Category: URC

307 : #LEIvULS preview

also available as podcast

our guest : CONOR CRONIN

Leinster : 15. Jimmy O’Brien 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Liam Turner 12. Robbie Henshaw 11. Rob Russell 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Jamison Gibson-Park

1. Cian Healy 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Thomas Clarkson 4. Jason Jenkins 5. James Ryan (c) 6. Ryan Baird 7. Will Connors 8. Caelan Doris

16. Lee Barron 17. Jack Boyle 18. Michael Ala’alatoa 19. Joe McCarthy 20. Jack Conan 21. Luke McGrath 22. Harry Byrne 23. Josh van der Flier 

Ulster : 15 Will Addison 14 Rob Baloucoune 13 Luke Marshall 12 Stuart McCloskey 11 Jacob Stockdale 10 Billy Burns 9John Cooney

1 Steven Kitshoff 2 Rob Herring 3 Tom O’Toole 4 Kieran Treadwell 5 Iain Henderson 6 Matty Rea 7 Sean Reffell 8 Nick Timoney.

16 Tom Stewart 17 Andy Warwick 18 Scott Wilson 19 Alan O’Connor 20 Dave Ewers 21 Nathan Doak 22 Mike Lowry 23 Jude Postlethwaite

BKT United Rugby Championship 23/24 Round 9

Monday, January 1, 2024

KO 5:15pm RDS Arena

Live on: RTÉ2, Premier Sports 1, URC.tv

Referee: Frank Murphy (IRFU)

AR 1: Eoghan Cross (IRFU)

AR 2: Tomas O’Sullivan (IRFU)

TMO: Joy Neville (IRFU)

306 : Munster v Leinster wrap

26 December 2023; Ryan Baird of Leinster wins a lineout during the United Rugby Championship match between Munster and Leinster at Thomond Park in Limerick. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
@harpinonrugby

Our Munster v Leinster wrap pod is now on Apple, Spotify and most major platforms #rugbytiktoks🏉 #Leinster

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

🏉 Porter v Jager

🏉 “more of a roll”????

🏉 Missed kicks

🏉 Territory dominance

🏉 Match talk > RGS talk

THIS WEEK’S GUEST

Neil “KEEGO” Keegan

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

FULL TIME TAKES

Paul Smith

Leinster did what they needed to do and were deserving winners. On a side note I lost a lot of respect for O’Callaghan after his rant about Snyman coming to Leinster. His point about holding Irish players back might have carried more weight if he saad the same thing when he signed for Munster. I’m sorry but he sounded petty and bitter and I would expect more from him. He’s usually one of the best pundits to be fair but he did himself no favours this evening. I’m still going to enjoy celebrating another Leinster win in Thomond mind you.

Dave Murray

Ugly win with the conditions but a good win all the same. A kind of game a certain Jacques Nienabar might like with a forward dominated game with the conditions but great effort by the players. Joe McCarthy deserved POTM

Kevin Kelehan

Terrible conditions, very strong Munster defence but Leinster just made fewer mistakes.

Eamon Saunders

Not pretty to watch but a win nonetheless,move on to the next 👏👏

Chris McDonnell

We need to stop this harry byrne sillyness. Oh and mcgrath was just awful too. Thankfully We just dominated their pack

Get in the conversation yourself by leaving 

your own thoughts each week after the full time whistle 

in Leinster & Ireland matches on our Facebook page

URC WRAP

ROUND 8

GLASGOW WARRIORS 22-10 EDINBURGH

ULSTER 20-19 CONNACHT

ZEBRE 24-31 BENETTON

STORMERS 26-20 BULLS

CARDIFF 55-21 DRAGONS

SCARLETS 11-25 OSPREYS

MUNSTER 3-9 LEINSTER

ROUND 9

SAT DEC 30

BENETTON V ZEBRE

EDINBURGH V GLASGOW WARRIORS

STORMERS V SHARKS

MON JAN 1

CONNACHT V MUNSTER

OSPREYS V CARDIFF

DRAGONS V SCARLETS

LEINSTER V ULSTER

HARPIN MATCH WRAPS

ARE BROUGHT TO YOU BY

THE IRISH RUGBY SHOP

AT ELVERYS

305 : #MUNvLEI preview

also available as podcast

Our guest : JAY LONG

Leinster : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Jordan Larmour 13. Garry Ringrose (CAPTAIN) 12. Ciarán Frawley 11. Rob Russell 10. Harry Byrne 9. Jamison Gibson-Park

1. Andrew Porter 2. Rónan Kelleher 3. Michael Ala’alatoa 4. Ross Molony 5. Joe McCarthy 6. Max Deegan 7. Scott Penny 8. Jack Conan

16. Dan Sheehan 17. Ed Byrne 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. Jason Jenkins 20. Ryan Baird 21. Luke McGrath 22. Liam Turner 23. Will Connors

Munster : 15 Simon Zebo; 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Antoine Frisch, 12 Alex Nankivell, 11 Shane Daly; 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Craig Casey

1 Dave Kilcoyne, 2 Diarmuid Barron (C), 3 Oli Jager; 4 Edwin Edogbo, 5 Gavin Coombes; 6 Tom Ahern, 7 John Hodnett, 8 Jack O’Donoghue.

16 Eoghan Clarke, 17 Jeremy Loughman, 18 Stephen Archer, 19 Brian Gleeson, 20 Alex Kendellen, 21 Paddy Patterson, 22 Tony Butler, 23 Seán O’Brien.

BKT United Rugby Championship 23/24 Round 8

Tuesday, December 26, 2023

KO 7:35pm Thomond Park

Live on: RTÉ2, Premier Sports 1, URC.tv

Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU)

AR 1: Peter Martin (IRFU)

AR 2: Andrew Cole (IRFU)

TMO: Brian McNeice (IRFU)

300 : Connacht v Leinster wrap

2 December 2023; Harry Byrne of Leinster kicks a conversion during the United Rugby Championship match between Connacht and Leinster at the Sportsground in Galway. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
@harpinonrugby

Our 300th pod featuring a wrap of Connacht v Leinster is now available on Apple, Spotify and most major platforms #rugbytiktoks🏉 #irishtiktok #irelandtiktok

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

🏉 MUN, ULS & 7s reviews

🏉 Set pieces in pieces

🏉 Cutting Blade

🏉 Unforced Error Tennis

🏉 That Frawley Step

THIS WEEK’S GUEST

CONOR CRONIN

FULL TIME TAKES

Andrew Byrne
A last minute try can’t paper over those cracks. We were far below where we should be. Is our squad just too big, all this rotation seems to be causing a lack of cohesion in our playing combinations. I only hope we have a better performance in the bank for next week.

Chris McDonnell
Seriously not good enough. This rotating the whole team had to stop. Too many players just not good enough to play for Leinster.

Darran Kearney
Kinda liking that we are playing so poorly early season, instead of beating everyone out the door and learning nothing. Coaches have 6 months to work with the team for the business end of the season. Hoping we can end this season better than we have in the more recent seasons

Christy O’Connor
Way too much rotation, players playing out of position. Lots of schoolboy errors. Have we not learned anything from the last 2 seasons. We rested players that only played 1 or 2 games. This is now getting ridiculous. Stop giving lads time just for the sake of it. We need to give the core players more time and the others should possibly look to move abroad.

Conor O’Shea
Poor performance, but a wins a win. No major injuries for next week from tonight

Eamon Saunders
A lot of mistakes from both sides but good to get the win 👏👏

Get in the conversation yourself by leaving 

your own thoughts each week after the full time whistle 

in Leinster & Ireland matches on our Facebook page

URC ROUND 7 WRAP

ROUND 7

MUNSTER 40-29 GLASGOW

BULLS 44-10 SHARKS

CARDIFF 23-29 SCARLETS

LIONS 49-24 DRAGONS

ULSTER 24-27 EDINBURGH

STORMERS 31-7 ZEBRE

CONNACHT 22-24 LEINSTER

BENETTON18-13 OSPREYS

ROUND 8

FRI DEC 22

GLASGOW WARRIORS V EDINBURGH

ULSTER V CONNACHT

SAT DEC 23

ZEBRE V BENETTON

STORMERS V BULLS

TUE DEC 26

CARDIFF V DRAGONS

SCARLETS V OSPREYS

MUNSTER V LEINSTER

HARPIN MATCH WRAPS

ARE BROUGHT TO YOU BY

THE IRISH RUGBY SHOP

AT ELVERYS

299 : #CONvLEI preview

also available as a podcast

our guest : NEIL ‘KEEGO’ KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

Leinster : 15. Ciarán Frawley 14. Rob Russell 13. Robbie Henshaw 12. Charlie Ngatai 11. Jamie Osborne 10. Harry Byrne 9. Ben Murphy

1. Ed Byrne 2. Rónan Kelleher 3. Michael Ala’alatoa 4. Ryan Baird 5. Jason Jenkins 6. Max Deegan 7. Scott Penny 8. James Culhane

16. Lee Barron 17. Cian Healy 18. Tadhg Furlong 19. Ross Molony 20. Jack Conan 21. Cormac Foley 22. Liam Turner 23. Will Connors 

Connacht : 15. Tiernan O’Halloran 14. Mack Hansen 13. Byron Ralston 12. Cathal Forde 11. Diarmuid Kilgallen 10. JJ Hanrahan 9. Caolin Blade

1. Peter Dooley 2. Dave Heffernan 3. Jack Aungier 4. Darragh Murray 5. Oisin Dowling 6. Cian Prendergast 7. Shamus Hurley-Langton 8. Seán Jansen

16. Dylan Tierney-Martin 17. Denis Buckley 18. Finlay Bealham 19. Niall Murray 20. Paul Boyle 21. Michael McDonald 22. David Hawkshaw 23. Conor Oliver

United Rugby Championship 23/24 Round 7

Saturday, November 25, 2023

KO 7:35pm Aviva Stadium

TV : RTÉ2, Premier Sports 1, URC.tv

Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU)

AR 1: Peter Martin (IRFU)

AR 2: Keane Davison (IRFU)

TMO: Olly Hodges (IRFU)

297 : Leinster v Munster wrap

25 November 2023; Dan Sheehan of Leinster dives over to score his side’s second try despite the efforts of Gavin Coombes and Jack Crowley of Munster during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Munster at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
@harpinonrugby

Our Leinster v Munster wrap is now available on Apple Spotify and most major platforms #rugbytiktoks🏉 #irishtiktok #irelandtiktok

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

🏉 ULS & CON reviews

🏉 Early Munster pressure

🏉 JGP opportunism

🏉 First Receiver Frawley

🏉 Leinster D 2.0

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

TOM COLEMAN & NATHAN JOHNS

FULL TIME TAKES

Conor Cronin

Leinster were not at their best tonight, and indeed far from it. A few players that might be considered world class might need a break ad they haven’t been at their best for a while and (a la Richie McCaw) might benefit from the rest

On the plus side, far from our best we ground out a win, Jordan Larmour back scoring tries, and Frawley proving he’s the real deal at 10 are my personal biggest positives for tonight, I only hope these are consistent positives, not one off.

The scrappy start probably suited us to need to fight back, the errors and lack of clinical finishing did not suit us and weren’t the Leinstertainment we would expect, give me more in the red zone please!

Gavin Hegarty

Leinster were far from their best but still ground out a win. Some very uncharacteristic errors from seasoned internationals.

A few bad missed tackles from Ringer, dropped balls from Jimmy, Doris is left wanting and Furlong just ambling along.

Nice for Frawley to get proper time at ten and show what he can do.

Take a bow Jack Conan, great game.

Ronan McManus

It was a bit scrappy (maybe partially Ireland hangover) but a decent win against a team whose only other loss was Ulster away.

6. Jack Conan should be delighted with his performance. The option of keeping him and Doris on the pitch together more often gives a bit more depth (Nienaber influence, presumably)

Jimmy OBrien looked sharp, but missed a few opportunities to weave gold from shit, that the great wingers would have seized.

Very disappointing for Ross Byrne, who looked good. This could have been an important one as far as Ireland is concerned.

Great finish by Larmour for his try. Hopefully the sign of things to come.

Christy O’Connor

Hard to take positives from that display except for Frawley stepping up. School boy errors the whole game.

Get in the conversation yourself by leaving 

your own thoughts each week after the full time whistle 

in Leinster & Ireland matches on our Facebook page

FRONT FIVE ARTICLES

1  Kitshoff’s Ulster debut ends in defeat | Rugby365 [via URC]

2  Burly Bulls bully Connacht (sarugbymag.co.za)

3  Peter O’Mahony steps down as Munster captain (irishexaminer.com) [Cian Locke]

4  Blair Kinghorn: Scotland & Edinburgh full-back to join Toulouse in December – BBC Sport

5  Is Jacques Nienaber impacting Leinster sooner than anticipated? – The Irish Times [Nathan Johns]

URC WRAP

ROUND 6

CARDIFF 31-24 STORMERS

EDINBURGH 22-24 BENETTON

LIONS 61-19 ZEBRE

BULLS 53-27 CONNACHT

SHARKS 69-14 DRAGONS

LEINSTER 21-16 MUNSTER

GLASGOW 33-20 ULSTER

OSPREYS 31-9 SCARLETS

ROUND 7

FRI DEC 1

MUNSTER V GLASGOW

SAT DEC 2

BULLS V SHARKS

CARDIFF V SCARLETS

LIONS V DRAGONS

ULSTER V EDINBURGH

STORMERS V ZEBRE

CONNACHT V LEINSTER

BENETTON V OSPREYS

HARPIN MATCH WRAPS

ARE BROUGHT TO YOU BY

THE IRISH RUGBY SHOP

AT ELVERYS

296 : #LEIvMUN preview

our guest : JAY LONG

Leinster : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Jordan Larmour 13. Garry Ringrose (cc) 12. Robbie Henshaw 11. Jimmy O’Brien 10. Ross Byrne 9. Jamison Gibson-Park

1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Tadhg Furlong 4. Joe McCarthy 5. James Ryan (cc) 6. Jack Conan 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Caelan Doris

16. Rónan Kelleher 17. Jack Boyle 18. Michael Ala’alatoa 19. Ross Molony 20. James Culhane 21. Ben Murphy 22. Ciarán Frawley 23. Scott Penny

Munster : 15 Simon Zebo; 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Antoine Frisch, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Shane Daly; 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Craig Casey

1 Jeremy Loughman, 2 Diarmuid Barron (C), 3 Stephen Archer; 4 Jean Kleyn, 5 Tadhg Beirne; 6 Tom Ahern, 7 John Hodnett, 8 Gavin Coombes.

16 Scott Buckley, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 John Ryan, 19 Brian Gleeson, 20 Alex Kendellen, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Tony Butler, 23 Shay McCarthy.

United Rugby Championship 23/24 Round 6

Saturday, November 25, 2023

KO 6:30pm Aviva Stadium

TV : TG4, Premier Sports 1, URC.tv

Referee: Chris Busby (IRFU)

AR 1: Peter Martin (IRFU)

AR 2: Keane Davison (IRFU)

TMO: Mark Patton (IRFU)

295 : Opposition View – Munster

Our guest : CAOLÁN SCULLY

www.linktr.ee/caolansrugby

@harpinonrugby

Our Opposition View feature returns with look at Munster ahead of their visit to the RDS #rugbytiktoks🏉 #irishtiktok #irelandtiktok

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

294 : Leinster v Scarlets wrap

18 November 2023; Sam Prendergast of Leinster scores his side’s first try during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Scarlets at the RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
@harpinonrugby

Our Leinster v Scarlets wrap is now available on Spotify, Apple and most major platforms #rugbytiktoks🏉 #irishtiktok #irelandtiktok

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

🏉 Scarlet shortcomings

🏉 Defensive changes

🏉 Jamie at 12

🏉 Ross milestones

🏉 Keenan eager

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

TOM COLEMAN & RICH MIFSUD

FULL TIME TAKES

Gavin Hegarty

A good win but still a little disappointing. A good place to be when we’re disappointed to concede 5 to the Scarlets.

Prendergast did well but he’s too light in defence, he’d need more back row cover going forward.

Well done to Ross Byrne on his 150th cap.

Joe Mc was unreal again, he’s a fine future in front of him

(reply to Gavin) Peter Tracey

I’m glad they weren’t great. Loads to work on for next week and Jack will be in place.

Agree about Prendergast but that will come so not too worried.

Could Ross be top points scorer in the future? The only thing is if he’s in Ireland squads.

Joe is going to have a big season. I liked Gunne’s passing when he came on. Looked good for Ireland u20s.

We need to start bringing through a few 9s and props which we are.

Brian Corr

I enjoyed the game, I think it’s funny though that I have to remind myself as do many others that a 54-5 win is an excellent result.

It’s great to see Osbourne in particular doing so well, and the more Prendergast and Gunne get opportunities, the better Leinster will do.

The international contingent had a mixed bag, overall good and funnily enough Furlong looked very sharp.

Delighted for Keenan to get POTM, brilliant as usual.

Kevin Kelehan

Dominant and top of the table

Warren Doyle

God almighty we won👏👏👏👏

Jamie Donohoe

Jimmy O Brien had a superb game

Get in the conversation yourself by leaving 

your own thoughts each week after the full time whistle 

in Leinster & Ireland matches on our Facebook page

FRONT FIVE ARTICLES

1  Defensive excellence key as Munster record another win over Stormers (irishexaminer.com) [Simon Lewis]

2  Ulster fight back to secure victory over Lions at rain-swept Ravenhill | BelfastTelegraph.co.uk [Jonathan Bradley]

3  Connacht pile the pain on winless Sharks (sarugbymag.co.za)

4  Taine Basham: Dragons flanker suspended for four matches after Leinster red card – BBC Sport

5  [no English language article available for Netherlands’ U20 victories over Portugal & Belgium]

URC WRAP

ROUND 5

EDI 31-23 BUL

ULS 24-17 LIO

ZEB 22-22 CAR

SHA 12-13 CON

DRA 20-5 OSP

MUN 10-3 STO

GLA 26-12 BEN

LEI 54-5 SCA

ROUND 6

FRI NOV 24

CARDIFF V STORMERS

EDINBURGH V BENETTON

SAT NOV 25

LIONS V ZEBRE

BULLS V CONNACHT

SHARKS V DRAGONS

LEINSTER V SCARLETS

GLASGOW V ULSTER

SUN NOV 26

OSPREYS V SCARLETS

HARPIN MATCH WRAPS

ARE BROUGHT TO YOU BY

THE IRISH RUGBY SHOP

AT ELVERYS

293 : #LEIvSCA preview

Our guest : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

Leinster : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Jordan Larmour 13. Garry Ringrose (CC) 12. Jamie Osborne 11. Jimmy O’Brien 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Jamison Gibson-Park

1. Andrew Porter 2. Rónan Kelleher 3. Thomas Clarkson 4. Joe McCarthy 5. James Ryan (CC) 6. Max Deegan 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Caelan Doris

16. Dan Sheehan 17. Jack Boyle 18. Tadhg Furlong 19. Ross Molony 20. Scott Penny 21. Fintan Gunne 22. Ross Byrne 23. Ciarán Frawley

Scarlets : 15 Tom Rogers; 14 Tomi Lewis, 13 Jonathan Davies (capt), 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Ryan Conbeer; 10 Charlie Titcombe, 9 Kieran Hardy

1 Wyn Jones, 2 Shaun Evans, 3 Harri O’Connor, 4 Alex Craig, 5 Jac Price, 6 Ben Williams, 7 Teddy Leatherbarrow, 8 Carwyn Tuipulotu.

16 Ryan Elias, 17 Steff Thomas, 18 Sam Wainwright, 19 Morgan Jones, 20 Iwan Shenton, 21 Archie Hughes, 22 Ioan NIcholas, 23 Scott Williams

United Rugby Championship 2023/24 Round 5

Saturday November 18, 2023 KO 7:35pm

RDS Arena

TV : TG4, S4C, Viaplay/Premier Sports & URC.tv

Referee: Hollie Davidson (SRU)

AR 1: Eoghan Cross (IRFU) 

AR 2: Stuart Douglas (IRFU)

TMO: Andrew McMenemy (SRU)