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WRAP OF A WRAP

We had already decided long before kickoff that our wrap pod recording would be moved 24 hours later to Monday evening to allow for maximum time to prepare after the Sunday afternoon fixture, but given the way it worked out we were even more glad of the extra time.

Unfortunately RugbyKino was unable to join us as planned with him having a sore throat but thankfully Tom Coleman was able to come on from the bench to join Rich and as it turned out we had so much to harp on from this epic encounter that I had to completely alter how I present the pod.

Normally we record an extra “bonus clip” on an extra topic but our chat went on so long I decided to ditch it for this week, and when I went to edit I realised that there really wasnt anything worth cutting from what the lads had to so as you can see below the “Front Five” and “Final Thoughts” portions went to our YouTube channel, all to keep the actual wrap pod under an hour, but as ever I reckon it’s all well worth the listen.

If you didn’t catch the wrap pod itself, here’s a link to Spotify and we’re also on Apple and most major platforms.

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LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE

Mixed news from the report especially on the dreaded bottom line…we already knew Ross Byrne would be there but seeing Jamie Osborne’s name is also worrying…and also Cormac Foley being out for months is a blow for him and the team, he was progressing really well.

Also any squad would miss names like Conan and Furlong hopefully they are both minor issues while we will probably be without Harry Byrne for the visit of Sale.

On the plus side it’s great to see both Tommy O’Brien and Luke McGrath at least moving their way up the list.

On my selection for Saturday, while I am with what seems to be a majority of Leinster fans who want to see Frawley get a run at 10, I may have put him there in my selection but I still appreciate that if we feel we have to go for a 6/2 bench he may need to be on the bench.

We all of course wish James Lowe to only come back when he’s ready, would love to see him at least at 23 to ease him back in but then again Charlie Ngatai is having an amazing season himself so he makes my 23.

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LIONS – STILL A THING?

Had we done a bonus clip, it was to be all about the Lions, with the panel discussing both the announcement of the famous feline franchise playing the Pumas at the Aviva Stadium and also Gerry Thornley’s article questioning the viability of the whole concept what with concerns over player welfare.

My view is pretty simple – when the matches and tours are on, I love them as a fan of top level rugby.  Who wouldn’t love to see a combined team from four of the Six Nations take on the best of the Southern hemisphere in a test series, and having a test happen in Dublin is long overdue and would be on its own a great occasion for Irish rugby in particular.

However this obviously goes out the window when there’s even a suggestion of too much rugby on the calendar and there’s also my wish for there to be more opportunities for the “Tier 2” nations to play rugby.  And when a Lions squad assembles every four years, it automatically takes FIVE Tier 1 nations out of the equation when it comes to arranging matches and for me if it’s a case of “something has to give”, and I really think it is, then consigning the Lions tours to the history books wouldn’t be the worst thing for the sport.

I’ll look to bring it up in a future pod when I can to try and get some views from other Harpin panellists.

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CHAMPIONS CUP FORMAT

No, the headline doesn’t mean I intend to moan about the format, in fact if anything I’m sick of all that moaning.  Actually all I want to do here is point out how the knockout phase is organised for this year’s competition as I only learned it myself since last week’s 80+ column.

As you probably know there are four pools of six with two from each league in each pool and everyone plays four matches, avoiding only the team that comes from the same league.

The top four in each pool go forward to the last 16 and the seedings are very straightforward, the pool winners get 1-4 (ranked by pool performance), runnersup are 5-8, 3rd place teams 9-12 and finally 4th placed teams 13-16.   For the last 16 round, the pairings are set as follows…1v16, 2v15, 3v14, 4v13, 5v12, 6v11, 7v10, 8v9.

What this means is that it is very possible (1 in 4 chance to be precise) that teams from the same pool can meet each other in the last 16.  For example, not completely out of the question that Leinster play La Rochelle again!!!!

This isn’t a new thing by the way…in the format most people wish we could return to, with 6 pools of 4 producing 8 quarterfinallists, it has often happened that one of the two best runnersup faced a team they already faced in the pool phase.

I can’t say I’m a fan of this and would rather they kept the pools apart at least for that first knockout round, but I certainly wouldn’t dwell on it too much since that would itself be moaning!!!  I’ll stick to hoping Leinster get as high a seeding as we can possibly get.

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GUINNESS AS WOMEN’S 6N SPONSOR

On the surface this looks like good news, since the women’s game in particular will always need sponsorship, but I still have reservations.

It wasn’t so long ago that the league formerly known as the “Pro12/14” went a long time with having a sponsor before Guinness stepped in at virtually the 11th hour, and the same thing happened to the men’s Six Nations as the famous Irish stout was only announced to be offering its name to the 2019 tournament in December of 2018.  Pretty sure these deals are ideally done and dusted much longer in advance of the competitions kicking off.

This leads me to think that Guinness may well be something of a “sponsor of last resort” for rugby and if so this could mean that it may not be as lucrative for the competition as it could be.  I really, really hope I’m wrong but it does seem to make sense that a deal negotiated with a different company would bear more fruit.

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ANOTHER MAJOR LEAGUE RUGBY FOLDS 

Absolutely devastating news from the USA, with Toronto Arrows already pulling out of Major League Rugby for 2024, now even New York can’t hold down a team with the Ironworkers also folding.  With the Miami Sharks joining this season, that leaves them with just ten for this season and surely there must be more teams struggling as well.

It’s very important for the sport that they get a foothold in the US, but it really looks like trying to model their product on the MLS isn’t the way to go, which is ironic because the reason it took soccer so long to take off over there was that they originally modelled themselves too much on the “established” American sports.  

Looks like rugby there is going to have to find its own way forward.

UPDATE – since publishing I have learned that the league plans to expand into Mexico for 2025. Sounds like the plans aren’t finalised so I guess they figured they needed to get this news out there asap to push back on all the Toronto/NY negativity. Interesting move with Mexico hardly a rugby hotbed but we’ll see how it pans out.

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EDDIE JONES

I really, really, REALLY don’t want to devote too many words to this guy, and Paul Williams sums up my feeling pretty well in the tweet below.  But one thing I will say is that as much as I say in the previous segment how much I want the game to flourish in the USA, the same goes for Japan.  We really need a strong foothold in both markets.  Sadly now I can’t help but wish for EJ to be a flop out there which if it were to happen would probably set the game back further.

Eddie Jones is officially the new coach of Japan.

Signed a 4 year deal.

He's probably looking for a new job already.

— Paul Williams (@thepaulwilliams) December 13, 2023

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URC IRISH SHIELD UPDATE

Now for the “Update” portion of the column and while there were obviously no URC games to update this table I might as well leave it here anyway.

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“SVNS” UPDATE

For the second week in a row I’m simply going to paste in my copy from the pod (actually it’s in the first YouTube clip above) as it pretty much says all I have to say on the sevens…

I’ll start with the women – because while a seventh place finish is one down from the previous weekend in Dubai, there were still some fine performances, arguably the best of which was one they lost against Australia, as a brace of Bebhinn Parsons tries kept the eventual tournament winners honest and 14-24 was a very respectable result all things considered.  They also ended the competition on a high defeating Great Britain avenging an earlier defeat in the pool stages to finish 7th which is also where they sit in the overall standings after two rounds.

Meanwhile the men had a better time of it – any Irish rugby team defeating New Zealand in a quarterfinal would make headlines but this was also not only our first ever win over them in 7s but also the first time they had lost at this stage of the competition since 2015.  And it’s not like it was a fluke, not only was it a comprehensive 36-21 victory that included a Terry Kennedy hat-trick, but it came after an equally impressive win over the hosts at the end of Day 1, with the Irish men often deploying absolutely suffocating defensive sets that made it look like we had 15 out there not 7.  

However those levels of physicality can take their toll and having reached the final four we finally came unstuck against eventual tournament winners Argentina in the semifinals and also against Fiji in the playoff which meant a fourth place finish that keeps us in 5th on the series table.

I said last week both squads can definitely get higher finishes and I still believe this to be the case.  The series now moves on to Perth for a 3-day event from January 26th to 28th, make a note in your diaries and try to catch as much of the action as you can it is generally streamed live for free on rugbypass.tv

CAPE TOWN 7s

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AIL UPDATE 

“Match conceded by Wicklow due to injuries” is not a sentence we want to see in any level of senior rugby in 2023, especially when the top league in the country has only 9 teams so for any to be unable to put a matchday squad together it shows the game is still in major trouble.

And going on history, the 28-0 scoreline which was awarded to league leaders UL Bohs was something of a blessing for Wicklow – I have to admit I winced before looking at the scoreline and would not have blinked if it was in triple figures.  That’s in no way an indictment of the rugby club itself by the way, rather the continued poor investment in the club game in general.

The league may have nine clubs officially, but actually there are only four with any real chance of winning it with three of them based in Dublin and surely there must be more talent available across the island that we can get playing the sport on a regular basis.

The league now takes a break until February 10, while in the meantime there will be the new “Celtic Challenge” competition including two new Irish franchises, the Wolfhounds and the Clovers who will play each other in Round 1 on December 29.

Meanwhile on the men’s side of things, Clontarf earned a win away to Lansdowne in round 8 to stay top while Cork Con stayed in touch by defeating UCD.  Champions Terenure continued their recent form by sneaking into the top 4 thanks to a 29-17 win over City of Armagh, who have an Ulster derby to look forward to next weekend as they host Ballynahinch, although the tie of the round would seem to be the all Munster affair when Young Munsters host Cork Con. 

#SupportYourLocalClub

WOMEN’S AIL

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MEN’S AIL

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CHALLENGE CUP UPDATE

All Irish provinces may be in the main competition but the Challenge Cup is still worth updating here, partly because it’s possible a province or two may end up dropping down into its knockout stage, but also as there are some interesting entrants in this years pool stage, not least of which is Black Lion from Georgia.

It wasn’t the worst debut for them either as although they lost to Premiership side Gloucester, it was only by a respectable 10-15 result to give them their first match point in European rugby.  Elsewhere there were wins for the Sharks and Castres, two of the sides who may be fancied to be there or thereabouts in the latter stages, and also for the Dragons, who surely won’t care how little Oyonnax put into their fixture as they needed any kind of win they could get!

The South African derby between Cheetahs and Sharks seems to be the pick of round 2, although Black Lion will fancy having a go at the Scarlets given how things went the last team a Georgian side played in Wales.

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HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE

Yeah I know this league is for the URC only and there were no matches last weekend but hey, I’m top of the league so Imma gonna keep posting the standings every chance I get!!!

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NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Premiership leaders Sale Sharks come to the RDS on Saturday evening, we’ll have a preview with Keego on Friday while Tom Coleman and RugbyKino are slated to help with the wrap which will be back in its Sunday evening recording slot.  Be sure to keep in touch with all our social media channels and offer your own thoughts where you can.

And as ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are.  JLP

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WRAP OF A WRAP

As ever Tom & Rich did a bang up job wrapping Leinster’s win over the Scarlets.  I’ve tried to simplify the format this season, where before I split each half into five segments for the guests to wrap they now just cover 20 minutes each per half.  That can lead to a lot of harping so I’ve tried to jump in to help were I can but I still reckon this works as a better system.

ICYMI, here’s a link to Spotify and we’re also on most major platforms.

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HARPIN ON…NEINABER’S TASK

Classic Harpin luck…less than 24 hours after we record a bonus clip about what Neinaber can bring to Leinster, the news breaks that he’s likely to be delayed arriving with the squad until after we play Munster.  Still, as Tom says you can already see some of his influence in our play and no doubt there is some kind of Zoom-like communication going on.   Anyway, the boys still did a good job harpin’ on what he will add to the province.

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LEINSTER INJURY UPDATE

Would you believe I completely forgot about this 80+ feature this season until now?  Well if you knew me you certainly would believe it! #scatterbrain

Anywho…while it is good news about Ed Byrne, and also that Messrs Milne & Healy are close to making it five, yes, count ‘em, FIVE quality loose head props available for selection, I reckon Jack Boyle’s form over the first five rounds should be enough to earn him a spot in our 23 for this Saturday at very least.

Obviously the names at the bottom of the list are concerning and we’d want them returning ASAP but overall it’s far from the worst injury report we’ve seen.

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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WE STAND WITH UGO

Easy choice of topic for this week’s TikTok.  Pretty much said my piece in the video but I will also add a relevant tweet from fellow Leinster fan Catherine Kavanagh on the matter.

@harpinonrugby

Check out our 80+ column posting every Tuesday afternoon at HarpinOnRugby.com #rugbytiktoks🏉

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com – Harpinonrugby.com

https://twitter.com/ugomonye/status/1726288438356513181?s=20

In spring 2019 Leinster played Ulster in a HEC 1/4 final. Dan Leavy's last game. A Leinster fan, obstreperous and hammered, abused Ulster fans & players in sectarian terms. He got instantly shouted down by everyone, the Gardai marched him out. LR went after him too. Only way. https://t.co/Sm1t9LdmrL

— Catherine Kavanagh (@KavanaghCk) November 19, 2023

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IRISH “SVNS” SQUADS ANNOUNCED

I think I’ve finally settled on a structure with these 80+ columns…starting with a few segments on the wrap pod from last weekend, ending with updates from other competitions, and here we’re in what I call “The Middle Aisle” where I cover a few topics that caught my eye in the last week.

First we have the announcement of the squads for the two senior 7s teams which will be representing Ireland both in the rebranded “Svns” series which starts in Dubai on the weekend of December 2.

As you can see below, the biggest difference between the two groups is that the Women’s includes many who would be expected to featured in XVs, so clearly this continues to be a problem for the programme.  Apparently the only actual clash with the 2024 Six Nations will be on the Hong Kong leg but realistically I’d expect there to be minimal back and forth between the versions.

On the men’s side, all the big names are there like Kennedy, Conroy, McNulty plus some new ones as well and they will really want to crack on from last season where they reached their first final yet disappointed in other events.

We’ll be covering the series on this column and eventually it will move to the Updates section starting next week.

Ireland Women’s Sevens – 2024 Squad: Kathy Baker, Claire Boles, Megan Burns, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe, Alanna Fitzpatrick, Stacey Flood, Eve Higgins, Katie Heffernan, Erin King, Lucinda Kinghan, Vicky Elmes Kinlan, Emily Lane, Amy Larn, Kate Farrell McCabe, Anna McGann, Lucy Mulhall, Beibhinn Parsons, Aoibheann Reilly, Vikki Wall.

Ireland Men’s Sevens – 2024 Squad: Niall Comerford, Jordan Conroy, Sean Cribbin, Billy Dardis, Ed Kelly, Jack Kelly, Terry Kennedy, JJ Kenny, Hugo Lennox, Matt McDonald, Harry McNulty, Bryan Mollen, Gavin Mullin, Chay Mullins, Dylan O’Grady, Aaron O’Sullivan, Connor O’Sullivan, Mark Roche, Zac Ward.

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WOMEN’S CELTIC LEAGUE GETS CLOSER

Last season there was a new competition called “The Celtic Challenge” where Irish, Scottish and Welsh women’s teams competed to help prepare for the Six Nations – now it has been expanded to involve two teams from each nation so I assume it will be a round robin format.  

As my headline suggests, this brings us ever closer to the formation of a proper Women’s Celtic League and it would be perfect if they could eventually include all four provinces.

One drawback however seems to be the fact that this expanded competition will run right into the also-expanded format of the Women’s AIL which switched to a home-and-away format this season.

I’m all for more women’s rugby but when the sevens, club, test and now this new level all clash at the same time it really looks like they are creating more problems than they are solving.

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SIOBHÁN CATTIGAN 

I’m not really in a position to comment too much on any Scottish rugby let alone the women’s game there but it was hard not to be moved by the tragic story of Siobhán Cattigan plus the horrible way in which the SRU handled the aftermath.  

Hopefully the way the union has engaged with the family together with the apology has gone a way towards mending the fences.  If they are happy with the sincerity of the apologies than so should we.

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HOGG WASH

Not my intention to pick on Scottish rugby this week but I just have one thing to say about the whole Stuart Hogg thing…if the reports are true then he definitely does not sound like a good guy.  

That said, if he goes on to stay out of rugby then there’s not much more for me to say about him on a platform dedicated to opinion on what happens within the game.  And it certainly seems that Rugby Pass aren’t singing from the same hymn sheet.

I mean – if we want to focus on players who have wronged women, there are plenty of those still playing the sport now.

"I absolutely hated it… but there was method in the madness."

– Stuart Hogg, with Liam Heagney 👨‍💻, on being an ex-player, horse riding, @rugbyontnt TV punditry, and anguished last few months at Exeter. #GallagherPrem #EXEvGLO

Click below for more ⤵️https://t.co/1Q5zI9PgFU

— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 19, 2023

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ITALIAN CLUBS

Many have pointed out that the two Italian clubs are now above all four Welsh regions on the URC table, but I also noticed one other fact from the first five rounds of the season.

Last season, over the 18 regular season rounds of the URC, both Italian clubs lost in as many as 10 of them.  This season so far, there have been ZERO.  Maybe that includes a couple of draws but that is still certainly quite the improvement, and long may it continue.  Except when they both play Leinster, of course…

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MIKE AND THE PRE-MATCH MECHANICS

I covered Mike McCarthy’s pre-kickoff Viking clap routine on this column a few weeks ago for Leinster’s first match at the RDS, well they didn’t do it for the visit of Edinburgh yet brought it back last Saturday and this time I took a brief video for TikTok.

@harpinonrugby

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.com

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URC IRISH SHIELD UPDATE

No Irish Shield action last weekend, rather four proud wins for the provinces, but the race resumes at the Aviva this Saturday as Leinster finally join the fray.  I’ve revised the info below to include all the 12 matches and we’ll continue to track the table’s process throughout the season if the URC have yet to do it on their website.

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1. ULSTER P 2 PTS 5
2. CONNACHT P 1 PTS 4
3. MUNSTER P 1 PTS 1
4. LEINSTER P 0 PTS 0

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🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE

Big win for Stu Lancaster’s Racing in the Parisien derby which moves them up to second place level on points with their capital city rivals with Castres also on 23pts and Pau just one behind.  Things don’t exactly get easier for Racing as they host La Rochelle who seem to be getting their mojo back after a third win on the bounce saw them creep to the edge of the playoff picture.

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PREMIERSHIP UPDATE

Leinster’s Euro opponents are heading in opposite directions these days – we play Sale in December and they went to the top of the table after their win over Newcastle while Quins got humbled at the Stoop by Saracens.  Leicester did manage to win their derby against the Saints yet they remain in the bottom two. 

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AIL UPDATE 

Round 8 of the Women’s AIL has once again highlighted the gap between the top 4 clubs and the rest, with the two matches involving sides from both ends of the table being blow outs and the two more evenly matched contests being close.  UL Bohs held out Belvo to keep their 100% record intact, but their schedule doesn’t get any easier as they must travel to Belvo the weekend after next while another potential semifinal matchup between Rock and Railway takes place at the same time, and when those matches are complete the league will be at its halfway point.

Meanwhile on the men’s side, even though I am a blue jersey supporter I still have to admit it’s always good to see as many as three provinces represented in the top four of the AIL 1A.

Recent Leinster debutant Dylan Donnellan marked his return to the AIL with two tries but leaders Clontarf could only manage a draw away to Hinch although they still remain top.  Cork Con’s demolition of lowly Trinity brought them to within a point of 1st while champions Terenure continue to struggle to stay in touch with the top 4 as they fell away to Young Munster.

The men’s clubs take a break this coming weekend with the big interpro derby at the Aviva but there’s to be another one in Round 7 when 1st place Tarf hosts 2nd place Con.  Hopefully there will be a stream for that one, definitely worth a watch.

#SupportYourLocalClub

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RE SUPER CUP UPDATE

The two decisive matches when it came to deciding on semi finalists each went different ways in the final round.  The Romanian Wolves rolled over the Brussels Devils while the Iberian peninsula derby was a whole lot closer with Castilla holding out Lusitanos to join the Wolves in the final four. Meanwhile in what could very possibly be a rehearsal for the final, champions Black Lion edged Tel Aviv.  At time of writing dates and times of the semifinals are yet to be decided.

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HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE

Bad week for me this time around, I tried backing Zebre again and although they didn’t lose, they didn’t win either and other results went against me meaning I was overtaken by Kino, who apparently is deploying a new system (and I’m not mocking it – he literally has a degree in this sort of thing) so we’ll see if I can keep in touch with himself, Kristian and Conor, the HPL rookie who this week jumped into the top slot.  Will be very interesting to see what the predictions are for Leinster v Munster this Saturday given only Ulster fan Kristian has no skin in the game…will any of the other seven take a gamble and plump for red?

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NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Our Opposition View series of pod returns this week, although due to time restrictions I may only do them for interpros for the next while.  Caolán Scully joins me for a chat, watch out for it on the feed around Wednesday morning.  I may even give him a bit of time to gloat over their URC title, you never know.

But after that it’s down to business giving Saturday’s big one at the Aviva the full Harpin treatment with Keego joining me for the preview on Friday, then Mark & Nathan are due to help me with the wrap on Sunday so stay tuned to all the usual social media channels and get involved in the discussion in any way you can. 

As ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are.  JLP

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