Tag: United Rugby Championship

438 : Leinster v Scarlets preview

Our guest : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

LEINSTER : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Jimmy O’Brien 13. Jamie Osborne 12. Jordie Barrett 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. Ryan Baird 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Jack Conan (c)

16. Dan Sheehan 17. Jack Boyle 18. Rabah Slimani 19. RG Snyman 20. Max Deegan 21. Scott Penny 22. Luke McGrath 23. Ciarán Frawley

SQUAD UPDATE SINCE RECORDING

“Ringrose managing a calf, Tommy O’Brien foot injury. Both very short-term knocks”

SCARLETS : 15 Blair Murray; 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Joe Roberts, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Ellis Mee; 10 Sam Costelow, 9 Archie Hughes

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 Kemsley Mathias, 18 Sam Wainwright, 19 Dan Davis, 20 Jarrod Taylor, 21 Efan Jones, 22 Ioan Lloyd, 23 Macs Page.

BKT United Rugby Championship 24/25 Rd 18

Saturday, May 17, 2025

KO 7:35pm  Aviva Stadium

Live on : RTÉ2, Premier Sports 1, BBC1 Wales, URC.tv 

Referee: Hollie Davidson (SRU)

AR 1: Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR)

AR 2: Federico Vedovelli (FIR)

TMO: Andrew McMenemy (SRU)

437 : Leinster v Glasgow wrap

Jimmy O’Brien  // www.inpho.ie

🏉  Stats v Vibes

🏉  Tremendous Tommy

🏉  Flat Track Bullies

🏉  The Ben Whitehouse Experience

🏉  In Our Defence

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CIAN O’MUILLEOIR

DAVID CORDIAL

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

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URC WRAP

NEXT HARPIN’

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT : “THE URC QUARTERFINALS”

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN 

436 : Leinster v Glasgow preview

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST

Our guest : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

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

10 May 2025; Ryan Baird of Leinster celebrates after scoring his side’s third try during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Zebre Parma at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile

🏉 12 different tries
🏉 Tyler’s attack
🏉 Sam’s starts
🏉 That JB narrative
🏉 Improved forwards

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CONOR CRONIN

CIARÁN DUFFY

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.

@harpinonrugby

Car thoughts after LEIvZEB #leinsterrugby #rugbytiktok #urc

♬ original sound – Harpinonrugby.blog

URC WRAP

NEXT HARPIN’

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT : “THE LIONS SQUAD”

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN 

THURSDAY

THROWBACK THURSDAY

431 : Scarlets v Leinster wrap

26 April 2025; Will Connors of Leinster is tackled by Taine Plumtree of Scarlets during the United Rugby Championship match between Scarlets and Leinster at Parc Y Scarlets in Swansea, Wales. Photo by Chris Fairweather/Sportsfile

🏉  Missed chances

🏉  Plumtree power

🏉  Defensive decline

🏉  Leadership lacking

🏉  No consolation

THIS WEEK’S GUEST

CONOR CRONIN

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.

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80+ COLUMN INCLUDING FRONT 5 VIDEO

THURSDAY

THROWBACK THURSDAY

430 : Scarlets v Leinster preview

Our guest : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

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

19 April 2025; Tommy O’Brien of Leinster evades the tackle of on his way to scoring his side’s first try during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Ulster at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

🏉  Late late change

🏉  Terrific TOB

🏉  Coach killers

🏉  Defensive stands

🏉  Triple Dan

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CIARÁN DUFFY

Post to Post blog

DAVID CORDIAL

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

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST

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)

423 : Sharks v Leinster wrap

29 March 2025; Max Deegan of Leinster makes a break during the United Rugby Championship match between Hollywoodbets Sharks and Leinster at Hollywoodbets Kings Park in Durban, South Africa. Photo by Shaun Roy/Sportsfile

🏉  Low expectations

🏉  Toothless Sharks

🏉  Bridge pass

🏉  The Max Deegan All-Stars

🏉  Holding on

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CONOR CRONIN

DAVID CORDIAL

FULL TIME TAKES

Bert McLoughlin

Not really a great game for a neutral but I’m not neutral, great win. Max was superb

Kevin Kelehan

Noon last week hoped for 2 points out of both games, last week ahead for 83 minutes and just caught in the end by a super dogged Bulls side and this week won a proper dogfight. The scores weren’t spectacular, but players like Deegan, Soroka and Penny never stopped working, the depth that Leinster have is embarrassing. To take 5 points from a trip they have struggled on in recent seasons is really encouraging

Cormac Mannion

Fantastic win. Frawley still doesn’t seem to have recovered his mojo after last autumn, albeit he was great for Penny’s try

Bernie Cunningham

Grt win, boys left it all on the pitch, delighted for the younger lads and to bring home 4pts from SA brill.👏👏

Eamon Saunders

Great performance from such a inexperienced bunch at this level given the opposition 💪👏👏

Get in the conversation yourself by leaving

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in Leinster & Ireland matches on our Facebook page

URC WRAP

NEXT HARPIN’

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT : “LEINSTER’S CHAMPIONS CUP 23”

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN INCLUDING FRONT 5 VIDEO

THURSDAY

THROWBACK THURSDAY