From 2008-last season the bulk of my Harpin’ On Leinster & Ireland rugby was done in the form of a “match writeup” which would post every Monday afternoon, while I added a weekly podcast in 2019 to cover broader topics around the sport.
This season just to mix things up I have chosen to do less articles and more pods and the weekend just gone gave me the first chance to try out a new type of “wrapup” pods where instead of reviewing the most recent match in my own words, I’ll instead chat to some fellow fans about it. And I think we gave it a decent go in our first attempt if I do say so myself, which I do. Obvs there are things that need to be ironed out and I plan to upgrade my equipment as the season goes along but I’m happy enough with the new format so far.
But that certainly won’t stop me writing and I’ve decided to create this ‘extra thoughts’ heading for these posts where I can add things I may have forgotten to add or perhaps clarify somethind a listener brougtup in some feedback, stuff like that.
For the win at Quins there were a couple of impressive performances I forgot to mention, like Alex Soroka who seems to have picked up where he left off after his PotM display in South Africa earlier in the year, and of the 19 year olds who had prolonged cameos, Ben Brownlee had an error or two but certainly nothing to suggest he wont improve and as for Sam Prendergast he did really well under the circumstances, particularly that territory kick that put us in a position to claim the match winning try.
On the Harlequins side I forgot to give an honourable mention to their centre Lennox Anyanwu who had some really strong carries, with himself and Dombrandt representing the home side’s most potent threats.
Also on the pod we spoke about “full time takes” and I realise I forgot to add my own so here’s what I tweeted…
Enjoyed that, classic preseason tussle, mix of good and bad. Jamie Osborne stood out for me on first look but lots of decent outings. Can't wait to have a natter about it, bring on the new season!
Very grateful for the stream, worth every cent.#HARvLEI
Sadly there is no Leinster match next weekend so as well as using the time to go around the provinces to see how their squads are shaping up, I plan to follow both the Irish Women’s and Men’s 7s squads as they take part in the World Cup, with the men taking part in the very first match of the weekend on Friday morning, so stay tuned for that.
Don’t forget to follow us wherever you can, we’re well established on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram but also this season we’re aiming to increase our presence on both YouTube and TikTok so as the saying goes “smash that subscribe button”!!! JLP
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 