Leinster – Page 5 – HARPIN' ON RUGBY

415 : Leinster v Cardiff wrap

1 March 2025; Charlie Tector of Leinster on his way to scoring his side’s fifth try during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Cardiff Rugby at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

CORRECTION – On the pod I say Leinster’s lead in the URC is 12 points, I’m more than happy to update that it is actually 13! Apologies for the error.

🏉 Tactical changes

🏉 Clinical Cardiff

🏉 Yellow turning point

🏉 Charlie Tekkers

🏉 Tommy The Trysaver

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

TOM COLEMAN

CONOR CRONIN

FULL TIME TAKES

Michael Branagan

Ultimately a great result. Bit sticky for a while there. Excellent 2nd half and score just before halftime critical. Scrum excellent. Cardiff a dynamic team not the taken lightly.

Kevin Kelehan

That Tommy O’Brien hit just before he was subbed was worth 7 points having saved a certain try with an easy run up to the posts, Cardiff were decent out wide and made a match of it. Great to see younger players like Jack Boyle and Charlie Tector growing into battle hardened options for tougher contests.

Martin Lynch

Was at the match. Sloppy 1st Half . Lots of possession poor execution. 2nd half was totally different. Sharper Faster Better . Well Done and lots of Debutants.

👍🏉💙

Chris McDonnell

Some really good stuff. Excellent to see so many of the young players do so well.

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URC WRAP

NEXT HARPIN’

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT – “Harpin On…the Leinster Fan Experience” on YouTube

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN INCLUDING FRONT 5 VIDEO

414 : Leinster v Cardiff preview

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST

Our guest : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

LEINSTER : 15. Jimmy O’Brien 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Hugh Cooney 12. Charlie Tector 11. Andrew Osborne 10. Ross Byrne 9. Luke McGrath (c)

1. Jack Boyle 2. John McKee 3. Rabah Slimani 4. Diarmuid Mangan 5. Brian Deeny 6. Alex Soroka 7. Will Connors 8. Max Deegan

16. Stephen Smyth 17. Ivan Soroka 18. Rory McGuire 19. RG Snyman 20. Scott Penny 21. Oliver Coffey 22. Liam Turner 23. Rob Russell

CARDIFF : 15 Cam Winnett, 14 Gabriel Hamer-Webb, 13 Rey Lee-Lo, 12 Rory Jennings, 11 Harri Millard, 10 Callum Sheedy, 9 Johan Mulder

1 Danny Southworth, 2 Liam Belcher (c), 3 Rhys Litterick, 4 Josh McNally, 5 Rory Thornton, 6 Ben Donnell, 7 Thomas Young, 8 Alun Lawrence

16 Efan Daniel, 17 Rhys Barratt, 18 Will Davies-King, 19 Seb Davies, 20 Alex Mann, 21 Ellis Bevan, 22 Tinus de Beer, 23 Regan Grace

BKT United Rugby Championship 24/25 Round 12

Saturday, March 1, 2025

KO 3pm Aviva Stadium

Live on : RTÉ2, Premier Sports 2, S4C & URC.tv

Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR, 49th)

AR 1: Chris Busby (IRFU)

AR 2: Dan Carson (IRFU)

TMO: Matteo Liperini (FIR)

409 : Ospreys v Leinster preview

Our guest : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

LEINSTER : 15. Jamie Osborne 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Hugh Cooney 12. Charlie Tector 11. Jimmy O’Brien 10. Ciarán Frawley 9. Luke McGrath

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

16. John McKee 17. Paddy McCarthy 18. Rory McGuire 19. RG Snyman 20. Alex Soroka 21. Fintan Gunne 22. Ross Byrne 23. Andrew Osborne

OSPREYS : 15. Jack Walsh 14. Daniel Kasende 13. Evardi Boshoff 12. Keiran Williams 11. Keelan Giles 10. Owen Williams 9. Reuben Morgan-Williams

1. Garyn Phillips 2. Sam Parry 3. Tom Botha 4. James Ratti 5. James Fender 6. Harri Deaves 7. Justin Tipuric (c) 8. Morgan Morris

16. Ethan Lewis 17. Cam Jones 18. Ben Warren 19. Will Spencer 20. Morgan Morse 21. Kieran Hardy 22.Tom Florence 23. Iestyn Hopkins

BKT United Rugby Championship Round 11

Friday February 14, 2025

KO 7:35pm Swansea.com stadium

Live on : TG4, BBC2 Wales, Premier Sports 1, URC.tv

Referee: Filipo Russo (FIR)

AR 1: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)

AR 2: Adam Jones (WRU)

TMO: Matteo Liperini (FIR)

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)

402 : Leinster v Bath wrap

18 January 2025; Jack Conan of Leinster on his way to scoring his side’s third try despite the attention of Finn Russell of Bath during the Investec Champions Cup Pool 2 match between Leinster and Bath at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

🏉 Ringer the winger?

🏉 Bath early

🏉 Super Slimani

🏉 Early bath

🏉 Mission accomplished

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

RICHARD MIFSUD

DAVID CORDIAL

FULL TIME TAKES

Denise O’Brien

Only just getting my breath back 🤣 Osborne, Henshaw, Slimani outstanding. All subs made an impact – great to see the attack firing against a team who are scoring so many points in the Prem!

David Ryle

Starting to get the balance between attack and defense.

Kevin Kelehan

Superb atmosphere at the Aviva, even 0-14 the crowd weren’t phased. Leinster were superb in the set piece, line out looks fixed, they won 4 or 5 scrum penalties, the development of Jamie Osborne is a joy to watch as was seeing Jack Conan back close to his best, RG Snyman continues to astonish in his ability to recycle out of contact and Doris and Van Der Flier are certifiable nuisances. Get those tickets for Cardiff

John Jones

Happy with the win but I’m not getting as excited as some people on here re: the attack. It only really started to flow once Bath had the red card. That was at 60mins and it was only 26-21 at that point. I think we still need to improve loads and I’m not convinced yet about playing that many players out of position

Greg Kelly

Have to wonder where the hallowed Premiership is left now? Their high flyers hammered by a team that was playing at max 70% only 50% of the game. I think Bath knew Leinster were going to unload on them with nasty hooks and body shots in the last 15-20 mins. Evidenced by them time wasting on 44 mins.

Jackie McEachern

I was really nervous through the first half but bench had a great impact in the second half. It’s the best I’ve seen our attack look in a long time! Here’s hoping it’s all starting to come together.

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CHAMPIONS CUP WRAP

401 : Leinster v Bath preview

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST

Our guest : MARK JACKSON

LEINSTER : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Garry Ringrose 13. Robbie Henshaw 12. Jordie Barrett 11. Jamie Osborne 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Jamison Gibson-Park

1. Andrew Porter 2. Rónan Kelleher 3. Rabah Slimani 4. Joe McCarthy 5. James Ryan 6. Max Deegan 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Jack Conan (c)

16. Gus McCarthy 17. Cian Healy 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. RG Snyman 20. Caelan Doris 21. Luke McGrath 22. Ross Byrne 23. Jimmy O’Brien

BATH : 15 Tom de Glanville 14 Joe Cokanasiga 13 Ollie Lawrence 12 Max Ojomoh 11 Ruaridh McConnochie 10 Finn Russell 9 Ben Spencer (c)

1 Beno Obano, 2 Niall Annett, 3 Will Stuart, 4 Quinn Roux, 5 Ross Molony, 6 Ted Hill, 7 Miles Reid, 8 Alfie Barbeary,

16 Tom Dunn, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Charlie Ewels, 20 Josh Bayliss, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Orlando Bailey, 23 Jaco Coetzee

Investec Rugby Champions Cup 24/25 Rd 4

Saturday January 18, 2025

KO 5:30pm Aviva Stadium

Live on : Premier Sports 1

Referee : Luc Ramos (Fra)

AR1 : Thomas Charabas (Fra)

AR2 : Jonathan Gasnier (Fra)

TMO : Julien Castaignede (Fra)

400 : La Rochelle v Leinster wrap

12 January 2025; Jamie Osborne of Leinster offloads to teammate Joe McCarthy before he runs through to score his side’s first try during the Investec Champions Cup Pool 2 match between Stade Rochelais and Leinster at Stade Marcel Deflandre in La Rochelle, France. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

also available on Apple and most major platforms

🏉 80-minute D

🏉 The Porter Protocol

🏉 Jamie spin, Joe score

🏉 Missed kicks

🏉 Frantic finish

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

TOM COLEMAN

CIAN O’MUILLEOIR

FULL TIME TAKES

John Hyland

Botia was a nuisance when he came on. Leinster were very physical and really ripped into them in the first half but lost a bit of intensity after the substitutions. Both sides need to improve their place kicking.

Gavin Hegarty

Ok let’s not call a spade a shovel here. We won but it was far from satisfactory. So many schoolboy errors that a better side would have hugely punished us on. Our lineout is an utter sham, I don’t get how a pro team can have one so bad. I think some of the subs, like Byrne and McGrath, happened to early, prendergast was doing very well.

On a side note that TMO should be fired for raising the Doris tackle with the ref and for wasting everyone’s time reviewing it. I think he was aiming for the world’s first back to head penalty.

Jackie McEachern

Happy for the win away. Amazing defence and still lots to work on in attack. We can’t miss kicks like the one Byrne missed in games at this level. The kick Barrett missed was much more difficult and maybe we should have gone to the corner then?

For me MOTM was between JVDF and Doris.

Greg Kelly

We turned the tables on them. We had them running into brick walls and numerous times their sustained phase attack was driven 20-30m backwards. They did that to us in our 1st few encounters.

Ross Byrnes missed kick again I think will be another paving stone on his road out of the club. In a game like that you can’t miss those kicks

Kevin Kelehan

O’Gara had La Rochelle pumped, the crowd was extremely partisan. Leinster made mistakes but had the winning mentality, did not make it easy for themselves but did the hard work without the ball.

John Jones

Amazing defensive performance and we looked in control for the middle part of the game. Thought we really lost our shape once all the subs were on though and there were far too many players out of position- need a more balanced bench selection I think. Also, Ross is a great servant but Frawley has to be the back up 10 in these games i think. I just don’t trust Byrne in clutch games and that penalty miss was pretty unforgivable I think. Also wasn’t it very similar to the penalty that Frawley came off the bench and nailed in the same fixture last year?

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CHAMPIONS CUP WRAP

399 : La Rochelle v Leinster preview

NOTE – since recording the pod there were further changes made to the lineup, it reads correctly below

also available as a podcast

Our guest : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

LEINSTER : 15. Jordie Barrett 14. Jimmy O’Brien 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Robbie Henshaw 11. Jamie Osborne 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Jamison Gibson-Park

1. Cian Healy 2. Rónan Kelleher 3. Tadhg Furlong 4. Joe McCarthy 5. James Ryan 6. Ryan Baird 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Caelan Doris (c)

16. Gus McCarthy 17. Andrew Porter 18. Rabah Slimani 19. RG Snyman 20. Jack Conan 21. Luke McGrath 22. Ross Byrne 23. Ciarán Frawley

LA ROCHELLE : 15 Brice Dulin 14 Jack Nowell 13 Ulupano Seuteni 12 Jules Favre 11 Dillyn Leyds 10 Antoine Hastoy 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow

1 Reda Wardi 2 Quentin Lespiaucq 3 Uini Atonio 4 Thomas Lavault 5 Kane Douglas 6 Paul Boudehent 7 Oscar Jegou 8 Greg Alldritt (C)

16 Nikolozi Sutidze 17 Alexandre Kaddouri 18 Georges-Henri Colombe Reazel 19 Ultan Dillane 20 Levani Botia 21 Judicaël Cancoriet 22 Matthias Haddad 23 Hoani Bosmorin.

Investec Rugby Champions Cup 24/25 Rd 3

Sunday January 12, 2025

KO 3:15pm Stade Marcel Deflandre

Live on : Premier Sports 1

Referee : Nika Amashukeli (Geo)

AR1 : Christophe Ridley (Eng)

AR2 : Sam Grove-White (Sco)

TMO : Ian Tempest (Eng)

398 : Munster v Leinster wrap

27 December 2024; Luke McGrath of Leinster scores his side’s first try during the United Rugby Championship match between Munster and Leinster at Thomond Park in Limerick. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile

NOTE : this week we posted the ‘Final Thoughts’ portion separately on our YouTube channel

🏉 Vanishing pillar

🏉 Set piece revival

🏉 Steady Sam

🏉 Ahern SUAF

🏉 Through the Ringer

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CONOR CRONIN

CIARÁN DUFFY

Post To Post Sport – blog

FULL TIME TAKES

Chris McDonnell

I am not a McGrath fan but he was good tonight. Credit where its due. Munster’s refusal to take points when they are on offer is just daft against a defence as good as Leinster’s. Lineout was better and the scrum was good mostly.

Gavin Hegarty

Let’s not get carried away here, that was a terrible Munster team. They need to rebuild from the ground up.

Adrian Hickey

Being cautious with Super Sam is key. No Jordie or RG was a killer blow to a real soft Munster outfit imo. No real reason to egg them on

Jackie McEachern

Happy to see the lineout functioning better. Thought VdF was excellent again. Really happy to get the BP win. Still lots to work on but lots of positives too.

Kevin Kelehan

11 points clear of the pack, selecting a stronger squad to tour South Africa in March is vital, now the meat of the season kicks off, La Rochelle away, Bath home and the Six Nations title defence

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URC WRAP

396 : Leinster v Connacht wrap

21 December 2024; RG Snyman of Leinster makes a break past Josh Murphy of Connacht during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Connacht at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

🏉 Makeshift?

🏉 Ref communication

🏉 Well taken tries

🏉 Holding on

🏉 Mackgate

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

TOM COLEMAN

HUGO GORDON

FULL TIME TAKES

Lorcán Murphy

Changes and early injuries proved very disruptive. Came out the right side of a dogfight two weeks running. Better than cakewalks and nothing to show at the end of the season

Eamon Saunders

Not a great game but as I always say a win is a win. Great to see 2 Wexford men on the field Charlie Tector and Brian Deeny

Andrew Bailey

On paper a very strong Connacht team nullified. Just find a Lineout and we could be comfortable

David Ryle

Some dodgy decisions on both sides.