Our bonus chats post on the YouTube channel every Tuesday after a wrap pod, as well as being part of our weekly 80+ column which now can be found on Substack.
Tag: rugby
437 : Leinster v Glasgow wrap
🏉 Stats v Vibes
🏉 Tremendous Tommy
🏉 Flat Track Bullies
🏉 The Ben Whitehouse Experience
🏉 In Our Defence
THIS WEEK’S GUESTS
FULL TIME TAKES
Gavin Hegarty
I’m not going to comment on whitehouse.
We have real talent in Leinster but for some reason this talent is not firing. On paper we were 40+ better than this team yet we couldn’t string any phases together.
Why do we want to defend? We just keep on aimlessly kicking the ball away. Madness.
Tommy O’Brien is class and has to be capped in Georgia/Portugal.
On a positive note on spiral from Sam has to be the best kick I’ve ever seen! Simple exquisite
Chris McDonnell
No real spark but effort was very good. Gunne passed well but didn’t really offer any threat, Sam is not controlling the game, loads of really good stuff but not really getting a grip. Boyle is a good one. What’s going on with furlong? Why is he on the bench if he’s not getting much needed game time.
Christy O’Connor
This proves that Frawley should’ve been given more time at ten.
Andrew Bailey
It’s a sad situation when you know once referee is announced that he will be awful. Whitehouse did not disappoint. Aside from that we have a problem at 10
Get in the conversation yourself by leaving
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URC WRAP
NEXT HARPIN’
TUESDAY
BONUS CHAT : “THE URC QUARTERFINALS”
WEDNESDAY
80+ COLUMN
436 : Leinster v Glasgow preview
LEINSTER : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Robbie Henshaw 12. Jordie Barrett 11. Jimmy O’Brien 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Fintan Gunne
1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Thomas Clarkson 4. RG Snyman 5. James Ryan 6. Ryan Baird 7. Scott Penny 8. Jack Conan (c)
16. Rónan Kelleher 17. Jack Boyle 18. Tadhg Furlong 19. Diarmuid Mangan 20. Max Deegan 21. Luke McGrath 22. Ciarán Frawley 23. Jamie Osborne
GLASGOW : 15 Kyle Rowe 14 Sebastian Cancelliere 13 Huw Jones 12 Sione Tuipulotu 11 Kyle Steyn (C) 10 Adam Hastings 9 Ben Afshar
1 Jamie Bhatti 2 Seb Stephen 3 Fin Richardson 4 Jare Oguntibeju 5 Alex Samuel 6 Macenzzie Duncan 7 Rory Darge 8 Euan Ferrie
16 Gregor Hiddleston 17 Nathan McBeth 18 Murphy Walker 19 JP du Preez 20 Scott Cummings 21 Stafford McDowall 22 George Horne 23 Tom Jordan
BKT United Rugby Championship 24/25 Rd 18
Saturday, May 17, 2025
KO 7:35pm Aviva Stadium
Live on : RTÉ2, Premier Sports 2, URC.tv
Referee: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)
AR 1: Keane Davison (IRFU)
AR 2: Stuart Gaffikin (IRFU)
TMO: Keith David (WRU)
435 : Leinster v Zebre wrap
🏉 12 different tries
🏉 Tyler’s attack
🏉 Sam’s starts
🏉 That JB narrative
🏉 Improved forwards
THIS WEEK’S GUESTS
FULL TIME TAKES
Kevin Kelehan
Normal service is restored after last weeks slip
David Ryle
Better structure this week.
William Andrew
Flat track bullies. If they didn’t set up a drop goal, they have learnt nothing.
URC WRAP
NEXT HARPIN’
TUESDAY
BONUS CHAT : “THE LIONS SQUAD”
WEDNESDAY
80+ COLUMN
THURSDAY
THROWBACK THURSDAY
433 : Leinster v Northampton wrap
🏉 Top two inches
🏉 Saints on the march
🏉 D-construction
🏉 Selection issues
🏉 What next?
THIS WEEK’S GUESTS
FULL TIME TAKES
Cormac Mannion
Kept kicking the ball away and when we actually had a straightforward kick to draw level at 37-37 we went for the corner. Summed up our brainless play all evening. I’m really annoyed about how we played. Yet again we’ve faltered in a big match
Gavin Hegarty
Anyone else think henshaw was a huge weak link? He didn’t bring anything to the party.
Head to simani is a straight red
Yellow at the try line should be a penalty try
But we shouldn’t have been in that position.
Horrific first half that we shouldn’t have been that bad in.
Andrew Tynan
The ref giving a saints player a yellow card at the end but yet no penalty try? What?
Kevin Kelehan
Kicking the ball at Saints back 3 was never going to be a winner, Leinster were lucky to be in the game right to the end, tactically the approach did not play to Leinster’s strengths. Credit Saints they nailed 90% of their chances
Colette Caddle
They were the better side and deserved the win.
Christy O’Connor
Nienaber has to go for me, I’ve never liked his tactics and I was never hopeful we would win with his style. Yes we played better the last few weeks but against very poor opposition
Daniel James
I think we should’ve played at least the bones of this team against scarlets last week as I worry that the international are sometime undercooked. Also i think we need to win an URC before the champions cup and we have been focusing to much on getting that 5th star rather then winning our league then going for the star. The intensity from Northampton was incredible all game I expected them to get tired towards the end but they have it there all where as I thought we got tired at times and their scores seemed a bit easy.
Cuan Mulligan
Saints deserved the win. However some very dubious ref calls. The possible try at the end should not have been disallowed for the reason the ref gave, the corner flag is not in touch.. however Byrne was on the floor and it’s questionable if he is allowed to touch it down. About 2 or 3 plays before it, near their try line, I think Pollock goes off his feet crawling on his knees over our players and a second player in goes into take the ball… not sharing this to gripe.. if you leave your win down to ref calls you don’t deserve it.. but the reffing was poor
Jackie McEachern
Saints were very good (and it pains me to say that). But I don’t understand not starting Barrett.
And I’m not sure resting the starters leading up to these big games is a good strategy. I know it’s a physical game but we’ve seen time and time again where they come into the big matches rested but not cohesive.
Richard Collumb
Useless today & Tactics were terrible. That’s down to the coaches. Given team & budget the players & management get judged on performances in May & they aren’t good enough.
Get in the conversation yourself by leaving
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NEXT HARPIN’
TUESDAY
BONUS CHAT : “ANNUAL CULLENOSCOPY”
WEDNESDAY
80+ COLUMN
THURSDAY
THROWBACK THURSDAY (Substack)
432 : Leinster v Northampton preview
Our guest : MARK JACKSON
LEINSTER : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Robbie Henshaw 11. James Lowe 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Jamison Gibson-Park
1. Cian Healy 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Tadhg Furlong 4. RG Snyman 5. Joe McCarthy 6. Max Deegan 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Caelan Doris (c)
16. Rónan Kelleher 17. Andrew Porter 18. Rabah Slimani 19. Ryan Baird 20. Jack Conan 21. Luke McGrath 22. Ross Byrne 23. Jordie Barrett
NORTHAMPTON : 15 James Ramm 14 Tommy Freeman 13 Fraser Dingwall (c) 12 Rory Hutchinson 11 Tom Litchfield 10 Fin Smith 9 Alex Mitchell
1 Emmanuel Iyogun 2 Curtis Langdon 3 Trevor Davison 4 Temo Mayanavanua 5 Alex Coles 6 Josh Kemeny 7 Henry Pollock 8 Juarno Augustus
16 Henry Walker17 Tom West 18 Elliot Millar Mills 19 Tom Lockett 20 Chunya Munga 21 Angus Scott-Young 22 Tom James 23 Tom Seabrook
Investec Champions Cup 24/25 Semifinal
Saturday, May 3, 2025
KO 5:30pm Aviva Stadium
Live on : RTÉ2, Premier Sports 1
Referee : Pierre Brousset (Fra)
AR1 : Luc Ramos (Fra)
AR2 : Gianluca Gnecchi (Ita)
TMO : Tual Trainini (Fra)
431 : Scarlets v Leinster wrap
🏉 Missed chances
🏉 Plumtree power
🏉 Defensive decline
🏉 Leadership lacking
🏉 No consolation
THIS WEEK’S GUEST
FULL TIME TAKES
Jackie McEachern
Really poor from almost every perspective but hopefully just a bump in the road. I know we were missing many of the first team but there were still far too many errors and poor decisions.
Christy O’Connor
Scarlets line speed was brilliant, put us under lots of pressure and caused us to make so many mistakes, granted some were unforced. Better team won
Ollie Sinnott
Ross Byrne, Frawley, the Osbornes, Tector, Baird, O Brien and Mccarthy are a couple of steps down in quality from the first 23. Only player to improve their reputation this evening was Jack Boyle and Soroka.
Bert McLoughlin
People whinging about team selection pisses me off! Apart from what’s coming next week, the team out on the field today were good enough to win the game. BUT they made way too many errors and didn’t deserve to win the game.
Congratulations to Scarlets, they played really well and deserved to win that game
Greg Kelly
Scarlets came out needing the 5 points. They were hungry and quite simply Leinster we not. Fair play to the Scarlets, they were well worth the win and showed great composure given that Leinster have a habit of clawing back games. It looked like Leinster had both eyes on Northampton and a lot of the players knew that their knockout involvement going forward was over.
Get in the conversation yourself by leaving
your own thoughts each week after the full time whistle
in Leinster & Ireland matches on our Facebook page
URC WRAP
NEXT HARPIN’
WEDNESDAY
80+ COLUMN INCLUDING FRONT 5 VIDEO
THURSDAY
THROWBACK THURSDAY
430 : Scarlets v Leinster preview
LEINSTER : 15. Ciarán Frawley 14. Andrew Osborne 13. Liam Turner 12. Jamie Osborne 11. Jimmy O’Brien 10. Ross Byrne 9. Fintan Gunne
1. Cian Healy 2. Rónan Kelleher (c) 3. Thomas Clarkson 4. Ryan Baird 5. Brian Deeny 6. Alex Soroka 7. Will Connors 8. James Culhane
16. Gus McCarthy 17. Jack Boyle 18. Rabah Slimani 19. Diarmuid Mangan 20. Scott Penny 21. Cormac Foley 22. Charlie Tector 23. Ruben Moloney
SCARLETS : 15 Blair Murray; 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Joe Roberts, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Ellis Mee; 10 Sam Costelow, 9 Gareth Davies; 1 Alec Hepburn, 2 Ryan Elias, 3 Henry Thomas, 4 Alex Craig, 5 Sam Lousi, 6 Vaea Fifita, 7 Josh Macleod (c), 8 Taine Plumtree.
16 Marnus van der Merwe, 17 Louie Trevett, 18 Sam Wainwright, 19 Jac Price, 20 Jarrod Taylor, 21 Archie Hughes, 22 Ioan Lloyd, 23 Macs Page.
BKT United Rugby Championship 24/25 Round 16
Saturday, April 26, 2025
KO 5:55pm Parc y Scarlets
Live on : RTÉ2, Premier Sports 2, S4C & URC.tv
Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU)
AR 1: Matthew Leon (WRU)
AR 2: Aaron Perry (WRU)
TMO: Colin Brett (SRU)
429 : Leinster v Ulster wrap
🏉 Late late change
🏉 Terrific TOB
🏉 Coach killers
🏉 Defensive stands
🏉 Triple Dan
THIS WEEK’S GUESTS
FULL TIME TAKES
Christy O’Connor
Tommy is flying, definitely in with a great shout to be playing in the cup games. Will definitely be on the irish summer tour
Greg Kelly
Tommy O’Brien looking like the real deal these days
Michael Branagan
Great result. Porter needs to be “seen to be in control”. He’s throwing penalties away, 50:50 calls, that are damaging us and his reputation. I do think it’s harsh on a number of fronts but he has to “ease back” as it were. For a little while.
William Andrew
Ulster had a lot go against them, but still hung in there.
Some unfortunate, some self inflected.
Leinster were good but you can see some players are not quite the standard of the 1st squad.
Others are pushing on. Highlights were the chip to Dan and Gunn delaying his pass to Dan.
Smart play
Warren Doyle
Right person won man of the match. Class act. Well done Tommy O’Brien.
John Peeters
Only one comment; is RG ok?
URC WRAP
NEXT HARPIN’
TUESDAY
BONUS CHAT : “LEINSTER PLAYER PROFILES PT 1”
WEDNESDAY
80+ COLUMN INCLUDING FRONT 5 VIDEO
THURSDAY
THROWBACK THURSDAY
428 : Leinster v Ulster preview
LEINSTER : 15. Jamie Osborne 14. Tommy O’Brien 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Robbie Henshaw 11. Jimmy O’Brien 10. Ciarán Frawley 9. Luke McGrath (c)
1. Jack Boyle 2. Gus McCarthy 3. Thomas Clarkson 4. Joe McCarthy 5. Diarmuid Mangan 6. Alex Soroka 7. Scott Penny 8. James Culhane
16. Dan Sheehan 17. Andrew Porter 18. Tadhg Furlong 19. RG Snyman 20. Max Deegan 21. Fintan Gunne 22. Sam Prendergast 23. Liam Turner
ULSTER : 15. Michael Lowry 14. Zac Ward 13. Jude Postlethwaite 12. Stuart McCloskey 11. Jacob Stockdale 10. Jack Murphy 9. Nathan Doak
1. Andrew Warwick 2. Rob Herring 3. Tom O’Toole 4. Alan O’Connor (c) 5. Cormac Izuchukwu 6. James McNabney 7. Nick Timoney 8. David McCann
16. Tom Stewart 17. Callum Reid 18. Scott Wilson 19. Matthew Dalton 20. Kieran Treadwell 21. John Cooney 22. Stewart Moore 23. Matty Rea
BKT United Rugby Championship 24/25 Round 15
Saturday, April 20, 2025
KO 7:35pm Aviva Stadium
Live on : TG4, Premier Sports 1 & URC.tv
Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR)
AR 1: Andrew Fogarty (IRFU)
AR 2: Tómas O’Sullivan (IRFU)
TMO: Stefano Penne (FIR)
