🏉 Preparedness
🏉 Pts left behind
🏉 Penalties galore
🏉 Separation anxiety
🏉 Scrum’s the word
THIS WEEK’S GUESTS
URC WRAP
NEXT HARPIN’
TUESDAY
BONUS CHAT : “THE RSA TOURS”
WEDNESDAY
80+ COLUMN INCLUDING FRONT 5 VIDEO
421 : Bulls v Leinster wrap
Category: Podcasts
420 : Bulls v Leinster preview
LEINSTER
15. Jimmy O’Brien 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Hugh Cooney 12. Jordie Barrett 11. Andrew Osborne 10. Ross Byrne 9. Luke McGrath (c)
1. Jack Boyle 2. John McKee 3. Rabah Slimani 4. RG Snyman 5. Diarmuid Mangan 6. Max Deegan 7. Will Connors 8. James Culhane
16. Stephen Smyth 17. Ivan Soroka 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. Brian Deeny 20. Alex Soroka 21. Scott Penny 22. Fintan Gunne 23. Ciarán Frawley
BULLS
15. Willie le Roux 14. Sebastian de Klerk 13. David Kriel 12. Harold Vorster 11. Stravino Jacobs 10. Keagan Johannes 9. Embrose Papier
1. Alulutho Tshakweni, 2. Akker van der Merwe, 3. Wilco Louw, 4. Ruan Vermaak, 5. JF van Heerden, 6. Marcell Coetzee (c), 7. Jannes Kirsten, 8. Cameron Hanekom,
16. Johan Grobbelaar, 17. Jan-hendrik Wessels, 18. Mornay Smith, 19. Reinhardt Ludwig, 20. Marco van Staden, 21. Nizaam Carr, 22. Zak Burger, 23. Devon Williams
BKT United Rugby Championship Round 13
Saturday, March 22, 2025
KO 3pm Loftus Versfeld
Live on : RTÉ2, Premier Sports 1 & URC.tv
Referee: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)
AR 1: Cwengile Jadezweni (SARU)
AR 2: Sean Muller (SARU)
TMO: Ben Breakspear (WRU)
419 : Italy v Ireland wrap
🏉 Italian backs
🏉 Missed chances
🏉 Dan x 3
🏉 No try x 3
🏉 Polishing a 3rd
THIS WEEK’S GUESTS
FULL TIME TAKES
Kevin Kelehan
Italy were solid and pumped, only for the cards they may well have won this game, Ireland were good in spells but a lot of unforced errors, something you did not see in the 2022/23 season
Eamon Saunders
Sorry to say but the second best team won today and sad to say the the ref and TMO were bad 5 mins looking at a knock on and 5 seconds looking a a perfect try
John Hyland
(reply to Eamon Saunders) I totally disagree. Ireland played poorly but they were not the second best team
Cormac Mannion
We looked badly coached today. Zero inventiveness and unsure in defence. Far too many unforced errors
Angela Cassin Jackson
Tough game but a win is a win. 4 out of 5 wins and a triple crown a lot to be proud of. Well done Ireland as usual they represented their country wonderfully 💚☘️💚☘️💚☘️💚
Gavin Hegarty
We were shit at the things you can’t coach. Bad knock ons and handling errors. Really not like us.
We looked unfit and unmotivated.
Crowley left too many points out there
,this is meant to be his strength. 2/5 just isn’t good enough.
Sean MacDonnchadha
Thank god this hobble towards the end of the tournament has come. Gameplan needs an overhaul, skill levels need to come up, fitness looks an issue, depth needs to be built, attack needs to be less reliant on just set piece plays and most importantly confidence needs to be rebuilt.
Monica Keeler
Lets just applaud the lads ..and our 3 Retirees Cian, Peter and Conor..we better regroup before next year…Dont see many Lions in our squad.. oh and no way Lowe was in touch 🤬
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SIX NATIONS WRAP
NEXT HARPIN’
TUESDAY
BONUS CHAT : “IRISH DEPTH CHART”
WEDNESDAY
80+ COLUMN INCLUDING FRONT 5 VIDEO
THURSDAY
THROWBACK THURSDAY (on Substack)
FRIDAY
BULLS V LEINSTER PREVIEW FEATURING KEEGO
418 : Italy v Ireland preview
IRELAND : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Mack Hansen 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Robbie Henshaw 11. James Lowe 10. Jack Crowley 9. Jamison Gibson-Park
1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Finlay Bealham 4. James Ryan 5. Tadhg Beirne 6. Jack Conan 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Caelan Doris (c)
16. Gus McCarthy 17. Jack Boyle 18. Tadhg Furlong 19. Joe McCarthy 20. Peter O’Mahony 21. Conor Murray 22. Sam Prendergast 23. Bundee Aki
ITALY : 15 Tommaso Allan 14 Ange Capuozzo 13 Juan Ignacio Brex (c) 12 Tommaso Menoncello 11 Monty Ioane 10 Paolo Garbisi 9 Martin Page-Relo
1 Danilo Fischetti 2 Gianmarco Lucchesi 3 Simone Ferrari 4 Dino Lamb 5 Federico Ruzza 6 Sebastian Negri 7 Manuel Zuliani 8 Lorenzo Cannone
16 Giacomo Nicotera 17 Mirco Spagnolo 18 Giosuè Zilocchi 19 Niccolò Cannone 20 Michele Lamaro 21 Ross Vintcent 22 Stephen Varney 23 Leonardo Marin
Guinness Six Nations 2025 Round 5
Saturday, March 15, 2025
KO 2:15pm Stadio Olimpico
Live on : RTÉ2, ITV1
Referee: Luke Pearce (Eng)
AR1 : Angus Gardner (Aus)
AR2 : Morné Ferreira (SA)
TMO: Andrew Jackson (Eng)
FPRO: Tual Trainini (Fra)
417 : Ireland v France wrap
🏉 70% possession
🏉 Ruckgate
🏉 Peter O’Matador
🏉 Billy Barry
🏉 2 little 2 late
THIS WEEK’S GUESTS
FULL TIME TAKES
Warren Doyle
Game lost in first 20 minutes. We didn’t achieve the points to counter the French flair. What came after was very predictable.
Gavin Macarthur
France came to play rugby and they are a fantastic team. The Irish squad can learn a lot from this kind of defeat – at least the openings for the younger players are starting to appear. It is never good to see ‘supporters’ leaving the stadium early – poor form.
Cuan Mulligan
France deserved the win. However…. Odd decision about POM been taken out, French player then runs through that hole. Ref shouting at France to use the ball 3 or 4 times, well over 5 seconds and nothing. Conor Murray upright and we drive him over the line, utterly confusing strategy, should have got him to ground and gone again. Be interesting to get the stats of how many no tries Ireland have by been held up…
Ger Ecki
Another crunch match lost and lost comprehensively…..Another poor performance when challenged. Slams lost 2 years running by losing one crucial match. Got away with it last year by being over feted for winning the Championship…..not so lucky this time. Losing Lowe at the beginning meant we lost our only reliable backline try scorer but they lost DuPont so all bets were off. Ireland collapsed and didn’t fire a shot. Those last 2 trys were gifted by an exhausted French who knew they had the job done….
James Griffin
Outmuscled all day long. We didn’t have the power to break their defence or stop their offence.
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SIX NATIONS WRAP
NEXT HARPIN’
TUESDAY
BONUS CHAT : “TEST TICKET PRICING”
WEDNESDAY
80+ COLUMN INCLUDING FRONT 5 VIDEO
416 : Ireland v France preview
IRELAND : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Jamie Osborne 13. Robbie Henshaw 12. Bundee Aki 11. James Lowe 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Jamison Gibson-Park
1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Finlay Bealham 4. Joe McCarthy 5. Tadhg Beirne 6. Peter O’Mahony 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Caelan Doris (c)
16. Rob Herring 17. Cian Healy 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. James Ryan 20. Jack Conan 21. Ryan Baird 22. Conor Murray 23. Jack Crowley
FRANCE : 15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Pierre-Louis Barassi, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Antoine Dupont (c)
1 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 2 Peato Mauvaka, 3 Uini Atonio, 4 Thibaud Flament, 5 Mickaël Guillard, 6 Francois Cros, 7 Paul Boudehent, 8 Gregory Alldritt
16 Julien Marchand, 17 Cyril Baille, 18 Dorian Aldegheri, 19 Emmanuel Meafou, 20 Hugo Auradou, 21 Oscar Jegou, 22 Anthony Jelonch, 23 Maxime Lucu
Guinness Six Nations 2025 Round 4
Saturday, March 8, 2025
KO 2:15pm Aviva Stadium
Live on : RTÉ2, ITV1
Referee: Angus Gardner (Aus)
AR1: Matthew Carley (Eng)
AR2: Christophe Ridley (Eng)
TMO: Ian Tempest (Eng)
FPRO: Andrew Jackson (Eng)
415 : Leinster v Cardiff wrap
🏉 Tactical changes
🏉 Clinical Cardiff
🏉 Yellow turning point
🏉 Charlie Tekkers
🏉 Tommy The Trysaver
THIS WEEK’S GUESTS
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
Our guest : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN
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)
412 : Wales v Ireland wrap
🏉 Solid start
🏉 Welsh purple patch
🏉 Ringer Red
🏉 Bundee Bloody Bundee
🏉 Crowning glory
THIS WEEK’S GUEST
FULL TIME TAKES
Kevin Kelehan
Wales were so much better today, played with width and offloaded really accurately. Doris certainly missed and Ringrose’s mistimed tackle didn’t help. Likely France only 3 points behind us after this weekend which makes a win essential in 2 weeks time.
Peggy Sibbald
Well done Ireland..but hats of to Wales they played a massive game of Rugby 👏👏👏
Craig Grehan
That was an epic battle. Sloppy but epic. I think it will stand to us better than if we’d gone out and hammered them. Not that it was gonna happen. Fair play Wales. But fair play Ireland for sticking it out and showing the grit between the teeth
Michelle Tobin
Scrum was an unmitigated disaster. We were lucky not to concede a yellow for the repeated penalties. So many players will watch that performance back and be embarrassed. Some dreadful stuff. A few bright sparks, Osborne, Lowe, Conan and Beirne but plenty of others sub-par.
Greg Kelly
Ireland were poor but did the job when needed. In fairness had we played well for 60 mins of that game we would have won comfortably and I think we allowed Wales to play well. Was surprised Ringrose was upgraded to red but there was some really bizzare interactions between referee and TMO in that game 🤷♂️
Jackie McEachern
Grateful for the win. We missed Doris, hoping he’s back for France and also hoping Conan’s injury isn’t serious. I thought it was a little strange that Crowley wasn’t brought on until so late in the game.
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MEN’S 6N WRAP
NEXT HARPIN’ – LIGHTER BLUE
TUESDAY
BONUS POD – “WOMEN’S 6N PREVIEW”
WEDNESDAY
80+ COLUMN INCLUDING FRONT 5 VIDEO
411 : Wales v Ireland preview
IRELAND : 15. Jamie Osborne 14. Mack Hansen 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Robbie Henshaw 11. James Lowe 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Jamison Gibson-Park
1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan (c) 3. Thomas Clarkson 4. Joe McCarthy 5. Tadhg Beirne 6. Peter O’Mahony 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Jack Conan
16. Gus McCarthy 17. Jack Boyle 18. Finlay Bealham 19. James Ryan 20. Cian Prendergast 21. Conor Murray 22. Jack Crowley 23. Bundee Aki
WALES : 15. Blair Murray 14. Tom Rogers 13. Max Llewellyn 12. Ben Thomas 11. Ellis Mee 10. Gareth Anscombe 9. Tomos Williams
1. Nicky Smith 2. Elliot Dee 3. WillGriff John 4. Will Rowlands 5. Dafydd Jenkins 6. Jac Morgan (c) 7. Tommy Reffell 8. Taulupe Faletau
16. Evan Lloyd 17. Gareth Thomas 18. Henry Thomas 19. Teddy Williams 20. Aaron Wainwright 21. Rhodri Williams 22. Jarrod Evans 23. Joe Roberts
Guinness Six Nations Championship 2025 Round 3
Saturday, February 22, 2025
KO 2:15pm Principality Stadium
Live on : Virgin Media One, BBC1, S4C
Referee: Christophe Ridley (RFU)
Assistant Referee 1: Nika Amashukeli (GRU)
Assistant Referee 2: Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR)
TMO: Ian Tempest (RFU)
FPRO: Matteo Liperini (FIR)
ALSO THIS WEEKEND
IRELAND A V ENGLAND A
Sunday, February 23
Ashton Gate, Bristol
Kickoff 1pm
Live for free on Rugbypass TV
15. Shane Daly 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Jude Postlethwaite 12. Hugh Gavin 11. Shayne Bolton 10. Ciaran Frawley 9. Nathan Doak
1. Tom O’Toole 2. Diarmuid Barron 3. Jack Aungier 4. Evan O’Connell 5. Darragh Murray 6. Max Deegan (c) 7. Alex Kendellen 8. Sean Jansen
16. Stephen Smyth 17. Paddy McCarthy 18. Oli Jager 19. Conor O’Tighearnaigh 20. Alex Soroka 21. Fintan Gunne 22. Harry Byrne 23. Brian Gleeson
