Well we got the win and that’s great, but it’s back to the drawing board not just for SA but for next year as well. Delighted with the win though 😂
Kevin Kelehan
Won the game and the championship, was happy to see Ireland come through yesterday with Keenan and Ringrose off the pitch from the start against a Scotland side a lot stronger out wide than in tight. What England has exposed is Ireland need a second row size 6 to compliment Van Der Fliers speed, Ireland are only pressured by teams with a weight advantage 4-8. Fix that weight deficit whilst retaining poachers like Doris and Van Der Flier and Ireland will reach the next level.
Craig Boyd
Job done, our expectations have all changed so today was a bit of an anticlimax. All the same what a great team they are.
John O Halloran
Great to get the wins and the championship but big tests and rejigging needed.
England and Scotland were well up to that Irish attack.
The Scottish 6 was excellent.
Alastair McDermott
I was hoping to see Andy Farrell bringing his kids out on the pitch to celebrate
England had their best game in about 3 years and only beat us by a point. Lads gave everything and just a bit off and that’s what happens. Suppose there is a reason we’ve not seen back to back grand slams in 30 years
Ciara Lennon
Big wake up call for Ireland. England came to play and played the better rugby on the day. They never let Ireland settle. Too many handling errors from Ireland. Too many penalties conceded. I love Peter O Mahony but 2nd yellow card for a captain in one tournament is just not good enough. He needs to get a better example. Should Murray have kicked it away with 90seconds on the clock? Probably not but at thr end of the day, Ireland were just out played
Craig Boyd
In simple terms England should have been out of sight, Ireland in no way deserved the win. That being said they got themselves in a position were they should have won but can’t help but thinking when Murray kicked the ball away with 90 seconds to go that he offered England the perfect opportunity for them to win the game. Did he not trust his forwards to see out 90 seconds?
Jamie Bermingham
So much arrogance from the media in the build up and then after both tries we didn’t put any pressure on them. England came to play rugby and got the win simple as
Big Joe Shep
• England were exceptional today and outplayed us in everything.
• It was a poor day at the office and it happens but as a collective, we didn’t turn up I’m afraid
• An aging Murray with a wasted box-kick in the last embers of the game was woeful buddy!!! Give the ball to your opponents who have dominated the entire game, require only a Pen is NOT what this Ireland team does. I’m afraid he’s way way out of kilter with THIS Ireland team and it ultimately cost us!! 🤷♂️😥🏉
• All that said, we lost by 1 Pt and that shows how good we are….. We go again next week and put Scotland to the sword!!!
James Griffin
Far too much talk about how much Ireland would win by during the lead up. And blaming Murray is just provincial shite. He didn’t give away penalties, drop passes, or miss tackles. A little bit of honesty wouldn’t go astray. Wake up call, big time!
Gavin Hegarty
So disappointing. Mainly because it wasn’t how we should play. First four minutes were great but then we dropped off and honestly if England were better they would have put us away. You’d think Murray with his ‘experience’ would know how to close out a game. His box kicking is infuriating yet he still does it to no benefit.
Better team won, we just didn’t show.
Kevin Kelehan
England could have been out of sight after 20 mins, Ireland had the game won around 78 minute but lost it, se la vie. Arsen Wenger spoke of great teams playing badly but winning, thats where Ireland need to get
Colin McConaghie
If people properly analysed the Welsh game this performance was coming. We created very little against a very limited Welsh team and our back line looked one paced and lacking creativity. The Bundee bash it up played straight into Englands hands. It showed on the two occasions we actually passed wide we scored.
Penalty count far too high and poor kicking from Lowe and then Murray gifted easy possession to run back at us and score.
We are still a very good team and will likely win the Championship but the over hype has been embarrassing and we are still far too over reliant on our “first choice” players.
The beauty of the Six Nations is how competitive it is. All matches are lose-able. Italy beat Scotland, who beat England, who beat us, who hockeyed Italy. That’s what makes back to back slams so hard, or even individual slams. You’ve to win 10 in a row!
Congrats to England just about deserved it. Really hope the Irish knives won't be out that was a top test match and Championship still there to be won.#ENGvIRE
Wales definitely better than most expected, Ireland will need to be more disciplined in Twickers but can get a bonus point win if they iron out the errors. Was delighted to see Frawley score a super try
Colin McConaghie
We need pace in the backline to get to the really top level. Possibly a bit complacent today but Lowe was really poor with his kicking and will cost us against a better team
John Clavin
A couple of big referee decisions didn’t go Ireland’s way. But, a 24 point win in the 6N and we’re all a bit disappointed in the performance…. Heady days for Irish Rugby.
Christy O’Connor
Very sloppy 2nd half. Ref was inconsistent, but it was our own fault that we made such hard work of it.
Wales deserve some credit for not giving up.
Carmel Daly
Not perfect but technically they held Wales scoreless only for penalty try given. Job done 👍
Greg Kelly
If we’d done that any other year we’d be jumping for joy. I think it’s a sign of what we expect from this team that people are nit picking the performance.
What a way to get BP. Class all the way from Stu's hit at halfway to Beirne's finish. We prob deserved the maximum, tho Welsh started 2nd half well, Winnett v impressive. Aki worthy PotM tho TB not far behind. On to Twickers.#IREvWAL
Ahead of Ireland v Wales and in the latest from our Opposition View series, I spoke to Seimon Williams, author of “Welsh Rugby – What Went Wrong?” about the most frustrating issues from the past decades, the best way forward and of course how he feels Saturday’s match will go.
The 2022-23 season may just be the bleakest in Welsh rugby history. Accusations of misogyny, sexism, racism and homophobia against the Welsh Rugby Union led to resignations, independent inquiries, Senedd intervention and rushed governance reform. Budget cuts, strike threats, uncertainty for players, embarrassing defeats and the dismissal of the national coach presaged another poor Six Nations campaign.
This book looks at the issues which have seen Welsh rugby stumble from crisis to crisis over the past 40 years. At how a nation which led the rugby world in the 1970s declined into the fractured, riven, divided rugby nation of today. At how occasional successes at club, regional and Test level were achieved despite the system, not because of it, and did little more than paper over the cracks. At, fundamentally, what went wrong.
JLP : The quote might be tongue in cheek but although I wasn’t there myself the reports I heard were that it was a very subdued Aviva crowd, with suggestions it might have to do with a “prawn sandwich” element who were able to afford the ticket price without necessarily being totally invested in the actual rugby.
“This is not about Scottish Rugby being belligerent.”
JLP : I harped on this in the bonus clip as you’ll see below, but although I believe the officials came to the correct decision, I can’t really blame the SRU for getting an extra news cycle out of the incident. This might have an air of “John Delaney asking for Ireland to be 33rd team” about it, but the call was so goddam close and decisive that you can see how they’d lash out, once they are also aware that the Scots did have plenty of chances before that to win the game as well….
The change should create more room for counterattackers as the defending team will all be offside until put back onside by the kicker, or kick-chasers.
JLP : I wondered why I had red about this red/green think years ago yet Wales/Ireland matches weren’t affected. I would have thought that if it was definitely a problem for a portion of fans which had been officially identified by the sport’s governing body then surely the thing to do would be to make the change right away, but I suppose these things take time?
“There was 11 offloads for Ireland today, that is significant. There was only three last week.“
JLP : The quote pretty much tells the story, only thing I’d add is that most of that 11 weren’t just offloads, they were Marks & Spencer offloads…high risk but even higher confidence.
Note – views expressed in “Front Five” links do not necessarily reflect those of HarpinOnRugby
WRAP OF A (DELAYED) WRAP
Nobody likes a set weekly routine more than myself but when our feature match is on a Sunday afternoon there’s just no way I can prepare a wrap pod to my liking in time so we waited until the Monday. Tom “LeinsterRoyalty” Coleman became our latest member of the 50-cap club joining Keego and Conor Cronin, and he and Jay did their usual bang-up job reviewing the whitewashing of Italy, although Tom did cause my first 2024 use of the “Gran’s Lamb Protocol” where we vow not to use a certain phrase depicting 5 Irish wins until it is either achieved or no longer possible, so I had to deploy a “beep” sound at one point after he dropped the “S word” 😜.
If you missed the wrap pod, here’s a link for Spotify but it’s also available on Apple and other platforms, please subscribe and/or leave a review if you can.
BONUS CLIP
A mixed bag of chosen topics this week, I have added the transcript from my bit below.
“A GROUNDING IN TMOs”
Now it’s time for my bit and after Tom harping on the kicking duel at the end of the first half of Scotland v France, I’d like to focus on an even more controversial incident from the end of the second in the same match.
Now when I say “controversial” I’m a bit torn on the use of this word. It seems a bit sensationalist especially when you consider that I actually agree with the way the officials reached their decision.
But what I suppose does make it controversial was the fact that it was a call about a score that would have literally changed the result of the entire match as there was no time left on the clock. Throw in the fact that the decision went against the home team and you have what must be up there with the top nightmares faced by referees in all sports.
Still I have to go back and explain why I agree with the officials so let’s look at the incident. And to do this we need to take all the situational stuff out of it. Forget it’s at Murrayfield, forget it’s Scotland, forget they were four points behind with the clock in the red.
On the 9th phase of a series Sam Skinner carried the ball over the line where he ran into some French defenders. There was the predictable mass of bodies all around the ball but from referee Nic Berry’s angle, the ball was held up and that is how he called it. This is the most critical information of the entire incident for me, but there is of course a lot more.
Berry ensured the Scots that the decision would be reviewed, which put matters into the hands of TMO Brian MacNeice. OK, now you might think I’m defending his decision because he’s Irish but I suppose all I can do is hope that you appreciate that my actual motivation is for the correct decision to be reached where possible.
Anyway what MacNeice had to do was look over as many available angles as he could to see if there was a grounding – and that word grounding is the second most important aspect to all of this. For this he had to hope for there to be a decent gap among all the other moving parts in the way…arms, legs, heads, boots, even the occasional arse, to catch a glimpse of the ball.
And as many have been at pains to point out, it does look to all intents and purposes that the ball actually does make its way to the Murrayfield grass. In fact, many of those fans also went to great pains to screengrab the image the TMO was looking at as though it offered some “proof” that it should have been awarded as a try.
And to be fair, during the early part of MacNeice’s dialogue as he watched, it really did sound as though he wanted to award the try. But there was a problem you see, one that those understandably eager screengrabbing Scottish fans probably missed.
It might seem like a contradiction but the fact remains that the ball touching the ground is not all we need to see in order to call it a grounding. There is absolutely no evidence that Skinner or indeed any other Scotsman has their hand on the ball as it touches down. And you need both. He could have let it go. There may have been separation. And remember, even when it comes to the ball touching the ground, we were never 100% because we couldn’t actually see it.
All of which led MacNeice to say to Berry : “I cannot see for certain, I don’t have ball on ground Nick”
So what happens now? It’s very simple. With no conclusive way to overturn his original decision, Berry was only left with that decision. It is definitely unfortunate, maybe even cruel, but having watched it over and over again I can only come back to the same conclusion.
Now of course what I did at the time was to share my opinion on twitter, and we all know what happened next, I got replies stating categorically that it was a nailed on try, many with that screengrabbed so-called “evidence”. So to avoid falling down a social media rabbit hole, I chose not to reply and instead waited until now to make my case.
To be absolutely clear…I was 100% shouting for Scotland, they are and have always been my second favourite Six Nations team. Like I said, we have to take our allegiances out of the equation when discussing these calls otherwise there’s really no point discussing them.
I have always been in favour of using TMOs but only in a support capacity to the onfield referee. In my view they should always make a decision themselves, which the guy in the booth must only overrule if they have 100% certainty and it’s only when this is accepted that we can appreciate that once in a while we can have a decision that looks both horribly unfair and absolutely correct in equal measure.
STEVIE’S CALLING
I hadn’t time for a TikTok rant this week but even if I had it wouldn’t be worthy of posting instead of this…he needs no introduction from me but I’m still happy to namecheck Stevie Mulrooney he’s definitely a star in the making.
Absolutely brilliant! 👏 Stevie Mulrooney, the star of the Toy Show, sings Ireland’s Call in front of a sold out Aviva Stadium. Fantastic. 💚 IREvITA GuinnessSixNations SixNationsRugby IrishRugby Rugby
This week’s update did have good news with Jamie & Ross on the road to recovery but since neither were listed under “available for selection” I’m left struggling to put a Leinster backline together for Saturday without dipping into the academy, and with Hugo Keenan now not able to face Wales I’m wondering if we will even be able to avail of Ciarán Frawley’s services at all.
NB : the above matchday 23 is completely from my own mind, I’m certainly not suggesting I have any ITK a la Thornley
INJURY UPDATE – AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
N/A
INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:
Jamie Osborne: has increased his training load and will be further assessed this week as he makes his way back from a shoulder injury
Ross Byrne: has increased his training load and will be further assessed this week as he makes his way back from an arm injury
INJURY UPDATE – UNAVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
N/A
NO FURTHER UPDATES ON:
Martin Moloney (bicep), Alex Soroka (foot), Charlie Ngatai (calf), Cormac Foley (shoulder) and Jimmy O’Brien (neck)
RUGBYPASS TV UPS & DOWNS
Just a quick note on a couple of things I’ve seen on RugbyPass.TV – I was going to do my TikTok on this had I enough time (for a 3 minute video I need at least an hour that just wasn’t there this week!).
First there was Whistleblowers which I would strongly recommend. Essentially it was “Full Contact for Referees” and definitely had a decent stab at humanising the officials from RWC2023. I would definitely recommend it, but since they’re not paying me to say that I should also point out a video I didn’t like as well 😁.
This was Boks Office which was essentially a Springbok view of the Six Nations. Now to be fair, this kind of input would be invaluable, coming as it does from outside the bubble, and with a panel of test capped stars (host Hanyani Shimange chatting to Jean de Villiers & Schalk Burger) you would definitely be interested.
But this particular episode featured a review of Round 1 so obviously they would have been focusing on Ireland’s win in Marseilles. They were full of praise for Andy Farrell’s men, but what ground my gears a tad was their assertion that Paul Willemse’s red card was the wrong call.
I mean if that is what they honestly believed then I can’t really fault them for expressing their true opinion and I certainly wouldn’t want that opinion banned, I suppose I’m just disappointed that senior players feel that way and are clearly either ignorant of the spirit of the guidelines surrounding head contact or are actually opposed to them. And the real irony was that I watched this chat right after I had watched Whistleblowers which noted the online abuse that referees can receive, meaning the lads’ views certainly do not help the matter.
That’s not to say I wouldn’t watch Box Office again, however, and they are certainly not alone when it comes to former-players-turned-pundits having these views.
🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE
After a weekend off the top four all find themselves at home in Round 15 so it’s likely for that end of the table to be just as tight, with both Oyonnax and Montpellier likely to be in even deeper relegation trouble as well.
NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND
Round 15
SAT FEB 17
LYON V LA ROCHELLE
BORDEAUX V PAU
RACING 92 V MONTPELLIER
STADE FRANCAIS V PERPIGNAN
TOULOUSE V OYONNAX
BAYONNE V CLÉRMONT
SUN FEB 18
CASTRES V TOULON
AIL UPDATE
I have yet to find confirmation of this but I’m assuming that the way the Celtic Challenge works, the top three play each other and the results go to the final overall standings. If so, the Wolfhounds can probably clinch the title with victory in Edinburgh this weekend, while their final match against the Clovers the following week is essentially a Six Nations trial.
While that comp took a weekend off, the Women’s AIL returned to action, with the result that came nearest to an “upset” being Belvo defeating Wicklow by “only” 13pts. UL Bohs continued their 100% start, the gap between the top four and the rest grew wider, and that same four all avoid each other yet again in the next round.
It wa a similar case in the men’s top division with the top four all victorious, although Cork Con seemed to have a bit of a scare at bottom of the table Trinity. Tie of the round this weekend is definitely the 3rdv4th/Dublin derby that is Lansdowne v Terenure.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S CELTIC CHALLENGE
NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND
WOMEN’S AIL
Round 11
SAT FEB 10
SUTTONIANS 0-22 BALLINCOLLIG
COOKE 5-29 RAILWAY UNION
GALWEGIANS 5-58 UL BOHS
WICKLOW 12-25 BELVO
Round 12
SAT FEB 17
UL BOHS V SUTTONIANS
BALLINCOLLIG V COOKE
BLACKROCK V WICKLOW
RAILWAY UNION V GALWEGIANS
MEN’S AIL
ROUND 13
CLONTARF 45-24 BALLYNAHINCH
TRINITY 17-19 CORK CON
SHANNON 13-28 LANSDOWNE
TERENURE 25-10 YOUNG MUNSTER
UCD 32-22 CITY OF ARMAGH
ROUND 13
SAT FEB 17
BALLYNAHINCH V TRINITY
ARMAGH V CLONTARF
CORK CON V SHANNON
LANSDOWNE V TERENURE
YOUNG MUNSTER V UCD
RUGBY EUROPE CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE
I was kicking myself that I forgot to include an update for this comp last week, as I firmly believe it’s important to keep up on how these countries are doing what with the “6N promotion/expansion” returning every time Italy concedes a try and/or Georgia scores one.
There has of course already been one historic result in the 2024 Championship with Belgium defeating Portugal in round 1, although Os Lobos took out their frustrations on poor Poland last weekend with a 50🍔 while the Belgians couldn’t repeat their heroics in Bucharest. However if Portugal are to sneak into the semifinals they will have to win in the Romanian capital on Saturday, especially if Belgium can also overcome the Poles. Meanwhile in Pool A Georgia host Spain with both already safely through to the last four.
ROUND 1
POLAND 8-20 ROMANIA
GERMANY 17-28 GEORGIA
BELGIUM 10-6 PORTUGAL
NETHERLANDS V SPAIN
ROUND 2
SPAIN 27-5 GERMANY
PORTUGAL 54-7 POLAND
ROMANIA 33-18 BELGIUM
GEORGIA 31-10 NETHERLANDS
ROUND 3
SAT FEB 17
GEORGIA V SPAIN
ROMANIA V PORTUGAL
BELGIUM V POLAND
SUN FEB 18
NETHERLANDS V GERMANY
HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE
Kristian had a super round 2 and a bit like Ireland has opened a commanding lead atop the 6N league, although myself and Jay are also 6 for 6 when it comes to predicting winners. With the URC back in action this weekend that means so does the HPL so I have also included that table. Well, yeah, ok, the fact that I’m first in that one might have play a part in my decision…….
1 Kristian 12.00
2 Jeff 9.00
3 Jay 8.50
4 Mark 7.50
5 Conor 7.00
6 Tom 1.50
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Back to the URC this weekend, with a top of the table clash at the RDS no less as Benetton will be coming to D4. Keego will join me for a preview on Friday while the wrap recording returns to its usual Sunday evening slot.
As ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
IRELAND : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Calvin Nash 13. Robbie Henshaw 12. Stuart McCloskey 11. James Lowe 10. Jack Crowley 9. Craig Casey
1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Finlay Bealham 4. Joe McCarthy 5. James Ryan 6. Ryan Baird 7. Caelan Doris (captain) 8. Jack Conan
16. Ronan Kelleher 17. Jeremy Loughman 18. Tom O’Toole 19. Iain Henderson 20. Josh van der Flier 21. Jamison Gibson-Park 22. Harry Byrne 23. Jordan Larmour
Italy : 15 Ange Capuozzo 14 Lorenzo Pani 13 Juan Ignacio Brex 12 Tommaso Menoncello 11 Monty Ioane 10 Paolo Garbisi 9 Stephen Varney
Leinster Rugby is back at the RDS and all’s right with the world…well apart from having to swim back to my car afterwards to make it home in time for the RWC final, it was great to get the home season underway, naturally the result helped with this as well. Mark Jackson & Ciarán Duffy joined me on the pod Sunday evening to offer their top insights.
For the bonus clip this week Mark & Ciarán helped me look at Leinster’s options to start the post-Sexton era for the Leinster 10 jersey.
PURE V PUKE? NEITHER. JUST RUGBY.
Kids are off school this week so little or no time to organise a TikTok rant (for a clip no longer than two minutes there’s a ton of work involved, though I do enjoy them and hope to get back to it after the midterm) but what I would have harped on was the way the sport of rugby was presented to the world over the past couple of months in the French festival.
You’re reading a blog about rugby and I’m writing one so it’s pretty clear we’re both massive fans who would not only watch every moment of most other tournaments as well on top of the 24/7 online content, but we all know that World Cups more than any other event are key for promoting the sport outside its bubble, aiming to convince non- and casual- fans to pay a lot more attention over the next four years.
I guess before analysing how RWC2023 did in this regard, we first must look at what we’re up against when it comes to people who are naturally inclined to be negative. Well first there’s a particular brand of Irish sports fan who for some reason feel it’s not enough to see competition within a particular code, but they also want to compare different codes with each other and thus only watch rugby so they can find the flaws to show how much better their sport is. Obviously we have those types in rugby as well (“rugby values”/“wouldn’t happen in our sport”) but my point is that no matter what you do you’ll never get that lot so it’s not worth even trying.
Next we have to rule out those who expect to be entertained to the fullest in every single sporting encounter. In rugby I guess that means that to these people the only type of game worth watching is one where there’s “free-flowing rugby” with tries raining in from end to end with a series of fancy offloads and miss-passes. Those people are never going to be happy, because they clearly forget that there are defensive coaches doing their level best to stop that happening.
I mean is it too much to expect people to appreciate that there’s plenty to entertain us even without that so-called “purist” style. Take the World Cup final itself. I’ve seen several articles from journalists from within and outside rugby trying to take the shine off of the Springboks’ historic victory by banging on about their approach. This is of course all clickbait garbage – whether you win a match by 1 point or 100, you still win and getting finicky about the style of play says more about the commenter than it does the subject matter.
But even if you weren’t fully clued in on the Laws of the game (and I give a TON of leeway to viewers for this because let’s face it, while it’s no cricket, there’s still a hell of a lot of jargon and conventions to get the hang of) if you couldn’t at least appreciate all the excitement before the match like the rivalry between two great rugby nations, all the passion and anticipation surrounding the anthems, the performance and reaction to the cultural challenge, during the match with the dozens of pivotal moments from the first minute to the last, and eventually after it the contrasting celebrations and disappointment of the two squads, then I reckon you should probably be looking for entertainment elsewhere.
And over the course of the eight weeks there actually was a lot of rugby that could be described as “worldie”, with several so-called YouTube moments with free flowing play and there were even some upsets; just Portugal’s pool stage adventure would make a decent feature film all on its own.
Overall I think there’s only so much a sport can do to make itself more appealing to the masses, at least when it comes to the brick and mortar of the Laws themselves. What you could do to help stimulate interest is try and spread it around the globe and encourage more nations to play to a higher standard, but that has me straying near a Nations League debate that is worthy of a rant all on its own.
I mean it’s not just rugby that tries to change, GAA makes rule changes every season, cricket gets so much shorter that eventually a match is going to be just one ball being bowled, and even soccer is tinkering with the format of its top competitions with both its World Cup and Champions League set to change.
For me anyway, the game is pretty much fine the way it is, maybe a few law tweaks here and there wouldn’t hurt but to be honest I’d much rather they focused on ways to make the game safer without altering the overall feel and flow we all tune in for.
The likes of Off The Ball and Pat Spillane can go do one.
PRE MATCH VIKING CLAP
Speaking of changes, I mentioned on the pod that Mike McCarthy came down to the pitch to get the Leinster fans revved up ahead of kickoff by encouraging them to do a Viking Clap, though I didn’t mention what I thought of it.
I can imagine a lot of people of my generation not being too happy with it but for my part, I’m all for it. I have said many times over the years harpin’ on these pages that the atmosphere at the RDS hasn’t always been what it could be. The lack of a proper chant/song has certainly contributed to that…”Allez les blues” is too French, “molly Malone” too Dublin centric, “Come on you boys in Blue” too generic, and as for the run of the mill “Lehhhhhhn-ster, Lehhhhhhn-ster”, well that’s fine once and a while but it’s hardly the go to option for every situation. And anyone remember “Leinster’s glory”? No? Exactly.
Now just to be clear I’m having a go more at the crowd rather than the organisers, they do a lot to create an atmosphere with the pre-match music and of course Leo the Lion but I thought Mike’s more direct challenge to the crowd was a much better way of getting them fully match ready and assuming it’s to become a regular thing, the “scenes” should get even more “absolute” down the line.
PLAYER OF THE MATCH
It happens quite a lot that I disagree with the decision for Player of the Match, and when it’s for Leinster or Ireland it’s a bit awkward making that disagreement known because it’s a bit like having to choose your favourite kid, but since I have this 80+ column I suppose that gives me a chance to express that opinion.
But I hope it doesn’t give the impression that I have anything against the person who got the award, and in Saturday’s case it was Max Deegan. He did have a great match overall, and I know it was the occasion of his 100th cap, but for me the standards are such at the province that when he drops a ball from the base on an attacking 5m scrum (again, very unlike him, and if it were me I’d drop it every time) we might look elsewhere this time and for me Tommy O’Brien was a much more worthy recipient.
One last time, to be perfectly clear, I am NOT having a go at him, nor at James Downey who made the call. Just saying I saw it differently that’s all.
THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOKS
Congrats to all those honoured in World Rugby’s awards list, especially Andy Farrell who thoroughly deserved it.
And while I certainly wouldn’t hold a view like this from All Black fan and clearly sour grape-connosseiur Ben Smith about the Springboks’ success, I for one wasn’t that surprised that their players didn’t feature too heavily in the team of the tournament.
I could probably see Malherbe ahead of Furlong if I had to make one change but overall the selections seem sound to me.
Maybe, just maybe, RSA representation on the TOTY is low because other nations had better individuals while the Boks had the best team, hence three 1pt wins and the 🏆.
KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES
I have dedicated a column segment to mention the Eddie Jones news but I don’t see any point going too deep in the weeds on the topic because pretty much everything has been said about him. Literally none of the negative stories and opinions about him surprise me. Actually it’s just boring at this stage. He may have even climbed to my “least favourite Jones” chart ahead of journo Stephen, but even that’s just one article away from changing back.
B&I SUPER LEAGUE?
Once again this topic has crept into the headlines so once again I am forced to state my position.
I am 100% opposed to the suggestion of creating a “British & Irish Super League”.
However, I would be ok with the possibility of Premiership clubs JOINING the United Rugby Championship, once each one can prove financial viability throughout a campaign before preseason starts.
The URC has been through enough branding upheaval over the years and has finally found a form which may not suit everyone at the moment, but surely even the Welsh fans might come on board if they got some regular fixtures with the English.
But to create an entirely new identity just because the Premiership has been proven to be a failed business model just wouldn’t cut it for me.
W.XV UPDATE
I covered Ireland’s latest WXV match on the pod, here’s the transcript…
This is the story of an international rugby finale that could have gone either way right up to the final whistle but as you can probably tell I’m not talking about Saturday night’s battle in Paris.
After two extremely comfortable victories against Kazakhstan and Colombia, the Irish women had a much more formidable opponent in Las Leonas from Spain in their 3rd WXV3 encounter, and although Scott Bemand’s side enjoyed pretty much all the early territory and possession, we had to contend with an early spell with inspirational co-captain Edel McMahon in the sin bin plus an extremely stubborn Spanish defence which was not only difficult to break down but also was able to punish mistakes as outside-centre Claudia Peña Hidalgo pounced on a loose pass to put her side 7-0 up after just ten minutes.
Spain stretched their lead to 10 until a Dannah O’Brien penalty got Ireland on the board, but it was our own defence which needed to be strong before the break and although we managed to stop them from scoring after a prolonged visit to our 22, we did cough up another yellow card this time for Linda Djougang and the resulting penalty saw us go into the break both short handed and behind by 13 points to 3.
We still came out strongly for the 2nd half however, comfortably seeing out the sin bin period without Spain entering our 22 and we gradually wore down their resistance until a succession of penalties marched us into their 22 where a strong maul allowed Grace Moore to fall over the line and Dannah O’Brien added the extras to bring us within three.
Our dominance continued and although we only needed a draw to finish top of the pool, it was a brave decision to ignore the three points on offer from a kickable penalty, and we backed up that confidence with another series of mauls making the Spanish defence crack and this time it was Neve Jones getting the ball down to nudge Ireland in front for the first time.
But the match still had to be seen out and to their credit the Spaniards kept at it right to the 80th minute and beyond until a brilliant lineout steal from Eimear Corri saw us put the ball dead and secure the title and puts them in a good position to go up to the second tier for next season.
I talk a lot on the pod about the problems in Irish womens rugby but this is a time for celebration for a job well done in searing heat over three weeks in Dubai and hopefully the squad can bring these performances through to 2024. One thing I will say however is that the Spanish performance provided further evidence that the women shouldn’t follow the men’s Six Nations model and instead expand to include themselves and possibly more teams down the line.
As ever if you want to keep tabs on the women’s game I find the best sources are Scrumqueens.com and on Twitter or X follow accounts like @IrishWomens.
Round 3
KAZAKHSTAN 0-118 FIJI
KENYA 21-5 COLOMBIA
IRELAND 15-13 SPAIN
🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE
Not a great round for Leinster’s Champions Cup opposition, with our good friends La Rochelle falling at home to Castres making it three defeats out of four to start the season, while Stade Francais got knocked off top spot when they could only muster 3 points in Bayonne. Pau lead the way with Joe Simmonds helping to lead them to a hefty win at Perpignan, while also on 14 points at the top are Castres and Stu Lancaster’s Racing, soon to have a certain RWC winning captain join their ranks.
Leaders Pau v champions Toulouse would appear to be the pick of the Round 5 matchups, perfect for the marquee Sunday night slot.
Round 4
SUN OCT 29
BAYONNE 16-3 STADE FRANCAIS
PERPIGNAN 24-39 PAU
LYON 41-22 CLÉRMONT
MONTPELLIER 16-19 RACING 92
TOULON 41-7 OYONNAX
LA ROCHELLE 24-27 CASTRES
TOULOUSE 29-22 BORDEAUX
Round 5
SAT NOV 4
OYONNAX V LA ROCHELLE
PERPIGNAN V TOULON
BORDEAUX V MONTPELLIER
CLÉRMONT V BAYONNE
STADE FRANCAIS V CASTRES
RACING 92 V LYON
SUN NOV 5
PAU V TOULOUSE
PREMIERSHIP UPDATE
A late Shillcock penalty gave Leicester a one-point win at the Rec although Bath still stay top since none of the 10 teams managed to win all of their opening 3 matches. Saracens finally put one in the win column while Sale Sharks got their fins handed to them by Exeter.
Saracens/Tigers would seem to be the pick of the ties from Round 4, with Leinster set to travel to play both of them in January (Sarries being a friendly).
ROUND 3
GLOUCESTER 3-24 SARACENS
BRISTOL 21-23 HARLEQUINS
EXETER CHIEFS 43-0 SALE SHARKS
BATH 24-25 LEICESTER
NEWCASTLE 14-16 NORTHAMPTON
ROUND 4
FRI NOV 3
SALE SHARKS V GLOUCESTER
SAT NOV 4
HARLEQUINS V NEWCASTLE
NORTHAMPTON V BATH
SARACENS V LEICESTER TIGERS
EXETER CHIEFS V BRISTOL
AIL UPDATE
Both genders AIL return to action after a weekend off, with the top four, all of whom seem destined to reach the semifinals at this stage, avoiding each other so I doubt there will be any real change to the table come next week.
Meanwhile in the men’s Div1A, Lansdowne will be hoping to keep their maximum points record going but certainly won’t have it easy away to Cork Con, who are fresh from toppline the reigning champions in round 3. As for Nure themselves, they’ll surely be looking to come away from Belfield Bowl with some points to get them away from just above the relegation places.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S AIL
Round 6
SAT NOV 4
BALLINCOLLIG V UL BOHS
BELVO V COOKE
SUTTONIANS V ROCK
WICKLOW V RAILWAY UNION
MEN’S AIL
ROUND 4
SAT NOV 4
BALLYNAHINCH V SHANNON
CITY OF ARMAGH V DUBLIN UNIV
CORK CON V LANSDOWNE
UCD V TERENURE
YOUNG MUNSTER V CLONTARF
HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE
Happy enough to remain in 3rd place after 2 rounds although there was a change at the top as Kristian got this week’s yellow cap to leapfrog Conor. Meanwhile in the dreaded Jersey of Shame position down the bottom Tom dragged himself away leaving this week’s pod guest Mark to fall even below Keego.
Early days of course.
AFTER RD 2
PTS
1
KRISTIAN
23.00
2
CONOR
21.00
3
JEFF
19.50
4
KINO
17.00
5
JAY
15.00
6
TOM
14.00
7
KEEGO
13.00
8
MARK
11.00
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
A bonus pod for during the week, I’ll be chatting to Francisco Issac about Portugal, the proposed World League and also the RE Super Cup which kicks off next weekend. Then it’s full attention on the visit of Edinburgh to the RDS on Saturday with a preview before and a wrap pod on Sunday evening so stay tuned for all of that.
As ever, be sure to enjoy your Halloween rugby wherever you are. JLP
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 