan Gunne 22. Ross Byrne 23. Andrew Osborne

CLÉRMONT : 15. Alex Newsome, 14. Lucas Tauzin, 13. Pierre Fouyssac, 12. George Moala, 11. Alivereti Raka, 10. Irae Simone, 9. Baptiste Jauneau

1. Etienne Falgoux, 2. Etienne Fourcade, 3. Michael Ala’alatoa, 4. Peceli Yato, 5. Rob Simmons, 6. Killian Tixeront, 7. Alexandre Fischer, 8. Fritz Lee (c)

16. Barnabe Massa, 17. Giorgi Akhaladze, 18. Cristian Ojovan, 19. Oskar Rixen, 20. Antoine Chalus-Cercy, 21. Sebastien Bezy, 22. Ben Urdapilleta, 23. Theo Giral

Investec Champions Cup 24/25 Rd 2

Saturday, December 14, 2024

KO 5:30pm Aviva Stadium

Live on: RTÉ2, Premier Sports 1

Referee : Luke Pearce (Eng)

AR1 Jack Makepeace (Eng)

AR2 : Jamie Leahy (Eng)

TMO : Stuart Terheege (Eng)

392 : Bristol Bears v Leinster wrap

8 December 2024; Jordie Barrett of Leinster during the Champions Cup Round 1 match between Bristol Bears and Leinster at Ashton Gate in Bristol, England. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

🏉 Defences up

🏉 Scrum lottery

🏉 Yellow fever

🏉 Euro mode

🏉 Bench press

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

RICHARD MIFSUD

CIARÁN DUFFY

Post To Post Sport blog

FULL TIME TAKES

Aonghus O’Brien

First half was poor, but the second half was loads of fun and I especially enjoyed the two tries from Sam ‘Not A Running Threat’ Prendergast

Louis Hoffman

Could a scrum ‘expert’ explain to me, what all that nonsense was about? Was it the refs fault?

Kevin Kelehan

Dreadful ref, his scrum time nearly wrecked the game completely. The bench was ridiculously over strength but thankfully it worked a charm when introduced, a BP on the road is all that history will record in a game of two halves.

Jackie McEachern

Definitely a “game of two halves”. As others have said, our bench obviously made a huge difference. While the reffing was horrible, we showed good composure in the first half when we had two yellow cards to attack and score a try.

Brian Patrick Donnelly

match ruined by inept, pedantic, awful refereeing. We were good for 20 minutes and that was that.

Shane Mcdonald

Just watching it it now at half time but how on gods green earth did the ref linesman tmo miss the very very very obvious hands in the ruck when jvdf nearly got over in the corner

Stevie wonder could have seen that and tv kept showing it over over over 🤦

Greg Kelly

BP away to the 2nd placed team in England is not to be sniffed at. The officiating was poor. We got little change from the officials in the first half but credit to the lads they worked around it well. Not sure how the TMO doesn’t intervene to card Thacker for pulling the ball out of Joshs hands on the goal line in the first half but comes in to reverse a lineout🤷‍♂️

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

CHAMPIONS CUP WRAP

391 : Bristol Bears v Leinster preview

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST

Our guest : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

(100TH HARPIN POD APPEARANCE)

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

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

1 Jack Boyle 2 Ronan Kelleher 3 Rabah Slimani 4 Joe McCarthy 5 James Ryan 6 Max Deegan 7 Josh van der Flier 8 Jack Conan (c)

16 Gus McCarthy 17 Andrew Porter 18 Tom Clarkson 19 RG Snyman 20 Caelan Doris 21 Luke McGrath 22 Ross Byrne 23 Jordie Barrett

BRISTOL BEARS: 15. Rich Lane 14. Jack Bates 13. Kalaveti Ravouvou 12. Benhard Janse van Rensburg 11. Gabriel Ibitoye 10. AJ MacGinty 9. Harry Randall

1. Ellis Genge 2. Harry Thacker 3. Max Lahiff 4. James Dun 5. Joe Owen 6. Santiago Grondona 7. Fitz Harding (c)8. Viliame Mata

16. Gabriel Oghre 17. Jake Woolmore 18. Lovejoy Chawatama 19. Steven Luatua 20. Benjamin Grondona 21. Kieran Marmion 22. Joe Jenkins 23. Benjamin Elizalde

Investec Champions Cup 24/25 Rd 1

Sunday, December 8, 2024

KO 5:30pm Ashton Gate

Live on: Premier Sports 1

Referee Pierre Brousset (Fra)

AR 1 Vincent Blasco Baque (Fra)

AR 2 Julian Caulier (Fra)

TMO Tual Trainini (Fra)

389 : Ulster v Leinster wrap

29 November 2024; Jordan Larmour of Leinster scores his side’s second try during the United Rugby Championship match between Ulster and Leinster at Kingspan Stadium in Belfast. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

🏉 Scrum’s the word

🏉 HIAs & injuries

🏉 Tactical changes

🏉 Jimmy & Jordan

🏉 Unexpected bonus

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

TOM COLEMAN

DAVID CORDIAL

FULL TIME TAKES

Jackie McEachern

After last year, I’m so happy to get 5 points in Belfast. But it’s frustrating that Byrne’s conversion misses wind up meaning Ulster get the LBP. JOB was great.

Gordy Graham (Ulster fan)

Amazing that Ulster got anything from that game considering the state of our scrum. Both sides had an error strewn first half, both a bit better the second but Leinster, as they often are, were clinical enough to get the win.

Sean MacDonnchadha

Slimani brought in for nights like these. A rock of solidity with the first line front rowers away. Built our win around scrum power 💪🏼 Also great to see Larmour perform so well. A leaders performance by Jack with a great steal at the end to seal the win.

Kevin Kelehan

5 points for Leinster, decent progress report for Ulster who could have been a lot further in front at half time if they converted better

Colin Mcconaghie (Ulster fan)

Hate to criticise officials but that was so poor. Reffed both teams differently

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

@harpinonrugby
The first of our two wrap pods from the weekend is now up on Apple, Spotify, etc #rugbytiktok #urc #irishrugby #leinsterrugby
♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

387 : Ulster v Leinster preview

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST

Our guest : MARK JACKSON

LEINSTER : 15. Jimmy O’Brien 14. Jordan Larmour 13. Liam Turner 12. Charlie Tector 11. Andrew Osborne 10. Ross Byrne 9. Luke McGrath

1. Jack Boyle 2. John McKee 3. Rabah Slimani 4. Diarmuid Mangan 5. Brian Deeny 6. Max Deegan 7. Will Connors 8. Jack Conan (c)

16. Lee Barron 17. Michael Milne 18. Rory McGuire 19. RG Snyman 20. James Culhane 21. Fintan Gunne 22. Harry Byrne 23. Scott Penny

Ulster : 15 Stewart Moore, 14 Werner Kok, 13 Ben Carson, 12 Jude Postlethwaite, 11 Michael Lowry, 10 Aidan Morgan, 9 Nathan Doak

1 Eric O’Sullivan, 2 James McCormick, 3 Scott Wilson, 4 Alan O’Connor (C), 5 Kieran Treadwell, 6 James McNabney, 7 Nick Timoney, 8 David McCann;

16 Tom Stewart, 17 Andrew Warwick, 18 Corrie Barrett, 19 Harry Sheridan, 20 Marcus Rea, 21 John Cooney, 22 James Humphreys, 23 Ben Moxham

United Rugby Championship 24/25 Round 7

Friday, November 29, 2024

KO 7:35pm Kingspan Stadium

Live on: BBC 2 NI, RTÉ Player, Premier Sports 1 & URC.tv

Referee: Eoghan Cross (IRFU)

AR 1: Andrew Cole (IRFU)

AR 2: Andrew Fogarty (IRFU)

TMO: Leo Colgan (IRFU)

379 : Leinster v Lions wrap

26 October 2024; Josh van der Flier of Leinster is tackled by Edwill van der Merwe and Erich Cronje of Emirates Lions during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Emirates Lions at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

🏉 9/10 combinations

🏉 Proud Lions

🏉 Forcing knockons

🏉 Caelan & Josh

🏉 Late gloss

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

TOM COLEMAN

RICHARD MIFSUD

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

https://twitter.com/KarlBrophy/status/1850236067011801358

https://twitter.com/gortoshay1/status/1850235867522085150

https://twitter.com/CaptSpringbok/status/1850235765508190377

https://twitter.com/HarpinOnRugby/status/1850235380941095191

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