80+ column : June 19

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We’re taking a step back for a week or two here at Harpin Manor so just a “Lite” version of the column this week, or an “Eighty plus minus” if you will…no Front Five for example.

On this week’s column…

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IRELAND SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT

I dont know about you but I very much want Ireland to win both of these tests.  Development is important that is no doubt, but with an Emerging Ireland tour planned for later in the year I see no reason why we shouldn’t do what we can to make these matches the clash of titans the rest of the rugby world expects it to be -back to back RWC champs v back-to-back 6N champs, with the Boks VERY keen to put the most recent results between the two behind them.  Besides, it’s not like we won’t get some chance to see how we get on without regulars in the 23 with JGP and Conan missing out.  

Thanks to Murray Kinsella’s breakdown of the positions below, I have had a go at selecting my matchday 23 for the first test, I’ve even included a new cap that wouldn’t be Leinster fancy that!!  6/2 bench has to be right for Loftus I’d say.

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CGP RIP

Awful, awful news.  Way, way too young.  His parents both played rugby in Ireland back in the 90s.

Kei te tangi te ao Whutupōro kua hinga tētahi o ngā tama o te papa takaro.

The house of rugby laments the passing of one of its sons who graced the playing fields.

It is with great sadness that we acknowledge the passing of Connor Garden-Bachop yesterday. He will be… pic.twitter.com/lXLKkGY74T

— All Blacks (@AllBlacks) June 17, 2024

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24/25 CHAMPIONS CUP DRAW

Competition draws aren’t exactly sexy topics and the one for next season’s Champions Cup isn’t until Tuesday July 2, and although the competition format hasn’t changed there was some news specific to Leinster in today’s press release from EPCR…

For the purposes of the draw, the clubs will be divided into two tiers, Tier 1 and Tier 2. The four clubs in Tier 1 will be: Stade Toulousain (2024 Investec Champions Cup winners), Northampton Saints (2024 Gallagher Premiership winners), as well as the 2024 URC and 🔝🐱🐴  winners. If Stade Toulousain win the 🔝🐱🐴  title, then the Investec Champions Cup final runners-up, Leinster Rugby, will be included in Tier 1.

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WRAP OF A WRAP

Wrapping defeats are never fun on the one hand, but on the other there’s still the whole “show must go on” of it all so we did a full wrap pod where as well as a shortened “match timeline section” we also went back over Leinster’s season overall.  Tom Coleman & Mark Jackson seem to be getting more than their share of bad results when they appear on the pod but they still did a great job.

As you can see below we also found time to harp on a couple of extra relevant topics, all of them have been getting decent engagement over the past few days.

If you missed the wrap pod, here’s a link for Spotify but it’s also available on Apple and other platforms, please subscribe there too and/or leave a review if you can.

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LEINSTER’S & IRELAND’S 1-SCORE LOSSES

Lead-in question : OK now I’d like to chat for a bit about one-score matches.  Much has been said about the Springboks winning their second World Cup in a row on the back of three successive one-point victories, and then of course Jacques Nienaber switched to Leinster where as you can see by the screen there, we’ve had a string of defeats in recent seasons of 5 points or less, and I have also added results of the Irish team as well as, just for good measure, the Munster semifinal loss as they had both the Irish captain and starting outhalf playing for them.  You can say each and every one of these results played a part in an Irish team falling short of silverware so starting with yourself Tom, is there a pattern to be seen here?

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THE LEO CULLEN DEBATE

Lead-in question : This is a discussion I have tried to steer away from for quite a while now but it has been bubbling under the surface among Leinster fans on the social media platforms I’d say since our defeat in the Marseille final so obviously by now after two more campaigns gone without silverware, the calls are getting even louder so it’s probably about time we harped on it.  On the one hand you don’t want the very ‘footbally’ knee-jerk reactions to defeats calling for the coach to be fired, I mean most clubs in Europe wouldn’t come close to competing on two fronts every season the way we do, but on the other hand when you’ve won 4 Heineken Cups and 8 league titles over the years, the standards are always going to be high and for the past few seasons Leinster have fallen short.  So starting with yourself Mark, is it time for a change at the top?

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HOGG SAGA LATEST

After deciding to leave out the Front Five this week, there ended up being four stories I felt I had to include in the column so I’m sure I could have found a fifth to keep the segment going, but then again with this Hogg story returning like an awful smell I figured it best to shift it further down the page. 

Not exactly wild about how RugbyPass framed Hogg’s situation – “blighted by personal problems” suggests there might be someone to blame other than the man himself.

Let’s just say I will absolutely not be supporting MHR next season and I’m delighted there is very little chance Leinster will be playing them.

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A post shared by RugbyPass (@rugbypass)

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TROLL PATROL

A couple of weeks ago, I challenged a trolling comment from ‘mahasamatman’ offering them to appear on the pod…the challenge was genuine and if I got a response I would take steps to make it happen.  As you can see by their latest offering, it looks like they are choosing to ignore my invitation.  🐔

If you ever see an online contribution that seems worthy of inclusion here, by all means do share.

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“SVNS” UPDATE

No Irish teams in action until next weekend in Hamburg (see fixtures below) but there is still a lot of relevant stuff going on in the 7s world, not least of which was the announcement of the squads for the Olympics, with Lucy Rock & Harry McNulty named the respective captains.

We will know our opponents in Paris by this Sunday evening when the draw is made following the Monaco 7s which will decide the last 4 qualifiers in each gender.  Those tournaments will be streamed live on RugbyPassTV over the weekend with the like of GB and RSA involved on the men’s side and Argentina on the women’s.

OLYMPIC SQUADS

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🔝🐱🐴 UPDATE

All season we have been highlighting on these pages what a bad season La Rochelle are having yet they go and make the final four to face their nemesis Toulouse, who may be polishing their 6th star but with this seeming to be the Year of The Nemesis Reversal (Leinster beating LAR twice, Toulouse beating Leinster) plus the fact that the French play their semifinals on “neutral” grounds (not so much in Bordeaux’s case) you wouldn’t bet against them having another crack at a first Brennus.

That said, as you see in the segment on the Champion Cup draw earlier in the column, a Toulouse win would help Leinster out, so there’s that.

Meanwhile the other semifinal appears to be a tossup between Stade would would be favourites on form if it were held in any other city but UBB will be keen to use every advantage possible to reverse their Champions Cup quarterfinal disappointment.

Then there’s Montpellier who stayed in the top flight by the skin of their teeth with a two point win over Grenoble.  We’ll still be covering both sides on these pages next season as I plan to include the ProD2 in our update section.

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SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC UPDATE

Not a good day for future Leinster employees Jordie Barrett and Tyler Bleyendaal…hopefully the Hurricane’s exit in the semifinals won’t have a bearing on how they get on when they travel north!  Still promises to be a fascinating Auckland v Waikato final, I’ve always had a soft spot for the Blues and I’m not sure they’ll get a better chance than this to lift their first SR title since 2003.

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MAJOR LEAGUE RUGBY UPDATE

Really big win for my adopted team the Chicago Hounds, with Dave Kearney, Nick McCarthy, Jack Carty and Paddy Ryan all starting as they defeated San Diego (complete with Matt Giteau and the still-scoring-tries-at-42 Ma’a Nonu) to put them all but in the playoffs, with chances in the final two rounds to move up even higher.

Elsewhere Houston edged Seattle to stay top in the west while New England need just one more win to lock down home advantage in the east.

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HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE

Glasgow’s win at Thomond Park not only ended the provinces’ URC hopes, but with Kristian gambling for the upset it has also looked like handing him the HPL title.  With the multiplier in force for the playoffs, Kino CAN catch him, but only if they make different picks for the final and his is the right one.  The Superbru app only tells you who others have chosen when the matches kick off, and if it turns out that they made the same selection then the title belongs to Kristian.

Jay is guaranteed 3rd place but as for me in 4th, I’m anything but – in fact, with Conor, Mark & Tom all breathing down my neck I could finish as low as 7th so I’ll have to make my final decision very carefully.

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NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

The plan is to take a break for at least a week with the next planned content on these pages being another 80+ column next Wednesday.  But I’m sure in the meantime I’ll be tempted to drop the odd x or TikTok along the way so do keep an eye out.

Plus I’ll be appearing on Caolán Scully’s pod from Thursday evening as well as our regular Dublin South FM slot so there’s always harpin’ going on somewhere!

And as ever, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are.  JLP

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