One of the worst performances I’ve seen from South Africa in the first half and one of the worst performances I’ve seen from Ireland in the second. officials tried to screw us again but incredible finish
Dickson made quite a few 50-50 calls that always seemed to go in favour of the home team. From an Irish point of view, it felt almost endless.
But this happens in every game to every away team, so I don’t think it’s any particular conspiracy, it’s just the nature of sport!
Kevin Kelehan
Delighted Frawley got the chance to exorcise the ghost of Tottenham, ugly game but Farrell has built some team, 6 first choice players missing today, 5 of them in the back line and still got it done. Farrell is 80:20 win rate, Boks are 20:80 against the green machine in recent years!!
Sean MacDonnchadha
Very lucky I feel. Springboks only able to force penalties. We should’ve buried them in the first half with the energy, territory and possession we had. All the same, some balls from frawley
Paul Smith
Despite SA cheating and a horrendous performance by Dickinson, Ireland fully deserved the win and I’m absolutely delighted for Frawley who buried the memories of the Champions Cup last minute not once but twice with 2 superb drop goals.
John Willie Conroy
Osborne was unbelievable fair play to Andy Farrell for blooding. Questions need to be asked regarding Frawly not being picked at 10 at Leinster he’s a quality ball player and is head and shoulders above the Byrne brothers.
Brian Corr
So happy, what Irish team in the past could lose their starting scrum half, starting fullback, starting hooker and go to the world champions and get a result. 8 years since they’ve lost in Durban.
Delighted for Frawley to get the chance to make such a huge impact with two fantastic drop goals.
It’s said that tries win matches and that was the difference today
Take a bow Ciaran Frawley. Two outstanding kicks in the clutch. And we deserved it too. Again we were making mistakes, again SA were getting points but we stayed with them AND kept them tryless. What a way to end the season. Very happy out. #RSAvIRE
They got the rub of the green, big time, but we probably didn’t do enough.
Reasonably confident we can win 2nd if “end of season-itis” doesn’t kick in.
Gav Heg
If it was reversed, we won and the ref treated SA like he did us, rassie would release a two hour analysis slating him. The officiating simply wasn’t good enough at this level. like how can they review and disallow Lowes try but not notice the neck roll on Kelleher? Penalties were given for far less in NZ v Eng. And how was Casey stretchered off without any review from Pearse? Nonsensical and inconsistent
Greg Kelly
Is the call by the TMO to disallow Lowes try wrong in law? No…
Is the game in an absolute state if this is where it is going? Absolutely!
You can be guaranteed that in the lead up to all the tries today there were infringements but the TMO didn’t come back to those?
Even after the turnover Lowe beats 3 defenders to score so the manner of the turnover is not the material issue. It’s a great individual try called back for a debatable TMO intervention. Furthermore once the TMO comes in to disallow the try he must commit 100% to catching EVERY breakdown infringement from there. What if he let’s one go and 3 phases later there’s a kickable penalty awarded to the offending team? Does he call the referee back?
PSDT is off his feet in the field of play when he holds up Doris’ grounding attempt. By the letter of the law it’s an illegal intervention. It happens in all games and is never penalised but if we are going into the detail we did for the Lowe try then it’s another incidence of a player off feet affecting the play and consistency demands it’s flagged by the TMO.
If this is where we’re going it’s going to be a sh1t show.
Kevin Kelehan
Half back pairing was not disrupted, got reasonable parity at the breakdown. Unlucky with a few ref decisions that were 50:50 calls, particular Kelliher being driven back. Lots of industry and effort but also lots of shooting themselves in the foot. The series remains alive at only 7 points down, that is very encouraging, dust themselves down and be more clinical next week.
Sean MacDonnchadha
Have to look inward and be honest. Otherwise we’re only fooling ourselves again. Lineout and scrum came back to bite us after being highlighted as potential weaknesses. Backline stuttering for most of the game and no real director at 9/10. Felt like we were having to react to everything instead of dictating play. Dorris and Bundee tireless efforts. Ryan and Baird impacted well off the bench – only ones who did really. Needing Porter and Furlong to do a full 80 if possible is a massive system failure. Boks can’t wait to unleash their bench, if we’re honest we fear what will happen when we do.
Cuan Mulligan
In the first half, Kolisi was tackled, in the breakdown the ball is coming back to us and he sweeps the ball back with his hand.. not hard to see yet no tmo call. It felt like they were going out of their way to not give us a call
James Lowe had a very good game overall.
Did plenty right.
Had every right to try and keep the touch kick alive.
Also would have been risky to let that restart bounce.
This is hardly some new insight but a key issue with some of Ireland (and Leinster's) performances recently: everyone just looks exhausted. Some of these guys have been playing rugby without more than a few weeks off now for two years, and it just shows.
Hell of a test match. The fact these 46 players give a spectacle like that after 12 months of rugby is outstanding. Fine margins but congrats to the Springboks. Deserved winners in the end . Ireland went down swinging. Super match 👏 #RSAvIRE
So so good at times, but also so so poor at other, crucial times. Silly mistakes, silly penalties. Boks made errors too and we def didnt have rub of the green with TMO but the 7 pts we fell short by were on us. Be tough to pick it up for next week but try we must. #RSAvIRE
JLP : Not the first time news of a move involving Irish and French clubs gets leaked via the French press so the details have been sketchy. While this article suggests Slimani is on a two year deal, Ruairidh O’Connor from the Indo tweeted that it might be just one, which would seem to make more sense given his age profile. Straw poll among a few Leinster fans seems to have the reaction as “meh” to this news, possibly a step down in standards from Michael Ala’alatoa, but at least it means we’ll have some tight head cover for Furlong and Tom Clarkson, who I hope gets some starting game time at the start of the 24/25 campaign.
“He’s got a great torpedo as well, a spiral which is very old school, I love a spiral, that’s why he’s picked.”
JLP : I’ve said this before that Sam P probably won’t get much game time down in South Africa, yet still the experience of being on tour with the senior squad will stand to him as many are saying he has a high ceiling. And by “many” I mean coaches who have actually seen him play and train on a regular basis, as opposed to those ABLs online who like to exaggerate the hype about him (“Way too soon to say he is the Messiah” etc etc when actually nobody has actually done that.)
The squad features 22 forwards and 17 backline players, with Erasmus set to name the captain for the competition closer to the Ireland Test.
JLP : The Springboks are very very VERY keen to win this series. Back to back RWCs apparently aren’t enough to scratch the itch we’ve caused by winning our recent encounters. Of course what with the URC and all it’s good for there to be a healthy rivalry between these two nations and I’m all for it, looking forward to some online exchanges on social media over the coming weeks.
“…the thing I’ve discovered in rugby celebrations is that you need goggles to protect yourself from all the champagne spray”
JLP : First up as ever it’s important to specify for those who may not know that “The Scotsman” is the name of a newspaper, in that line above I’m not trying to suggest that I believe Graham Bean to be THE Scotsman…
Seriously though, happy to share an article checking in on the Glasgow celebrations, obviously I’d prefer if it could be Leinster but like I have said several times the Warriors were indeed worthy champions.
My favourite bit of celebratory fun has to be this pic shared by Jamie Bhatti. Bit disrespectful to their hosts? Maybe. But given the sign is there to intimidate, does that make it fair game when you win there? Too fucking right.
Groundbreaking AI technology has unveiled its jaw-dropping forecasts for the next four decades of Six Nations glory, and the results are nothing short of mind-blowing.
JLP : Normally the point of my weekly “Clickbait of the Week” award is to show an article that is being misleading to get you to click so I don’t actually include the link itself. Since this week’s offering involves what is clearly a typo, I will break this rule and just to be clear the screengrab I took was from Tuesday lunchtime so it’s very possible they may have fixed it.
To be fair, if the 2025 Six Nations did finish like that, it WOULD be a shock.
WRAP OF A WRAP
No wrap this week but I did do a spot of harpin’ on Caolán Scully’s pod, going back over Leinster’s season wasn’t exactly an easy task but I always enjoy an aul egg-chasing chat regardless and it is worth checking out.
QUICK TAP : URC = THE BEST LEAGUE
Super Rugby may be “super”
Premiership Rugby may be “premier”
and the 🔝🐱🐴 may be “top”
but given the on-field product amid
all it’s numerous off-field challenges,
The URC is still the best.
(and remember that’s coming from a fan of one of the 13 clubs yet to win it)
Below are the links used in screengrabs for the video.
Can’t believe I’ve had this Troll Patrol feature going for a few weeks and there is yet to be a Welsh contributor! But if there was ever going to be a Welsh contributor it was always going to be Phil, he’s the best of the bunch. Never misses an opportunity to have a pop at Leinster or Ireland, and the only positive from his latest series of posts is that they are not accompanied by a screengrab of the IRFU spending which he seems to collect religiously year on year.
The post above I chose is a response to a tweet I sent just after full time in the URC final – I mean, having seen Phil’s work for several years I actually understand the point he is trying to make but still he is so obsessed with a desire to view Irish rugby negatively that he doesn’t see that the priority chart he outlines here actually makes sense for any organisation!!! I would have thought test rugby > Champions Cup > URC was the proper order of things but then again he’d probably rather see all the attention of the rugby world going to Llandovery v Carmarthen Quins…
SUPERB. Glasgow thoroughly deserved that. Congrats to all. Worthy champions.
Three seasons. Three different winners. Three different nations.
If you ever see an online contribution that seems worthy of inclusion here, by all means do share.
“SVNS” UPDATE
The draw was made for the Olympic pools…the press are saying it’s a tricky one for both Irish teams but I reckon we should fancy our chances of reaching the knockouts in each case, we’re certainly not underdogs anymore.
Hamburg is the destination this week for the second and final round of the Rugby
HAMBURG 7s
FRI JUNE 28
10AM – WOMEN V CZECHIA
12:14PM – MEN V CROATIA
2:44PM – WOMEN V FRANCE
5:14PM – MEN V BELGIUM
SAT JUNE 29
9:36AM – WOMEN V PORTUGAL
9:44AM – MEN V PORTUGAL
🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE
All we have seen over the past few weeks is a media inquest over what’s wrong with Leinster…now to be fair, three successive seasons falling Champions Cup final and URC semifinals does merit that scrutiny by our standards, but how about the standards at La Rochelle, who also got to domestic SFs but only made it to last 8 in Europe? And they lost a hell of a lot more times throughout the season than Leinster did. Funny, that.
Anyway…under normal circumstances I would be shouting for Bordeaux in Friday’s final but apparently a Toulouse win will give Leinster a top seed in the Champions Cup draw so allez les noir et rouges!!!!! Still would be too gutted if UBB took it, to be honest.
PLAYOFFS
TOULON 29-34 LA ROCHELLE
BORDEAUX 31-17 RACING 92
RELEGATION
GRENOBLE 18-20 MONTPELLIER
SEMIFINALS
TOULOUSE V LA ROCHELLE
STADE FRANÇAIS V BORDEAUX
FINAL
FRI JUNE 28
TOULOUSE V BORDEAUX
SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC UPDATE
Not much to say here except congrats to the Blues, their first title in a long time and what better time to do it when the Crusaders have disappeared. All a very ‘meh’ campaign however what with the NZ franchises dominating yet again and with the Rebels gone it will make the 11-team tournament (most likely still with 8 reaching the knockouts) start to look almost as bad as the Premiership.
QUARTERFINALS
CHIEFS 43-21 REDS
HURRICANES 47-20 REBELS
BLUES 36-5 FIJIAN DRUA
BRUMBIES 32-16 HIGHLANDERS
SEMIFINALS
BLUES 34-20 BRUMBIES
HURRICANES 19-30 CHIEFS
FINAL
BLUES 41-10 CHIEFS
MAJOR LEAGUE RUGBY UPDATE
Finally got a chance to catch a full MLR game this season, I suppose Leinster’s lack of fixture last weekend gave me the free time…ANYWAY thanks to the free service by the Rugby Network I checked out my latest adopted team Chicago Hounds who have Dave Kearney, Nick McCarthy and Luke Carty in their ranks but in the end it was two later tries from Dylan Fawsitt, who was hooker for Blackrock College in their Jordi Murphy-led Leinster Schools Cup winning side in 2009 before going stateside a few years later, that won the day for Chicago.
I have to say it was a very entertaining match – Anthem RC, an expansion team based in Charlotte, North Carolina, had lost all their previous 14 matches but while the result was expected, it was by no means certain until Fawsitt’s second try in the 73rd minute. The lead changed hands several times as Anthem tried to win for the home crowd but in the end Chicago’s superior territory game won out. They are now guaranteed a playoff spot but can finish no higher than third and need to beat Miami in the final round next weekend to ensure that.
Elsewhere there were some interesting results at the top of both conferences. NOLA defeated New England at home which meant if the seedings hold that would make for a fascinating Eastern final while in the west, San Diego bounced back from last week’s defeat in Chicago to topple runaway leaders Houston, and although it looks like they won’t be able to win by enough points against Seattle next weekend to overtake them in 2nd spot, they can still do enough damage to show they can beat them when they definitely meet in knockout rugby a week later.
ROUND 17
NOLA GOLD 27-17 NEW ENGLAND
ANTHEM RC 29-38 CHICAGO
MIAMI 17-12 OLD GLORY
UTAH 50-46 DALLAS
SEATTLE 29-12 LOS ANGELES
SAN DIEGO 37-24 HOUSTON
ROUND 18
UTAH V LOS ANGELES
NEW ENGLAND V ANTHEM
CHICAGO V MIAMI
OLD GLORY V NOLA GOLD
HOUSTON V DALLAS
SAN DIEGO V SEATTLE
HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE
I was considering gambling on Glasgow but with the risk of dropping to 7th I played it safe for the final, and as it turned out we all did so there was no change in the final standings. Kristian as you can see has quite rightly shown pride in his prolific prediction prowess.
As for Keego, he must now not only retain the Jersey of Shame but also don it for another selfie which I will post all over the Harpin network as the League rules demand.
Next season I hope to expand the league to at least 10, with the possibility of a cup competition thrown in for good measure, we shall see.
The Triple Crown complete – the @HarpinOnRugby Rugby World Cup, Six Nations and now the URC predictors all sitting perfectly on the metaphorical mantelpiece. Commiserations to @RugbyKino, a hell of a competitor. Look forward to sitting down tonight like this… pic.twitter.com/qvtQI4v1JD
Slowly getting back into the swing of things after a short break…as if there hasn’t been enough rugby in South Africa for us to harp on, there’s loads more to come what with the Irish tour and the World Under 20s – I have a preview pod for the Wolfpuppies to be posted on Friday and then on Monday evening I’m assembling another “all-provincial panel” to look ahead to Ireland’s chances against the Springboks. Be sure to keep up with all our social media channels with the usual amount of commenting, sharing, liking & subscribing.
And as ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
We’re taking a step back for a week or two here at Harpin Manor so just a “Lite” version of the column this week, or an “Eighty plus minus” if you will…no Front Five for example.
On this week’s column…
🏉 IRISH SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT
🏉 CGB RIP
🏉 24/25 CHAMPIONS CUP DRAW
🏉 WRAP OF A WRAP
🏉 23/24 SEASON REVIEW
🏉 LEINSTER & IRELAND 1-SCORE LOSSES
🏉 THE LEO CULLEN DEBATE
🏉 HOGG SAGA LATEST
🏉 TROLL PATROL
🏉 SEVENS SQUAD
🏉 UPDATES [INCL 🔝🐱🐴 & SUPER RUGBY]
IRELAND SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT
I dont know about you but I very much want Ireland to win both of these tests. Development is important that is no doubt, but with an Emerging Ireland tour planned for later in the year I see no reason why we shouldn’t do what we can to make these matches the clash of titans the rest of the rugby world expects it to be -back to back RWC champs v back-to-back 6N champs, with the Boks VERY keen to put the most recent results between the two behind them. Besides, it’s not like we won’t get some chance to see how we get on without regulars in the 23 with JGP and Conan missing out.
Thanks to Murray Kinsella’s breakdown of the positions below, I have had a go at selecting my matchday 23 for the first test, I’ve even included a new cap that wouldn’t be Leinster fancy that!! 6/2 bench has to be right for Loftus I’d say.
O’Brien, Nash, Henshaw, Aki, Lowe, Crowley, Casey
Porter, Sheehan, Furlong, McCarthy, Beirne, O’Mahony (c), van der Flier, Doris
Competition draws aren’t exactly sexy topics and the one for next season’s Champions Cup isn’t until Tuesday July 2, and although the competition format hasn’t changed there was some news specific to Leinster in today’s press release from EPCR…
For the purposes of the draw, the clubs will be divided into two tiers, Tier 1 and Tier 2. The four clubs in Tier 1 will be: Stade Toulousain (2024 Investec Champions Cup winners), Northampton Saints (2024 Gallagher Premiership winners), as well as the 2024 URC and 🔝🐱🐴 winners. If Stade Toulousain win the 🔝🐱🐴 title, then the Investec Champions Cup final runners-up, Leinster Rugby, will be included in Tier 1.
WRAP OF A WRAP
Wrapping defeats are never fun on the one hand, but on the other there’s still the whole “show must go on” of it all so we did a full wrap pod where as well as a shortened “match timeline section” we also went back over Leinster’s season overall. Tom Coleman & Mark Jackson seem to be getting more than their share of bad results when they appear on the pod but they still did a great job.
As you can see below we also found time to harp on a couple of extra relevant topics, all of them have been getting decent engagement over the past few days.
If you missed the wrap pod, here’s a link for Spotify but it’s also available on Apple and other platforms, please subscribe there too and/or leave a review if you can.
LEINSTER’S & IRELAND’S 1-SCORE LOSSES
Lead-in question : OK now I’d like to chat for a bit about one-score matches. Much has been said about the Springboks winning their second World Cup in a row on the back of three successive one-point victories, and then of course Jacques Nienaber switched to Leinster where as you can see by the screen there, we’ve had a string of defeats in recent seasons of 5 points or less, and I have also added results of the Irish team as well as, just for good measure, the Munster semifinal loss as they had both the Irish captain and starting outhalf playing for them. You can say each and every one of these results played a part in an Irish team falling short of silverware so starting with yourself Tom, is there a pattern to be seen here?
THE RESULTS IN QUESTION :
FRA 30-24 IRE, LEI 21-24 LAR, LEI 26-27 BUL, LEI 15-16 MUN, LEI 26-27 LAR, IRE 24-28 NZL
LEI 21-22 ULS, ENG 23-22 IRE, TLS 15-15* LEI, ULS 23-21 LEI, BUL 25-20 LEI, MUN 10-17 GLA
* = after 80m
THE LEO CULLEN DEBATE
Lead-in question : This is a discussion I have tried to steer away from for quite a while now but it has been bubbling under the surface among Leinster fans on the social media platforms I’d say since our defeat in the Marseille final so obviously by now after two more campaigns gone without silverware, the calls are getting even louder so it’s probably about time we harped on it. On the one hand you don’t want the very ‘footbally’ knee-jerk reactions to defeats calling for the coach to be fired, I mean most clubs in Europe wouldn’t come close to competing on two fronts every season the way we do, but on the other hand when you’ve won 4 Heineken Cups and 8 league titles over the years, the standards are always going to be high and for the past few seasons Leinster have fallen short. So starting with yourself Mark, is it time for a change at the top?
HOGG SAGA LATEST
After deciding to leave out the Front Five this week, there ended up being four stories I felt I had to include in the column so I’m sure I could have found a fifth to keep the segment going, but then again with this Hogg story returning like an awful smell I figured it best to shift it further down the page.
Not exactly wild about how RugbyPass framed Hogg’s situation – “blighted by personal problems” suggests there might be someone to blame other than the man himself.
Let’s just say I will absolutely not be supporting MHR next season and I’m delighted there is very little chance Leinster will be playing them.
A couple of weeks ago, I challenged a trolling comment from ‘mahasamatman’ offering them to appear on the pod…the challenge was genuine and if I got a response I would take steps to make it happen. As you can see by their latest offering, it looks like they are choosing to ignore my invitation. 🐔
If you ever see an online contribution that seems worthy of inclusion here, by all means do share.
“SVNS” UPDATE
No Irish teams in action until next weekend in Hamburg (see fixtures below) but there is still a lot of relevant stuff going on in the 7s world, not least of which was the announcement of the squads for the Olympics, with Lucy Rock & Harry McNulty named the respective captains.
We will know our opponents in Paris by this Sunday evening when the draw is made following the Monaco 7s which will decide the last 4 qualifiers in each gender. Those tournaments will be streamed live on RugbyPassTV over the weekend with the like of GB and RSA involved on the men’s side and Argentina on the women’s.
OLYMPIC SQUADS
Ireland Women’s Sevens Squad – Paris 2024:
Kathy Baker (Blackrock College RFC)
Megan Burns (Blackrock College RFC)
Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe (Railway Union RFC)
Alanna Fitzpatrick (Portarlington RFC/Blackrock College RFC)
Stacey Flood (Railway Union RFC)
Eve Higgins (Railway Union RFC)
Erin King (Old Belvedere RFC)
Vicky Elmes Kinlan (Wicklow RFC)
Emily Lane (Blackrock College RFC)
Ashleigh Orchard (Cooke RFC)
Béibhinn Parsons (Blackrock College RFC)
Lucy Rock (Wicklow RFC)(captain)
Travelling Reserves:
Claire Boles (Railway Union RFC)
Amy Larn (Athy RFC).
Ireland Men’s Sevens Squad – Paris 2024:
Niall Comerford (UCD RFC)
Jordan Conroy (Buccaneers RFC)
Hugo Keenan (UCD RFC/Leinster)
Jack Kelly (Dublin University FC)
Terry Kennedy (St Mary’s College RFC)
Hugo Lennox (Skerries RFC)
Harry McNulty (UCD RFC)(captain)
Gavin Mullin (UCD RFC)
Chay Mullins (Galway Corinthians RFC/Connacht/IQ Rugby)
Mark Roche (Lansdowne FC)
Andrew Smith (Clontarf FC/Connacht)
Zac Ward (Ballynahinch RFC)
Travelling Reserves:
Sean Cribbin (Suttonians RFC)
Bryan Mollen (UCD RFC)
HAMBURG 7s
FRI JUNE 28
10AM – WOMEN V CZECHIA
12:14PM – MEN V CROATIA
2:44PM – WOMEN V FRANCE
5:14PM – MEN V BELGIUM
SAT JUNE 29
9:36AM – WOMEN V PORTUGAL
9:44AM – MEN V PORTUGAL
🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE
All season we have been highlighting on these pages what a bad season La Rochelle are having yet they go and make the final four to face their nemesis Toulouse, who may be polishing their 6th star but with this seeming to be the Year of The Nemesis Reversal (Leinster beating LAR twice, Toulouse beating Leinster) plus the fact that the French play their semifinals on “neutral” grounds (not so much in Bordeaux’s case) you wouldn’t bet against them having another crack at a first Brennus.
That said, as you see in the segment on the Champion Cup draw earlier in the column, a Toulouse win would help Leinster out, so there’s that.
Meanwhile the other semifinal appears to be a tossup between Stade would would be favourites on form if it were held in any other city but UBB will be keen to use every advantage possible to reverse their Champions Cup quarterfinal disappointment.
Then there’s Montpellier who stayed in the top flight by the skin of their teeth with a two point win over Grenoble. We’ll still be covering both sides on these pages next season as I plan to include the ProD2 in our update section.
PLAYOFFS
TOULON 29-34 LA ROCHELLE
BORDEAUX 31-17 RACING 92
RELEGATION
GRENOBLE 18-20 MONTPELLIER
SEMIFINALS (BOTH IN BORDEAUX)
FRI JUNE 21
TOULOUSE V LA ROCHELLE
SAT JUNE 22
STADE FRANÇAIS V BORDEAUX
SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC UPDATE
Not a good day for future Leinster employees Jordie Barrett and Tyler Bleyendaal…hopefully the Hurricane’s exit in the semifinals won’t have a bearing on how they get on when they travel north! Still promises to be a fascinating Auckland v Waikato final, I’ve always had a soft spot for the Blues and I’m not sure they’ll get a better chance than this to lift their first SR title since 2003.
QUARTERFINALS
CHIEFS 43-21 REDS
HURRICANES 47-20 REBELS
BLUES 36-5 FIJIAN DRUA
BRUMBIES 32-16 HIGHLANDERS
SEMIFINALS
BLUES 34-20 BRUMBIES
HURRICANES 19-30 CHIEFS
FINAL
SAT JUNE 22
BLUES V CHIEFS
MAJOR LEAGUE RUGBY UPDATE
Really big win for my adopted team the Chicago Hounds, with Dave Kearney, Nick McCarthy, Jack Carty and Paddy Ryan all starting as they defeated San Diego (complete with Matt Giteau and the still-scoring-tries-at-42 Ma’a Nonu) to put them all but in the playoffs, with chances in the final two rounds to move up even higher.
Elsewhere Houston edged Seattle to stay top in the west while New England need just one more win to lock down home advantage in the east.
ROUND 16
DALLAS 34-36 OLD GLORY
HOUSTON 28-25 SEATTLE
NEW ENGLAND 36-27 UTAH
ANTHEM RC 14-30 MIAMI
LOS ANGELES 21-38 NOLA GOLD
CHICAGO 22-16 SAN DIEGO
ROUND 17
SAT JUNE 22
NOLA GOLD V NEW ENGLAND
SUN JUNE 23
ANTHEM RC V CHICAGO
MIAMI V OLD GLORY
UTAH V DALLAS
SEATTLE V LOS ANGELES
SAN DIEGO V HOUSTON
HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE
Glasgow’s win at Thomond Park not only ended the provinces’ URC hopes, but with Kristian gambling for the upset it has also looked like handing him the HPL title. With the multiplier in force for the playoffs, Kino CAN catch him, but only if they make different picks for the final and his is the right one. The Superbru app only tells you who others have chosen when the matches kick off, and if it turns out that they made the same selection then the title belongs to Kristian.
Jay is guaranteed 3rd place but as for me in 4th, I’m anything but – in fact, with Conor, Mark & Tom all breathing down my neck I could finish as low as 7th so I’ll have to make my final decision very carefully.
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
The plan is to take a break for at least a week with the next planned content on these pages being another 80+ column next Wednesday. But I’m sure in the meantime I’ll be tempted to drop the odd x or TikTok along the way so do keep an eye out.
Plus I’ll be appearing on Caolán Scully’s pod from Thursday evening as well as our regular Dublin South FM slot so there’s always harpin’ going on somewhere!
And as ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP
15 June 2024; Joe McCarthy of Leinster, left, after his side’s defeat in the United Rugby Championship semi-final match between Vodacom Bulls and Leinster at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria, South Africa. Photo by Shaun Roy/Sportsfile
Heartbreaking really, you could see players struggling in the conditions but Bulls were really up for it.
Some simple things going wrong don’t want to point out individuals but snappy passing failing us too many passes dropped taking away the momentum, a couple of kicks went awry as well, the Bulls kicking was exceptional for finding distance giving them a great home advantage.
I thought Joe Mc legally turned over the ball in the middle of the field but ref giving them a penalty seemed harsh, can someone explain why Donal on commentary was giving out about him, I’m perplexed.
Scrum a massive issue, now I’m really hoping Ireland go down and win both tests, anything else and we’re in for a torrid slagging 😂
Can someone explain why when Leinster score 87 tries second only to the Bulls on 88 everyone is saying Leinsters attack is terrible?
Lastly it’s not Bernard Jackman’s fault, based on the evidence Bulls weren’t all that, they just became all that today and fair play to them.
William Andrew
Leinster looked stale. They were moved around the park by a very clever Bulls side. It was obvious at half time Leinsters game was in trouble, its change it or lose it at that point.
Has Leinster improved this season? The answer is a resounding no.
Greg Kelly
Goodman took the best attack in world rugby and turned it into a toothless mess. Neinaber took the toothless mess and turned it into a leaky, depressing to watch toothless mess. The whole setup needs a shot of something heavy next season. Put Prendergast in at 10. Use Frawley as utility cover and Ross as the backup 10. Stop shitting on the shirt by offering the youngsters up as meat on a plate to SA teams away. Use the Academy players at home against the Dragons and Zebre and other weaker teams to build their confidence…not shatter it under a 50 point tonking.
The attitudes on the training ground build a season and clearly they are off
James Murphy
Some poor decisions from management during season
Definitely need a 10 for this level, and a second 9, McGrath was overwhelmed, also Larmar too small for this level.
Pack were bunched
Colin Mehigan
Not good enough…Tyler Bleyendaal can’t start soon enough…Nienaber’s lack of success at Munster is continuing at Leinster….does he have one year left on his contract? Sam P needs to be the starting 10 from the start of next season. Ridiculously long season. Players have been flogged into the ground. A season which will live short in the memory….yet again.
Sean MacDonnchadha
The organisation now has to be put under deserved pressure. A club side with the resources and depth of a world leading international side must expect more than consistent knockout performances becoming the new norm.Players trying their heart out and you can’t fault effort, but there is something technically wrong with their coaching and setup. If this were SA, England, France or NZ they would review with a cold mentality and introduce fresh changes. If we are serious about matching those nations then we need to do the same. Our RWC history is a clear and undeniable proof of this.
Cuan Mulligan
We were devoid of ideas in attack..Ross taking the ball with both feet planted 90% of the time.. one of the last plays and we’re looking at each other with not a clue what do to… huge fall from grace given the attacking threat we used to have. Take it on the chin; better team won… come on Munster… Ross to France please
Heartbreaking stuff for us today But in order to be great you have to put yourself in the position to be heartbroken
Fair play to the Bulls on an epic win. Executed on the day. Leinster just not good enough, spending large periods unable to gain a territorial foothold.
Time for reflection on the season, and some tough questions to be asked.#BULvLEI
Not good enough, all there is to it. Fair play Bulls, the much better side on the day. Three years with no silverware with this team – and without even a URC final in that period – is underperforming, there's no sugar coating it.
— Hugo Gordon 🏴🇫🇷 (@HugoGordon1) June 15, 2024
Bulls absolutely deserved winners. Leinster's attack virtually non existent. Desperately need some gas in the back line. Bulls pack bullied their international counterparts. Hanekom a freak. Willie le Roux an absolute joy to watch. Tortured Leinster's back 3
— Rhys Ruddock All Stars Fan (@GifsRugbyNStuff) June 15, 2024
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