2 December 2023; Harry Byrne of Leinster kicks a conversion during the United Rugby Championship match between Connacht and Leinster at the Sportsground in Galway. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
Andrew Byrne A last minute try can’t paper over those cracks. We were far below where we should be. Is our squad just too big, all this rotation seems to be causing a lack of cohesion in our playing combinations. I only hope we have a better performance in the bank for next week.
Chris McDonnell Seriously not good enough. This rotating the whole team had to stop. Too many players just not good enough to play for Leinster.
Darran Kearney Kinda liking that we are playing so poorly early season, instead of beating everyone out the door and learning nothing. Coaches have 6 months to work with the team for the business end of the season. Hoping we can end this season better than we have in the more recent seasons
Christy O’Connor Way too much rotation, players playing out of position. Lots of schoolboy errors. Have we not learned anything from the last 2 seasons. We rested players that only played 1 or 2 games. This is now getting ridiculous. Stop giving lads time just for the sake of it. We need to give the core players more time and the others should possibly look to move abroad.
Conor O’Shea Poor performance, but a wins a win. No major injuries for next week from tonight
Eamon Saunders A lot of mistakes from both sides but good to get the win 👏👏
Went from deserving to be behind to deserving to be ahead to deserving to lose….to a BP win!!! Way to many unforced errors by both sides, just needed that composure at the end. Talk about getting out of jail. Tough on Connacht. Draw would be better result tbf #CONvLEI
In the latest from our Opposition View series I spoke to Connacht fan Stephen Murphy from the excellent Master of None pod to offer a western perspective ahead of Leinster’s trip to the Sportsground on Saturday.
25 November 2023; Dan Sheehan of Leinster dives over to score his side’s second try despite the efforts of Gavin Coombes and Jack Crowley of Munster during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Munster at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
Leinster were not at their best tonight, and indeed far from it. A few players that might be considered world class might need a break ad they haven’t been at their best for a while and (a la Richie McCaw) might benefit from the rest
On the plus side, far from our best we ground out a win, Jordan Larmour back scoring tries, and Frawley proving he’s the real deal at 10 are my personal biggest positives for tonight, I only hope these are consistent positives, not one off.
The scrappy start probably suited us to need to fight back, the errors and lack of clinical finishing did not suit us and weren’t the Leinstertainment we would expect, give me more in the red zone please!
Gavin Hegarty
Leinster were far from their best but still ground out a win. Some very uncharacteristic errors from seasoned internationals.
A few bad missed tackles from Ringer, dropped balls from Jimmy, Doris is left wanting and Furlong just ambling along.
Nice for Frawley to get proper time at ten and show what he can do.
Take a bow Jack Conan, great game.
Ronan McManus
It was a bit scrappy (maybe partially Ireland hangover) but a decent win against a team whose only other loss was Ulster away.
6. Jack Conan should be delighted with his performance. The option of keeping him and Doris on the pitch together more often gives a bit more depth (Nienaber influence, presumably)
Jimmy OBrien looked sharp, but missed a few opportunities to weave gold from shit, that the great wingers would have seized.
Very disappointing for Ross Byrne, who looked good. This could have been an important one as far as Ireland is concerned.
Great finish by Larmour for his try. Hopefully the sign of things to come.
Christy O’Connor
Hard to take positives from that display except for Frawley stepping up. School boy errors the whole game.
Couldve, possibly shouldve, nicked a BP at the end but not sure we deserved it but definitely earned the win from top notch D some relentless series of double hits when it counted, Conan worthy PotM but D as a unit outstanding. Some interesting 10 calls for next wk #LEIvMUN
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.
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.
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.
Harpin’ matchday 23 v Munster
Keenan, J O’Brien, Ringrose, Ngatai, Lowe, R Byrne, Gibson-Park.
Porter, Sheehan, Furlong, McCarthy, Ryan, Baird, van der Flier, Doris.
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:
Ed Byrne: has returned to full training after recovering from his hamstring injury
INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:
Michael Milne: will be further assessed later this week as he continues his return from a shoulder injury
Cian Healy: will step up his rehabilitation programme this week as he continues his return from a shoulder injury
INJURY UPDATE – UNAVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
N/A
NO FURTHER UPDATES ON:
Tommy O’Brien (ankle), Cormac Foley (shoulder), John McKee (hamstring), Luke McGrath (knee) and Alex Soroka (foot)
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.
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
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 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.
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.
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.
HOGGWASH
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
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…
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.
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.
NOV 4 CONNACHT 22-20 ULSTER
NOV 10 ULSTER 21-14 MUNSTER
ULSTER P 2 PTS 5
CONNACHT P 1 PTS 4
MUNSTER P 1 PTS 1
LEINSTER P 0 PTS 0
NOV 25 LEINSTER V MUNSTER
DEC 2 CONNACHT V LEINSTER
DEC 22 ULSTER V CONNACHT
DEC 26 MUNSTER V LEINSTER
JAN 1 CONNACHT V MUNSTER
JAN 1 LEINSTER V ULSTER
MAY 11 MUNSTER V CONNACHT
MAY 18 ULSTER V LEINSTER
MAY 31 LEINSTER V CONNACHT
JUNE 1 MUNSTER V ULSTER
🔝🐱🐴 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.
Round 7
STADE FRANCAIS 9-13 RACING 92
BAYONNE 35-16 PAU
PERPIGNAN 26-13 MONTPELLIER
OYONNAX 38-20 LYON
CLÉRMONT 27-30 TOULON
CASTRES 31-23 TOULOUSE
LA ROCHELLE 25-21 BORDEAUX
Round 8
SAT NOV 25
TOULON V CASTRES
BORDEAUX V PERPIGNAN
LYON V BAYONNE
MONTPELLIER V OYONNAX
PAU V STADE FRANCAIS
TOULOUSE V CLÉRMONT
SUN NOV 26
RACING 92 V LA ROCHELLE
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.
ROUND 6
BATH 20-19 BRISTOL BEARS
SALE SHARKS 40-22 NEWCASTLE
LEICESTER 26-17 NORTHAMPTON
HARLEQUINS 10-38 SARACENS
EXETER 25-24 GLOUCESTER
ROUND 7
FRI NOV 24
NORTHAMPTON V HARLEQUINS
SALE SHARKS V BATH
SAT NOV 25
GLOUCESTER V LEICESTER TIGERS
SARACENS V BRISTOL
SUN NOV 26
NEWCASTLE V EXETER
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
WOMEN’S AIL
Round 8
BALLINCOLLIG 0-50 BELVO
COOKE 0-65 BLACKROCK
WICKLOW 5-12 GALWEGIANS
UL BOHS 10-7 RAILWAY UNION
Round 6
SAT NOV 25
WICKLOW V RAILWAY UNION
Round 9
SAT DEC 2
SUTTONIANS V WICKLOW
BALLINCOLLIG V GALWEGIANS
BLACKROCK V RAILWAY UNION
BELVO V UL BOHS
MEN’S AIL
ROUND 6
BALLYNAHINCH 24-24 CLONTARF
CITY OF ARMAGH 18-25 UCD
CORK CON 33-5 DUBLIN UNIV
LANSDOWNE 42-12 SHANNON
YOUNG MUNSTER 13-6 TERENURE
ROUND 7
SAT DEC 2
CLONTARF V CORK CON
DUBLIN UNIV V LANSDOWNE
TERENURE V SHANNON
UCD V BALLYNAHINCH
YOUNG MUNSTER V CITY OF ARMAGH
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.
ROUND 3
BOHEMIA WARRIORS 0-74 DELTA
TEL-AVIVA HEAT 27-29 BLACK LION
BRUSSELS DEVILS 5-60 ROMANIAN WOLVES
CASTILLA 18-13 LUSITANOS
SEMIFINALS (DATES TBD)
BLACK LION V CASTILLA
TEL-AVIV HEAT V ROMANIAN WOLVES
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?
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
18 November 2023; Sam Prendergast of Leinster scores his side’s first try during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Scarlets at the RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
A good win but still a little disappointing. A good place to be when we’re disappointed to concede 5 to the Scarlets.
Prendergast did well but he’s too light in defence, he’d need more back row cover going forward.
Well done to Ross Byrne on his 150th cap.
Joe Mc was unreal again, he’s a fine future in front of him
(reply to Gavin) Peter Tracey
I’m glad they weren’t great. Loads to work on for next week and Jack will be in place.
Agree about Prendergast but that will come so not too worried.
Could Ross be top points scorer in the future? The only thing is if he’s in Ireland squads.
Joe is going to have a big season. I liked Gunne’s passing when he came on. Looked good for Ireland u20s.
We need to start bringing through a few 9s and props which we are.
Brian Corr
I enjoyed the game, I think it’s funny though that I have to remind myself as do many others that a 54-5 win is an excellent result.
It’s great to see Osbourne in particular doing so well, and the more Prendergast and Gunne get opportunities, the better Leinster will do.
The international contingent had a mixed bag, overall good and funnily enough Furlong looked very sharp.
Delighted for Keenan to get POTM, brilliant as usual.
Kevin Kelehan
Dominant and top of the table
Warren Doyle
God almighty we won👏👏👏👏
Jamie Donohoe
Jimmy O Brien had a superb game
Scoreline doesnt tell the story of the match, only because Scarlets couldve had a lot more than their 5 only for the Blue Wall. Result never really in doubt, good outing by Sam, great one by Hugo, still some workons but top of the league going into big one next week. #LEIvSCA
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 