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FRONT FIVE

A selection of five eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the ruggersphere, now including a few thoughts added by myself (JLP).

Ladies and gentleman, thank you for observing 17 minutes’ silence. Players not deaf to the infamous Lansdowne hush Michael Glennon – RTÉ.ie 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.” Scottish Rugby call on governing body to admit officials got try decision wrong Matthew Elder – The Scotsman 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. Super Rugby closes kick tennis loophole to reward attack Paul Cully – Stuff.co.nz JLP : We found this link AFTER Tom’s bit in the bonus clip so at least there is something being tried to fix that wretched Duponte Law.

The ruling from Six Nations (means) in 2025 it would be Ireland travelling to Cardiff to wear a change strip  Wales and Ireland to play each other in traditional red and green jerseys for final time as ban enforced Jon Doel – Wales Online 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.“ Brian O’Driscoll Identifies The Most Eye-Catching Stat From Ireland’s Win Over Italy Gary Connaughton – Balls.ie 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

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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.

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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.

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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.

@virginmediasport

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

♬ original sound – Virgin Media Sport – Virgin Media Sport

Hands down best Ireland's Call rendition ever.#IREvITA#GuinnessSixNations

— Harpin' On Rugby (@HarpinOnRugby) February 11, 2024

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LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE

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

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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.

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🔝🐱🐴 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

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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

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WOMEN’S AIL

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MEN’S AIL

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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. 

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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…….

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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

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