🏉 A sort of homecoming
🏉 Earning their stripes
🏉 Great expectations
🏉 The other provinces
🏉 Greater rivalries
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Tag: United Rugby Championship
80+ column : July 1
ON THIS WEEK’S COLUMN…
- WRAPPING UP THE WRAPS
- FINALLY GETTING THE POINT
- NATIONS NEW NORMAL
- WALLABIES POV
- LOSING START
- PHILIP ‘GOOSE’ DOYLE RIP
- CHAMPIONS CUP DRAW
- IRELAND SQUAD UPDATE
- TROLL PATROL
- COMPETITION UPDATES (incl 🔝🐱🐴)
- NEXT HARPIN’
WRAPPING UP THE WRAPS
Hi there welcome to the latest 80+ column. No Leinster/Ireland men’s game last weekend so there’s no wrap to wrap but I do have something of an announcement FWIW.
You can probably tell I love doing this rugby content-producing lark, especially because I get to do it at my own pace instead of falling over myself to satisfy algorithms and what-not. So while I will continue to do things that way going forward, my “real-life” circumstances have changed to an extent where I’ll have to cut down my output considerably.
Over the pas year or so it has become increasingly more difficult to stick to the schedule I am used to, so from next season our regular content is likely to be limited to this 80+ column, which will probably now go out on Thursdays, and one podcast, which instead of focusing on just the one match from the weekend, will likely post on Tuesday morning taking a more general look at what went on. The Preview Show as we know it will probably have to go unfortunately.
Obviously with social media and stuff I will continue to get my thoughts out there regularly, but I think this level output will suit me better for next season. I’ll keep things the way they are for the next few weeks and fine tune the new way of doing things during the off season.
Anyway, on with this week’s column, starting with of course the Front Five…
FINALLY GETTING THE POINT
The purpose of this change is to reward teams who continue to play attacking rugby AND who remain resolute in defence once victory appears certain
EPCRugby.com
Anyone who has regularly read these pages will know I’m delighted with this news from the EPCR. I have been harping for years on the need to revert from what I call a “quantitative” try bonus point (awarded simply for scoring 4 tries) to a “differential” one (awarded for scoring 3 more tries than your opposition) and now we’re going to see it in the Champions & Challenge Cups.
Basically what it means is that you can’t wrap up the bonus point before half time and take your foot off the pedal. That way even if your opposition mounts a comeback in the second half and you still win, you are guaranteed the full five points. Now in that scenario there is jeopardy in that the BP can actually be taken off you so you’ll have to play the full 80 minutes.
It also mostly eliminates what I always considered to be the nonsense of a losing team coming away with two bonus points. One is enough for a defeat, thank you very much.
Sure, there are quirky exceptions which is why I used the word “mostly” above. Say a team wins 18-17 thanks to 6 penalties against 3 tries, 1 converted. Yes, that gets a bit clunky, but it is very much an exception, and the system has worked well in the 🔝🐱🐴 for years now and they have also been using it in Super Rugby. I would have it employed throughout the game and I hope the URC and World Cups join the cause sooner rather than later, but this is definitely a good start.
And that’s not the only change. They have also tweaked the way in which the 16 clubs qualify for the knockout rounds. Now instead of the top 4 in each pool making it, we have 3, with the remaining 12 clubs ranked against each other and the four best records making it.
Personally I like the thinking behind this, but maybe they have fallen between two stools with this? I know I usually say rugby doesn’t always need to do what soccer does, but in this case I’d say just go whole hog and adopt the “Swiss model” that has been used in the Champions League in recent seasons? If everyone must have just the four matches, then have one big table and let the 16 best records into the knockouts. This would reduce the possibility that still exists hereby a team wins all four of their matches yet still falls outside the top 4 seeds behind teams which didn’t.
I also like wins as the first tie-breaker and I also think this should be adopted everywhere, however especially for domestic competitions with a large amount of matches I believe it’s important to add a stipulation that draws be the second tie-breaker, otherwise a team which has lost more matches can get a higher ranking which seems to go against what the change is trying to do. Shouldn’t be an issue in the four-match EPCR schedule, though.
Still, I do like the direction in which the changes are going and we’ll see how they play out. For now I just like being reminded in articles like this that Leinster are still the reigning URC Champions….
80+ column : June 24
ON THIS WEEK’S COLUMN…
- WRAP OF A WRAP
- SUCCEEDING LEO
- GORDON BLUES
- RAGING BULLS
- PARSONS PROJECT
- EQUAL RANKS
- THE LONG LIST OF LEGENDS LEAVING LEINSTER
- IRELAND SQUAD UPDATE
- TROLL PATROL
- COMPETITION UPDATES
- SUPERBRU DRAMA
- NEXT HARPIN’
WRAP OF A WRAP
Needless to say I was gutted when I realised that I wouldn’t mke it from work to Croke Park in time for kickoff on Friday, but it’s also needless to say watching such a comprehensive victorious display from the boys in blue did much to make me feel better!
And when it came to the wrap pod recording, although we normally aim to be finished by 9pm, myself and Conor had no qualms with going over until about quarter past as he did an excellent job not only harping on the final itself, but also paying tribute to all the lads leaving the province for the bonus chat.
If you missed the pod recording be sure to check it out you’ll find it here.
SUCCEEDING LEO
…as club jobs go, there are few anywhere near as attractive
Leinster job set to have a long list of suitors to replace Leo Cullen
Neil Treacy – RTÉ.ie
While it was of course a very satisfying weekend for Leinster fans, spare a thought for the legions of rugby followers for whom the success was literally the last thing they wanted to see. No doubt the news bothered them so much that they would follow anything else in the news cycle, possibly even including the round ball World Cup.
Given how the week following defeats in finals are always followed by days of articles telling us all “what’s wrong with Leinster” (see flow chart below), it’s only natural to assume that after a victory the focus might change to eyeing the province through a more positive lens (cue JK Simmons GIF) but I guess we’ll never know since on Monday the news of Leo Cullen’s impending departure dropped, also offering a perfect distraction for the vast “ABL” community.
Well, I say impending…it is to be a long goodbye of an entire rugby season but that certainly won’t stop us all speculating over who will eventually replace him.
I suppose the first question has to be this – will they necessarily appoint a direct replacement or his position? It always has been something of a unique role. He had only been coaching a year when he assumed it and the remit was slightly different to that we know for a “head coach”, while the buck did stop with him he was also of a public face of a coaching ticket where the unit coaches appeared to have more responsibility, as demonstrated by the appointment first of Stu Lancaster and then Jacques Nienaber as “Senior Coach”.
Eventually I will wade into the debate over who is to fill his shoes, or indeed over what he himself is to do next, but to be honest with him to be there for another full season I just don’t see the point in doing so right now. All the proposed candidates seem fine, yes, even ROG. I know a lot of people assume Leinster fans would pull their hair out at the thought of him taking the reins, but my own reservations would be less about what province he played for in the past and more about how he continuously got into trouble with the 🔝🐱🐴 for bad mouthing the officials.
Anyway, this article is one of several looking at the various possible candidates, all a decent read, but personally I’d rather bask in Leo and Leinster’s back-to-back title glory for a little longer.
533 : URC Grand Final wrap
🏉 Intent & desire
🏉 Super Sam
🏉 Keenan eager
🏉 Pack mentality
🏉 Bad Bulls
THIS WEEK’S GUEST
FULL-TIME THOUGHTS
Chris McDonnell
Job done. Excellent performance. Max deegan has had a fantastic season. Well done to Sam, he had one of his better games hopefully it’s the step he needed.
Gavin Hegarty
I honestly thought we’d get nothing out of the season @xmas but to reach two finals and win one is epic.
The abuse online Leinster got after a few games and lying at the bottom of the table was shocking.
Sam showed the player he can be yday and is now in the driving seat again.
Can’t say anything about Keenan that hadn’t be said before, simply immense.
All the talk of Frawley leaving, what about jerry???? Epic season for him.
Christy O’Connor
Credit were credit is due, Sam played great as did Keenan and big Joe. The Bulls never showed up and played a kicking game that just didn’t work for them. One of Leinster’s best attacking displays in a long time and hopefully we see more of it
Lorcán Murphy
Coaches and players showed how capable and utterly ruthless we are against strong opposition. Makes it more frustrating what was left behind during the year and how the selection policy is applied. Absolutely delighted for Sam. I really hope he carries his self belief for the fight into the future. His potential is still huge
Ruairi Niall Eiméid
A badly needed tonic after the severe disappointment of yet another European Final loss. Immense win and performance by the Boys in Blue
Click here for real-time thoughts from
the Harpin WhatsApp group during the match
URC WRAP
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
TUESDAY
BONUS CHAT : “LONG LIST OF LADS LEAVING LEINSTER” (YouTube)
WEDNESDAY
80+ COLUMN (Substack)
531 : Leinster v Stormers wrap
🏉 Rolls Royce 9
🏉 Physicality
🏉 Imperfect Stormers
🏉 Stats stats stats
🏉 And now the Bulls
THIS WEEK’S GUEST
FULL-TIME THOUGHTS
Liz Power
Scoreline flattered us. Stormers were full of brute force but the lack of discipline did for them
Christy O’Connor
Started off bright, but as the game went on we were struggling. Wasted a number of decent chances when in their 22.
The stormers also wasted a number of chances to punish us. I don’t think the bulls will waste as many chances
Joe Shep
Tbh, a lot of “Muscle Memory” rugby from the likes of JGP (well deserved POTM) but Stormers had our card well marked with strong elements of UBB….. We were lucky they let themselves down with indiscipline and they lacked the game changing flair of Sascha F-M…..A final beckons but more required
Overall we’ve got the individuals but we are NOT a cohesive unit…… I genuinely don’t understand why AF can get the best as a cohesive team having players for only a few weeks yet Leinster don’t 🤔🤷
Kevin Kelehan
Delighted with the game, knew Stormers would be formidable but their hits were massive, they made us work for every yard.
That they won their first card period 3-0 showed how streetwise they are, wasted 3 minutes on one passage of legitimate scrum resets.
The bench was the catalyst, even before the loss of 2 players you could feel the momentum shifting our way. Whilst Conan s brute force and Ringers deftness were probably the main catalysts, you have to mention Usanov, Gus and Mangan all of whom really made an impact against world class opponents.
Finally Sam being a speed bump for massive Stormers loose head in his first tackle situation of today is displaying the fight we need from him to be our 10
Chris McDonnell
A semi final win is a win. Can’t play rugby without a 10 and simply Leo first 2 choices are not good enough.
Jo Kerr
Would have been interesting if the Stormers had Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Cobus Reinach
Tricia Cormac Timothy
Need a decent 10
Odran John OBrien
Sorry to say it’s time for Cullen and Nienaber to go bring in Scott Robertson and Owen Farrell at Five Eighth
Niall O’Higgins
Win is a win but i feel stormers coaching was better – they knew what to do, excellent ruck speed , made leinster appear chaotic by comparison – game plan seems limited compared to skill set of players and wasteful. Scrum is dire. It beggers belief that these players are lions yet are asked to be donkeys – one up runs without support, kick chase – all low percentage plays
Eamon Saunders
Trying to beat the South Africans by playing their game not working but another final to try win
Caroline Wynne
👌💪🤘
Dave Murray
Another final and possibly another URC (which isn’t to be sniffed at) but our tactics and style is not great at all, in my opinion anyway. Nienaber opened the door on an early exit and that is fine by me.
Ruairi Niall Eiméid
Not vintage by Leinster, very stuttering and bland attack but ground out another win to get to the URC Final. Feel a little Déjà vu playing Bulls again in Croker but on Friday Night Lights
Click here for real-time thoughts from
the Harpin WhatsApp group during the match
URC WRAP
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
TUESDAY
80+ COLUMN (Substack)
530 : Leinster v Stormers preview
LEINSTER : 15 Hugo Keenan 14 Jimmy O’Brien 13 Rieko Ioane 12 Jamie Osborne 11 James Lowe 10 Sam Prendergast 9 Jamison Gibson‑Park
1 Andrew Porter 2 Rónan Kelleher 3 Thomas Clarkson 4 Joe McCarthy 5 James Ryan 6 Max Deegan 7 Josh van der Flier 8 Caelan Doris (c)
16 Gus McCarthy 17 Alex Usanov 18 Rabah Slimani 19 Diarmuid Mangan 20 Jack Conan 21 Luke McGrath 22 Harry Byrne 23 Garry Ringrose
STORMERS : 15 Damian Willemse 14 Wandisile Simelane 13 Ruhan Nel (c) 12 Dan du Plessis 11 Leolin Zas 10 Jurie Matthee 9 Imad Khan
1 Ntuthuko Mchunu 2 André‑Hugo Venter 3 Neethling Fouché 4 Adré Smith 5 Connor Evans 6 Paul de Villiers 7 Ben‑Jason Dixon 8 Evan Roos
16 JJ Kotzé 17 Vernon Matongo 18 Zachary Porthen 19 Salmaan Moerat 20 Ruan Ackermann 21 Marcel Theunissen 22 Stefan Ungerer 23 Warrick Gelant
BKT United Rugby Championship
2025/26 Semifinal
Saturday, June 6, 2026
Aviva Stadium
KO 5:30pm
Live on : TG4, Premier Sports 1, URC.tv
Referee: Hollie Davidson (SRU)
AR 1: Sam Grove-White (SRU)
AR 2: Adam Jones (SRU)
TMO: Mike Adamson (SRU)
529 : Leinster v Lions wrap
🏉 Turning the page
🏉 Lowe Baller
🏉 Sam & Reiko
🏉 The Joe Show
🏉 …but the Lions…
THIS WEEK’S GUEST
FULL-TIME THOUGHTS
Gavin Hegarty
A win.
Twas nice.
I had wine.
Great to see lowe get the record but can see why he’s going.
Nice to see sam run the show and run it well.
On a side note we have Sheehan, kelleher and McCarthy at two. Three world class hookers. How long before Munster take one?
David Ryle
Sam was excellent. We need him firing with confidence, hopefully he blocks out the noise from the hateful.
David Ross
At last we have complimentary comments about Sam P. His game was not without mistakes but he is human and is certainly Ireland’s future. Good result it would be great to have a Leinster/Glasgow final!!
Craig Grehan
Great to see them bounce back from last week. But two very different teams. Do we know our best starting 15 yet ?
Vincent Duggan
Lions must have been on the beer for two weeks.
Eamon Saunders
Great result after last week ,and great to see Lowe get the record
Christy O’Connor
Obviously a great result, delighted for Lowe and hopefully he stays. Lions were very poor. I expect a much harder test next week
Did I see Neil (keego) Keenan celebrating the 4th try on TV?
Colin Mehigan
Great result. Great performance. Understandable reasons why crowd was so small but Leinster fans need to support our team when the team need it the most – and not only when we win trophies
Kevin Kelehan
Less than 10,000 supporters in the ground but real fans make a lot of noise. Leinster back to Leinstertainment after a harrowing ‘weather experience’ last week. Not saying Leinster would have beat UBB last week but playing a game in Spain mid afternoon in May in the era where climate change is advanced was reprehensible planning.
Pieter Bezuidenhout
We need to stop with the excuses. Connacht, Munster, Cardiff, and the Lions were clearly out of their depth this weekend. Watching a captain like Craig Casey hide behind an injury list rather than admitting they were outplayed is embarrassing. Real leaders show some humility. On top of that, the way Leinster carried on with those celebrations against the Lions was completely classless. It’s not a World Cup final, so stop acting like it is. It is time for everyone to stop the self-congratulations and get a grip.
Click here for real-time thoughts from
the Harpin WhatsApp group during the match
URC WRAP
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
TUESDAY
BONUS CHAT : “REMAINING URC CHALLENGERS” (YouTube)
WEDNESDAY
80+ COLUMN (Substack)
525 : Leinster v Ospreys wrap
Leinster tore into the Ospreys with a ruthless 68–14 win at the Aviva, powered by Joe McCarthy’s hat‑trick, a suffocating defensive press, and big returns for Jordan Larmour and James Lowe. Jeff is joined by Ciarán Duffy (Post to Post Sport) for cap number 47 to break down the performance, the selection calls, the defensive resurgence, and what it all means heading into the Champions Cup Final.
We also take a spin around the URC — Munster clinching playoffs, Connacht’s late push, Ulster’s Challenge Cup wrinkle — plus Ireland Women’s record-setting Aviva win.
A full URC season rewind, a look ahead to Bordeaux, and plenty of Harpin flavour.
THIS WEEK’S GUEST
FULL TIME TAKES
Cormac Mannion
No injuries by the looks of it and hopefully Tommy was not started merely as a precaution. I thought Lowe was in with a chance of starting next week but bloody hell Larmour had an absolute stormer. Lowe was out on his feet by the end of the game.
Henshaw had a huge amount of strapping in his right leg so no idea if it’s him or Osborne who start at 12 next week.
If Tommy is fit, I can see 21-23 being McGrath, Frawley and Larmour. It gives a lot of cover across the backline.
Starting to get slightly upbeat about next Saturday 🙈
Conor Cronin
I’ve wondered how much we learned in the past from massive wins like these, but the confidence it will give players next week is worth it. Let these players believe how good they are. Let them build on tonight for next week. Bordeaux have conceded 70+ points over the last 2 weeks, we’ve scored 90+, let’s get out next week and be at our best
Greg Kelly
That was a game that was on the schedule for the Ospreys and they were contracted to fulfill it. They looked from minute one like condemned men going to their death.
Plus side for Leinster was the skill level was on average higher than it has been with there were some sloppy defensive reads that UBB will punish if they happen next week
Christy O’Connor
That was probably our most complete performance all season. Yes Osprey’s were awful, but we have played teams just as poor this season and limped to a win.
Great seeing Lowe and Larmour back as well as scoring tries. Going to be a whole different challenge next week though.
Colm Cunningham
Saved the best till last. Hopefully a sign of whats to come next weekend. 🤞
Cobus Tromp
Slaughter..No other word comes to mind.
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NEXT HARPIN’
TUESDAY
BONUS CHAT : “THE BILBAO 23”
WEDNESDAY
80+ COLUMN
524 : Leinster v Ospreys preview
LEINSTER : 15 Jimmy O’Brien 14 Tommy O’Brien 13 Garry Ringrose 12 Robbie Henshaw 11 Jordan Larmour 10 Harry Byrne 9 Jamison Gibson‑Park
1 Jerry Cahir 2 Gus McCarthy 3 Rabah Slimani 4 Joe McCarthy 5 Diarmuid Mangan 6 Jack Conan (c) 7 Josh van der Flier 8 James Culhane
16 Rónan Kelleher 17 Alex Usanov 18 Tadhg Furlong 19 Max Deegan 20 Caelan Doris 21 Fintan Gunne 22 Ciarán Frawley 23 James Lowe
OSPREYS : 15 Jack Walsh 14 Keelan Giles 13 Evardi Boshoff 12 Owen Watkin 11 Iestyn Hopkins 10 Dan Edwards 9 Reuben Morgan‑Williams
1 Garyn Phillips 2 Efan Daniel 3 Ben Warren 4 Rhys Davies 5 Huw Sutton 6 James Ratti 7 Jac Morgan (c) 8 Ross Moriarty
16 Lewis Lloyd 17 Cam Jones 18 Kian Hire 19 Ben Roberts 20 Harri Deaves 21 Kieran Hardy 22 Phil Cokanasiga 23 Luke Morgan
BKT United Rugby Championship
2025/26 Round 18
Saturday, May 16, 2026
Aviva Stadium
KO 5:15pm
Live on : Premier Sports 1, URC.tv
Referee: Ru Campbell (SRU)
AR1: Peter Martin (IRFU)
AR2: Dan Carson (IRFU)
TMO: Dave Sutherland (SRU)
523 : Leinster v Lions wrap
🏉 Attacking inefficiency
🏉 Defensive efficiency
🏉 Bomb squad
🏉 SA Shield champs
🏉 Bilbao lessons
THIS WEEK’S GUEST
FULL TIME TAKES
Ted Maher
When Sam came off he didn’t take any hands from his team mates and he sat away from them. He knows himself things aren’t going well. I think a break from the game will do him good. We all love rugby but we can’t let it bring us down. He is a fantastic young man and hope things work out for him.
Lorcán Murphy
I get changes are necessary but it’s still more of the same disjointed performances. How we’re top 3 and in an EPCR final shows the quality we have but it’s hard to imagine any silverware will be won this year.
Christy O’Connor
Mangan was the highlight of the whole game. If the coaches don’t learn from this that Prendergast cannot be involved in the final in 2 weeks, then they need to step down. I’m not having a go at Sam, I feel sorry for him, he was thrown in at the deep end from early in his career and it hasn’t worked out for him yet.
Gavin Hegarty
It speaks volumes that we are that bad yet still in a euro final and 3rd in the URC.
This was a woeful game. So many idiotic mistakesfrom players that should know better.
Sebastian Brennan Tkacz
That was the most boring performance from Leinster I’ve ever seen. Loads of people started leaving the stadium at around 55 minutes. I agree with previous comments, Sam cannot be included for the final, his defence was extremely poor today again, and I really like his ball management. It’s between Byrne and Frawley now.
CLICK HERE FOR THE REAL-TIME REACTIONS FROM
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Get in the conversation yourself by leaving
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URC WRAP
NEXT HARPIN’
TUESDAY
BONUS CHAT : “URC RACE TO THE 8”
WEDNESDAY
80+ COLUMN
