A WEEKLY COLUMN LOOKING AT TOPICS BEYOND THE SCOPE
OF OUR FEATURE MATCH OF THE WEEK
WRAP OF A WRAP
With World Cup matches coming thick and fast over the next couple of months, our pod recording schedule has to be modified. We normally kickoff the wrap pod at 8pm on a Sunday but due to Wales v Fiji we moved it up an hour. Plus, since that match was something we wanted to harp on, I had to use a time machine of sorts to get my report in! As ever both Cian O’Muilleoir and Ciarán Duffy did a bang up job going over the match be sure to check it our at this Spotify link or on whatever platform you use.
HARPIN ON…IRELAND WITH/WITHOUT SEXTON
With Sexton back on the pitch for the first time since the Grand Slam was in the bag, we had a chat for our bonus clip
DISAGREEMENT?👍DISRESPECT?👎
This week’s TikTok harpin point looks at whether or not it’s ok to analyse a referee’s performance. Since the Wales v Fiji match I’ve been hearing the “we must never criticise the ref” mantra from some surprising sources, I have to say.
In the video I mentioned one of the tweets I posted while the match was still on, for full disclosure I’m adding the other ones. Maybe, just maybe, the Oprah one is straying towards disrespectful? I don’t think so but others might.
The point is that while I know social media isn’t the be all and end all of anything, it can be a decent gauge of opinion from hard core fans and in all my years following rugby on Twitter/x I have never seen this much agreement across the board on a referee’s performance, including some Welsh fans.
Does it mean the ref in question should never hold a whistle again? I really don’t think so, and if there are to be “repercussions” I really don’t want to know. In fact he’s actually AR1 for Ireland’s next match against Tonga and I for one have no problem with that FWIW.
One last point on the video…you have no idea how close I came to taking out all the recording equipment and doing it over when I saw that curled up collar!!!! And if you haven’t noticed it yet it’s probably all you can see now!!!! Ah well….
Loads to say about that match but Radradra should not feel bad about that knockon. They did amazing to create that chance and let's face it they should have been attacking at MOST 14 red jerseys. Match Of The Round by far. #WALvFIJ
"Never question the ref" is as ridiculous as "It's always the ref". But when you do question it's about how you do it. Clear evidence of disparity in this one match, with majority twitter agreement including 🏴 fans. Legitimate talking point once kept respectful IMO.
Loads of TikToks in this week’s column, I pledged to get in front of the camera more this season, so here’s one I did Sunday morning on Leinster’s comprehensive preseason win down in Musgrave Park on Friday evening.
And as you can see I really pushed the boat out with the special effects – I tell ya, between time travel and magic jersey changes, we spare no expense here at Harpin Manor!!!!
Unfortunately there have many reports of fans having difficulties getting to matches on time, like Ireland’s opener against Romania. Obviously it’s very easy to go on social media and call the organisation (or lack of it) a “shambles” but Irish fan Aisling O’Connor has found a much more practical way forward.
I very much doubt they’ll be able to improve their transport infrastructure much in time for fan heading to matches over the coming weeks so Aisling, a former president of the Official Leinster Supporters Club and a well seasoned rugby traveller all over the world at this stage, has been posting logistical information as well as directing people how to get more. If you’re over in France or planning to travel I strongly recommend you follow her.
The #RWC2023 information for @irishrugby#Ire v Tonga at #StadedelaBeaujoire in #Nantes on Saturday, 16 September (KO 9pm) has just been sent to anyone who bought tickets directly from the RWC ticketing site.
All information received is below for anyone who needs it ⬇️
After my agreeing with most of social media over the Wales v Fiji officiating, I think I’m actually swimming against the tide when it comes to my thoughts on Dan Biggar giving his team mates a rollicking at the end of the first in the very same match.
He wanted the ball put dead but the others played on and while I do get the importance of showing a united front out on the pitch, I can also appreciate the frustration from the leadership because, let’s face it, it was absolutely right and proper that the ball needed to be put dead. I saw loads of comments directed at Dan but I think I’d be inclined to back him here. It’s a World Cup, emotions are high, you’ve just played 40m of test rugby, no matter how much experience you have it’s not always easy to switch on the filter.
SCREECHING TO THE CHOIR
I have four kids, and possibly more to the point I was one myself back in the day, so I can totally imagine how exciting a prospect it would be to be allowed to sing at a massive global event like the Rugby World Cup.
But let’s face it…while the choir might work for some national anthems like The Flower Of Scotland (remember at Murrayfield they actually stop playing instruments at one point and let everyone sing like they’re a choir anyway) the more military style ones like for Argentina and, yes, especially France, have had the life sucked out of them by the format.
Personally I’m not always the biggest fan of going too strongly into symbols of nationalism, however I don’t reckon singing anthems before international matches is too strong to begin with, and I have always been of the opinion that each nation should be able to have theirs performed in a manner of their choosing.
But anyway for this World Cup, I understand they are considering a change, and though that would be tough on those who have been looking forward to their moment in the spotlight, I think it would be the right call.
EITHER/OR FOR THE ALL BLACKS PLEASE
Speaking of performances before kickoffs, I was never a fan of the All Blacks and others getting to do extra ones when others can’t, although with the Haka, Cibi and such practically being part of the sport’s DNA at this stage it would probably be harsh to ban it altogether.
But I reckon for the All Blacks to take even more extra time to have a huddle before they did their haka ahead of the opener against France was very much taking the piss.
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Next up here at Harpin Manor we’re looking ahead to our next Pool B assignment with Tonga. There will be a preview at the end of the week, social media coverage throughout, a wrap pod on Sunday evening and all the usual extra bits in between. As well as the podcast feed we’re on X, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Mastodon so please follow us wherever you can
And as ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
IRELAND : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Keith Earls 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Bundee Aki 11. James Lowe 10. Jonathan Sexton (c) 9. Jamison Gibson-Park
1. Andrew Porter 2. Rob Herring 3. Tadhg Furlong 4. Joe McCarthy 5. James Ryan 6. Tadhg Beirne 7. Peter O’Mahony 8. Caelan Doris
16. Ronan Kelleher 17. Jeremy Loughman 18. Tom O’Toole 19. Iain Henderson 20. Josh van der Flier 21. Conor Murray 22. Jack Crowley 23. Robbie Henshaw
ROMANIA : 15 M Simionescu 14 N Onutu 13 F Tangimana 12 J Tomane 11 T Manumua 10 Hinckley Vaovasa 9 Gabriel Rupanu
1 Iulian Hartig 2 O Cojocaru 3 A Gordas 4 A Motoc 5 S Iancu 6 F Rosu 7 V Neculau 8 C Chirica (c)
16 F Bardasu 17 A Savin 18 G Gajion 19 M Iftimiciuc 20 D Ser 21 A Conache 22 T Boldor 23 T Gontineac
Rugby World Cup 2023 Pool B
Sat Sep 9 KO 2:30pm (Irish time)
Stade de Bordeaux
TV : Virgin Media 1
Referee: Nika Amashukeli (GRU)
AR1: Wayne Barnes (RFU)
AR2: Andrea Piardi (FIR)
TMO: Brendon Pickerill (NZR)
Live on: Virgin Media 1
Leinster starting XV v Munster
15 J Larmour 14 T O’Brien 13 L Turner 12 B Brownlee 11 R Russell 10 Ciarán Frawley 9 C Foley 1 J Boyle 2 L Barron 3 R McGuire 4 B Deeny 5 J Jenkins 6 M Deegan 7 S Penny (C) 8 J Culhane
Quick video on Munster v Leinster preseason friendly…
With one more weekend without an Irish men’s match ahead of RWC2023 I decided to take it easy on the content-creating front but I did agree to do a pod for Caolán Scully which was part of his preview series and looked specifically at Ireland’s chances.
In the pod I suggest that if Ireland should have “Adversity” as a buzzword we should also go with “Belief” as well, and just to get ahead of the jokes I pointed out that I know my accent makes it sound like I’m a rugby version of Tad Lasso and apparently one of Caolán’s mates agreed…
Anyway the pod was released as a joint project so it’s on my feed as number 272 but I’d also like to plug Caolán’s pod so if you haven’t heard it already check it out below.
HARPIN ON…IRELAND’S OPTIONS AT 5, 7 & 14
This week I am grateful to Caolán for letting me use his pod recording for getting two more instalmetns of my “Ireland’s options” series done, and I am also grateful to Cian “RugbyKino” O’Muilleoir for taking the time to record his bit on jersey number 7.
IRELAND’S BENCH AT RWC2023
There are only two positions left to do in our “Ireland’s options” series, I gave each contributor a choice of jersey numbers so the two that got left behind are 13 and 15 so I will do them myself in a video to be recorded Wednesday. I also did a brief TikTok on Ireland’s bench which you can see below, the plan is to do video like that every week throughout the season so you have been warned!
I’ve said it on Twitter/x and on the pod already but I literally can’t give enough praise to Leinster’s women’s squad over their Interpro title secured at Musgrave Park they had to do it the hard way yet ended up doing it in style.
I’ve also said this many many times before but I’ll keep repeating it until it happens…the provincial teams need to play more often throughout the season IMO. I know circumstances are different but a few friendlies with Scots and Welsh teams plus a home and away calendar for the Interpro itself must be doable.
PREDICTION SPREADSHEET
When we’re not calling him Rugby Kino here at Harpin Manor, Cian O’Muilleoir is The Prince Of Permutations as his tournament spreadsheets are legendary in that they allow you to plug in different scores to see what happens next.
He has worked with another Irish twitter rugby fan/legend Justin Deegan to produce one for RWC2023, just follow the instructions below to sample it for yourself…
Just save a copy to your own Google account, then plug in the scores and bonus points as they happen or as you predict and it’ll do the rest, all the way through to the finals. It includes most of the tiebreaker calculations and can handle head to head result extraction for up to 5 teams on tied points in any given group, for all the groups.
Almost as if to taunt us with one final reminder of how last season’s URC went just before the RWC kicks off, Munster have not only scheduled a men’s friendly with Leinster kicking off at 6pm on Friday (therefore finishing just as France v New Zealand gets underway), but if fans of the boys in blue are unable to travel we will have to pay at least €6 to Access Munster for the privilege. Since it’s money that technically goes to support Irish Rugby, it should be worth it but I’ll leave that determination with yourselves. I for one am very interested to see what kind of lineup we put out. And don’t forget there’s a second match set with Ulster taking place on Friday September 22 kicking off at 6:30pm at Navan RFC, tickets can be bought here.
🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE
It’s barely the beginning of September and the Top Quatorze is already three rounds in, because of course it is. I fully expect within the next couple of years the first round in a new season will actually take place before the previous year’s final, rule it out at your peril.
With the league’s penchant for teams skimping on away selections, it’s actually not that often that teams win or lose all of their opening three matches, and this year is no exception with only Stade Francais at the top and USAP at the bottom being perfect in their own way.
And because the World Cup is actually on French soil, they had to leave a massive gap between rounds 3 and 4 so it’s very difficult to speculate how the league is going to unfold from here but you whatever happens we’ll be following it all on this column throughout the season.
Round 1
Montpellier 26-15 La Rochelle
Perpignan 7-29 Stade Francais
US Oyonnax 36-17 Clérmont
Castres 24-23 Pau
Lyon 27-15 Toulon
Racing 92 23-18 Bordeaux
Bayonne 26-7 Toulouse
Round 2
Toulouse 38-13 Montpellier
Toulon 19-14 Bayonne
Bordeaux 25-23 Castres
Clérmont 38-14 Perpignan
Pau 19-17 Racing 92
La Rochelle 35-14 Lyon
Stade Francais 28-18 Oyonnax
Round 3
Bordeaux 22-17 Toulon
Clérmont 11-10 La Rochelle
Castres 37-0 Bayonne
Stade Francais 24-9 Montpellier
Pau 40-10 Lyon
Racing 92 59-10 Lyon
Oyonnax 21-27 Toulouse
Round 4
Sat October 29
Bayonne v Stade Francais
Perpignan v Pau
La Rochelle v Castres
Lyon v Clérmont
Montpellier v Racing 92
Toulon v Oyonnax
Toulouse v Bordeaux
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Back to full swing this week here at Harpin’ Manor, I’ll be working on that final video for the series on Ireland’s starting options this Wednesday, with just jerseys 13 and 15 left, then on Thursday our “Upcoming Rugby on Irish TV” post is back with a vengeance before we turn our full attention to Ireland v Romania with a preview featuring Mark Jackson on Friday, social media commentary throughout the match itself and of cours the wrap pod recording Sunday evening where we’re planning on attempting some time travel so be sure and look out for that,
As ever be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
A WEEKLY COLUMN LOOKING AT TOPICS BEYOND THE SCOPE
OF OUR FEATURE MATCH OF THE WEEK
WRAP OF A WRAP
Well folks RWC is almost upon us so it’s about time we cranked the content-producing levels up a notch at Harpin Manor with the return of this 80+ column, where as the above blurb says, I look beyond the scope of our feature match each week and offer thoughts on other issues around the ruggersphere.
First up as ever just a quick reminder of our final wrap pod before the Big Show kicks off, ICYMI click here to check out episode 271 where myself, Mark Jackson & Conor Cronin harp mostly on Ireland v Samoa & the Irish squad announcement. As ever the lads did a bang up job, as did Keego for the preview show on the Friday.
HARPIN ON…IRELAND’S OPTIONS AT 3 & 6
The “bonus clip” is back on our YouTube channel, in recent weeks I have used them to get opinions from all contributors on the various options Ireland have in the 15 starting positions ahead of the World Cup so be sure and subscribe to the feed and check back to see the one’s we’ve covered already – this week Mark & Conor looked at two positi9ns from the pack.
ENOUGH WITH THE DRAW ALREADY!!!
Probably not a good idea but I’ve decided to try and get in front of the camera more often this season, so each week I’ll do one of these 80+ column segments in TikTok form…this week’s is a reaction to the tweet below
Can we have some more discourse about the RWC draw please?
There’s a mathematical chance that not every combination of letters to articulate the same point has yet been achieved.
Sure we all want to see the best players at the Rugby World Cup, but come on…with all the kerfuffle around the Owen Farrell and Scott Barrett rulings, I can’t understand the opinion that “I’m delighted they’ll be able to play”. Do I have to point out that it’s not about the actual players themselves, nor the countries they play for? What’s the point in having sanctions if you’re going to sidestep using them just because there happens to be a tournament coming up? OK obviously we can’t say for sure that’s what WR is doing with the rulings, but I can say that if we feel players have committed dangerous acts then it shouldn’t matter a damn what big matches are coming up, they should have to sit them out same as everyone else.
CAN’T SAY IT ENOUGH – #BACKTHE33
I get being disappointed on behalf of players who don't make a squad but only to a point. When those conversations go too far you almost think folks want a team to fail to be proven right. I guess this might be the wrong platform for hoping everyone eventually gets behind the 33.
Since this is the first 80+ of the new season I’ll keep it short and hopefully sweet but I am pretty sure there will be plenty of topics on which to harp over the coming weeks so stay tuned. Just one more bit of content to come this week, namely one more “all-provincial pod” ahead of the World Cup then next week we’ll be back to full swing.
As ever be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
