Category: Match wrapup

533 : URC Grand Final wrap

19 June 2026; Leinster captain Caelan Doris lifts the cup alongside teammates after the United Rugby Championship grand final match between Leinster and Vodacom Bulls at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile

🏉 Intent & desire

🏉 Super Sam

🏉 Keenan eager

🏉 Pack mentality

🏉 Bad Bulls

THIS WEEK’S GUEST

CONOR CRONIN

FULL-TIME THOUGHTS

Chris McDonnell

Job done. Excellent performance. Max deegan has had a fantastic season. Well done to Sam, he had one of his better games hopefully it’s the step he needed.

Gavin Hegarty

I honestly thought we’d get nothing out of the season @xmas but to reach two finals and win one is epic.

The abuse online Leinster got after a few games and lying at the bottom of the table was shocking.

Sam showed the player he can be yday and is now in the driving seat again.

Can’t say anything about Keenan that hadn’t be said before, simply immense.

All the talk of Frawley leaving, what about jerry???? Epic season for him.

Christy O’Connor

Credit were credit is due, Sam played great as did Keenan and big Joe. The Bulls never showed up and played a kicking game that just didn’t work for them. One of Leinster’s best attacking displays in a long time and hopefully we see more of it

Lorcán Murphy

Coaches and players showed how capable and utterly ruthless we are against strong opposition. Makes it more frustrating what was left behind during the year and how the selection policy is applied. Absolutely delighted for Sam. I really hope he carries his self belief for the fight into the future. His potential is still huge

Ruairi Niall Eiméid

A badly needed tonic after the severe disappointment of yet another European Final loss. Immense win and performance by the Boys in Blue

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531 : Leinster v Stormers wrap

6 June 2026; Jamison Gibson-Park of Leinster, centre, celebrates with teammates after scoring their side’s second try during the United Rugby Championship semi-final match between Leinster and DHL Stormers at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

🏉 Rolls Royce 9

🏉 Physicality

🏉 Imperfect Stormers

🏉 Stats stats stats

🏉 And now the Bulls

THIS WEEK’S GUEST

CIAN O’MUILLEOIR

FULL-TIME THOUGHTS

Liz Power

Scoreline flattered us. Stormers were full of brute force but the lack of discipline did for them

Christy O’Connor

Started off bright, but as the game went on we were struggling. Wasted a number of decent chances when in their 22.

The stormers also wasted a number of chances to punish us. I don’t think the bulls will waste as many chances

Joe Shep

Tbh, a lot of “Muscle Memory” rugby from the likes of JGP (well deserved POTM) but Stormers had our card well marked with strong elements of UBB….. We were lucky they let themselves down with indiscipline and they lacked the game changing flair of Sascha F-M…..A final beckons but more required

Overall we’ve got the individuals but we are NOT a cohesive unit…… I genuinely don’t understand why AF can get the best as a cohesive team having players for only a few weeks yet Leinster don’t 🤔🤷

Kevin Kelehan

Delighted with the game, knew Stormers would be formidable but their hits were massive, they made us work for every yard.

That they won their first card period 3-0 showed how streetwise they are, wasted 3 minutes on one passage of legitimate scrum resets.

The bench was the catalyst, even before the loss of 2 players you could feel the momentum shifting our way. Whilst Conan s brute force and Ringers deftness were probably the main catalysts, you have to mention Usanov, Gus and Mangan all of whom really made an impact against world class opponents.

Finally Sam being a speed bump for massive Stormers loose head in his first tackle situation of today is displaying the fight we need from him to be our 10

Chris McDonnell

A semi final win is a win. Can’t play rugby without a 10 and simply Leo first 2 choices are not good enough.

Jo Kerr

Would have been interesting if the Stormers had Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Cobus Reinach

Tricia Cormac Timothy

Need a decent 10

Odran John OBrien

Sorry to say it’s time for Cullen and Nienaber to go bring in Scott Robertson and Owen Farrell at Five Eighth

Niall O’Higgins

Win is a win but i feel stormers coaching was better – they knew what to do, excellent ruck speed , made leinster appear chaotic by comparison – game plan seems limited compared to skill set of players and wasteful. Scrum is dire. It beggers belief that these players are lions yet are asked to be donkeys – one up runs without support, kick chase – all low percentage plays

Eamon Saunders

Trying to beat the South Africans by playing their game not working but another final to try win

Caroline Wynne

👌💪🤘

Dave Murray

Another final and possibly another URC (which isn’t to be sniffed at) but our tactics and style is not great at all, in my opinion anyway. Nienaber opened the door on an early exit and that is fine by me.

Ruairi Niall Eiméid

Not vintage by Leinster, very stuttering and bland attack but ground out another win to get to the URC Final. Feel a little Déjà vu playing Bulls again in Croker but on Friday Night Lights

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529 : Leinster v Lions wrap

30 May 2026; James Lowe of Leinster, centre, celebrates with teammates after scoring their side’s eighth try and becoming the new Leinster record try scorer during the United Rugby Championship quarter-final match between Leinster and Lions at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

🏉 Turning the page

🏉 Lowe Baller

🏉 Sam & Reiko

🏉 The Joe Show

🏉 …but the Lions…

THIS WEEK’S GUEST

TOM COLEMAN

FULL-TIME THOUGHTS

Gavin Hegarty

A win.

Twas nice.

I had wine.

Great to see lowe get the record but can see why he’s going.

Nice to see sam run the show and run it well.

On a side note we have Sheehan, kelleher and McCarthy at two. Three world class hookers. How long before Munster take one?

David Ryle

Sam was excellent. We need him firing with confidence, hopefully he blocks out the noise from the hateful.

David Ross

At last we have complimentary comments about Sam P. His game was not without mistakes but he is human and is certainly Ireland’s future. Good result it would be great to have a Leinster/Glasgow final!!

Craig Grehan

Great to see them bounce back from last week. But two very different teams. Do we know our best starting 15 yet ?

Vincent Duggan

Lions must have been on the beer for two weeks.

Eamon Saunders

Great result after last week ,and great to see Lowe get the record

Christy O’Connor

Obviously a great result, delighted for Lowe and hopefully he stays. Lions were very poor. I expect a much harder test next week

Did I see Neil (keego) Keenan celebrating the 4th try on TV?

Colin Mehigan

Great result. Great performance. Understandable reasons why crowd was so small but Leinster fans need to support our team when the team need it the most – and not only when we win trophies

Kevin Kelehan

Less than 10,000 supporters in the ground but real fans make a lot of noise. Leinster back to Leinstertainment after a harrowing ‘weather experience’ last week. Not saying Leinster would have beat UBB last week but playing a game in Spain mid afternoon in May in the era where climate change is advanced was reprehensible planning.

Pieter Bezuidenhout

​We need to stop with the excuses. Connacht, Munster, Cardiff, and the Lions were clearly out of their depth this weekend. Watching a captain like Craig Casey hide behind an injury list rather than admitting they were outplayed is embarrassing. Real leaders show some humility. On top of that, the way Leinster carried on with those celebrations against the Lions was completely classless. It’s not a World Cup final, so stop acting like it is. It is time for everyone to stop the self-congratulations and get a grip.

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527 : Champions Cup Final wrap

23 May 2026; Joe McCarthy of Leinster and teammates during the Investec Champions Cup final match between Leinster and Union Bordeaux Bégles at San Mamés Stadium in Bilbao, Spain. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

🏉 Not showing up

🏉 A fine Bordeaux

🏉 Decisions, decisions 

🏉 “Making your own luck” 

🏉 The big boss

THIS WEEK’S GUEST

HUGO GORDON

FULL TIME TAKES

As discussed on the pod, we chose to leave it a few days before going over the comments this week, check them out for yourself here

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BONUS CHAT : “RECOVERING FOR URC”

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525 : Leinster v Ospreys wrap

16 May 2026; Joe McCarthy of Leinster runs in his second and his side’s seventh try during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Ospreys at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Leinster tore into the Ospreys with a ruthless 68–14 win at the Aviva, powered by Joe McCarthy’s hat‑trick, a suffocating defensive press, and big returns for Jordan Larmour and James Lowe. Jeff is joined by Ciarán Duffy (Post to Post Sport) for cap number 47 to break down the performance, the selection calls, the defensive resurgence, and what it all means heading into the Champions Cup Final.

We also take a spin around the URC — Munster clinching playoffs, Connacht’s late push, Ulster’s Challenge Cup wrinkle — plus Ireland Women’s record-setting Aviva win.

A full URC season rewind, a look ahead to Bordeaux, and plenty of Harpin flavour.

THIS WEEK’S GUEST

CIARÁN DUFFY

Post to Post blog

FULL TIME TAKES

Cormac Mannion
No injuries by the looks of it and hopefully Tommy was not started merely as a precaution. I thought Lowe was in with a chance of starting next week but bloody hell Larmour had an absolute stormer. Lowe was out on his feet by the end of the game.
Henshaw had a huge amount of strapping in his right leg so no idea if it’s him or Osborne who start at 12 next week.
If Tommy is fit, I can see 21-23 being McGrath, Frawley and Larmour. It gives a lot of cover across the backline.
Starting to get slightly upbeat about next Saturday 🙈
Conor Cronin
I’ve wondered how much we learned in the past from massive wins like these, but the confidence it will give players next week is worth it. Let these players believe how good they are. Let them build on tonight for next week. Bordeaux have conceded 70+ points over the last 2 weeks, we’ve scored 90+, let’s get out next week and be at our best
Greg Kelly
That was a game that was on the schedule for the Ospreys and they were contracted to fulfill it. They looked from minute one like condemned men going to their death.
Plus side for Leinster was the skill level was on average higher than it has been with there were some sloppy defensive reads that UBB will punish if they happen next week
Christy O’Connor
That was probably our most complete performance all season. Yes Osprey’s were awful, but we have played teams just as poor this season and limped to a win.
Great seeing Lowe and Larmour back as well as scoring tries. Going to be a whole different challenge next week though.
Colm Cunningham
Saved the best till last. Hopefully a sign of whats to come next weekend. 🤞
Cobus Tromp
Slaughter..No other word comes to mind.

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523 : Leinster v Lions wrap

9 May 2026; Hugo Keenan of Leinster scores his side’s third try despite the tackle of Morne van den Berg of Lions during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Lions at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

🏉 Attacking inefficiency

🏉 Defensive efficiency

🏉 Bomb squad

🏉 SA Shield champs

🏉 Bilbao lessons

THIS WEEK’S GUEST

CONOR CRONIN

FULL TIME TAKES

Ted Maher

When Sam came off he didn’t take any hands from his team mates and he sat away from them. He knows himself things aren’t going well. I think a break from the game will do him good. We all love rugby but we can’t let it bring us down. He is a fantastic young man and hope things work out for him.

Lorcán Murphy

I get changes are necessary but it’s still more of the same disjointed performances. How we’re top 3 and in an EPCR final shows the quality we have but it’s hard to imagine any silverware will be won this year.

Christy O’Connor

Mangan was the highlight of the whole game. If the coaches don’t learn from this that Prendergast cannot be involved in the final in 2 weeks, then they need to step down. I’m not having a go at Sam, I feel sorry for him, he was thrown in at the deep end from early in his career and it hasn’t worked out for him yet.

Gavin Hegarty

It speaks volumes that we are that bad yet still in a euro final and 3rd in the URC.

This was a woeful game. So many idiotic mistakesfrom players that should know better.

Sebastian Brennan Tkacz

That was the most boring performance from Leinster I’ve ever seen. Loads of people started leaving the stadium at around 55 minutes. I agree with previous comments, Sam cannot be included for the final, his defence was extremely poor today again, and I really like his ball management. It’s between Byrne and Frawley now.

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521 : Leinster v Toulon wrap

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

🏉 Blitzing & carrying

🏉 The 13v15 restart

🏉 Andrew Porter

🏉 Que Serin Serin

🏉 Reiko & Sam

THIS WEEK’S GUEST

TOM COLEMAN

FULL TIME TAKES

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.

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519 : Benetton v Leinster wrap

🏉 Chopping & changing

🏉 Benetton buono

🏉 Accuracy deficit

🏉 Super Dan

🏉 Life after Luke

THIS WEEK’S GUEST

JAY LONG

FULL TIME TAKES

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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BONUS CHAT : “THE TOULON CHALLENGE”

WEDNESDAY

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517 : Ulster v Leinster wrap

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

🏉 Sam – more like it

🏉 Effective makeshift pack

🏉 Balancing attack & D

🏉 Ulster below par

🏉 Selections going forward

THIS WEEK’S GUEST

RICHARD MIFSUD

FULL TIME TAKES

Richard Kennedy

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

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515 : Leinster v Sale Sharks wrap

🏉 1st half heavy weather

🏉 Props – handle with Cahir

🏉 Lineouts

🏉 Dan & Hugo

🏉 Sale of goods

THIS WEEK’S GUEST

HUGO GORDON

FULL TIME TAKES

Liz Power

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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QUARTERFINALS

Bath 43–41 Northampton Saints
Leinster 43–13 Sale
Glasgow Warriors 19–22 Toulon
Bordeaux Bègles 30–15 Toulouse

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BONUS CHAT : “URC RUN-IN”

WEDNESDAY

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