471 : Ireland v Australia preview

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST

IRELAND : 15. Mack Hansen 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Robbie Henshaw 12. Stuart McCloskey 11. James Lowe 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Jamison Gibson-Park 

1. Paddy McCarthy 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Tadhg Furlong 4. James Ryan 5. Tadhg Beirne 6. Ryan Baird 7. Caelan Doris (c) 8. Jack Conan 

16. Rónan Kelleher 17. Andrew Porter 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. Nick Timoney 20. Cian Prendergast 21. Craig Casey 22. Jack Crowley 23. Bundee Aki


AUSTRALIA : 15. Max Jorgensen 14. Filipo Daugunu 13. Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii 12. Len Ikitau 11. Harry Potter 10. James O’Connor 9. Jake Gordon

1. Angus Bell 2. Matt Faessler 3. Allan Alaalatoa 4. Jeremy Williams 5. Tom Hooper 6. Rob Valetini 7. Fraser McReight 8. Harry Wilson (c)

16. Billy Pollard 17. Tom Robertson 18. Zane Nonggorr 19. Nick Frost 20. Carlo Tizzano 21. Ryan Lonergan 22. Tane Edmed


Quilter Nations Series – Round 3

Saturday, November 15, 2025

Aviva Stadium, Dublin

KO 8:10pm

Live on : RTÉ2, TNT Sports 1


Referee: Karl Dickson (Eng)

AR1: Pierre Brousset (Fra)

AR2: Adam Leal (Eng)

TMO: Ian Tempest (Eng)

FPRO: Dan Jones (Eng)

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST


IRELAND : 15. Jamie Osborne 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Tom Farrell 12. Robbie Henshaw 11. Jacob Stockdale 10. Jack Crowley 9. Craig Casey

1. Andrew Porter 2. Rónan Kelleher 3. Thomas Clarkson 4. James Ryan 5. Tadhg Beirne 6. Ryan Baird 7. Nick Timoney 8. Caelan Doris (c)

16. Gus McCarthy 17. Paddy McCarthy 18. Finlay Bealham 19. Cian Prendergast 20. Jack Conan 21. Caolin Blade 22. Sam Prendergast 23. Jimmy O’Brien


JAPAN : 15. Yoshitaka Yazaki 14. Kippei Ishida 13. Dylan Riley 12. Charlie Lawrence  11. Tomoki Osada  10. Seungsin Lee 9. Naoto Saito  

1. Kenta Kobayashi 2. Kenji Sato 3. Shuhei Takeuchi  4. Epineri Uluiviti  5. Warner Dearns  6. Ben Gunter   7. Kanji Shimokawa   8. Faulua Makisi 

16. Shodai Hirao  17. Ryosuke Iwaihara  18. Keijiro Tamefusa  19. Jack Cornelsen  20. Michael Leitch  21. Shinobu Fujiwara  22. Shinya Komura  23. Yuya Hirose 


Quilter Nations Series – Round 2

Saturday, November 8, 2025

Aviva Stadium, Dublin

KO 12:40pm

Live on : RTÉ2, TNT Sports 3


Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (Ita)

AR1: Andrea Piardi (Ita)

AR2: Federico Vedovelli (Ita)

TMO: Matteo Liperini (Ita)

FPRO: Eric Gauzins (Fra)


ALSO

SPAIN V IRELAND XV

Sat Nov 8, 4pm, Rugbypass.tv 

IRELAND XV : 15. Michael Lowry 14. Robert Baloucoune 13. Jude Postlethwaite 12. Dan Kelly 11. Shayne Bolton 10.Harry Byrne 9. Ben Murphy

1. Michael Milne 2. Tom Stewart (c) 3. Tom O’Toole 4. Evan O’Connell 5. Darragh Murray 6. Alex Soroka 7. Ruadhan Quinn 8. Paul Boyle

16. Lee Barron 17. Alex Usanov 18. Scott Wilson 19. Diarmuid Mangan 20. David McCann 21. Nathan Doak 22. Cathal Forde 23. Zac Ward

468 : IRELAND V NEW ZEALAND WRAP

The Rematch, Solider Field, Chicago, United States of America 1/11/2025 Ireland vs New Zealand All Blacks Ireland’s Tadhg Furlong celebrates his try with team mate Jack ConanMandatory Credit ©INPHO/Gary Carr


🏉 Clinical finishing

🏉 Beirne-d by TMO

🏉 Lineout woes

🏉 Outhalves fail

🏉 Finding positives



FULL TIME TAKES

Gavin Hegarty

Sometimes we love rugby because it’s not simple, but sometimes this backfires.

Pass to Barrett is forward, so he’s offside and not in play, therefore technically he’s obstructing beirne. How this was deemed a yellow baffles me, a red makes me lose faith.

Ireland simply weren’t good enough but my god the quality of officiating was dire.

Tommy O’Brien held back and then deemed to have knocked on, madness.

We can’t be this bad again but world rugby need to do something to get better refs

Cormac Mannion

What exactly do Goodman and O’Connell offer as coaches? Zero line breaks and multiple lineout turnovers tonight. Not the first time either. Our lineout has been muck for several years

Yvonne Dowd

Shit!! Red card?? ‘Dangerous tackle’??

Christy O’Connor

Some serious questions to be asked. Lineout has been poor since the last world cup and NZ were missing 2 of their locks.

Crowley made some poor decisions in the 2nd half but I’d still have him ahead of Sam for the moment. Red card was ridiculous, Beirne was standing still, so how can they say a high degree of danger

Lorcán Murphy

Do we need a change of lineout coach? And does Andy have the balls to ditch POC? It hasn’t functioned the past 2 years and is a key component of our attack. No lineout, no attack

‪Brian Connell‬

Ireland … dare I say it … undercooked??

Pearse O Donnell

Ireland were dazzled by the All Black’s footwork.

Those fluorescent boots would frighten the living shīte out of any opponent.

A masterstroke from Razor.🤣🤣

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NOVEMBER SERIES WRAP

BARBARIANS 19-33 NEW ZEALAND A

ENGLAND 25-7 AUSTRALIA

SOUTH AFRICA 61-7 JAPAN

SCOTLAND 85-0 USA

MUNSTER 31-28 ARGENTINA XV

IRELAND 13-26 NEW ZEALAND


NEXT HARPIN’

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT : “IRISH SQUAD AGE PROFILE”

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN 


467 : Ireland v New Zealand preview

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST

Our guest : JAY LONG


IRELAND : 15. Jamie Osborne 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Stuart McCloskey 11. James Lowe 10. Jack Crowley 9. Jamison Gibson-Park

1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan (c) 3. Tadhg Furlong 4. James Ryan 5. Tadhg Beirne 6. Ryan Baird 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Jack Conan

16. Ronan Kelleher 17. Paddy McCarthy 18. Finlay Bealham 19. Iain Henderson

20. Caelan Doris 21. Craig Casey 22. Sam Prendergast 23. Bundee Aki


NEW ZEALAND : 15.  Will Jordan 14.  Leroy Carter 13. Quinn Tupaea 12. Jordie Barrett 11. Caleb Clarke 10. Beauden Barrett 9. Cam Roigard

1. Ethan de Groot 2. Codie Taylor 3. Fletcher Newell 4. Scott Barrett (c) 5. Fabian Holland 6. Simon Parker 7. Ardie Savea 8. Peter Lakai

16.  Samisoni Taukei’aho 17. Tamaiti Williams 18. Pasilio Tosi 19. Josh Lord 20.  Wallace Sititi 21. Cortez Ratima 22. Leicester Fainga’anuku 23.  Damian McKenzie


Gallagher Cup Test Match

Saturday, November 1, 2025

Soldier Field

KO 8:10pm Irish time  

Live on : Virgin Media One, TNT Sports 2


Referee: Pierre Brousset (FFR)

Assistant Referee 1: Karl Dickson (RFU)

Assistant Referee 2: Luc Ramos (FFR) 

TMO: Ian Tempest (RFU)

FRPO: Dan Jones (RFU)

465 : Leinster v Zebre preview




LEINSTER : 15. Hugo McLaughlin 14. Joshua Kenny 13. Hugh Cooney 

12. Charlie Tector 11. Andrew Osborne 10. Harry Byrne 9. Luke McGrath (c)

1. Jerry Cahir 2. John McKee 3. Rabah Slimani 4. Brian Deeny 

5. Diarmuid Mangan 6. Max Deegan 7. Scott Penny 8. James Culhane

16. Bobby Sheehan 17. Alex Usanov 18. Andrew Sparrow 19. RG Snyman 

20. Alex Soroka 21. Will Connors 22. Fintan Gunne 23. Caspar Gabriel


ZEBRE : 15 Lorenzo Pani 14 Mirko Belloni 13 Giulio Bertaccini 12 Marco Zanon 11 Albert Einstein Batista 10 Giacomo Da Re 9 Thomas Dominguez

1 Muhamed Hasa 2 Giovanni Quattrini 3 Matteo Nocera 4 Franco Carrera 5 Leonard Krumov (c) 6 Giacomo Ferrari 7 Samuele Locatelli 8 David Odiase

16 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo 17 Paolo Buonfiglio 18 Marcos Gallorini 19 Giacomo Milano 20 Giovanni Licata 21 Migael Prinsloo 22 Martin Roger Farias 23 Luca Morisi


BKT United Rugby Championship 25/26 Rd 5

Saturday, October 25, 2025

Aviva Stadium

KO 5:30pm Irish time  

Live on : Premier Sports 1, URC.tv


Referee: Ian Kenny (SRU)

AR 1: Stuart Gaffikin (IRFU)

AR 2:  Andrew Fogarty (IRFU)

TMO: Colin Brett (SRU)

80+ column : October 22 (sample)


ON THIS WEEK’S COLUMN…

  • WRAP OF A WRAP
  • WHISKEY BUSINESS
  • WAFER QUIN
  • INTERNATIONAL RULES
  • SPRING-BOKS?
  • WHAM ZAM THANK YOU MA’AM
  • HARPIN’ ON…IRELAND’S NOV SQUAD
  • SOLDIER FIELD PLAY
  • LEINSTER SQUAD UPDATE
  • TROLL PATROL
  • COMPETITION UPDATES (incl AIL)
  • NEXT HARPIN’

WRAP OF A WRAP

Needless to say it was a tough wrap, and having already determined that Saturday’s Croke Park disaster reminded me of the Northampton semifinal earlier in the year, we had the added realizations that not only did we host Zebre the following weekend back then as well, but Hugo Gordon also featured on that Saints wrap pod!!!! To be fair, he did a really good job both times highlighting what went wrong while still affording due praise to our southern cousins this time.

ICYMI click here to check it out.



WHISKEY BUSINESS

“We’ve already brought in some new stuff this morning that we are working on for the next couple of weeks.”

Jamison Gibson-Park: Ireland’s World Cup prep starts against All Blacks

Michael Glennon – RTÉ.ie

Must have been tough for JGP to do an interview so soon after the Croke Park disaster, yet being one of the senior players in the squad it was good to get a sense of where the group is at as they embark on one of the most critical November series for Ireland in a number of years.

Sorry to heap that much pressure on it, but I believe it to be true. After two Six Nations Championships in a row, despite winning another 4 out of 5 this year it was considered a disappointment and with these being the last test matches before the RWC2027 draw, ranking points will be essential, but also it’s about restoring some confidence that we can take forward to the upcoming Six Nations and beyond.

The quote really does give us something to look out for in the Chicago test, we’ll see what it might be.


CLICK HERE FOR FULL COLUMN ON SUBSTACK

464 : Leinster v Munster wrap

18 October 2025; Leinster players after their side’s defeat in the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Munster at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile


🏉  Multiple issues

🏉  Jack’s boot

🏉  Beirne unit

🏉  No warnings

🏉  Back to drawing board


HUGO GORDON


FULL TIME TAKES

Sarah Lennon

I feel for Cullen. All the riches in the world and none of them his. The team was disjointed, two dimensional and predictable. They played like strangers.

Munster, as good as they were, simply needed to do the basics well.

The end is nigh, for the team and for the ticket!

Kevin Kelehan

Munster came to Croker with a simple game plan and executed it, led by Tadgh Beirne who led from the front and dominated the breakdown, ending so many multi phase Leinster attacks with turnovers. Leinster were not cohesive and butchered so many decent attacks with bad handling. The ref was not test level, let Munster away with murder when not releasing the tackler going to ground, constantly half a yard offside at rucks, denied Josh van Der Flier a clear try and let a Munster deliberate knock on away as accidental. Leinster badly missed Joe McCarthy, Ryan Baird, Jack Conan, Hugo Keenan and Cealan Doris with Prendergast, Lowe and Snyman all extremely rusty. But hats off to Munster to playing to their game plan and executing scraps into 7 point scores, their new manager unlike Richie Murphy hit the ground full tilt in his first season.

Gavin Hegarty

I’m embarrassed by that performance. Lions and internationals on the pitch beaten by a team that just wanted it more.

I need to watch that penalty try again because from the Cusack stand it made zero sense. But that made no impact on the final score.

We thought the first two games were just blips,maybe not.

Colin Mehigan

We were missing key players and leaders (Doris, Conan, McCarthy, Keenan, Tommy OB, Baird etc). There’s too much hyperbole in modern sport and the aftermath of tonight from fan and media alike will be no exception.

I do have qualms about the Nienaber system which have been reinforced after that game but we did win a trophy 5 matches ago. Munster were due a win against us and they sensed our vulnerabilities before and during the game….now it’s time to see leaders step up for the rest of the season

Michelle Tobin

Injury count was horrendous on both sides. Having said that I’m happy tonight

Christy O’Connor

First off the better team by far won. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Nienabars tactics are awful. We are playing the same awful tactics that Van Graan did for Munster, stick it up the jumper and just try to barge through. We spent the majority of the 2nd half in their 22 and done nothing with it, not once did I feel confident that we would score. Superb defence from Munster but we never stretched them.

Felt sorry Frawley, was a brilliant tackle to deny the BP try only for the ref to make up some new law to give it.

Chris McDonnell

I have been saying this for years now, Cullen is not a head coach. He is a great servant to the club but simply has failed time and time again as coach. Pendergast didnt pick himself for ireland or leinster but simply isn’t any where near good enough at the minute and he may find it difficult to come back from this.

John Hyland

The breakdown was a free-for-all. Leinster lacked any pace or physicality. Crowley bossed our back three, and Prendergast was very poor. I’m not buying the ‘let him develop’ line. If he was good enough we would have seen it by now.

Conor Lowth

Actually refreshing to have a competitive Munster side back.

Leinster are on the decline the last couple of years and are persisting with mediocre players like Osborne, Frawley, Pendergast. These guys are rugby robots, slow with little flair , I fear for Leinster and Ireland

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your own thoughts each week after the full time whistle

in Leinster & Ireland matches on our Facebook page


URC WRAP


NEXT HARPIN’

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT : “IRELAND’S NOVEMBER SQUAD”

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN 


462 : Leinster v Sharks wrap

11 October 2025; Josh van der Flier of Leinster is tackled by Fez Mbatha of Hollywoodbets Sharks during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Hollywoodbets Sharks at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile


🏉  Cohesion back

🏉  Gunne firing

🏉  Josh the skipper

🏉  Sleeping giants

🏉  Josh the debutante


CIARÁN DUFFY


FULL TIME TAKES

Gavin Hegarty

Normal (ISH) service resumes!

I thought Osbourne was great, most likely Irelands 15 for the autumn internationals in winter. Harry looked confident but did try a tad to hard in parts.

We were south lower and watched the ground covered by Baird to make a tackle, unreal!

Far from perfect but a step in the right direction

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your own thoughts each week after the full time whistle

in Leinster & Ireland matches on our Facebook page


URC WRAP


NEXT HARPIN’

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT : “THE FRAWLEY DILEMMA”

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN