Category: Leinster

344 : Leinster v Northampton wrap

4 May 2024; James Lowe of Leinster celebrates after scoring his side’s second try during the Investec Champions Cup semi-final match between Leinster and Northampton Saints at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

🏉 Jamie & James
🏉 Chronic knockonitis
🏉 First score after break
🏉 Saints go marching
🏉 Captain Caelan

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

TOM COLEMAN

MARK JACKSON

FULL TIME TAKES

Ronan McManus

After the high of La Rochelle, there was always the risk of a down day.

That being said, we were great in bursts, and were in control for most of the game. The third try had as many “moments” in the buildup phases as any I can remember (I haven’t rewatched it, so I may be misremembering). Furlong’s reverse offload out of the tackle Bairds gallop, Henshaw somehow staying in field to keep the ball alive.

John Hyland

They did well kicking behind us, and using their wingers’ speed in the chase. Our back three look short of pace. Keenan is needed and I reckon Rob Russell might come in for Larmour.

Kevin Kelehan

Great stadium, great crowd, never say die opponents who were an absolute credit to themselves when down and out but dragged themselves back into make it very tight game. Leinster played well for 50 minutes but some very aimless kicking will doubtless be lacerated in the debrief, the pack who gave better than they got must have been super frustrated at times. Doris as always a terrier on the gainline

Gavin Hegarty

A great place to be in to say that we weren’t good but we still won a semi. If we play against Toulouse like that they will take us apart. At halftime we should have been further ahead but my god in the second half we fell asleep. The most unleinsterlike performance in a longtime.

Byrne left a few points out there from the tee but other than that was epic first half.

I was at it and feel as a club we let ourselves down. Atmosphere was lacking anything. Was dead quiet at times. Yes the stadium was blue but we failed to create the cauldron we needed.

I’ll watch it again but from the davin lower it looked like reynal was a bit indecisive. Not checking Frawley being taken out in the air again? I think peno and yellow

Pat Curran

Leinster will have to include Gary Ringrose, Hugo Keenan and James Ryan for the final. It could be what’s required for a European final.

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HARPIN MATCH WRAPS

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343 : Leinster v Northampton Saints preview

also available as a podcast

Our guest :

CIAN ‘RUGBY KINO’ O’MUILLEOIR

LEINSTER : 15 C Frawley 14 J Larmour 13 R Henshaw 12 J Osborne 11 J Lowe 10 R Byrne 9 J Gibson-Park

1 A Porter 2 D Sheehan 3 T Furlong 4 R Molony 5 J McCarthy 6 R Baird 7 J van der Flier 8 C Doris (c)

16 R Kelleher 17 C Healy 18 M Ala’alatoa 19 J Jenkins 20 J Conan 21 L McGrath 22 H Byrne 23 J O’Brien

NORTHAMPTON : 15 George Furbank 14 James Ramm 13 Tommy Freeman 12 Fraser Dingwall 11 George Hendy 10 Fin Smith 9 Alex Mitchell

1 Alex Waller 2 Curtis Langdon 3 Trevor Davison 4 Alex Moon 5 Alex Coles 6 Courtney Lawes (c) 7 Sam Graham 8 Juarno Augustus

16 Sam Matavesi 17 Emmanuel Iyogun 18 Elliot Millar Mills 19 Temo Mayanavanua 20 Angus Scott-Young 21 Tom James 22 Tom Litchfield 23 Tom Seabrook

Investec Champions Cup 2023/24 Semifinal

Saturday, May 4, 2024

KO 5:30pm  Croke Park

Live on: RTÉ2, TNT Sports 2

Referee: Mathieu Raynal (Fra)

AR1: Pierre Brousset (Fra)

AR2: Luc Ramos (Fra)

TMO: Thomas Charabas (Fra)

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.

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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

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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)

337 : Leinster v La Rochelle wrap

13 April 2024; Dan Sheehan of Leinster dives over to score his side’s fourth try despite the tackle of Jonathan Danty of La Rochelle during the Investec Champions Cup quarter-final match between Leinster and La Rochelle at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

🏉 Nienaber D

🏉 Frustrating restarts

🏉 Excellent exit

🏉 Ross the Boss

🏉 Monkey gone

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

TOM COLEMAN & MARK JACKSON

FULL TIME TAKES

Neil ‘Keego’ Keegan

That was massive for between the ears

Rewatched highlights. There was only 1 horse in it

I’m trying to figure out the La Rochelle game plan 

Also trying to figure out why Leinster-jitzu didn’t work in the years previous

Today is a (nother) day my aul lad and others didn’t have. France were unbeatable and we were close to thinking the same about La Rochelle. 

Today we showed what the story is. It’s actually unreal because it dismantled a he entire O’Gara La Rochelle gameplan

Paul McSweeney

I went to the game thinking that Leinster at their best might just squeeze a win in. How wrong can I be? That was an emphatic performance. Leinster needed this win way more than LR and it showed.

Now I’m just hoping that Croke Park is fully open and that tickets will be reasonably priced. I have my tickets for the final already…

Kevin Kelehan

Been watching Leinster since 1986 when they beat Munster in that years inter-pro, without hesitation that is by some distance the best Leinster performance I’ve ever seen, no Hugo Kennan, no Gary Ringrose and no James Ryan, yet they completely and utterly destroyed and humiliated the reigning champions in some style. Looking forward to the final in Tottenham and the cinquieme etoile!!!!

Greg Kelly

Usual story. Another 5 year French dynasty falls. The Leinster dynasty and brand continues. A few 50/50 calls saved LAR some extra pain but it feels like a sort of redemption. LARs false economy was built on Leinsters back and it falls to Leinsters sword.

LAR went to Cork looking to harness the local energy and they certainly harnessed some Munster European Energy 😉

William Andrew

Very well thought out performance by the players and coaches. Expected a slug fest with the selection but Leinster were moving LR around the park mercilessly.

I have had my reservations about Neinabar, but my goodness he delivered a class performance today.

Great to see secondary players delivering an emphatic game when it matters so much.

Chris McDonnell

I am not a Ross fan but he was excellent today. Credit where its due. Leo gambled with some calls today and got them right. Well done to them all.

Alan Murphy

A Test quality performance. Professional and tactical perfection. Delighted with the lads today. High pressure game with a lot of nonsense coming out of Cork during the week. Onwards and upwards.

Martin Lynch

Just So Lucky To Be A Leinster Fan. The Relief In The Stadium Was Palpable. Roll On Croker .

John O Halloran

Best performance in a long time, they stepped up . Well done.

Josephine Boyd

A fantastic performance from our boys in blue.💙👕🏈👍👏👏💪☘️

@harpinonrugby

Have wait for the traffic to clear so might as well do an aul TikTok as ya do… #LEIvLAR #InvestecChampionsCup #rugbytiktok

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com

Get in the conversation yourself by leaving 

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CHAMPIONS CUP WRAP

QUARTERFINALS

BORDEAUX 41-42 HARLEQUINS

LEINSTER 40-13 LA ROCHELLE

NORTHAMPTON 59-22 BULLS

TOULOUSE 64-26 EXETER

SEMIFINALS

SAT MAY 4

LEINSTER V NORTHAMPTON

SUN MAY 5

TOULOUSE V HARLEQUINS

HARPIN MATCH WRAPS

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334 : Leinster v Leicester preview

also available as podcast

Our guest : NEIL ‘KEEGO’ KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

LEINSTER :  15. Hugo Keenan 14. Jordan Larmour 13. Robbie Henshaw 12. Jamie Osborne 11. James Lowe 10. Ross Byrne 9. Jamison Gibson-Park

1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Tadhg Furlong 4. Ross Molony 5. Joe McCarthy 6. Ryan Baird 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Caelan Doris (c)

16. Rónan Kelleher 17. Cian Healy 18. Michael Ala’alatoa 19. Jason Jenkins 20. Jack Conan 21. Ben Murphy 22. Harry Byrne 23. Ciarán Frawley

LEICESTER TIGERS :  15 Jamie Shillcock 14 Freddie Steward 13 Dan Kelly 12 Solomone Kata 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins 10 Handré Pollard 9 Jack van Poortvliet 

1 James Cronin 2 Julián Montoya 3 Dan Cole 4 Harry Wells 5 Kyle Hatherell 6 Hanro Liebenberg 7 Olly Cracknell 8 Jasper Wiese

16 Charlie Clare 17 Francois van Wyk 18 Will Hurd 19 Finn Carnduff 20 Emeka Ilione 21 Tom Whiteley 22 Phil Cokanasiga 23 Mike Brown

Investec Champions Cup 2023/24 Round of 16

Saturday, April 6, 2024

KO 8pm  Aviva Stadium

Live on: RTÉ2, TNT Sports 2

Referee: Pierre Brousset (FRA)

AR1: Jeremy Rozier (FRA)

AR2: Kévin Bralley (FRA)

TMO: Denis Grenouillet (FRA)

333 : Leinster v Bulls wrap

29 March 2024; Jack Conan of Leinster dives over to score his side’s sixth try despite the tackle of Devon Williams of Vodacom Bulls during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Vodacom Bulls at the RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
@harpinonrugby

Pod available on Apple, Spotify and most major platforms #rugbytiktok #URC

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

🏉 Somehow ahead

🏉 #Lukegate

🏉 Scoring & Scrambling

🏉 Eventually over

🏉 Leinster’s South African-ness

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CONOR CRONIN & NATHAN JOHNS

FULL TIME TAKES

Martin Lynch

Tough First Half. Bulls Ran. Out Of Steam. We Upped It Big Time . Great To See Them Back To Their Best. 👍🏉💪💙

Jay Long

I was mainly thinking

Ahem

Leeeeeiiinnnnsssttteeeerrrr

Leiiiiiinnnnnssstttttteeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrr

William Andrew

Good win , but scrums need attention. Lots of players came on hungry and contributing.

Farcical ending by the officials nothing for player safety

David Ryle

Was worried about this game. First half was poor but Leinster seemed to have found their mojo in the 2nd half.

Greg Kelly

Another testament to how competitive the URC has really become

URC WRAP

ROUND 13

LEINSTER 47-14 BULLS

DRAGONS 20-13 ZEBRE

BENETTON 18-14 CONNACHT

SHARKS 23-13 EDINBURGH

OSPREYS 36-21 LIONS

STORMERS 13-7 ULSTER

SCARLETS 3-45 GLASGOW

MUNSTER 20-15 CARDIFF

ROUND 14

FRI APR 19

ULSTER V CARDIFF

GLASGOW V SHARKS

SAT APR 20

LIONS V LEINSTER

BENETTON V DRAGONS

BULLS V MUNSTER

STORMERS V OSPREYS

CONNACHT V ZEBRE

EDINBURGH V SCARLETS

HARPIN MATCH WRAPS

ARE BROUGHT TO YOU BY

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AT ELVERYS

332 : Leinster v Bulls preview

also available as podcast

LEINSTER :  15. Jordan Larmour 14. Rob Russell 13. Robbie Henshaw 12. Jamie Osborne 11. James Lowe 10. Harry Byrne 9. Luke McGrath (c)

1. Cian Healy 2. Rónan Kelleher 3. Michael Ala’alatoa 4. Ross Molony 5. Joe McCarthy 6. Ryan Baird 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Jack Conan

16. Dan Sheehan 17. Michael Milne 18. Tadhg Furlong 19. Jason Jenkins 20. Caelan Doris 21. Jamison Gibson-Park 22. Ross Byrne 23. Liam Turner

VODACOM BULLS :  15. Willie Le Roux 14. Kurt-Lee Arendse 13. Canan Moodie 12. David Kriel 11. Devon Williams 10. Johan Goosen 9. Embrose Papier

1. Gerhard Steenekamp, 2. Akker van der Merwe, 3. Wilco Louw, 4. Ruan Vermaak, 5. Ruan Nortje (c), 6. Marco van Staden, 7. Elrigh Louw, 8. Marcell Coetzee (c)

16. Johan Grobbelaar, 17. Simphiwe Matanzima, 18. Mornay Smith, 19. Reinhardt Ludwig, 20. Mpilo Gumede, 21. Zak Burger, 22. Chris Smith, 23. Harold Vorster

BKT United Rugby Championship 2023/24 Round 13

Friday, March 29, 2024

KO 7:35pm  RDS

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

Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)

AR1: Chris Busby (Ireland)

AR2: Andy Fogarty (Ireland)

TMO: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)

331 : Zebre v Leinster wrap

23 March 2024; Rob Russell of Leinster evades the tackle of Simone Gesi of Zebre on his way to scoring his side’s first try during the United Rugby Championship match between Zebre Parma and Leinster at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi in Parma, Italy. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

🏉 Rocket Rob

🏉 The Osbournes

🏉 Max Exposure

🏉 Les Femmes En France

🏉 Running With The Bulls

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

TOM COLEMAN & CIARÁN DUFFY

Check our Ciarán’s own pod Post To Post Sport here

FULL TIME TAKES

Kevin Kelehan

Score flattered Leinster who finished ruthlessly and tackled and tackled, great squad depth

Shane Gallagher

We need to talk about Liam Turner. I know we can all see Jamie stepping up to a possible first choice centre position but Turner is so fast and powerful…love to watch him both in defence and attack!

Karen Mooney

As always leinster come out in the second half.. and put the match to bed…

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URC WRAP

ROUND 12

GLASGOW 17-13 CARDIFF

OSPREYS 17-27 MUNSTER

SHARKS 22-12 ULSTER

SCARLETS 16-13 BENETTON

STORMERS 43-21 EDINBURGH

CONNACHT 14-38 LIONS

DRAGONS 10-31 BULLS

ZEBRE 7-31 LEINSTER

ROUND 13

FRI MAR 29

LEINSTER V BULLS

DRAGONS V ZEBRE

SAT MAR 30

BENETTON V CONNACHT

SHARKS V EDINBURGH

OSPREYS V LIONS

STORMERS V ULSTER

SCARLETS V GLASGOW

MUNSTER V CARDIFF

HARPIN MATCH WRAPS

ARE BROUGHT TO YOU BY

THE IRISH RUGBY SHOP

AT ELVERYS

330 : Zebre v Leinster preview

Our guest : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

LEINSTER : 15. Ciarán Frawley 14. Rob Russell 13. Liam Turner 12. Jamie Osborne 11. Andrew Osborne 10. Ross Byrne 9. Luke McGrath

1. Ed Byrne 2. Lee Barron 3. Thomas Clarkson 4. Ross Molony 5. Jason Jenkins 6. Will Connors 7. Scott Penny (c) 8. Max Deegan

16. John McKee 17. Michael Milne 18. Michael Ala’alatoa 19. Brian Deeny 20. Diarmuid Mangan 21. Fintan Gunne 22. Sam Prendergast 23. Henry McErlean

 ZEBRE PARMA : 15. Jacopo Trulla 14. Scott Gregory 13. Luca Morisi 12. Fetuli Paea 11. Simone Gesi 10. Geronimo Prisciantelli 9. Gonzalo Garcia

1. Muhamed Hasa 2. Giampietro Ribaldi 3. Juan Pitinari 4. David Sisi 5. Leonard Krumov 6. Davide Ruggeri 7. Iacopo Bianchi 8. Giovanni Licata (c) 

16. Tommaso Di Bartolomeo 17. Luca Rizzoli 18. Riccardo Genovese 19. Matteo Canali 20. Josh Kaifa 21. Alessandro Fusco 22. Damiano Mazza 23. Pierre Bruno 

BKT United Rugby Championship 2023/24 Round 12

Saturday, March 23, 2024

KO 7:35pm  Sergio Lanfranchi Stadium

Live on: RTÉ2, Premier Sports 2, URC.tv

Referee: Morne Ferreira (South Africa)

AR1: Andrea Piardi (Italy)

AR2: Dante D’Elia (Italy)

TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)