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
Conor Cronin Lots of talking points on that game, unfortunate for refereeing to be one.
Leinster inaccuracy was difficult to watch, good to see munster putting it up to us, though of course they “had nothing to lose” 🙄 It shows that with the right team selection they could really pose us a problem. Fingers crossed they continue to not select the right team.
Leinster allowed munster to set a tempo, to dictate the pace of play. I want to see much more accuracy from leinster, and for them to punish teams in the 22.
Andrew Bailey Why not neutral refs. Ireland is too small a country – no matter how hard a ref tries he has affiliation somewhere. And it works both ways – can sway in favour of one team in an effort to stay neutral. Not fair on ref or teams. Wales Scotland Italy and SA – but the big Irish games get Irish ref
Andrew Potts Leinster huffed and puffed but did not blow the house down.
Munster showed a bit of Leicester DNA pragmatism, always sort of falling on the wrong side, always sort of slowing things down.
Leinster were good except for scoring.
So many little things just upsetting a happy try. Poor return for Leinster, two fortunate yellows for Munster that could have been red. Seen both of those red recently. That question? Was force applied, was it high, any mitigation? Plus Stander was red carded against SA for the second type of offence.
Frawley is a unique player, appearing to play a number of positions very well.
He looks like an exception that proves the rule.
Luke good for MOM.
Finally, Joey in Munster is the waste of a perfectly good 10.
Chris McDonnell Andrew Potts stander ended a players career with that challenge. I thought penny was excellent. Held up over the line twice in the first half and we butchered a few line breaks, lowe, dave K or lowe would have had a try or two.
Gavin Hegarty I need to rewatch it as from the south lower it looked like brace was terrible. His advantages were only for Munster and never for Leinster.
Kleyns yellow was a red all day, jumped after the kick was made and angled his body to hit side on with an elbow to Osbourne’s head. Citing has to come.
Odd to say but we’re now 6/6 but still have been disappointing.
We dominated the first 30 but still couldn’t put the points on the board, some very unleinsterlike play and decision making. Our lineout needs huge work.
Henshaw and ringrose were outstanding throughout, Porter was great when he came on. Frawley looked comfortable @15.
We’ll need to be better soon.
I think we let a bad Munster team play, their backline had no purpose and just shipped the ball on, no lines or moves. We (and brace) made them look good.
Enjoyable match. Great result and good response to going down in the second half. Both teams already have huge injury lists and that game definitely didn't help. Frawley to 2nd choice for Ireland. Crowley should start for Munster and is very much in play to be capped soon.
Good win for Leinster but it's covering issues underneath. Scrum is very poor. Lineout is iffy. Munster were depleted before and during the game, two yellow cards and two looseheads scrumming for long periods and Leinster struggled to go through or round Munster.
Didn't take the easy route to the BP but we def deserved it IMO. Solid defending and absolute dominance in maul both with and without ball were key. Always had an extra gear, might have gone to it sooner but happy out all the same.#LEIvMUN#URC
[Note – Sharks v Ulster postponement was being announced as we were recording]
LEINSTER : 15 Ciarán Frawley 14 Jimmy O’Brien 13 Garry Ringrose 12 Robbie Henshaw 11 Jamie Osborne 10 Johnny Sexton > C 9 Luke McGrath
1 Cian Healy 2 Dan Sheehan 3 Tadhg Furlong 4 Jason Jenkins 5 James Ryan 6 Max Deegan 7 Scott Penny 8 Caelan Doris
16 J McKee 17 A Porter 18 M Ala’alatoa 19 R Molony 20 J Conan 21 N McCarthy 22 R Byrne 23 R Russell.
Munster : 15 Jack Crowley; 14 Shane Daly, 13 Dan Goggin, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Liam Coombes; 10 Joey Carbery, 9 Conor Murray
1 Jeremy Loughman, 2 Diarmuid Barron, 3 Keynan Knox; 4 Jean Kleyn, 5 Tom Ahern; 6 Jack O’Donoghue (C), 7 John Hodnett, 8 Gavin Coombes.
16 Scott Buckley, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 James French, 19 Jack O’Sullivan, 20 Ruadhan Quinn, 21 Paddy Patterson, 22 Ben Healy, 23 Patrick Campbell.
United Rugby Championship 22/23 Round 6
Saturday, October 22, 2022
Aviva Stadium
Kickoff 7:35pm
Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU)
AR 1: Peter Martin (IRFU)
AR 2: Oisin Quinn (IRFU)
TMO: Marius Jonker (SARU)
Live on: RTÉ2, Premier Sports1, SuperSport, Discovery + & URC.tv
Our guest
NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN
https://twitter.com/keegolaughs_irlhttp://www.keegolaughs.com
Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts
Where to find Harpin’ On Rugby
Website > https://harpinonrugby.com/
Twitter > https://twitter.com/HarpinOnRugby
Facebook > https://www.facebook.com/HarpinOnRugby
Instagram > https://www.instagram.com/harpinonrugby/
TikTok > https://www.tiktok.com/@harpinonrugby
LEINSTER v Munster : 15 Ciarán Frawley 14 Jimmy O’Brien 13 Garry Ringrose 12 Robbie Henshaw 11 Jamie Osborne 10 Johnny Sexton > C 9 Luke McGrath
1 Cian Healy 2 Dan Sheehan 3 Tadhg Furlong 4 Jason Jenkins 5 James Ryan 6 Max Deegan 7 Scott Penny 8 Caelan Doris
16 J McKee 17 A Porter 18 M Ala’alatoa 19 R Molony 20 J Conan 21 N McCarthy 22 R Byrne 23 R Russell.
Conor Cronin Messy night, and Connacht would’ve been deserving of the BP. But to focus on leinster, the lineout needs some work quickly. I appreciate that 2 of our ex players were in there but it, some poor hands and some poor discipline meant no opportunity to use good field position and meant we allowed Connacht to be in the game at half time. Must be more clinical in any game, but particularly with how fired up Connacht are and were tonight
Credit to @connachtrugby really put it up to us It took some grunt to get over the line They deserved something from that match For us, poor discipline unforced errors disjointed play some individual brilliance LO awful Foley needs protection JvdF & Sheehan 👍🏻 rest meh #CONvLEI
— Richard Mifsud ( richardmifsud@mastodon.ie ) (@Once_in_the_job) October 14, 2022
Chris McDonnell There’s the reason that andy farrell has a restraining order keep ross byrne 10 miles from the irish squad.
Martin Loughrey Well that was an arm wrestle. I’m almost disappointed for Connacht. (I like Connacht and the way they play). Thought they did a lot really well and can feel a bit robbed to come away with nothing. Can’t remember a match with so many knock ons. 4gs pitches lie. A dirty night in Galway but hard to tell because the players were so clean. All in all, a win on the road is a win on the road. Luckily they sorted the lineout after the first 20 mins.
Craig Grehan The more I watch. The more I think that younger munster fella is looking like the next green 10.
Delighted to see JoeMcCarthy get a run.
Great up front “up the jumper” rugby match
Derek McGee To call it “one for the purists” is to overestimate the tolerance of the average purist. Both teams conspired to shoot themselves in both feet whenever it looked like they were gaining an advantage. Really silly errors by both teams. Yes, there was Weather with a capital W but it’s Galway, there’s always Weather. There was a real chance for Leinster to capitalise on the wind in the second half but they didn’t take the advantage offered. A game that further burnished Jason Jenkins’ reputation by dint of his absence. The lineout was a real worry all night & it’s something that needs work ahead of Munster next weekend. Not all doom & gloom, to be fair: Josh doing Josh things, Dan Sheehan good in the loose, Big Mike bringing a bit of power in the second half & I thought Liam Turner had a decent showing in an unfamiliar position. A win is a win is a win but the video session on Monday morning might have a 18 rating for excessive adult language…
Richard Collumb Always a tough battle with the boys from the west. Bit of rust from some of the returning players but still undefeated against an improving team and lots of ex Leinster players with points to prove.
Connacht 0 Leinster 10
I'm annoyed so so annoyed I'm annoyed we've lost I'm annoyed we have nothing to show for that effort I'm annoyed we scored nothing for all that territory
I am fed up watching us get into the 22 and mess up We have to unlock defences #CONvLEI#BKTURC
Gerald Williamson Not a great advertisement for rugby to watch.
Four points, get outta dodge. Mistakes and penalties aplenty, certainly wouldnt want them every week, but at least a well earned shut out. Cant add much more really.#CONvLEI#BKTURC
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 