Category: Stormers

458 : Stormers v Leinster wrap

26 September 2025; Luke McGrath of Leinster during the United Rugby Championship match between DHL Stormers and Leinster at DHL Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa. Photo by Shaun Roy/Sportsfile

🏉  Lack of attack

🏉  Sam’s kicking

🏉  In our defence…

🏉  Set-piece woes

🏉  And now, the Bulls

THIS WEEK’S GUEST

DAVID CORDIAL

FULL TIME TAKES

Gavin Hegarty

Two yellows in one game, how many did we get last season?

We looked rusty and disinterested but let’s not get carried away. First game of a long season, let just learn from it.

Kevin Kelehan

Kick up the arse first day of the new season, 2 cards in 4 minutes made the scoreline a hammering. It will get better from here

Chris McDonnell

Our coaches know the players who were available for the past 2 or 3 months and still we couldn’t win a lineout scrum or even score a point. Total failure from our coaching staff once again. Not one coach from our group can say his pre season work actually looked better than a shambles.

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

NEXT HARPIN’

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT : “LACKING LEADERSHIP”

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN 

457 : Stormers v Leinster preview

Our guest : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

LEINSTER : 15. Jimmy O’Brien 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Robbie Henshaw 12. Ciarán Frawley 11. Jordan Larmour 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Luke McGrath (c)

1. Jack Boyle 2. Gus McCarthy 3. Rabah Slimani 4. Diarmuid Mangan 5. Brian Deeny 6. Ryan Baird 7. Scott Penny 8. James Culhane

16. John McKee 17. Paddy McCarthy 18. Andrew Sparrow 19. Max Deegan 20. Will Connors 21. Fintan Gunne 22. Harry Byrne 23. Hugh Cooney

STORMERS :  15 Wandisile Simelane 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Ruhan Nel (c), 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Jurie Matthee, 9 Stefan Ungerer

1 Vernon Matongo 2 André-Hugo Venter 3 Neethling Fouché 4 Adré Smith 5 JD Schickerling 6 Paul de Villiers 7 Ben-Jason Dixon 8 Evan Roos 

16 JJ Kotze, 17 Olly Reid, 18 Zachary Porthen, 19 Ruben van Heerden, 20 Ruan Ackermann, 21 Marcel Theunissen, 22 Dewaldt Duvenage, 23 Clinton Swart

BKT United Rugby Championship 25/26 Rd 1

Friday, September 26, 2025

DHL Stadium, Cape Town

KO 6pm Irish time  

Live on : TG4, Premier Sports 1, URC.tv

Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR)

AR 1: Sean Muller (SARU)

AR 2:  Stephan Geldenhuys (SARU)

TMO: Adam Jones (WRU)

403 : Leinster v Stormers preview

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST

Our guest : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

LEINSTER : 15. Henry McErlean 14. Andrew Osborne 13. Liam Turner 12. Jordie Barrett 11. James Lowe 10. Ross Byrne 9. Luke McGrath

1. Jack Boyle 2. Dan Sheehan (c) 3. Rabah Slimani 4. RG Snyman 5. Brian Deeny 6. Alex Soroka 7. Scott Penny 8. Max Deegan

16. John McKee 17. Paddy McCarthy 18. Rory McGuire 19. Diarmuid Mangan 20. James Culhane 21. Will Connors 22. Cormac Foley 23. Charlie Tector

STORMERS : 15 Warrick Gelant 14 Ben Loader 13 Ruhan Nel 12 Jonathan Roche 11 Leolin Zas 10 Manie Libbok 9 Paul de Wet

1 Ali Vermaak 2 Joseph Dweba 3 Neethling Fouché 4 JD Schickerling 5 Ruben van Heerden  6 Deon Fourie (c) 7 Ben-Jason Dixon 8 Evan Roos 

16 André-Hugo Venter 17 Brok Harris 18 Frans Malherbe 19 Salmaan Moerat 20 Marcel Theunissen 21 Paul de Villiers 22 Herschel Jantjies 23 Wandisile Simelane

BKT United Rugby Championship 24/25 Rd 10

Saturday January 25, 2025

KO 5pm  Aviva Stadium

Live on : TG4, Premier Sports 1, URC.tv

Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)

AR 1: Chris Busby (IRFU)

AR 2: Jonathan Erskine (IRFU)

TMO: Matteo Liperini (FIR)

342 : Stormers v Leinster/Ireland v Scotland wrap

2024 Guinness Women’s Six Nations Championship Round 5, Kingspan Stadium, Belfast 27/4/2024Ireland vs ScotlandIreland’s Katie Corrigan scores her sides first try despite Mairi McDonald and Alex Stewart of Scotland Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Ben Brady

🏉 Fastest wrap ever
🏉 Four provinces in top 8
🏉 Women’s heroics
🏉 Northampton’s threat
🏉 Roll on Croker

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CIARÁN DUFFY

JAY LONG

TOM COLEMAN

FULL TIME TAKES

William Andrew

We know why, but it still hurts.

Kevin Kelehan

Great to see Gus McCarthy step up, a steep learning curve for the emerging squad members, far from ideal to have back to back away games in South Africa when squad rotation is at its peak. The lads showed decent fight in the third quarter but the errors in the first half were mostly preventable.

Greg Kelly

*Copy and Paste last week’s comments*

On the bright side our young lads dominated the 3rd quarter but the inexperience and inaccuracies were evident. They’ll get better and they’ll learn from this. However if we end up trophyless again this season I’m not sure these “kids school trips” to SA will not cut the mustard.

In a wider sense I don’t like where the URC is going. Some of the fixure scheduling is…suspicious. I think the SA franchises are gaining more than they add to it and teams being forced by pragmatism, timing or necessity to give up 2 games and 10 points undermines true competition.

Richard Kennedy

A big rethink needed on sending our 2nd/3rd string down to get pummelled in by hardened pros in SA. Some of those young players simply aren’t ready for that level yet

Warren Doyle

Much as expected. Training ground stuff didn’t work in the heat of battle. Very little inivotive thinking once that failed. Experience – yes. Knowledge – ?. Could be critical but players don’t need that.

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

ROUND 15

SCARLETS 27-32 SHARKS

ULSTER 38-34 BENETTON

ZEBRE 9-40 GLASGOW

BULLS 61-24 OSPREYS

CARDIFF 7-24 EDINBURGH

LIONS 13-33 MUNSTER

STORMERS 42-12 LEINSTER

DRAGONS 27-34 CONNACHT

ROUND 15

FRI MAY 10

DRAGONS V STORMERS

EDINBURGH V ZEBRE

SAT MAY 11

BULLS V GLASGOW

SCARLETS V ULSTER

SHARKS V BENETTON

MUNSTER V CONNACHT

LIONS V CARDIFF

LEINSTER V OSPREYS

HARPIN MATCH WRAPS

ARE BROUGHT TO YOU BY

THE IRISH RUGBY SHOP

AT ELVERYS

341 : Stormers v Leinster preview

also available as a podcast

Our guest : NEIL ‘KEEGO’ KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

LEINSTER : 15. Henry McErlean 14. Liam Turner 13. Ben Brownlee 12. Charlie Ngatai 11. Rob Russell 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Cormac Foley

1. Michael Milne 2. John McKee 3. Michael Ala’alatoa 4. Brian Deeny 5. Jason Jenkins 6. Rhys Ruddock 7. Scott Penny (c) 8. Max Deegan

16. Gus McCarthy 17. Ed Byrne 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. Conor O’Tighearnaigh 20. Diarmuid Mangan 21. Fintan Gunne 22. Charlie Tector 23. Martin Moloney

STORMERS: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Dan du Plessis, 12 Damian Willemse, 11 Ben Loader, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies

1 Brok Harris, 2 Joseph Dweba, 3 Neethling Fouche, 4 Salmaan Moerat (c), 5 Ruben van Heerden, 6 Marcel Theunissen, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 8 Evan Roos 

16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Kwenzo Blose, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Connor Evans, 20 Willie Engelbrecht, 21 Hacjivah Dayimani, 22 Stefan Ungerer, 23 Wandisile Simelane

BKT United Rugby Championship 2023/24 Round 15

Saturday, April 27, 2024

KO 6:05pm  DHL Stadium

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

Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)

AR1: Marius vd Westhuizen (SARU)

AR2: Christopher Allison (SARU)

TMO: Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR)

237 : Leinster v Stormers wrap

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

TOM COLEMAN & CIARÁN DUFFY*

click here to support Ciarán’s autism fundraiser

* = also helped with production

FULL TIME TAKES

FACEBOOK

Conor Cronin We’re still undefeated, but I feel we could’ve won that.

It’s easy to blame certain factors, the weather being one, but you have to play what’s out there. We tried an offloading game in the first half that wasn’t suitable to those conditions. That’s inexperience.

The other major inexperienced person it they’re was the ref imo. He needs to trócaire his interpretation of the ruck, in from the side and the offside line. I would also argue that leinster avoiding s try before half time wasn’t a reason nor to yellow the cynical behaviour within 5m leading up to that try.

We take 3 points from that game to their 2, and are guaranteed to spot in the league. We were given a challenge greater than any we’ve faced so far this season. We were pushed in a way that forced the players out there to show more and dig deep. It might be a draw on the score board but its a win for me.

Greg Kelly Winning is a habit but so is not losing. To be fair though we left that game out there. Byrnes missed kicks were the difference. 3rd string team against a much more experienced Stormers outfit and we draw with a 3-2 match point win. Perhaps an indication that the SA teams are not as strong relatively speaking as the competition needs them to be. 

Alan Murphy Physical game. The wind and the rain probably balanced each half. 17-5 to each team in each half. A bonus point draw for us is probably more than we expected before the game against a fully loaded Stormers team. Well done Leinster. 

TWITTER

MASTODON

Rich Mifsud Given the respective lineups, getting 3 match points from this match is nothing short of awesome. Well played both teams in seriously rubbish conditions. Haven’t been this happy about drawing at home..ever 🤣. Credit to our @leinsterrugby boys especially the young guns for that comeback against a very strong @thestormers team. Great match and a credit to the @urcofficial 

Dominic Doyle really good game. Stormers will fancy coming back to RDS again in better weather later in the season and will have no fear. Shame our first team don’t get this test. Much needed for the serious battles ahead.

Brian Nisbet Spent the match surrounded by a very jolly French barristers rugby team. They were very much up for Leinster and we were all rewarded by a great match. The Stormers came to win and they went away with a 22-22 draw and lacked the try BP that Leinster got. Result. 

FRONT FIVE ARTICLES

  1. ‘Ireland is the new New Zealand’: Top dogs and proud of it, the emerald isle is locked in passionate embrace of rugby (theroar.com.au) [Harry Jones]
  2. Welsh first half sets up bonus point win | Scrum Queens [John Birch – via Irish Rugby]
  3. Hat-trick hero Blade inspires Connacht to bonus-point win over Edinburgh (the42.ie) [John Fallon]
  4. Too little, too late as Munster fightback falls short against dominant Glasgow (irishexaminer.com) [Simon Lewis]
  5. Ulster storm back to down Bulls in second half | SuperSport [Brendan Nel]

URC ROUND 16 WRAP

ROUND 16 (UNITY ROUND)

ZEB 30-34 CAR

LEI 22-22 STO

BEN 28-32 LIO

OSP 37-18 DRA

CON 41-26 EDI

SCA 32-20 SHA

MUN 26-38 GLA

ULS 32-23 BUL

ROUND 17

FRI APR 14

SHA V BEN

GLA V SCA

ULS V DRA

SAT APR 15

LIO V LEI

BUL V ZEB

STO V MUN

CON V CAR

EDI V OSP

HARPIN’ MATCH WRAPS

ARE BROUGHT TO YOU BY

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236 : Harpin’ Preview Show #LEIvSTO

OUR GUEST : CONOR CRONIN

Leinster : 15. Jordan Larmour 14. Rob Russell 13. Liam Turner 12. Ciarán Frawley 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. Ed Byrne 18. Vakhtang Abdaladze 19. Brian Deeny 20. Will Connors 21. Nick McCarthy 22. Charlie Tector 23. Ben Brownlee

DHL Stormers: 15 Clayton Blommetjies 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg 13 Dan du Plessis 12 Damian Willemse 11 Seabelo Senatla 10 Manie Libbok 9 Paul de Wet

1 Steven Kitshoff (capt) 2 Joseph Dweba 3 Frans Malherbe 4 Ruben van Heerden 5 Marvin Orie 6 Deon Fourie 7 Ben-Jason Dixon 8 Hacjivah Dayimani,

16 JJ Kotze 17 Brok Harris 18 Neethling Fouche 19 Ernst van Rhyn 20 Willie Engelbrecht 21 Marcel Theunissen 22 Herschel Jantjies 23 Jean-Luc du Plessis

BKT United Rugby Championship 2022/23

Round 16

Fri Mar 24 KO 7:35pm

RDS Arena, Dublin

Live on: TG4, Premier Sports 1, Viaplay Xtra, URC.tv

Referee: Sam Grove-White (SRU)

AR 1: Peter Martin (IRFU)

AR 2: Keane Davison (IRFU)

TMO: Andrew McMenemy (SRU)