2 May 2026; Josh van der Flier of Leinster dives over to score his side’s second try during the Investec Champions Cup semi-final match between Leinster and RC Toulon at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Ken Tancred PT Think those last two tries booked Frawleys ticket to the final Jonathan Leonard Soroka made a good impact. Bit worried how Josh and Conan limped off. Hope Henshaw is alright. Win is a win. Roll on Bilbao. Gavin Hegarty First half our mistakes kept them in it. Second half we pulled away but then took the foot off and let them back in. I thought Clarkson really stood up, as did Cahir when he came in. Not a good game but a final is a final regardless of how you get there. The match started with the dreaded words that no Irish rugby fan wants to see Match TMO Ian Tempest. How can this keep on happening? Every time he clearly has an agenda against anyone Irish. He forced Pearce to review footage from 4-5 phases before jgps disallowed try. The rules state two phases is the max. This is the same guy who couldn’t find footage of a bite that was already circulating on WhatsApp. Christy O’Connor Not having Frawley in the squad almost cost us. Reiko showed up today and made two very important tackles. Did nobody tell the TMO he was allowed to check things against Toulon, seemed only interested in finding Leinster mistakes Karen Mooney Brilliant I was on radio.. when they came out 13 down they really show how good they are… Mike Whelan We won – we are in the final. It’s the only outcome required. The rest is noise. John Jones Frawley on the bench for the final and hopefully Baird back would make a difference Louis Hoffman Phew Harry Byrne was dreadful. Whole empty pitch to kick into and boots it out on the full 🙄 Bernie Cunningham Gosh we nearly threw away a 18pt lead, Bordeaux or Bath wont give us a 18pt lead. But final again its a 50/50 chance of 5th star, Lenister need to really to be at full strength. 🤞 Oran Burns Frawley has to get some game time at 10 and start in the final Clive Young Prendgast in for 10 mins , cost a try and nearly another , not up to it , Frawley on the bench Colin Campbell Bilbao nothing else 💙💙💙💙 Cuan Mulligan having coached kids from u6 – u16, Pendergast looks like someone who has never been taught how to tackle, he is trying to tackle with his finger tips. I think he could do with some time out of the limelight in the AIL…let him play week in week out and focus on the fundamentals. James Murphy Wow, lucky Pendergast is a real liability Even more so on the wing. We look wrecked with 10 to go Chris McDonnell Great to be in the final but the Pendergast debacle has to stop.
As I explained on the pod, there was no Facebook post this week so here are some reactions from the full time whistle in the Harpin WhatsApp group, including my own from Sunday morning when I watched the match myself for the first time…
David Cordial So many moments where we did all the hard work and were inches away and it was only fitting the last pass that cost us
Ciarán Duffy Honestly not good enough from Leinster. It’s been a season of not waking up. Sleepwalking. We’ve had enough kicks up the arse at this stage to switch on, have to learn from this ahead of next week.
Conor Cronin
Heads in next week without earning the right to play there
Richard Mifsud
The reality is we’ve been poor and disjointed all season and this coaching ticket requires a massive shake up because the voices in that dressing room are clearly stale and stagnant Which means we’ll probably go on and win the double 🤣
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17 April 2026; Stuart McCloskey of Ulster is tackled by Sam Prendergast, left, and Robbie Henshaw of Leinster during the United Rugby Championship match between Ulster and Leinster at Affidea Stadium in Belfast. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
I was not expecting such a good performance. The defence was great, caught them behind the gain line so many times. Clarkson magnificent all round, carried aggressively and dominated the scrum. I think Angus Bell getting injured was a big blow for Ulster. His replacement was not at the races but Leinster still had to turn that scrum dominance into tries and they did that. The sending off was disappointing but luckily we had enough of a cushion to see it out with 14 men.
Christy O’Connor
The first half took a long time to get going. Not helped by the lengthy injury stoppages. We got a good flow going either side of the half. Delighted for Sam to put in a good shift, he just needs to continue doing the basics, no need to force the game.
Craig Walker
Thought Sam looked good there – played with confidence. And Ulster were smothered in the first half by the Leinster defensive line so couldn’t get anything going – well played Leinster (from an Ulsterman) #SUFTUM
Greg Kelly
Finally a bit if Mojo back. Some questions answered.
The biggest question for me is how exactly Deegan can avoid getting sent off? There is literally nothing he can do. His very existence is rendered a sending off offence. He is looking at the ball and positioning to field it until Koch jumps straight into him 🤷♂️
Bert McLoughlin
Are we starting to click at the right time of the season?
Cormac Mannion
Very happy with the first 60mins. Very cohesive performance. The red card was a joke. Deegan had his eye on the ball and barely got into the air yet was red carded.
Kok puzzles me. All action but not a lot to show for it. Still strikes me as a Sevens player.
Despite that, lots to be happy about although we got burned badly out wide for a couple of tries but onwards and upwards for the rest of the season
Eamon Saunders
A very good performance and some good tries scored Ulster had a very good spell in the second half but We held out and answered a few questions 👍
Chris McDonnell
Great result, especially considering the squad selected. Ulster blew a great chance. I’d say it’s an away quarter final for them now
First half was squeaky bum, cracking rugby but very low scoring, but Leinster stretched their legs in the second half. Tommy O’Brien is having an excellent season. We haven’t looked convincing all season with the exception of a couple of games. We railroaded teams in previous years and haven’t won much so maybe stuttering is the way to go 🤷🏼♀️🤷🏼♀️
Eamon Saunders
Good win building nicely to be fair ,another semi final to look forward to 💙
Cormac Mannion
I was absolutely bulling at half time. Same crap as last week – awful handling skills and poor ball presentation at the ruck. Needless knock-ons, players taking their eye off the ball etc etc.
Much better second half and it finally clicked.
However, Sale were absolutely atrocious. They offered absolutely nothing in attack bar putting snow on the ball.
Worrying to see some of those potential injuries and we definitely must have been cursed by someone… another prop injury!!!
Dave Murray
Two different,but poor, first 40 minutes of of rugby this week and last. But too much for Sale in the second half, like last week also. Will it be good enough for Toulon at home in May? Let’s see. But good to have a home semi final, to look forward to.
Gavin Hegarty
If we played like that against Bordeaux or Toulouse we’d ship 50. Simply not good enough.
Sale had no lineout and two yellow cards yet were still within 6 of us.
Granted we did pull away but it was hugely frustrating.
Some little mistakes that Leinster of previous seasons wouldn’t make.
Chris McDonnell
What does robin Mcbride get paid for?
We got a bye to the semi final to be honest. The last 2 weeks neither side would make the top 6 in the URC
Just papering over the cracks. We have 3 coaches who clearly are out of their depth. McBride doesn’t know what a scrum looks like.
Kevin Scullion
We will get beaten by a good team, simple as…
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