Hello and welcome to our latest 80+ column where I generally harp on things not so Leinster-and-or-Ireland-men’s-team-related.
It may have been pod episode 404 but there were no errors to be heard from Ciarán and Jay as they summed up the win over the Stormers. ICYMI click here to check it out on Spotify or you’ll also find us on Apple and most major platforms.
FRONT FIVE
A selection of eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the rugby media landscape
6N PAYWALL
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SAM V JACK
JOHNNY COME LATELY
CURRIES FAVOURED
SCHOOL TIES
HARPIN ON…IRISH 23 V ENGLAND
For this week’s bonus chat the panel looked at a possible matchday squad for Ireland against England. We each took a portion of the team, Jay the pack, Ciarán the backs and myself the bench.
For my part I wanted to make a point about the complaints over Leinster players getting into the team more because of where they come from rather than how they are playing so I included Ian Henderson and Peter O’Mahony on my bench, not because I necessarily want them there, rather because I reckon they have a decent shout of making it and if they do, nobody will complain because it would be at the expense of the likes of Jack Conan and Ryan Baird.
A similar point that I didn’t make in the video is about Max Deegan…like Thomas Ahern he can consider himself unlucky to be in the squad but because he plays for Leinster, you won’t hear a peep from anyone about it in the general discourse.
This bonus topic also replaces our usual “Leinster squad update” which will return ahead of the Ospreys match in a couple of weeks.
TROLL PATROL
Now it’s time for Troll Patrol where we ‘detain’ a social media commentator and charge them with gaslightery and general online mayhem.
This week’s trolling is A Tale Of Two Tweets – we had failed to beat the Stormers in three attempts so you could hardly blame Captain Springbok for his hubris ahead of Saturday’s match. As you can see he had very much changed his tune by the 74m mark…
URC BY THE NUMBERS
In real terms the only stat that matters as far as Leinster is concerned is 11, namely the number of points clear we are at the top. Ideally we’d like to keep that margin where it is before we travel to South Africa after the Six Nations, although Glasgow Warriors may have something to say about that in the next two rounds, not to mention our opponents Ospreys and Cardiff!!!
Still I thought it was interesting to share these stat leaders at the end of January. Not many Leinster leaders although Max Deegan on the lineout steals plus a joint first in “turnovers won” do draw the eye.
Overall Top Players After R10
Carries: 152 Geronimo Prisciantelli (Zebre Parma)
Defenders Beaten: 40 Tom Farrell (Munster)
Kicks in Play: 113 Gareth Davies (Scarlets)
Lineout Steals: 8 Max Deegan (Leinster)
Lineouts Won: 47 Teddy Williams (Cardiff Rugby)
Metres: 596 Mike Haley (Munster)
Passes: 541 Gareth Davies (Scarlets)
Tackles: 158 Teddy Williams (Cardiff Rugby)
Tries: 7 Johnny Matthews (Glasgow Warriors)
Turnover Won: 13 Manuel Zuliani (Benetton)
Overall Top Team Season Totals
Carries: 1437 Connacht
Defenders Beaten: 258 Connacht
Kicks in Play: 297 Dragons RFC
Metres: 4315 Munster
Points: 296 Leinster
Tackles: 1676 Cardiff Rugby
Tries: 43 Leinster
Turnover Won: 75 Leinster / Scarlets
Visits To 22: 119 Leinster
Celtic Challenge
All Ireland Leagues
WOMEN’S AIL
MEN’S AIL
LEINSTER SCHOOLS SENIOR CUP
SVNS
CHALLENGE CUP
Premiership
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ProD2
Japan League One
Harpin Prediction League
This is the 4th season of our Superbru prediction league among Harpin’ pod contributors.
Kristian is the reigning champion, but the real competition is in avoiding finishing last, which means you must wear The Jersey of Shame. I had to wear it the first year, while Keego has had the honour the past two seasons. As you can see our resident stats expert Rugby Kino is leading the way but there’s still a way to go, and we’ve also added a Cup (or Mug) competition to make things interesting.
With an extra URC match still to forecast, I have a narrow enough lead over Jay in my quarterfinal but that could all change if we pick different winners between the Stormers and the Bulls on Feb 8.
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Fri 30th
Ireland v England preview featuring Keego
Dublin South 93.9FM Harpin’ slot right after 5pm news
Sat 1st
Leave comments on our Facebook page at full time after IREvENG
Sun 2nd
Our wrap pod featuring Cian O’Muilleoir & Hugo Gordon
25 January 2025; Jordie Barrett of Leinster scores his side’s third try during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and DHL Stormers at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
18 January 2025; Jack Conan of Leinster on his way to scoring his side’s third try despite the attention of Finn Russell of Bath during the Investec Champions Cup Pool 2 match between Leinster and Bath at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Only just getting my breath back 🤣 Osborne, Henshaw, Slimani outstanding. All subs made an impact – great to see the attack firing against a team who are scoring so many points in the Prem!
David Ryle
Starting to get the balance between attack and defense.
Kevin Kelehan
Superb atmosphere at the Aviva, even 0-14 the crowd weren’t phased. Leinster were superb in the set piece, line out looks fixed, they won 4 or 5 scrum penalties, the development of Jamie Osborne is a joy to watch as was seeing Jack Conan back close to his best, RG Snyman continues to astonish in his ability to recycle out of contact and Doris and Van Der Flier are certifiable nuisances. Get those tickets for Cardiff
John Jones
Happy with the win but I’m not getting as excited as some people on here re: the attack. It only really started to flow once Bath had the red card. That was at 60mins and it was only 26-21 at that point. I think we still need to improve loads and I’m not convinced yet about playing that many players out of position
Greg Kelly
Have to wonder where the hallowed Premiership is left now? Their high flyers hammered by a team that was playing at max 70% only 50% of the game. I think Bath knew Leinster were going to unload on them with nasty hooks and body shots in the last 15-20 mins. Evidenced by them time wasting on 44 mins.
Jackie McEachern
I was really nervous through the first half but bench had a great impact in the second half. It’s the best I’ve seen our attack look in a long time! Here’s hoping it’s all starting to come together.
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12 January 2025; Jamie Osborne of Leinster offloads to teammate Joe McCarthy before he runs through to score his side’s first try during the Investec Champions Cup Pool 2 match between Stade Rochelais and Leinster at Stade Marcel Deflandre in La Rochelle, France. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Botia was a nuisance when he came on. Leinster were very physical and really ripped into them in the first half but lost a bit of intensity after the substitutions. Both sides need to improve their place kicking.
Gavin Hegarty
Ok let’s not call a spade a shovel here. We won but it was far from satisfactory. So many schoolboy errors that a better side would have hugely punished us on. Our lineout is an utter sham, I don’t get how a pro team can have one so bad. I think some of the subs, like Byrne and McGrath, happened to early, prendergast was doing very well.
On a side note that TMO should be fired for raising the Doris tackle with the ref and for wasting everyone’s time reviewing it. I think he was aiming for the world’s first back to head penalty.
Jackie McEachern
Happy for the win away. Amazing defence and still lots to work on in attack. We can’t miss kicks like the one Byrne missed in games at this level. The kick Barrett missed was much more difficult and maybe we should have gone to the corner then?
For me MOTM was between JVDF and Doris.
Greg Kelly
We turned the tables on them. We had them running into brick walls and numerous times their sustained phase attack was driven 20-30m backwards. They did that to us in our 1st few encounters.
Ross Byrnes missed kick again I think will be another paving stone on his road out of the club. In a game like that you can’t miss those kicks
Kevin Kelehan
O’Gara had La Rochelle pumped, the crowd was extremely partisan. Leinster made mistakes but had the winning mentality, did not make it easy for themselves but did the hard work without the ball.
John Jones
Amazing defensive performance and we looked in control for the middle part of the game. Thought we really lost our shape once all the subs were on though and there were far too many players out of position- need a more balanced bench selection I think. Also, Ross is a great servant but Frawley has to be the back up 10 in these games i think. I just don’t trust Byrne in clutch games and that penalty miss was pretty unforgivable I think. Also wasn’t it very similar to the penalty that Frawley came off the bench and nailed in the same fixture last year?
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27 December 2024; Luke McGrath of Leinster scores his side’s first try during the United Rugby Championship match between Munster and Leinster at Thomond Park in Limerick. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
NOTE : this week we posted the ‘Final Thoughts’ portion separately on our YouTube channel
I am not a McGrath fan but he was good tonight. Credit where its due. Munster’s refusal to take points when they are on offer is just daft against a defence as good as Leinster’s. Lineout was better and the scrum was good mostly.
Gavin Hegarty
Let’s not get carried away here, that was a terrible Munster team. They need to rebuild from the ground up.
Adrian Hickey
Being cautious with Super Sam is key. No Jordie or RG was a killer blow to a real soft Munster outfit imo. No real reason to egg them on
Jackie McEachern
Happy to see the lineout functioning better. Thought VdF was excellent again. Really happy to get the BP win. Still lots to work on but lots of positives too.
Kevin Kelehan
11 points clear of the pack, selecting a stronger squad to tour South Africa in March is vital, now the meat of the season kicks off, La Rochelle away, Bath home and the Six Nations title defence
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HARPIN' ON RUGBY 