310 : Leinster v Stade Français wrap

13 January 2024; James Lowe of Leinster dives over to score his side’s first try during the Investec Champions Cup Pool 4 Round 3 match between Leinster and Stade Francais at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
@harpinonrugby

Our Leinster v Stade Francais wrap pod is out now

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

🏉 Accuracy issues

🏉 New kicking style

🏉 Ryan The Reliable

🏉 Ryan The Rampager

🏉 No 🍔, no Ø, no problem


CONOR CRONIN & TOM COLEMAN

FULL TIME TAKES

Joe Sheppard

Wasn’t the strongest display V poorish opposition tbh. The pure world class of each individual player was clear but as a collective it lacked overall. I’m forever impressed by the strength, skill and athleticism of Baird, McCarthy and especially Doris…… Next week away V Tigers SHOULD be a proper test of where we are currently.

Jamie Bermingham

Looks like the team are still adjusting to a new play style, seeing flashes of great plays but also a lot of silly mistakes and errors. I’m going to hold judgement till later in the season, that being said we may just be holding back till the business end.

Gav Heg

Quite disappointed that we didn’t nil them. We should easily have topped 60 here but we’re let down by stupid and unforced mistakes. It could be put down to an adjustment period but we lacked the ability to just finish moves off.

Ringrose should have been motm but Doris also deserving. I felt sorry for Baird that he didn’t go over after that colossal run.

Can’t help but feel that a decent would have picked is apart. For Leicester we need a far better performance.

Johnny McGovern

Frawley in Leinster is jinxed …Is he robust enough for professional rugby ? I could say unlucky but he just isn’t …happening too often – he actually took two knocks during the game tonight and seemed to have effected his vision. The physios checked one eye and the second issue was the heavy tackle he took . I didn’t see the end of the tackle but he was in bits . Leo said he got a knee in the back which then spasmed but the tackler must have connected with his kidneys . Not a great Leinster performance given a very poor SF team .

Andrew Bailey

Let’s not get carried away. Given the selections – the result was a formality ((When is the last time there has been a decent contest in the Aviva group game). Sloppy game punctuated by mistakes and aimless kicking. The return of Lowe a huge positive. Lineout improvement once Ryan on the pitch marked. Just worry about sluggish performances by so many


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Front Five can now be found as part of our weekly 80+ column.

CHAMPIONS CUP WRAP

ROUND 3

NORTHAMPTON 61-14 BAYONNE

LYON 34-20 CONNACHT

EXETER CHIEFS 19-17 GLASGOW WARRIORS

TOULON 18-29 MUNSTER

BRISTOL BEARS 17-31 BULLS

LEINSTER 43-7 STADE FRANCAIS

STORMERS 31-24 SALE SHARKS

CARDIFF 15-54 HARLEQUINS

ULSTER 24-48 TOULOUSE

BATH 29-25 RACING 92

LA ROCHELLE 45-12 LEICESTER

BORDEAUX 55-15 SARACENS



ROUND 4

FRI JAN 19

GLASGOW V TOULON

CONNACHT V BRISTOL

SAT JAN 20

HARLEQUINS V ULSTER

BULLS V BORDEAUX

RACING 92 V CARDIFF

LEICESTER V LEINSTER

MUNSTER V NORTHAMPTON

STADE FRANCAIS V STORMERS

SARACENS V LYON

SUN JAN 21

SALE SHARKS V LA ROCHELLE

TOULOUSE V BATH

BAYONNE V EXETER

309 : Leinster v Stade Français preview

also available as a podcast

our guest : NEIL ‘KEEGO’ KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts


LEINSTER : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Jordan Larmour 13. Garry Ringrose (c) 12. Robbie Henshaw 11. James Lowe 10. Ciarán Frawley 9. Jamison Gibson-Park

1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Tadhg Furlong 4. Joe McCarthy 5. Jason Jenkins 6. Ryan Baird 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Caelan Doris

16. Rónan Kelleher 17. Cian Healy 18. Michael Ala’alatoa 19. James Ryan 20. Jack Conan 21. Luke McGrath 22. Sam Prendergast 23. Tommy O’Brien


STADE FRANÇAIS : 15 L Monin 14 P Dakuwaqa 13 S Ahmed 12 N Nene 11 K Hamdaoui 10 Z Henry 9 B Weber

1 C Castets 2 L Peyresblanques 3 H Ndiaye 4 PH Azagoh 5 JJ van der Mescht 6 M Hirigoyen (c) 7 R Chapuis 8 G Habel-Kϋffner

16 M Meité 17 V Kakovin 18 P Alo-Emile 19 G Tsutskiridze 20 A Timo 21 J Gimbert 22 P Gabrillagues 23 J Segonds


Investec Champions Cup 23/24 Round 3

Saturday, January 13, 2024

KO 5:30pm Aviva Stadium

Live on: RTÉ2, TNT Sports 3


Referee: Christophe Ridley (Eng)

AR 1: Luke Pearce (Eng)

AR 2: Gareth Holsgrove (Eng)

TMO: Tom Foley (Eng)

Citing Commissioner : Shaun Veldsman (SA)

308 : Leinster v Ulster wrap

1 January 2024 – Jason Jenkins of Leinster in a maul during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Ulster at RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

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Our Leinster v Ulster wrap pod is now available on Apple, Spotify and most major platforms

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

🏉 Homework done

🏉 Quick reply

🏉 Another “Nicked” try

🏉 Missed chances

🏉 Hanging on



photo by Ramsey Cardy

FULL TIME TAKES

Conor Cronin

Ulster exploited our D in the first 20 and that was very significant.

A game like this shouldn’t be decided by an interpretation of the laws, or lack thereof, but I really feel it was today, players on or off their feet, when use it is called or not, whether or not a tackler is held, they are big moments and weren’t decided by the players.

That said, the wrong pass at the wrong time at the end, not looking for the drop goal, there are problems to be fixed

Rich Mifsud

Well can’t say we didn’t deserve that tbh and the stupid fucking ending simply drew a line under that performance. Fair fucks to Ulster putting in a huge shift on D but our game management and decision making left a lot to be desired.

All the right decision making and game management in similar conditions at LAR went to rat shit (admittedly with different personnel)

To be honest I actually expected more of these types of performances given the changes in systems brought in by Nienaber. Not to have seen more is to our credit

Kevin Kelehan

Fair play to Ulster closing it out, they took the squad rotation handicap perfectly, James Ryan’s absence once again fatal for Leinster in a tight game

Sean Michaels

Ulster showed greater desire in awful conditions. Thought some of our decision making on field was questionable. We seemed intent on giving possession away with some poor box kicking, and kicking out of hand, when it seemed more logical to keep it tight and build momentum. Unfortunately, whilst Mr Murphy was not too kind to Leinster he was not the reason we lost. Apart from the LR game I think we have been generally poor and have had a couple of fortunate results which has tended to paper over the cracks

Cian Ormond

Beaten by the better team, no complaints there. The chances to win were available and they were missed. Still top of the table though, the clash with Benetton is more interesting now.

Colin McConaghie (Ulster fan)

Brilliant! Loved every minute 😁 we really exploited the space out wide and Billy Burns was absolutely superb



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URC WRAP

ROUND 9

BENETTON 36-14 ZEBRE

EDINBURGH 19-14 GLASGOW WARRIORS

STORMERS 16-15 SHARKS

CONNACHT 22-9 MUNSTER

OSPREYS 27-21 CARDIFF

DRAGONS 13-12 SCARLETS

LEINSTER 21-22 ULSTER



ROUND 8

SAT JAN 6

SHARKS V LIONS

ROUND 9

SAT JAN 27

BULLS V LIONS

ROUND 10

FRI FEB 16

SCARLETS V MUNSTER

ZEBRE V EDINBURGH

SAT FEB 17

LIONS V BULLS

LEINSTER V BENETTON

SHARKS V STORMERS

CARDIFF V CONNACHT

GLASGOW WARRIORS V DRAGONS

SUN FEB 18

OSPREYS V ULSTER



307 : #LEIvULS preview

also available as podcast

our guest : CONOR CRONIN


Leinster : 15. Jimmy O’Brien 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Liam Turner 12. Robbie Henshaw 11. Rob Russell 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Jamison Gibson-Park

1. Cian Healy 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Thomas Clarkson 4. Jason Jenkins 5. James Ryan (c) 6. Ryan Baird 7. Will Connors 8. Caelan Doris

16. Lee Barron 17. Jack Boyle 18. Michael Ala’alatoa 19. Joe McCarthy 20. Jack Conan 21. Luke McGrath 22. Harry Byrne 23. Josh van der Flier 


Ulster : 15 Will Addison 14 Rob Baloucoune 13 Luke Marshall 12 Stuart McCloskey 11 Jacob Stockdale 10 Billy Burns 9John Cooney

1 Steven Kitshoff 2 Rob Herring 3 Tom O’Toole 4 Kieran Treadwell 5 Iain Henderson 6 Matty Rea 7 Sean Reffell 8 Nick Timoney.

16 Tom Stewart 17 Andy Warwick 18 Scott Wilson 19 Alan O’Connor 20 Dave Ewers 21 Nathan Doak 22 Mike Lowry 23 Jude Postlethwaite


BKT United Rugby Championship 23/24 Round 9

Monday, January 1, 2024

KO 5:15pm RDS Arena

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


Referee: Frank Murphy (IRFU)

AR 1: Eoghan Cross (IRFU)

AR 2: Tomas O’Sullivan (IRFU)

TMO: Joy Neville (IRFU)

306 : Munster v Leinster wrap

26 December 2023; Ryan Baird of Leinster wins a lineout during the United Rugby Championship match between Munster and Leinster at Thomond Park in Limerick. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
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Our Munster v Leinster wrap pod is now on Apple, Spotify and most major platforms #rugbytiktoks🏉 #Leinster

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

🏉 Porter v Jager

🏉 “more of a roll”????

🏉 Missed kicks

🏉 Territory dominance

🏉 Match talk > RGS talk


FULL TIME TAKES

Paul Smith

Leinster did what they needed to do and were deserving winners. On a side note I lost a lot of respect for O’Callaghan after his rant about Snyman coming to Leinster. His point about holding Irish players back might have carried more weight if he saad the same thing when he signed for Munster. I’m sorry but he sounded petty and bitter and I would expect more from him. He’s usually one of the best pundits to be fair but he did himself no favours this evening. I’m still going to enjoy celebrating another Leinster win in Thomond mind you.

Dave Murray

Ugly win with the conditions but a good win all the same. A kind of game a certain Jacques Nienabar might like with a forward dominated game with the conditions but great effort by the players. Joe McCarthy deserved POTM

Kevin Kelehan

Terrible conditions, very strong Munster defence but Leinster just made fewer mistakes.

Eamon Saunders

Not pretty to watch but a win nonetheless,move on to the next 👏👏

Chris McDonnell

We need to stop this harry byrne sillyness. Oh and mcgrath was just awful too. Thankfully We just dominated their pack


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URC WRAP

ROUND 8

GLASGOW WARRIORS 22-10 EDINBURGH

ULSTER 20-19 CONNACHT

ZEBRE 24-31 BENETTON

STORMERS 26-20 BULLS

CARDIFF 55-21 DRAGONS

SCARLETS 11-25 OSPREYS

MUNSTER 3-9 LEINSTER



ROUND 9

SAT DEC 30

BENETTON V ZEBRE

EDINBURGH V GLASGOW WARRIORS

STORMERS V SHARKS

MON JAN 1

CONNACHT V MUNSTER

OSPREYS V CARDIFF

DRAGONS V SCARLETS

LEINSTER V ULSTER



305 : #MUNvLEI preview

also available as podcast

Our guest : JAY LONG


Leinster : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Jordan Larmour 13. Garry Ringrose (CAPTAIN) 12. Ciarán Frawley 11. Rob Russell 10. Harry Byrne 9. Jamison Gibson-Park

1. Andrew Porter 2. Rónan Kelleher 3. Michael Ala’alatoa 4. Ross Molony 5. Joe McCarthy 6. Max Deegan 7. Scott Penny 8. Jack Conan

16. Dan Sheehan 17. Ed Byrne 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. Jason Jenkins 20. Ryan Baird 21. Luke McGrath 22. Liam Turner 23. Will Connors


Munster : 15 Simon Zebo; 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Antoine Frisch, 12 Alex Nankivell, 11 Shane Daly; 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Craig Casey

1 Dave Kilcoyne, 2 Diarmuid Barron (C), 3 Oli Jager; 4 Edwin Edogbo, 5 Gavin Coombes; 6 Tom Ahern, 7 John Hodnett, 8 Jack O’Donoghue.

16 Eoghan Clarke, 17 Jeremy Loughman, 18 Stephen Archer, 19 Brian Gleeson, 20 Alex Kendellen, 21 Paddy Patterson, 22 Tony Butler, 23 Seán O’Brien.


BKT United Rugby Championship 23/24 Round 8

Tuesday, December 26, 2023

KO 7:35pm Thomond Park

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


Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU)

AR 1: Peter Martin (IRFU)

AR 2: Andrew Cole (IRFU)

TMO: Brian McNeice (IRFU)

304 : Leinster v Sale Sharks wrap

16 December 2023; Cian Healy of Leinster dives over to score his side’s fifth try despite the tackle of Ethan Caine of Sale Sharks during the Investec Champions Cup Pool 4 Round 2 match between Leinster and Sale Sharks at the RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

🏉 MUN, ULS & CON reviews

🏉 Sharp Sharks

🏉 Championship minutes

🏉 Bench impress

🏉 Log Toppers


TOM COLEMAN & CIAN O’MUILLEOIR


FULL TIME TAKES

Rich Mifsud

My biggest annoyance from this match (and I’m seriously fucking pissed off) was our complacency. Much as I was elated with our attitude last week, today was the complete opposite. That said I believe our expectations as supporters are not taking account of the huge vacuum created by the departures of Johnny and Stu. It will take time for the new coaching set up and 10 to settle and thrive

Alan Murphy
Awful game. A game dominated by pedantic adjudication. Every phase seemed to end with a blow of the whistle. Stop, start. Happy with 5 points but dreadful to watch.

Kevin Kelehan
Sloppy start and lax finish but a lot of grit for the middle half of the game either side of half time. Biggest news from the pool was La Rochelle losing again yesterday

SeanieH
·Terrible for Charlie. He’s had some lovely touches lately. Looking classy

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CHAMPIONS CUP WRAP

ROUND 2

NORTHAMPTON 22-19 TOULON

BAYONNE 11-12 GLASGOW WARRIORS

SARACENS 55-36 CONNACHT

STORMERS 21-20 LA ROCHELLE

BORDEAUX 36-17 BRISTOL BEARS

LYON 29-28 BULLS

LEINSTER 37-27 SALE SHARKS

CARDIFF 32-39 BATH

ULSTER 31-15 RACING 92

EXETER CHIEFS 32-24 MUNSTER

HARLEQUINS 19-47 TOULOUSE

STADE FRANCAIS 24-27 LEICESTER TIGERS


courtesy Cian O’Muilleoir

ROUND 3

FRI JAN 12

NORTHAMPTON V BAYONNE

SAT JAN 13

LYON V CONNACHT

EXETER CHIEFS V GLASGOW WARRIORS

TOULON V MUNSTER

BRISTOL BEARS V BULLS

LEINSTER V STADE FRANCAIS

STORMERS V SALE SHARKS

CARDIFF V HARLEQUINS

ULSTER V TOULOUSE

SUN JAN 14

BATH V RACING 92

LA ROCHELLE V LEICESTER

BORDEAUX V SARACENS



303 : #LEIvSAL preview

also available as podcast


Leinster : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Jordan Larmour 13. Garry Ringrose (cc) 12. Robbie Henshaw 11. Jimmy O’Brien 10. Ciarán Frawley 9. Jamison Gibson-Park

1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Thomas Clarkson 4. Jason Jenkins 5. James Ryan (cc) 6. Ryan Baird 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Caelan Doris

16. Rónan Kelleher 17. Cian Healy 18. Michael Ala’alatoa 19. Joe McCarthy 20. Jack Conan 21. Ben Murphy 22. Sam Prendergast 23. Charlie Ngatai


Sale Sharks : 15. Telusa Veainu , 14. Tom Roebuck, 13. Connor Doherty, 12. Sam Bedlow, 11. Arron Reed, 10. Rob du Preez, 9. Raffi Quirke

1. Ross Harrison, 2. Tommy Taylor, 3. James Harper, 4. Ben Bamber, 5. Josh Beaumont, 6. Ernst van Rhyn, 7. Sam Dugdale, 8. Rouban Birch.   

16. Ethan Caine, 17. Tumy Onasanya, 18. Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 19. Jonny Hill, 20. JL du Preez, 21. Nye Thomas, 22. Tom Curtis, 23. Joe Carpenter. 


Investec Champions Cup 23/24 Round 2

Saturday, December 16, 2023

KO 5:30pm RDS Arena

TV : TNT Sports 1


Referee: Pierre Brousset (Fra)

AR 1: Pierre Baptiste Nuchy (Fra)

AR 2: Kevin Bralley (Fra)

TMO: Denis Grenouillet (Fra)

302: La Rochelle v Leinster wrap

10 December 2023; Ciarán Frawley of Leinster kicks a penalty during the Investec Champions Cup match between La Rochelle and Leinster at Stade Marcel Deflandre in La Rochelle, France. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile


🏉 Il pleut beaucoup

🏉 Carley & CoCaptains

🏉 A Battle Of Wills

🏉 LAR leadership vacuum

🏉 Frawley’s Buzzer Beaters


RICH MIFSUD & TOM COLEMAN

FULL TIME TAKES

Conor Cronin

Away in France to the reigning champs and we finally get it right! I couldn’t be happier to see the team finally figure out how to get the better of them. Delighted to see the only try scored is Larmour, he’s had a tough couple of years.

No trick plays, no bounce off the ball stuff, and no situation where the ref was clearly biased towards us. We beat them fair and square.

The future is bright at 10, the squad will take a lot from this and fingers crossed no major injury concerns as we prepare for Saturday

Chris McDonnell

Fantastic result, can’t fault anything on the pitch. Onwards and upwards.

Greg Kelly

Really well fought win. I seem to remember LAR struggling in similar conditions last year against Ulster. Byrne was pretty solid in what he did and Frawley fronted up well on a difficult night. Certainly a big weekend in the post Johnny period in blue and green.

Bert McLoughlin

What was best about today’s performance was the hunger to make dominant tackles and be physical in poor conditions. That hunger will make us strong contenders this season. No signs of a wc hangover

Gavin Hegarty

To me Byrne stood up when asked and frawley did the same. We’re good @10 for a few years!

Hats off to connors, he delivered and then some. Epic performance.

We had some unleinster mistakes but we’ll learn as the game evolves. Porter was constantly talking to the ref, this I like.

I did not like the ref telling ringer he won’t talk to Ryan but fear this is a result of ‘co’ captains. We need to sort thst.

William Andrew

Appalling display by the Ref, looked like he was been coached by LR. Said it twice to them but still did nothing to shut them up.

Honestly Refs need to realise a big scrum can actually bring a scrum down and play the odds like they play the red zone odds.

Jamie Donohoe

Very proud of that very courageous performance in those conditions. And i thought the Ref handled the game well too


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[this week’s Front Five segment is over on our YouTube channel]


CHAMPIONS CUP WRAP

ROUND 1

CONNACHT 5-41 BORDEAUX

GLASGOW 19-28 NORTHAMPTON

TOULON 18-19 EXETER

TOULOUSE 52-7 CARDIFF

BATH 37-14 ULSTER

BULLS 27-16 SARACENS

MUNSTER 17-17 BAYONNE

BRISTOL 36-34 LYON

SALE SHARKS 28-5 STADE FRANCAIS

LEICESTER TIGERS 35-26 STORMERS

LA ROCHELLE 9-16 LEINSTER

RACING 92 28-31 HARLEQUINS



ROUND 2

FRI DEC 15

NORTHAMPTON V TOULON

BAYONNE V GLASGOW WARRIORS

SAT DEC 16

SARACENS V CONNACHT

STORMERS V LA ROCHELLE

BORDEAUX V BRISTOL BEARS

LYON V BULLS

LEINSTER V SALE SHARKS

CARDIFF V BATH

ULSTER V RACING 92

SUN DEC 17

EXETER CHIEFS V MUNSTER

HARLEQUINS V TOULOUSE

STADE FRANCAIS V LEICESTER TIGERS



301 : #LARvLEI preview


Leinster : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Jordan Larmour 13. Garry Ringrose (cc) 12. Robbie Henshaw 11. Jimmy O’Brien 10. Harry Byrne 9. Jamison Gibson-Park

1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Michael Ala’alatoa 4. Joe McCarthy 5. James Ryan (cc) 6. Ryan Baird 7. Will Connors 8. Caelan Doris

16. Rónan Kelleher 17. Cian Healy 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. Jason Jenkins 20. Josh van der Flier 21. Ben Murphy 22. Ciarán Frawley 23. Charlie Ngatai


La Rochelle : 15 Brice Dulin 14 Dillyn Leyds 13 Ulupano Seuteni 12 Jonathan Danty 11 Jules Favre 10 Antoine Hastoy 9 Tawerra Kerr-Barlow

1 Reda Wardi 2 Pierre Bourgarit (Cap) 3 Uini Atonio 4 Thomas Lavault 5 Will Skelton 6 Paul Boudehent 7 Levani Botia 8 Yoan Tanga

16 Sacha Idoumi 17 Joel Sclavi 18 Georges-Henri Colombe Reazel, 19 Ultan Dillane 20 Rémi Picquette 21 Judicaël Cancoriet 22 Teddy Iribaren 23 Hugo Reus


Investec Champions Cup 23/24 Round 1

Sunday, December 10, 2023

KO 3:15pm Stade Marcel Deflandre

TV : TNT Sports 1


Referee: Matthew Carley (Eng)

AR 1: Hamish Smales (Eng)

AR 2: Paul Dix (Eng)

TMO: Andrew Jackson (Eng)