5 October 2024; Ciarán Frawley of Leinster beats the tackle of Tommaso Menoncello of Benetton on the way to scoring his side’s second try during the United Rugby Championship match between Benetton and Leinster at Stadio Monigo in Treviso, Italy. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Weird one that. Obviously happy with 5 points away at Benetton. We were brilliant for half an hour. Defensively exceptional for the whole game. But it's a concern how much our attack faded after that opening blitz. #BENvLEI
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WRAP OF A WRAP
Joining me on this week’s wrap pod was Rich Mifsud & Jay Long they put an amazing amount of lipstick on the pig that was the Leinster v Dragons match, if you missed it please check it out here.
HARPIN ON…THE LIONS Part 1 : “The Bankers”
A selection of eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the rugby media landscape
VANCOUVER VICTORY
King rumbled over from close range again to level at 27-27. O’Brien kept her composure to deliver the winning additional two points from the tee.
Ireland Sevens Olympian Zac Ward (pictured below) is named on the left wing in a pacy-looking back three alongside Rob Russell and Ben O’Connor who starts at full-back.
Erasmus paid the price for leaving the majority of his starting XV at home for the defeat by Argentina in an otherwise perfect campaign in terms of results.
McKee, Healy, Slimani, Deeny, Baird, McGrath, R Byrne, McErlean
Caveat : I have no “ITK”
INJURY UPDATE – AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
Michael Milne: came through the game on Friday with no issues after his recovery from an ankle injury.
INJURY UPDATE – FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:
RG Snyman: will step up his rehabilitation programme further this week as he nears a return from a foot injury.
UNAVAILABLE FOR SELECTION THIS WEEK:
Dan Sheehan, Jack Boyle, John McKee, Paddy McCarthy and Tommy O’Brien.
TROLL PATROL
LOADS of example to choose from to highlight what I was talking about in the Front 5 video but this was among my favourites and thus is this week’s Troll Patrol detainee.
Irish Women’s team
All Ireland Leagues
Women’s
Men’s
Premiership
🔝🐱🐴
ProD2
The Rugby Championship
RE Super Cup
Harpin Prediction League
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Friday – Benetton v Leinster preview feat Keego & Harpin segment on DublinSouthFM 93.9
27 September 2024; Cian Healy of Leinster after the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Dragons at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
Whenever Ross Byrne wears 10 custard skins worldwide breath a sigh of relief.
Leinster looked disjointed in the first 40. Could be early season problems but to be fair I think the Dragons were better than they have been in recent years. They knew they were going to end up on the end of 30-50 before they travelled but they stuck in and really lived off their big moments in the opening half. I think they’ll beat a few teams this year and I wouldn’t fancy Newport on a wet and windy night in the winter.
Things looked a little cleaner when Joe and Josh came in.
Deegan had another good showing and really I have to wonder what he’s still doing here. He should have gone last year and quite frankly he is squandering his talent at Leinster.
Gavin Hegarty
2/6 for Byrne from the Tee simply isn’t good enough. He was nervy and it showed.
Jimmy OBrien looked electric every time he got the ball.
We now have 3 world class hookers in Sheehan, Kelliher and Gus, a great problem to have. Gus’ lineouts were excellent and he was everywhere. Lineout dropped when Barron came on, something he needs to work on if he wants any sort of a look in.
The way osbourne is going Hugo might have a huge challenge ahead of him when he comes back.
Larmour has bulked up but I think he’s sacrificed fitness as a result, he seemed tired after 30 minutes.
Can’t help but feel a bad dragons team brought us down to their level, we should have topped 60 tonight.
Dave Murray
Wasn’t even any near misses from the tee, they were all terrible kicks. Ross has given us good service over the years, but we won’t be winning many/any major trophies with himself at 10 imo. Need to be investing in Frawley/Prendergast at 10, they’ll make us play a lot better.
Dave Ryle
I thought Osborne was more deserving of POTM.
Turner had a good game as well.
Upside- I had 6 pints of stout on a Friday night Downside – performance was fairly meh Upside- a wins a win Downside its getting cold Upside – life could be worse#LEIVDRA
Leinster were average for stretches yesterday and Ross left his kicking boots at home but some of the negativity seems OTT to me (and does a disservice to Dragons who played pretty well). Ultimately it's a comfortable win, job done, 10 points from our opening 10.#LEIvDRA
20 September 2024; Jamison Gibson-Park of Leinster scores his side’s fourth try during the United Rugby Championship match between Edinburgh and Leinster at Hive Stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
JGP’s try was the catalyst that delivered that burst of scores that changed the game, lucky the Edinburgh butchered their kicks 5 minutes out but on balance a decent start to the season that needs to deliver silverware
Chris McDonnell
We handed over 5 tries to the second worst attack in the league. If we don’t send him back to SA it’d going to get worse. Good to see some of the attack and Sam and Charlie were very good.
Gavin Hegarty
First game, away, mainly young team v full Edinburgh. A lot of positives. Sam was sublime, techtor could be a great 12 with his new bulk.
Scott Penny is relentless.
Can we talk about Byrne’s reaction to his yellow? Pathetic and I think he’ll get scolded for it in the review.
William Andrew
Tector, was competent at 12, that might be a better fit for him considering the glut at 10. Prendergast was very effective too. Nicely timed passing constantly. Defence a bit leaky, but a good start
David Lawlor
Nice to banish the opening game yips we seem to have been suffering from. A joy to watch a Leinster 10 take the ball to the line and his passing was sublime too. The last minute try makes it seem closer than it really was and while it’s disappointing to concede five tries I think the defence will improve as the season goes on. Roll on Friday in the Aviva!
5pts away from home in a season opener. I'll take it.
Poor finish handing over the 2nd point but happy with the 5 on our end, responded well to early 2nd half try, JGP superb, final qtr defence impressive until 80th min, cant ask for much more away from home to open the season. #EDIvLEI
sample from latest pod full episode available on Apple, Spotify, etc
A selection of five eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the rugby media landscape.
“HE’S TO BE” COACH
The appointment will see Easterby in place for the 2025 Guinness Men’s Six Nations and the Men’s summer tour next year, details of which are to be confirmed.
Compared with the increasingly buoyant and eye-catching Top 14, Newcastle v Dragons or Connacht v Sale on a Friday night would hardly be a gamechanger.
15 June 2024; Joe McCarthy of Leinster, left, after his side’s defeat in the United Rugby Championship semi-final match between Vodacom Bulls and Leinster at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria, South Africa. Photo by Shaun Roy/Sportsfile
Heartbreaking really, you could see players struggling in the conditions but Bulls were really up for it.
Some simple things going wrong don’t want to point out individuals but snappy passing failing us too many passes dropped taking away the momentum, a couple of kicks went awry as well, the Bulls kicking was exceptional for finding distance giving them a great home advantage.
I thought Joe Mc legally turned over the ball in the middle of the field but ref giving them a penalty seemed harsh, can someone explain why Donal on commentary was giving out about him, I’m perplexed.
Scrum a massive issue, now I’m really hoping Ireland go down and win both tests, anything else and we’re in for a torrid slagging 😂
Can someone explain why when Leinster score 87 tries second only to the Bulls on 88 everyone is saying Leinsters attack is terrible?
Lastly it’s not Bernard Jackman’s fault, based on the evidence Bulls weren’t all that, they just became all that today and fair play to them.
William Andrew
Leinster looked stale. They were moved around the park by a very clever Bulls side. It was obvious at half time Leinsters game was in trouble, its change it or lose it at that point.
Has Leinster improved this season? The answer is a resounding no.
Greg Kelly
Goodman took the best attack in world rugby and turned it into a toothless mess. Neinaber took the toothless mess and turned it into a leaky, depressing to watch toothless mess. The whole setup needs a shot of something heavy next season. Put Prendergast in at 10. Use Frawley as utility cover and Ross as the backup 10. Stop shitting on the shirt by offering the youngsters up as meat on a plate to SA teams away. Use the Academy players at home against the Dragons and Zebre and other weaker teams to build their confidence…not shatter it under a 50 point tonking.
The attitudes on the training ground build a season and clearly they are off
James Murphy
Some poor decisions from management during season
Definitely need a 10 for this level, and a second 9, McGrath was overwhelmed, also Larmar too small for this level.
Pack were bunched
Colin Mehigan
Not good enough…Tyler Bleyendaal can’t start soon enough…Nienaber’s lack of success at Munster is continuing at Leinster….does he have one year left on his contract? Sam P needs to be the starting 10 from the start of next season. Ridiculously long season. Players have been flogged into the ground. A season which will live short in the memory….yet again.
Sean MacDonnchadha
The organisation now has to be put under deserved pressure. A club side with the resources and depth of a world leading international side must expect more than consistent knockout performances becoming the new norm.Players trying their heart out and you can’t fault effort, but there is something technically wrong with their coaching and setup. If this were SA, England, France or NZ they would review with a cold mentality and introduce fresh changes. If we are serious about matching those nations then we need to do the same. Our RWC history is a clear and undeniable proof of this.
Cuan Mulligan
We were devoid of ideas in attack..Ross taking the ball with both feet planted 90% of the time.. one of the last plays and we’re looking at each other with not a clue what do to… huge fall from grace given the attacking threat we used to have. Take it on the chin; better team won… come on Munster… Ross to France please
Heartbreaking stuff for us today But in order to be great you have to put yourself in the position to be heartbroken
Fair play to the Bulls on an epic win. Executed on the day. Leinster just not good enough, spending large periods unable to gain a territorial foothold.
Time for reflection on the season, and some tough questions to be asked.#BULvLEI
Not good enough, all there is to it. Fair play Bulls, the much better side on the day. Three years with no silverware with this team – and without even a URC final in that period – is underperforming, there's no sugar coating it.
— Hugo Gordon 🏴🇫🇷 (@HugoGordon1) June 15, 2024
Bulls absolutely deserved winners. Leinster's attack virtually non existent. Desperately need some gas in the back line. Bulls pack bullied their international counterparts. Hanekom a freak. Willie le Roux an absolute joy to watch. Tortured Leinster's back 3
— Rhys Ruddock All Stars Fan (@GifsRugbyNStuff) June 15, 2024
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