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
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.
I don’t make a secret of the fact that I do enjoy other sports apart from rugby, and if I lived elsewhere growing up, this content-creating passion project could have had a much different theme.
For example, had I stayed in the USA and not moved to Ireland as a boy, the chances are strong I would have taken to baseball, in which case I’d be harpin’ on the Oakland A’s, being the team based closest to where I was born. Had the sliding doors sent my life in that direction however, I’d be pretty annoyed now as the team are no longer based there so it’s probably just as well.
Then there’s football. When I did move to Ireland aged 8 and joined a new school I found myself under immediate pressure to pick a football team and for reasons that are too long for these pages, I chose Tottenham Hotspur. And their current plight isn’t a whole lot better than Oakland’s, and just a few hours before recording the already-difficult Champions Cup final wrap pod, they played a match which could have resulted in their relegation.
In the end the pod was a tough record anyway, but I can’t help but feel that had Spurs “gone down” my mood would have been much worse! And this of course is not to take anything away from my fellow podster Hugo Gordon, who despite enduring a difficult rewatch was able to deliver excellent, balanced analysis for the disappointing afternoon in Bilbao. Click here to check it out if you missed it.
DIVIDING BY 10
This year, he has not started at outhalf in any game.
In different circumstances you might think the headline was “clickbait”, but to be fair to Nathan the article does exactly what it says on the tin.
Apparently Tuesday was officially “World Redhead Day” so I’m not sure if this was a factor in the timing of this article but it’s true his leaving Leinster for Connacht has been much discussed since last Saturday when his introduction at first receiver seemed to make a difference to Leinster’s attack.
For my part I am torn on the Frawley debate. Of course I don’t want to see him go, but I also think it’s very naive to assume that Leinster could have easily kept him.
The formal announcement of his departure was just before Christmas, which means the decision was made prior to then. At this time, Sam Prendergast, rightly or wrongly, was the presumptive starter for both Leinster and Ireland, and Harry Byrne was pushing him strongly for the reserve role, in fact for many the argument was that it was he who should be starting, which he did in Bilbao.
Plus do we really think that we have full autonomy in such things? Was it purely that “Leinster let him go”? That is not how the Irish pro rugby model works. What annoys me about a lot of the opinion is that it seems to assume our provinces are clubs like they are in the 🔝🐱🐴. For me, this is the deepest issue. Unless we revert to an exact replica of what the French do and let sugar-daddies own and operate the teams, we will always have limitations and priority has to be given to the national team.
If Ciarán is guaranteed gametime at 10 in Galway, it should improve his Ireland chances. Working under Stu certainly won’t hurt either. It will be very interesting to see how they get on next season with Champions Cup rugby also on the menu.
Going back to Sam, I really hope we’re not writing him off altogether. I can totally see a redemption arc for him, but to my mind FWIW I believe it is crucial that, barring injuries, he does not start at 10 for Leinster again this season, nor does he start on the South African tour to kick off next season. For me that sends the message that he is to fight for the jersey, and with Joey Carbery seemingly on the way in, we should have options. There is of course also Caspar Gabriel on the conveyor belt, though I hear there may be plans for a short stint away from Leinster, nothing concrete just yet.
Sometimes I wonder if we are subconsciously holding our prospects up against the memory of Johnny Sexton, when he was clearly the definition of a once-in-a-generation talent. The superstar of your team does not have to be the 10. But it does help to know who is your preferred option so you can develop an overall attack strategy so hopefully now that all the moves are done Leinster can at least have a handle on this going into 2026/27.
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
THE BILBAO 23 (BONUS CHAT MEETS LEINSTER SQUAD UPDATE)
TROLL PATROL
COMPETITION UPDATES (incl 🔝🐱🐴)
NEXT HARPIN’
WRAP OF A WRAP
Ten Leinster tries in one match are always exciting to watch especially live, but when you add the context of our season, namely that only the win was of actual use to us plus we’ve a slightly bigger match the following weekend, you end up with a match that will be very quickly forgotten. As the saying goes, “the show must go on” so we did produce a wrap pod for Leinster v Ospreys, with Ciarán Duffy from Post To Post Sport joining me for a chat on Sunday evening, but we decided to cover the whole match in just the opening portion and use the rest of the time to go back over Leinster’s URC regular season. ICYMI click here to check it out.
HAIL TO THE KING
“…we’ve got new caps, we’ve got people adding into the on-pitch stuff. We’re growing our wave. I leave here with a sense that there’s only more to come.”
Like I said last week, Sunday’s Six Nations finale at the Aviva Stadium had to be about more than just the crowd, there was a match to be played and a solid third place finish to be earned. And what a performance it was. Although we did finish 3rd last year, that included a defeat to the Scots so there were scores to be settled and, well, I think you can safely say that was done and then some. This back row of Hogan, King and Wafer is a world class trio to build the team around and under Scott Bemand they have looking like a well coached group who enjoy working together and we have seen plenty to back up Erin’s claim in the quote.
And yes, the crowd was great too. But if they continue on this path as looks likely, there’s more big numbers to come there too.
Next up is the new incarnation of the WXV, known as “The Global Series” – it seems to be a women’s version of the Nations Championship although thankfully they have not just simply replicated the men’s version (they probably could do something similar with the Six Nations too).
“The top 12 teams (Australia, Canada, England, France, Italy, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, USA, Wales) will compete in a home-and-away, cross-regional touring model within a newly aligned September – October international window. Significantly, unions will retain domestic commercial rights to their home fixtures, recognising the importance of growing the value of the women’s game in each country, and supporting reinvestment in player pathways and national programmes.”
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.
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.
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
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.
