31 May 2025; Hugo Keenan of Leinster scores his side’s fourth try, despte the tackle to Scarlets players Johnny Williams and Blair Murray, during the United Rugby Championship quarter-final match between Leinster and Scarlets at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
🏉 Kicking, the habit 🏉 Forcing it 🏉 Sam P at 10 🏉 Keen on Keenan 🏉 Still harpin’ on Leo
What’s the opposite of “peaking at the right time”? We look a shadow of the team we were a few months ago.
Cuan Mulligan
Something wrong in the camp, I think one has to start looking at the coaching. Sam P was better in the second half, but god awful in the first. He played like Ross Byrne, taking the ball standing still, and shovelling shite out the back. Makes me think its not the players, how can two very different 10s play almost identically.. how they are being coached.. he is a player full of flare. it looks like its been knocked out of him. Glasgow will feel very confident in coming and winning…
Gavin Hegarty
What the hell has happened to us? Against Quinns and Glasgow we were world class. Simply unplayable. Now it seems we can’t put anything together and look like a scratch side who just met in the changing room.
I really hate to say it but based on recent performances I have no confidence of any silverware this season.
Kevin Kelehan
The arrogance of fans expecting Leinster to skittle every side who comes to Dublin, at times there were unforced handling errors but credit Scarlets for turning up and forcing a good number of errors. After La Rochelle and Glasgow this is the third time this season a first choice Leinster have dogged out wins from games they could equally have lost. Onwards next week with Glasgow looking for third time lucky, vital that we don’t let them build the vibe that Leinster aren’t scrappers.
Lorraine Preston O’Connor
Are the players afraid to get injured before the Lions tour? There’s definitely something amiss!!!!
Hubert Gallagher
We looked disjointed and lacking in confidence. Trying to force things when we didn’t need to – giving away unnecessary turnovers instead of keeping the ball. At least we learnt to kick a few of our penalties. We try to entertain and play an expansive game without winning the right to expand. We need to do the simple things accurately, scrum, lineout, quick recycle and control the ball. Defensively something is very off – we’re leaking tries, often through individual mistakes – 2 people went onto one player leaving a gap and leading to a score.
You don’t become a bad team overnight but psychology especially big game psychology! Glasgow will be bursting to put one over on us – so we need to really cut the errors and work to control the game and field position.
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26 April 2025; Will Connors of Leinster is tackled by Taine Plumtree of Scarlets during the United Rugby Championship match between Scarlets and Leinster at Parc Y Scarlets in Swansea, Wales. Photo by Chris Fairweather/Sportsfile
Really poor from almost every perspective but hopefully just a bump in the road. I know we were missing many of the first team but there were still far too many errors and poor decisions.
Christy O’Connor
Scarlets line speed was brilliant, put us under lots of pressure and caused us to make so many mistakes, granted some were unforced. Better team won
Ollie Sinnott
Ross Byrne, Frawley, the Osbornes, Tector, Baird, O Brien and Mccarthy are a couple of steps down in quality from the first 23. Only player to improve their reputation this evening was Jack Boyle and Soroka.
Bert McLoughlin
People whinging about team selection pisses me off! Apart from what’s coming next week, the team out on the field today were good enough to win the game. BUT they made way too many errors and didn’t deserve to win the game.
Congratulations to Scarlets, they played really well and deserved to win that game
Greg Kelly
Scarlets came out needing the 5 points. They were hungry and quite simply Leinster we not. Fair play to the Scarlets, they were well worth the win and showed great composure given that Leinster have a habit of clawing back games. It looked like Leinster had both eyes on Northampton and a lot of the players knew that their knockout involvement going forward was over.
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18 November 2023; Sam Prendergast of Leinster scores his side’s first try during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Scarlets at the RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
A good win but still a little disappointing. A good place to be when we’re disappointed to concede 5 to the Scarlets.
Prendergast did well but he’s too light in defence, he’d need more back row cover going forward.
Well done to Ross Byrne on his 150th cap.
Joe Mc was unreal again, he’s a fine future in front of him
(reply to Gavin) Peter Tracey
I’m glad they weren’t great. Loads to work on for next week and Jack will be in place.
Agree about Prendergast but that will come so not too worried.
Could Ross be top points scorer in the future? The only thing is if he’s in Ireland squads.
Joe is going to have a big season. I liked Gunne’s passing when he came on. Looked good for Ireland u20s.
We need to start bringing through a few 9s and props which we are.
Brian Corr
I enjoyed the game, I think it’s funny though that I have to remind myself as do many others that a 54-5 win is an excellent result.
It’s great to see Osbourne in particular doing so well, and the more Prendergast and Gunne get opportunities, the better Leinster will do.
The international contingent had a mixed bag, overall good and funnily enough Furlong looked very sharp.
Delighted for Keenan to get POTM, brilliant as usual.
Kevin Kelehan
Dominant and top of the table
Warren Doyle
God almighty we won👏👏👏👏
Jamie Donohoe
Jimmy O Brien had a superb game
Scoreline doesnt tell the story of the match, only because Scarlets couldve had a lot more than their 5 only for the Blue Wall. Result never really in doubt, good outing by Sam, great one by Hugo, still some workons but top of the league going into big one next week. #LEIvSCA
Following on from our tribute to Andrew Conway on our wrap pod and 80+ column, and also looking ahead to Saturday night’s visit to the RDS of the Scarlets, this week’s Throwback Thursday features our Harpin writeup from 2010 when the Llanelli region came to D4, a night which included the Conway’s first Leinster cap.
How many times does a player have to prove he can handle pressure?
Jonny Sexton did it coming on for Felipe at Croker. He did it again at Murrayfield. He did it at the RDS in his first Ireland start. He even did it whilst beating the 2009 Team of the Year.
And in many ways, with the taste of the first competitive defeat of the Kidney era still fresh on the palates of Irish fans, Saturday night’s Magners League contest against the Scarlets represented the 24-year-old’s biggest pressure outing of all.
With Ronan O’Gara shooting himself in both feet by whinging about a journalist, the stage was set to show he was worthy of stepping in at Twickenham next weekend.
So let’s see…how did he handle it?
22 of his side’s 27 points, including a try and 2 kicks from the touchline. Several crunching tackles. Tremendous versatility with the ball in hand. What the hell more do we want?
Let’s face it – we all know that O’Gara is a quality international out-half, but that’s just the point. WE ALL KNOW IT. And so do the other five nations. There’s a playbook on how to go up against him, and there’s no other country in this competition more likely to go by a playbook than Martin Johnson’s England.
So as well as another four Magners League points, Leinster fans were celebrating a display from their super Number 10 that surely has earned him the starting jumper.
We’ll see.
As for the rest of the team, well, to be honest they played like a unit that hasn’t been together in a long time, and guess what, that’s exactly what they were. Had it not been for McCusker’s blooper moment (see YouTube clip below) the outcome could have been very different, but I’m satisfied we did just enough over the 80 minutes to come out on top.
Despite putting in a strong performance himself on the night, it looks as though Girvan Dempsey’s hopes of making the 22 for the weekend are non-existent with the call up of Geordan Murphy to the squad. It looks like it’s between the Leicester Tiger and Keith Earls for the vacant 15 jersey.
And spare a thought for poor Sean O’Brien. He probably wouldn’t have started against England, but what an impact sub to have off the bench. It has been a great season for the Carlow man and it would be a shame if it were over for him already with so many big matches in the coming weeks.
Last, and certainly not least, even though it was only for a couple of minutes, what a debut from young Rock boy Andrew Conway. I blogged about a feature on him in Rugby World magazine last May and with a try-producing offload at one end and a try-saving tackle at the other in his brief appearance, he is surely one to watch.
Overall it was an entertaining Saturday evening at the RDS, even if it was kind of like Something Happens coming on to play one song halfway through a U2 gig.
Welcome to my 80+ column, a new weekly post featuring final thoughts from the week of rugby just gone.
A WRAP OF A WRAP
I may have been a little harsh on the Welsh region with this message in the Harpin’ WhatsApp group after full time on Friday…
Obviously Scarlets fans won’t be happy with their performances this season but on second watch I have to say that even with the result going the way it did they probably didn’t deserve that bluntness since with a bounce of a ball going differently the result could have been closer, something you could probably say about most rugby matches.
But I still think Conor & Rich did a great job helping me sum it all up on our wrap pod, when two of the game’s six tries are PTs it doesnt offer much to harp on yet we managed to flesh it out ok. Biggest concern during the recording was my spotting that the charge on my laptop was about to run out and many thanks to my son John for answering my WhatsApp call to sneak in and plug in the charger without my having to move!
Anyway back to the actual rugby, it’s hard to believe that the opening block of seven URC rounds is already in the record books, and when your team has won all of them opening a gap at the top of the table I can certainly have no complaints! Plenty of rugby to be played this season of course but this definitely lays a lot of groundwork for our quest for a good playoff draw.
LOOK STU’S TALKING
As any Leinster fan knows, Stu Lancaster interviews are as unmissable as they are rare, so I have to share this recent one from Off The Ball and if you haven’t heard it, you seriously need to find a window somewhere to tick that box.
My biggest takeaways without giving away too much –
The realities of his day to day living in Dublin with ll the commuting to see his family, while doing all that awesome work is amazing, I’m pretty sure I couldn’t do it.
The length of the “lessons learned at Leinster” list probably shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did
That extra leadership meeting he speaks of gives a good insight to Leo’s ability to tweak things and make them better
ACCEPTING ALTERNATIVES
If it were down to me, Ireland’s “alternate” jersey would always, always, ALWAYS be white.
But having worked in the sporting goods game back in the day, I know the unfortunate reality that even at test level teams are at the mercy of the manufacturers who have a lot more than fan preference to consider. They have colours and patterns and designs that they want to match their full range of clothing for that particular season.
To be clear, I’m not “defending” them, I’m just pointing out that they’re not doing it to be awkward, it’s more of a case that even when the fans aren’t happy, they firmly believe they’ll make more money in the long run doing it this way.
I just hope the conversation on match day isn’t dominated by complaints over the optics.
The 2022 Ireland alternate jersey! 👕
Worn together, worn bolder. Ready to take on the Springboks next weekend! #TeamOfUs | #MadeStronger
I have always been in favour of names on jerseys, though to be clear NOT squad numbers. Rugby needs to keep things as simple as possible for new fans to the sport and the numbers 1-15 represent specific positions on the pitch and should be kept.
But when it comes to names I’m all for it – helps identify players for fans, helps with jersey sales, and I also like what they do in the Premiership with names for only jerseys 1 through 15, not for the subs that helps competitiveness for the starting positions within the club.
Were they to make them standard practice at senior level there would be no complaints from me.
PRIME DIRECTIVE
It’s Autumn Nations Series time again and the bulk of its coverage is on Amazon Prime.
Now I know this is going to look like they’re paying me to say this, I assure you they’re not (though I would be open to offers…) but I have to say I like do their presentation especially with the layout of highlights and individual moments like you see below.
Obviously, nothing beats “free to air” when it comes to maximising coverage but maybe we’ll reach a stage when even those broadcasters will be offering services similar to this.
INJURY REPORT
You might notice we’ve started to change the logos from blue to green as it is that time of year, which in turn means this injury report section will feature the Irish squad updates rather than Leinster.
I suppose my biggest concern for the week ahead will be to do with the fitness of Hugo Keenan and Jamison Gibson-Park – no doubt both will feature heavily in Andy’s plans particularly for the match this coming Saturday, but obviously the fact that neither set foot on a rugby pitch this season will be a concern. I could see JGP on the bench but Hugo is a lot more of a “wear 15 or nothing” kind of player.
Also as I’m typing I’m seeing the Springboks have announced their team early and as expected it looks really badass so it’s fair to say we’ll need the strongest fittest 23 we can put together!!! Not that we should lack confidence though, more on that later in the week.
Unfortunately, Tom Ahern has been ruled out of involvement in this week’s Ireland ‘A’ fixture but Diarmuid Barron, Caolin Blade, Jack Crowley, Shane Daly, Max Deegan, James Hume, Dave Kilcoyne, Marty Moore and Scott Penny all came through the weekend’s URC action without issue to join the squad.
Jamie Osborne and Roman Salanoa have both been declared fit after completing the return to play protocols while Connacht lock Gavin Thornbury has been called up in place of Ahern.
Nathan Doak and Tom Stewart, who both featured in the Emerging Ireland side in Bloemfontein, will also join the squad later in the week.
AIL UPDATE
In a previous 80+ column I had a moan about a top of the table clash in the Women’s AIL between Railway Union and Belvo which was due to kick off around the same time as Ireland’s men were playing the Springboks up the road at the Aviva. It seems now they have at least moved the time to 2:30 which makes it a lot easier for fans to catch both contests, but I still have my concerns over the scheduling of matches.
These clubs generally train twice a week and play matches at weekends so I wonder if it’s possible to put more of the top division matches during the week to encourage attendance? There’s also a top of the table men’s clash this weekend, again it’s at a time where you can still catch IREvRSA but then again there are other test matches at the same time so maybe we need some outside the box thinking when it comes to scheduling; maybe even a broadcaster would take an interest in showing midweek action although I know things like the round ball Champions League in those slots might scare them off.
Women’s AIL
Sat Nov 5
Blackrock v Ballincollig
Railway Union v Old Belvedere
Wicklow v Galwegians
UL Bohemian v Suttonians
Men’s AIL
Round 4
Clontarf 27-9 Shannon
Cork Constitution 33-16 Garryowen
Dublin University 35-16 Ballynahinch
Terenure 58-5 UCD
Young Munster 13-20 Lansdowne
Fri Nov 4
Shannon v Garryowen
Lansdowne v Terenure
Sat Nov 5
Ballynahinch v Young Munster
Clontarf v Dublin University
UCD v Cork Constitution
PREDICTION LEAGUE
Bad, bad week for me. Went for a couple of risky ones that went the other way and I have now dropped to third place, with Kino opening a really big gap in 1st place to end the first block of 7 URC rounds.
I mean I KNEW that tipping Them Pesky Birds to beat Connacht would be good news for the Westies, but also Munster and Lions falling short at home set me back a good bit.
Meanwhile down at the bottom, for the record I DO send Keego a reminder each week yet he still suffers from the affliction I had last season, namely forgetting to do the picks, which could result in him wearing the Jersey of Doom come season’s end if he doesn’t get back in the game soon.
HPL after Round 7
1 @RugbyKino 57.33
2 @hoomanbear 48.33
3 @HarpinOnRugby 47.83
4 @LeinsterRoyalty 46.83
5 @Kristian7Ross 40.66
6 @keegolaughs_irl 28.50
THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Test window time…for the URC our pod guests are obvs all Leinster fans but we’re going very interpro for the Irish team with first up Connacht & Ulster being represented on Wednesday as we have an overall look at the squad and our chances for November. Then Kino will join to gloat about Superbru preview the Springboks match and then Tom Coleman and Michelle Tobin will help me wrap it all up on Sunday. As always there will be the day to day features on all the usual social media channels in between so stay in touch. In the meantime, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
28 October 2022; Max Deegan of Leinster is tackled by Dan Thomas of Scarlets during the United Rugby Championship match between Scarlets and Leinster at Parc Y Scarlets in Llanelli, Wales. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
BP win on the road, always a good thing. Was it perfect and world class? No. But it was enough against poor opposition. We continue to build players and get them experience, nothing wrong with that. Definitely something wrong with the penalty count though
5-35 away to Scarlets Delighted with that. 12 pts clear ( some have games in hand) ..Ulster travel to Munster and Boks are on derby week..might be decent lead going Nov break. Molony Rhys Deegan and halfbacks led the way. Great shift by Ed Byrne beside 2 young fellas.
If you’ve seen one of these games you’ve seen them all. Blood a few new players on the conveyer belt in a pretty run of the mill 5 pointer against poor opposition.
Pretty grim I know,but there's green shoots.Jac P although not ready, fronted up really well.Done some nice stuff, better for it. Rogers played well too.HOC is future test TH
Imbalanced squad that Peel inherited. This season was never going to be pretty #SCAvLEI
Rob Russell isn’t the flashiest player on the pitch but he has shown, so far this year, that his awareness, positioning and finishing are absolutely first class.
Scarlets were poor though.
Was going to say "damp squib of a 2nd half" but as squibs go, that was drenched.
Several options for PotM, Ross Byrne, Deegan, but no probs with home network going for RR.
Another powerful defensive display.
Five points to bring home, 7 wins from 7, that'll do fine.#SCAvLEI
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 