6 April 2024; Jamison Gibson-Park of Leinster on his way to scoring his side’s third try during the Investec Champions Cup Round of 16 match between Leinster and Leicester Tigers at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Got the job done, next week facing into a La Rochelle battered by a round trip from west France to Cape Town and back where they botched their travel arrangements and now return to La Rochelle before moving to Dublin, it won’t be easy for them overcoming that round trip on top of a decent examination by the Stormers. Jamie Osborne really proved himself last night, given the age profile of the 3 best centres in Ireland that is a very positive development for the medium term.
John Hyland
That Leicester pack was good but the ref was astonishingly inconsistent at the set-piece. Only Leinster were asked to leave a lineout gap. Cole and Montoya were up to all kinds of skulduggery. I find that our front row doesn’t lack power but is short of guile at times. I hope Porter and Sheehan are ready for Atonio boring in as usual next week.
Niall Moonan
We have no 10, why will Leinster not give Frawley a consistent run at 10? Why keep trying Ross Byrne he’s proven time and time again he’s not up to it. He was anonymous tonight
Robert Cashell
A win but that performance won’t be good enough next week. Leicester should have exposed our narrow defence but botched it more than one.
Odran John OBrien
Leinster really needs a Five Eighth to win anything in my opinion
If I threw a rugby ball over my shoulder right now where I'm sitting I swear JGP would be there to catch it#LEINvLEIC
LEINSTER : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Jordan Larmour 13. Robbie Henshaw 12. Jamie Osborne 11. James Lowe 10. Ross Byrne 9. Jamison Gibson-Park
1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Tadhg Furlong 4. Ross Molony 5. Joe McCarthy 6. Ryan Baird 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Caelan Doris (c)
16. Rónan Kelleher 17. Cian Healy 18. Michael Ala’alatoa 19. Jason Jenkins 20. Jack Conan 21. Ben Murphy 22. Harry Byrne 23. Ciarán Frawley
LEICESTER TIGERS : 15 Jamie Shillcock 14 Freddie Steward 13 Dan Kelly 12 Solomone Kata 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins 10 Handré Pollard 9 Jack van Poortvliet
1 James Cronin 2 Julián Montoya 3 Dan Cole 4 Harry Wells 5 Kyle Hatherell 6 Hanro Liebenberg 7 Olly Cracknell 8 Jasper Wiese
16 Charlie Clare 17 Francois van Wyk 18 Will Hurd 19 Finn Carnduff 20 Emeka Ilione 21 Tom Whiteley 22 Phil Cokanasiga 23 Mike Brown
29 March 2024; Jack Conan of Leinster dives over to score his side’s sixth try despite the tackle of Devon Williams of Vodacom Bulls during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Vodacom Bulls at the RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
Tough First Half. Bulls Ran. Out Of Steam. We Upped It Big Time . Great To See Them Back To Their Best. 👍🏉💪💙
Jay Long
I was mainly thinking
Ahem
Leeeeeiiinnnnsssttteeeerrrr
Leiiiiiinnnnnssstttttteeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrr
William Andrew
Good win , but scrums need attention. Lots of players came on hungry and contributing.
Farcical ending by the officials nothing for player safety
David Ryle
Was worried about this game. First half was poor but Leinster seemed to have found their mojo in the 2nd half.
Greg Kelly
Another testament to how competitive the URC has really become
Lucky with a couple of calls but well worth the win. If Bulls utilised their possession to get their wingers/Moodie on the ball as much as Lein do, they'd be far more dangerous team with attack play to match up front stuff. That said, some scintillating stuff by us 👌🏽 #LEIvBUL
May not get the headlines like some (yet) but Jamie Osborne is and will be vital to Lein and Ire success gpin forward….absolute gem of a player #LEIvBUL
— Marcas Mac Siacais 🇪🇺🇮🇪☘️ (@hoomanbear) March 29, 2024
Can’t let the non-red card or the disallowed try discourse distract us from the fact that was an all-time awful second half.
Need to be honest with ourselves over that performance. We’ve got a good run at home now – have to see improvement.
Leinster 14 came out after the break like they were determined not to leave this match up to the bench. Amazing attacking display all round, best of season, Harry, Jordan, Jack outstanding, perfect time of year to hit form like that. Good Friday? Great one!#LEIvBUL
JLP : SNI was the first non-Harpin site I ever wrote for back in the day so I like to check in, here we have one from many articles that suggest it will be Jordan Larmour who will fill the gap at 15 left by the absence of Messrs Keenan & Frawley. More on this in the injury update further down the column.
Following the departure of Jonny Petrie earlier this week, Hugh will commence his role with the province on Wednesday 3rd of April
JLP : All change at the Kingspan and it is good to see it happening at the very top not just coaching level. It has been clear for a while that moves needed to be made higher up the chain. Certainly hasn’t been the easiest for them to start the new era on a South African tour but hopefully there will be enough understanding from the fans that it will take time to turn things around.
Raynal made a remarkably bold decision in a 2022 Bledisloe Cup match…in the fallout, Raynal deleted his social media to protect his family from abuse.
JLP : Sorry to hear, I never had an issue with him and while I’ve never seen an All Black defeat I didn’t like, I still 100% backed his decision to call that free kick the game needed it especially in such a high profile match although you don’t need to justify pushing back against any form of online abuse towards anyone involved in the sport.
JLP : Very important site this, you’d understand why there’s no ‘official’ source representative the POV of officials but this independent one has always been reliable. This is just a straightforward article listing the officiating teams for the last 16 but I pretty much visit this site every week so I thought I’d share it here.
You promised to you were going play like it’s your last f***ing game as a group together. But you lied. You’re a f***ing liar!
JLP : My feelings on Rassie are mixed – of course you have to respect the whole “two World Cups” part but the Lions tour shenanigans did leave a sour taste. I always appreciate these behind the scenes bits, looking forward to watching CTS2.
Note – views expressed in “Front Five” links do not necessarily reflect those of HarpinOnRugby
WRAP OF A WRAP
We recorded on Monday this week and aimed to keep the wrap part as brief as possible. Tom & Ciarán did a bang up job with this as well as looking ahead to the matches Leinster have coming up.
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.
QUICK TAP : PROMOTING INCLUSION
NGL when I started writing this copy I wasn’t sure where I was headed with it but it became apparent as I went along. The promotion argument has gone on for long enough and it’s about time we started coming up with viable solutions. Obviously the option I suggest in the video is a more long term one, I guess I was being realistic about the length of time it takes this sport to make any kind of change. There are of course many different options that would be fine, the important thing is that they do something soon.
While Hugo Keenan & Jimmy O’Brien were in the dreaded “no further update” section, there actually followed a further update that both could return to action sooner than expected, which is definitely good news at this stage of the season.
Strange Jason Jenkins wasn’t included in the update but anyway I’m assuming he’ll be available for Friday where I may be a mile off with my selection but you have to admit that would not only be a form starting XV but it would also possibly be the most talented bench the RDS has ever seen…
Harpin’ matchday 23 v Bulls
Larmour, Russell, Ringrose, Henshaw, Lowe, R Byrne, McGrath
Healy, Kelleher, Ala’alatoa, Molony, Jenkins, Baird, van der Flier, Deegan
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:
Martin Moloney: has returned to full training this week after returning from a bicep injury
INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:
Cormac Foley: will be further assessed this week as he nears a return from a shoulder injury
Ciarán Frawley: was withdrawn from the game at the weekend with a foot injury and will be further assessed this week before a final decision is made on his availability
NO FURTHER UPDATES ON:
Hugo Keenan (hip), James Ryan (arm), Tommy O’Brien (hamstring), Alex Soroka (foot), Charlie Ngatai (calf) and Jimmy O’Brien (Neck)
WOMEN’S SIX NATIONS
Here’s what I read on the pod…
In the Women’s Six Nations Ireland may have fallen in their opening match in France but there were still loads of positives to take from it, first the 21 point deficit was a vast improvement on the 50 from the same fixture last season, plus we showed we could get scores ourselves with two Aoifes crossing, namely Wafer and Dalton. Also despite the scoreline it was still a strong defensive display overall from the girls so plenty to feel good about looking ahead to next week’s task against Italy, who were playing at the same Stadio di Lanfranchi where Leinster had won the night before. Although the Red Roses shipped an early red card for Sarah Beckett, they were still way too good for their hosts and ran out convincing 48-0 winners. So hopefully there will be a full crowd at the RDS next Saturday to cheer on the girls. That really should be a fascinating encounter.
One extra point I’d like to make is that I really thought it was strange that the Red Roses’ opener against Italy was played at exactly the same time as Bath v Sale Sharks in the men’s Premiership. Whatever about the complexities of broadcasting contracts and what-not, that’s a terrible look for the sport overall and women’s rugby in particular. Those fans in The Rec should have been afforded the opportunity to watch their national team play as it happened, even if they weren’t the reigning champions.
ROUND ONE
ITALY 0-48 ENGLAND
WALES 18-20 SCOTLAND
FRANCE 38-17 IRELAND
ROUND TWO
FRI MAR 30
SCOTLAND V FRANCE
ENGLAND V WALES
SAT MAR 31
IRELAND V ITALY
“SVNS” UPDATE
The series doesn’t return until the weekend of April 5-7 but the draw for the Hong Kong pools has been made, here’s some copy straight from the tournament page…
The pools have been drawn for the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens (5-7 April 2024) at the Hong Kong Stadium, the sixth of eight tournaments on the HSBC SVNS, and the full schedule has now been confirmed.
Pool C sees Ireland – currently second in the standings after finishing as runners-up in Perth and the USA, atop the pool with tenth-placed Spain, eleventh-ranked Samoa and seventh-ranked South Africa, who were winners of the Series opener in Dubai.
In the 12-team women’s competition, a taut battle between Australia and New Zealand is developing, with both sides claiming two cup wins to date. Australia won the two opening legs in Dubai and Cape Town, while New Zealand won the two most recent tournaments in Los Angeles and Vancouver. Ireland won the cup in Perth.
Only four points separate the two women’s leaders ahead of Hong Kong with Australia on 90 and New Zealand on 86. France is in third on 74. USA and Canada round out the top five as the action moves to Hong Kong.
New Zealand top Pool A ahead of France, Brazil and Team Great Britain. Australia head Pool B over South Africa, Ireland and Fiji, while fourth-placed USA head Pool C with Canada, Japan and Spain.
NEXT IN THE SERIES…
HONG KONG APR 5-7
SINGAPORE MAY 3-5
MADRID MAY 31-JUN 2
🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE
Some mad results from Round 19, with Toulon’s margin of victory over Montpellier being greater than all the other 6 matches put together. La Rochelle fell again, but despite having more losses than wins they are still clinging on to a playoff position by their fingernails. Stu Lancaster’s Racing had a much needed win to keep them up there while Parisian rivals Stade Français inched a little further ahead at the top as Toulouse were edged out in Bayonne. Round 20 is interesting in that all 7 matches involve one team from the top half against a team from the bottom half so we’ll see if there are any upsets.
Round 19
TOULON 54-7 MONTPELLIER
OYONNAX 14-15 PERPIGNAN
CASTRES 21-23 RACING 92
CLÉRMONT 31-28 PAU
STADE FRANÇAIS 22-13 LYON
BAYONNE 13-12 LA ROCHELLE
BORDEAUX 31-28 TOULOUSE
Round 20
SAT MAR 30
MONTPELLIER V STADE FRANÇAIS
PERPIGNAN V CASTRES
LA ROCHELLE V OYONNAX
LYON V BORDEAUX
RACING 92 V CLÉRMONT
TOULOUSE V PAU
SUN MAR 31
BAYONNE V TOULON
PREMIERSHIP UPDATE
After a long, long break the top two, Saints and Quins, both shipped 50 burgers which made this league even tighter than it already was, with now 8 of the ten clubs having won more than they lost so far!!!! Leicester fans were obviously disappointed by their defeat at home to Glaws, definitely not a good start to preparations for the Aviva in a couple of weekends. It will be interesting to see how the Tigers approach their trip to Newcastle, who have lost all 13 of their matches so far, this weekend. Obviously the points are vital but will they hold back some players for Dublin?
Northampton v Sarries seems to be the tie of Round 14 but on the subject of Sarries, this tweet was interesting, we’ll see if anything develops from it…
ROUND 13
BRISTOL 52-21 NORTHAMPTON
LEICESTER TIGERS 25-27 GLOUCESTER
BATH 42-24 SALE SHARKS
EXETER CHIEFS 25-16 NEWCASTLE
SARACENS 52-7 HARLEQUINS
ROUND 14
FRI MAR 29
NEWCASTLE V LEICESTER
NORTHAMPTON V SARACENS
SAT MAR 30
GLOUCESTER V BRISTOL
HARLEQUINS V BATH
SUN MAR 31
SALE SHARKS V EXETER
AIL UPDATE
Feels like a while since there has been an “all Top 4” clash in the Women’s AIL and we have one this weekend when Belvo host Railway Union.
Some big results in the Men’s 1A, first leaders Tarf fell at Belfield Bowl while champions Terenure scored a big win in Cork so while the top four seems pretty much set, with just two rounds to go the race for a home semifinal seems to be all to play for. Terenure v Clontarf is easily the pick of Round 17 but both will be keeping an eye on Cork Con who host a Ballynahinch side still in with a shout for the playoffs themselves.
This is the time of the season we include the race for promotion to 1A in our updates…St Mary’s have already clinched their spot but the playoff is up for grabs with Old Wesley in 2nd at the moment but with them heading to Templeville Road, it will be a chance for Garryowen and Highfield behind them to catch up.
#SupportYourLocalClub
WOMEN’S AIL
NO MATCHES LAST WEEKEND
ROUND 16
SAT MAR 30
BALLINCOLLIG V BLACKROCK
OLD BELVEDERE V RAILWAY UNION
SUTTONIANS V GALWEGIANS
WICKLOW V COOKE
MEN’S AIL 1A
ROUND 16
BALLYNAHINCH 10-5 LANSDOWNE
CITY OF ARMAGH 36-26 SHANNON
CORK CON 23-26 TERENURE
UCD 38-32 CLONTARF
YOUNG MUNSTER 26-10 TRINITY
ROUND 17
SAT MAR 30
CORK CON V BALLYNAHINCH
LANSDOWNE V ARMAGH
TERENURE V CLONTARF
TRINITY V UCD
SUN MAR 31
SHANNON V YOUNG MUNSTER
MEN’S AIL 1B
ROUND 16
BLACKROCK 21-17 OLD BELVEDERE
BUCCANEERS 7-24 HIGHFIELD
GARRYOWEN 55-26 QUEENS
NAAS 20-39 OLD WESLEY
UCC 26-31 ST MARYS
ROUND 17
SAT MAR 30
HIGHFIELD V BLACKROCK
OLD BELVEDERE V GARRYOWEN
QUEENS V NAAS
ST MARY’S V OLD WESLEY
UCC V BUCCANEERS
SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC UPDATE
All I can think about in this comp right now is the Plight Of The Crusaders. Fifth loss in a row, rock bottom of the log, and with David Havilli injured and the second place Chiefs coming to town next, they are going to have to find their mojo soon otherwise we’ll be questioning as to whether even a playoff place is possible. Hurricanes will look to stay top although they’ll have to win in Otago to do so while the Fijan Drua notched another W albeit after sudden death extra time.
ROUND 5
HURRICANES 54-28 REBELS
BRUMBIES 60-21 MOANA PASIFIKA
FIJIAN DRUA *39-36 WARATAHS
CHIEFS 28-21 HIGHLANDERS
BLUES 26-6 CRUSADERS
WESTERN FORCE 40-31 REDS
ROUND 6
FRI MAR 29
CRUSADERS V CHIEFS
WARATAHS V REBELS
SAT MAR 30
FIJIAN DRUA V WESTERN FORCE
MOANA PASIFIKA V BLUES
HIGHLANDERS V HURRICANES
REDS V BRUMBIES
MAJOR LEAGUE RUGBY UPDATE
Houston edged a high-scoring battle between the two 100% sides to stay top in the West while New England and NOLA lead the East with the former having won in Chicago – the Hounds are my Harpin MLR adopted team for 2024 and things don’t get much easier for them as Seattle visit the Windy City next week.
ROUND 4
SEATTLE 40-42 HOUSTON
OLD GLORY 11-27 SAN DIEGO
MIAMI 50-21 ANTHEM RC
DALLAS 22-35 NOLA GOLD
CHICAGO 17-22 NEW ENGLAND
LOS ANGELES 36-32 UTAH
ROUND 5
SAT MAR 30
DALLAS V HOUSTON
CHICAGO V SEATTLE
ANTHEM RC V OLD GLORY DC
SUN MAR 31
MIAMI V SAN DIEGO
HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE
Somehow a late score in the Dragons v Bulls match kept me top of the league by just half a point, I had a horrible round 12, although I’d like an official Superbru Stewards Enquiry over my “wooden spoon” for the week – surely “No Picks Keego” should have gotten it? Anyhoo…as you can see it’s only the fact that I have correctly predicted the winner in more URC matches than anyone else that’s keeping me top (Kino with his stats based approach has him well ahead in the closest to winning margin category) and if I don’t find my mojo soon I could easily slip into the bottom half.
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Really looking forward to returning to the RDS this Friday, we will of course have a preview of the Bulls match earlier in the day, then the wrap will record Sunday evening.
Finally, as ever, be sure to enjoy your Easter ‘egg-chasing’ wherever you are. JLP
23 March 2024; Rob Russell of Leinster evades the tackle of Simone Gesi of Zebre on his way to scoring his side’s first try during the United Rugby Championship match between Zebre Parma and Leinster at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi in Parma, Italy. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
Score flattered Leinster who finished ruthlessly and tackled and tackled, great squad depth
Shane Gallagher
We need to talk about Liam Turner. I know we can all see Jamie stepping up to a possible first choice centre position but Turner is so fast and powerful…love to watch him both in defence and attack!
Karen Mooney
As always leinster come out in the second half.. and put the match to bed…
Came up with the goods after the break, no offence meant to Luke but Deegan was PotM for me. Good shift for 4th quarter defence, 5 points in the bank, back home to RDS for Bulls on Fri.#ZEBvLEI
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
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 