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Welcome to my 80+ column, a weekly post featuring final thoughts from the week of rugby just gone.  

WRAP OF A WRAP

My “cold open” to start the latest wrap pod was a true story about a neighbour who spoiled me on the result of the Bulls v Leinster match before I had a chance to catch up. To be fair, he didn’t exactly make it clear just how heavy a defeat it was.

Anyway it all meant I had to make a few tweaks to the format of the pod and thankfully both Conor and Nathan were willing to play along and did a bang up job both with the match and a review of the other sides in the competition. Another enjoyable hour of recording that I hope comes across.

If you missed it, check it out here or on most major platforms.

HARPIN ON…LEINSTER’S URC HIGHLIGHTS SO FAR

To further the cause of my desire to harp on positive Leinster topics after us getting a hiding in URC Rd 18, I asked Conor & Nathan to help me come up with six highlights from Rds 1-17 and you’ll see them in the clip below. Mine were Ross Molony’s overall contribution plus our win at Thomond Park on St Stephen’s Day.

If you’re playing the clip above maybe pop over and subscribe to the channel too?  That’s where we post our Preview Show as well as other content throughout the week.

SHARKS QF TIK TOK 

So it’s the Sharks up next for Leinster (at the Aviva BTW on account of The Boss at the RDS that weekend) and we will of course be covering it in full next week but for now Nathan has offered a mini-preview for our latest TikTok.

POSTERS AT MUSGRAVE PARK

So here’s the thing…I’m definitely 100% behind the cause for better governance and standards for Irish women’s rugby. But when I heard about this protest involving banners at Musgrave Park, let’s just say I was probably closer to 80% on this particular method.

And it wasn’t because I have anything against protest, far from it, it’s just that I had a feeling it would give the “powers that be” the opportunity to make it all about the F word, which in fact they did, with some from the media joining in the spin by referring to organisers as “nutcases”.

Look. The sooner we get away from this two sides nonsense the better. We all want the Irish women’s team to succeed. Instead of honing in on the means being used to protest maybe we should ask ourselves what the protest is actually all about. And nothing highlights the disparity between the background support for men’s and women’s rugby more than what has been happening on the pitch in recent weeks. Men = Grand Slam senior & U20 PLUS all four provinces in final 8 of URC. Women = very likely wooden spoon in Six Nations, meaning a bottom tier seeding in the new WXV tournament later in the year.

Stop spinning and punishing and instead LISTEN.

AI : WOMEN’S RUGBY ISSUES

For the next while I’m going to play around with this ChatGPT app I have and see what it spits out when asked rugby related questions. Further to the previous segment, here’s what I asked it this week. I think the ‘WNL’ it’s referring to has something to do with the women’s soccer league, so it’s clear the technology needs a bit of work.

Write 500 words on the issues facing Irish women’s rugby.

Over the past years, Irish women’s rugby has steadily grown, with the national team winning a Grand Slam in the Six Nations Championships, and Leinster women’s team winning the first ever interprovincial title. However, there are still various issues facing women’s rugby in Ireland. 

One of the primary issues facing women’s rugby is funding. Despite the success of the national team, women’s rugby still receives less funding, commercial support and media coverage than men’s rugby. This inequality in funding is an issue that many women’s rugby teams around the world face, and it hinders the development of the game. The lack of financial support means that women’s teams struggle to afford facilities, equipment, and travel costs for national and international competitions. 

Another significant issue is attracting and retaining players. Rugby is a high-impact sport that requires participants to be physically fit and strong, and unfortunately, not all women are confident enough to participate due to the physical demands of the sport. Women’s rugby teams need to create an awareness of the benefits of playing rugby and encourage more women to start playing rugby. Other factors that could be driving players away include the lack of facilities, early retirement, limited opportunities for support and development, and balancing rugby with personal life. 

Moreover, there is a lack of coaching support available in women’s rugby. While there are many rugby clubs in Ireland, there are not enough female coaches, and many women’s teams are coached by men. The shortage of female coaches means that women players lack the right mentors and role models, which can lead to less development and less interest in pursuing rugby as a career. Furthermore, it is often harder for women to find a role in rugby coaching as it can be much more competitive, with limited job opportunities on offer.

The diversity of the women’s rugby team is also a vital issue. Historically, rugby is a sport played predominantly by white people, and this is reflected in the makeup of most of the women’s rugby teams in Ireland. It is, however, important to note that there is nothing to suggest that women of colour or ethnic minorities are less interested in playing rugby. Irish rugby should endeavour to create a more inclusive environment and invest time and resources to encourage more diversity in women’s rugby. 

Finally, The Women’s National League (WNL) has been lauded for its success, but it still struggles for funding, airtime, and visibility in the Irish sports scene. Despite having some fantastic talents, both homegrown and overseas, the WNL barely reaches any audience, making it difficult to attract new investors or sponsors. 

In conclusion, Irish women’s rugby has developed positively over the years, but there is still a long way to go. The issues facing women’s rugby in Ireland are similar to those worldwide. Irish women’s rugby has a considerable potential for growth, and it will require the collective effort of everyone involved in the sport to tackle the challenges and make progress towards true gender equality in rugby.

SHIELD WINNERS QUALIFYING FOR HCC

Just a quick follow up on something I mentioned last week – I was delighted to learn that the URC was switching to just derby results to determined the winners of the four geographical shields, and I still am, but the point I want to make is about the whole “Shield winners qualifying for HCC” thing.

There’s a lot of backlash against this by rugby fans, and for the most part, rightly so. Cardiff getting into the top tier competition despite finishing 10th isn’t exactly ideal. However, I’d just like to push back a tiny bit – there’s a very good reason the leagues do this, and it’s certainly not because it looks unfair.

It’s all to do with media markets. The EPCR wants there to be interest in as many of them as possible and this system is no different than that employed by US sports for decades. As it turned out, it just wasn’t a good fit for European fans and I get that. But it still comes from a place that makes some sense when you look at it a certain way.

All of that said, the rate players are leaving the Welsh regions at the moment I have a feeling Cardiff’s appearance in the 23/24 comp could be the last one for a while…

WHICH IS IT EWAN???

You have to believe me – I’d really, really, REALLY rather not have to mention the name Ewan McKenna on these pages, yet despite having unfollowed him ages ago, Elon Musk still insists on shoving him in my face by way of my “For You” timeline. Now I KNOW I could always just block him, but my core belief is that blocking has to be the last resort as you should always at least be willing to take in views you don’t agree with so I tolerate his stuff for the most part.

This weekend however I wonder if he tripped himself up with his own fabricated narratives. I think in his mind he’s on a safe footing having a pop both at rugby as a whole, and at Dublin GAA in particular, as both will get him attention among similar groups of rage-tweeters.

Yet have a look at the two classic EMcK offerings below, one where he effectively says “why can’t we just say the Irish women’s team is shit?” while just 24 hours later he’s saying a men’s team lost to Dublin because of a lack of funding. Which is it mate?

Just further proof that he’s an agenda-driven spoofer who clearly must be devastated that his idol Tucker Carlson got fired (and yes, he even tweeted about that though I won’t share it).

TOTTENHAM??? WTF???

My title for this segment has two meanings.

First and foremost for a rugby site, it of course has to do with the fact that the 2024 Champions and Challenge Cup finals are due to be played at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. I have been there, and have to say it really is an impressive arena.

The problem many fans seem to have with the announcement is that a lot of finals have been staged in England over recent years, which is ironic because there has been a lot of complaints from across the water in recent weeks about the amount of matches the Aviva have been hosting lately.

I will push back a tiny bit however in this case…THFC were promised the event in 2021 only for COVID to intervene, so it was kind of inevitable for them to get it sooner rather than later. Maybe we can say the finals are being held too often in England but we should allow at least a bit of understanding when it comes to pandemic-related issues.

My second reason for the heading brings me to some full disclosure when it comes to this issue. For over 40 years Tottenham have been my favourite “top” football club. I know that makes me a laughing stock now (and trust me I have heard EVERY joke especially the one about the rugby meaning there will finally be a trophy in the stadium!) so FWIW I’ll briefly explain how I came to support them.

When I moved to Ireland from the USA I started boy’s school here in 3rd class and while rugby was the main sport everybody was playing, they also all seemed to be following an English soccer team so I felt pressure to find one for myself as my family had no allegiances whatsoever. Around the time I was in the market for a team, Tottenham made the headlines even on Irish TV when they won a match by 9 goals to 0, with a player named Colin Lee (my mother’s maiden name) scoring four of the goals.

So that was it for me. Tottenham till I die. And to be fair they DID go on to win a few trophies over the next few years so that kind of cemented it. Now all they do is have my sons cursing me for passing the fandom on to them….

INJURY REPORT

Mixed bag of news from the report…first it’s a pain that James Lowe won’t make it especially considering how he picked up the injury (skipping in celebration as JGP was dotting down against Leicester). The upside is that it gives Jordan Larmour a perfect opportunity to remind us what he can do on a big European stage.

The big dilemma seems to be in the back row. Baird/JVDF/Doris with Conan on bench seems to be our preferred selection but with two of those doubtful it throws open a rake of possibilities to our selection for Saturday, including Caelan Doris involved in different believable scenarios where he could be 6, 7 or 8.

(note – the above team is purely from my imagination, it’s certainly not one of those quasi-leaked Thornley teams which are always 22 out of 23 correct)

AIL UPDATE

Big semifinal weekend all across the five division as well as across the island, with some interesting results. The Tarf v Nure final was to be expected but Young Munster sure ran their hosts close at Castle Avenue that’s for sure. And just to show these matches don’t always go with seeding, Highfield provided an upset by overturning Belvo to leave the promotion playoff an all-Munster affair. If they can overcome Shannon in a couple of weeks then they will replace them in the top flight.

Once again I’d like to point out that while it was great that many of these club matches were available for streaming, it’s still a shame that they had to clash on the calendar with both W6N & URC fixtures.

MLR UPDATE

I could have watched a match from Week 10 and reported on it here. Or, I could have just summarized what happened for you in Week 10 and looked ahead to Week 11. But even if I had, you wouldn’t have noticed my reports anyway because the only thing from Major League Rugby last weekend was the brawl in the video below, so I might as well just share it.

More on the league next week.

HARPIN’ PREDICTION LEAGUE

My spell back in first place lasted just one week, mostly because I forgot that Lions v Zebre kicked off at 12 on Saturday, thus leaving out my prediction which would have earned me a point to keep me ahead of Kino.

Still looking back over past 80+ columns earlier in the season I realised that both myself and Kino have scored exactly 100 points since Round 5, but it should be pointed out that even with just 7 matches left to forecast, we’re definitely not the only two still in contention for the crown. And special mention to Kristian Ross for a top notch performance in the second half of the season.

THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

Just to warn you, I’m going to be typing this a lot for the next few days > 🚽🚽

In case you haven’t been clued into the joke, those emojis represent Toulouse, not because we think they stink or anything, rather a play on “two loos”.

Anyway…we will of course be giving the big semifinal at the Aviva the full Harpin treatment, with a preview with Keego recording on Friday a wrap pod featuring our Westmeath/Meath coaching combo of Mark J & Tom C on Sunday, plus a whole lot more in between.

 In the meantime, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are.  JLP

For this week’s TT I’m going back exactly two years to an article I wrote on the Irish Women’s team after a defeat in the 2021 Six Nations; I thought it was interesting to evaluate what has/hasn’t been done in the meantime. It’s certainly hasn’t been nothing, but it also certainly hasn’t been enough, and it’s noteworthy that the two players I quote at the beginning of the article have both left the team by choice since.

In the meantime we have seen a constant stream of articles, sometimes highlighting positive moves forward, but other times highlighting either actual negative acts or a general lack of necessary action. Then the “debate” proceeds on Twitter where basically anyone who pushes back against the status quo is either asked to forget about the past or gets derided as “nameless keyboard warriors”.

The only way forward is to have less rowing and more listening.

HOW CAN WE HELP?

first published April 19, 2021

My plan was to give the Ireland v France match the “full Harpin treatment”, ie cover it exactly as I would the men’s team. There was a preview on Friday, I’d tweet during the match, collect opinions after the fulltime whistle which I would then share in a post on the Sunday, and finally this writeup on the Monday.

But as the match wore on it dawned on me – is this really helping? If I left my scheduled Facebook post asking followers to “Feel free to leave your thoughts…” to publish on time would that be guaranteed to provide the constructive debate we usually get each weekend after the Leinster & Ireland men’s teams play?

Now to be clear, I wasn’t asking this because I saw the scoreline as a disaster that wasn’t worth commentary, far from it. My personal impression from the 80 minutes was that this was the same starting XV which won convincingly in Cardiff just seven days before, they opened the match with the same will and determination and managed to get the first score on the board, only to just lack the required accuracy to keep the momentum going and ended up getting punished by a squad which had a lot more rugby in their legs.

“We played into the French hands by trying to move the ball too quickly, by not being set. Our accuracy in the breakdown when we’re challenged by a world-class team let us down.” – Claire Molloy

“I must say, the gap wasn’t huge. If we tighten up a few areas, I’d like to see us go forward and we’ve next weekend and we can show that.” – Ciara Griffin

Those post match comments from senior players in the team perfectly reflected what I saw. There were many positives from them throughout the match, and not just in that opening spell. When we played with accuracy, there were good outcomes, and our two tries off set pieces showed that. Plus with players like Stacey Flood impressing off the bench, we showed that while our depth may not have been as strong as our opponents’, we still definitely had it.

But would the wider viewing public feel the same? Or could they bring themselves to see past the scoreline and at least try to talk about a glass that’s half full?

So I cancelled the Facebook post and just monitored the online reaction myself privately as the weekend wore on, and I also realised that penning a match writeup exactly the same way I do week in week out on these pages probably wasn’t going to help all that much either.

Then on Sunday morning I came across the tweet thread you see below (reproduced with permission of the account owners btw)

“Women’s sport has come a long way in recent years.  In particular, the popularity of women’s rugby has grown hugely. 

5/6 years ago on SM 80% of the chat about women’s rugby was negative. It was largely abuse, misogyny dressed up as a “joke” all from non-fans.

Nowadays it’s 80% support. People who love the sport, who’ve taken the time to get to know the women’s game. True fans of the team.  The game is now getting incredible media coverage. The women are getting some of the exposure they deserve. Our game is being celebrated.

But unfortunately there is still that 20% of abuse. I’m sure it doesn’t sound like much, and the men get online abuse too when they lose, none of it is ever ok.

But what stings when it’s comes to the women’s game is this:

As female athletes, their womanhood is the target.  The abusive comments are always dripping with misogyny. Everything from comparing their standard to men’s or teenage boys, to telling them to get back in the kitchen to comments on their sexuality.

Often the abuse is dressed up as “genuine criticism”.  Let me tell you unequivocally, that when you’ve seen it for years, you see through it.

The abuse comes from men 99% of the time. It comes from men who hardly know the game and know even less about the women’s side. From men who are silent when we win and loud when we lose.

It’s not ok. Sexism and misogyny aren’t acceptable. The players see it, and no matter how thick skinned they are, it still hurts. Because they’ve fought this misogyny all their life, just to get to play sport at this level.  Even when they’ve “made it” it’s still there. Always.

Telling fans or players to “ignore it” solves nothing. It doesn’t lessen the impact of what is said. It doesn’t make it easier to see the abuse. And it doesn’t do anything to stop the abuse.  It needs to be challenged. The positivity needs to get louder, drown it out.

As supporters, the 80% you’re already doing so much of that. You’re shouting louder. You’re offering unyielding support. You see the negatives as opportunities to improve  and the positives are celebrated.  As supporters, whether you know it or not, you are countering the abuse.

You do so with positive support online, by clicking into articles about the team, by listening to podcasts and by buying jerseys.

Thank you for your positivity. Thank you for your support.  Onwards to SATURDAY!”

@IrishWomens – Irish Women’s Rugby Supporters Club

I don’t think I could have found a better explanation of how we can help the team.  And I particularly like the use of percentages because it goes toward defining the spectrum of opinion and forces you to ask yourself where you are on it.

Obviously I see myself in the 80% as mentioned and I’m pretty sure nobody would dispute that.  However, if you were to break down that majority into smaller groups again, I’d have to hold up my hand and admit that I’m a lot closer to the minority than I’d like.

I know just the mere presence of a word like “misogyny” will trigger a lot of men to react yet anyone who denies it exists is fooling himself, and it’s up to us to call it out whenever we see it.  But that’s not all that requires discussion here so this article isn’t about that. 

Actually the part that I found myself identifying with the most was this : “Everything from comparing their standard to men’s or teenage boys…“.  I know I’ve been guilty of this.

I have thought for a long time that if there was one thing the organisers of women’s rugby should do first it would be to vow not to model every competition on the men’s equivalent.  And gradually over time they have done this, like scheduling the Women’s World Cup in a different year to the men and this year even the Six Nations made some changes to make sure it was played this season.  

Personally I like the pool format and if anything I’d look to expanding it to include the likes of Spain and the Netherlands in future seasons but if they must return to the six-team round robin, I really think they should consider at least keeping it in a different window to the male equivalent for maximum exposure.

But for all my talk about making sure there was a difference, there was I planning to cover them today exactly the same as the men!!!  And had I done my normal writeup, I probably would have over-analysed specific match situations using the sort of thing I’d expect from the men as a framework.

If I really want to help, that has to stop.  When I think about it, to appreciate the differences between the two codes you don’t even have to consider gender.  We’re talking about two completely different sets of people who might be playing the same sport and wearing practically the same green jersey, yet their journeys to getting there have been very different.

Over the weekend there was an article in the Indo by Sinéad Kissane where she tells the story of the first ever Irish women’s international in 1993.  Even though the men’s game was only on the cusp of professionalism at the time, the gulf in how the teams prepared was still incredibly wide then, and unfortunately this disparity was still evident in 2012 on an infamous away date with the French.

Clearly a lot of those issues have been resolved, and much success has followed from there including a Grand Slam and a World Cup semifinal, culminating in our hosting of the 2017 global competition in both Dublin and Belfast.  

However things since then haven’t exactly gone so well it’s fair to say, though to blame it all entirely on the IRFU might be a bit harsh.  In fact, if anything the shift to professionalism has been a bit similar to what originally happened with the men in that both England and France were the first to make the switch and were always better positioned logistically to bring it about more quickly.

Say what you like about the amount of mistakes the Irish players made on Saturday, but if you think the 80 minutes would have progressed exactly the same if they had played as much top level rugby with exactly the same facitlities as their opposition over the past 12 months then there’s no point discussing further because we’d be on competely different pages.

That said, while the responsibility for the current situation doesn’t lie completely at the door of our own union (also when you factor in COVID-19 and all the uncertainly and reduced funding it has brought) there’s really nowhere else for us to look when it comes to finding a path forward.

Is a completely fulltime set up for the senior women’s squad an attainable goal right now?  If not, then what can we do to raise the levels from where they are?  And what of the other end of the scale – are the structures right in the club game to attract the Ciara Griffins, Claire Molloys and Beibhinn Parsons of the future?

Obviously those questions are well above my paygrade to answer, but if we want to help as fans, we still need to be asking them, as well as clicking on the articles and listening to the podcasts and buying the jerseys.

And we also need to make sure we don’t let a result like this turn us off from supporting the girls.  They now play Italy next week in a third place play-off.  For one thing, it will be a great leveller to see where the team really is, especially as the Italians have impressed in their two matches so far with a well-organised defence.  

But also, for all the talk about England and France dominating the European women’s game, third place in the Six Nations will carry a lot of weight in future seasons as it will mean qualification for the new WXV tournament which World Rugby announced recently.  We definitely want to be a part of that.

And speaking of qualifying, our road to the next World Cup lies through a series involving Italy, Scotland and probably Spain.  This should happen later in 2021 so the more rugby the girls can play between now and then the better.

Details like these are ones we need to know and when the matches come about, we must offer our full support.  I understand our clash with Italy has been switched to Dublin for COVID reasons so at the time of writing I’m not entirely sure if the kickoff time is still 12pm.  

Hopefully it will avoid a clash with the other matches the same weekend – I know the enthusiasm isn’t exactly high for the Rainbow Cup but let’s not forget the match in Cardiff was put right up against Exeter v Leinster so this is another area where the organisers must do better.

In the meantime I will try to do better myself by getting behind the team whenever they play and looking for information in the right places like following @IrishWomens and websites like Scrumqueens and fingers crossed the day won’t be long coming that the 80% gets a lot closer to 100% and I can produce writeups that do the team justice.  JLP

Welcome to my 80+ column, a weekly post featuring final thoughts from the week of rugby just gone.  

WRAP OF A WRAP

For a match that supposedly had no value to Leinster Rugby we certainly had loads to harp on and it was great to have Joe Sheppard back on the pod after a long absence, with also of course Rich Mifsud offering his quality takes once more. I can absolutely guarantee you won’t find a better podcast on Irish rugby featuring American, Liverpudlian & Gibraltarian accents anywhere on the planet and yes, you can quote me on that. 😁

If you missed it, check it out here or on most major platforms.

HARPIN ON…SAM PRENDERGAST & THE NEXT GENERATION

I had a feeling there might be a Twitter backlash against Leinster fans acknowledging Sam Prendergast’s Player of the Match performance and sure enough, the ol’ birdhouse didn’t let me down. But will that stop us harpin’ on his display anyway? What do you think???

If you’re playing the clip above maybe pop over and subscribe to the channel too?  That’s where we post our Preview Show as well as other content throughout the week. We’ve been keeping the video channels pretty low key this season as we adjust to the pod format so we had a mini celebration of sorts here at Harpin Manor last week when we got our 100th subscriber! But obviously if you can help us get that number higher a little faster it would be greatly appreciated…

TOUR EXPERIENCE TIK TOK 

Not only did we give the Rhys Ruddock All Stars praise for their win in Jo’burg but we also stayed grounded by acknowledging what this tour is really about for the province and Rich nailed it on the head here…

GREAT SCOTT!!!

Right on the back of the announcement of Jacques Nienaber coming to Leinster, we found out Monday that Connacht were getting a defensive coach of their own, and what a name it is.

I always said that on top of his own personal awesomeness on the pitch at Leinster, Fardy’s contributions went way beyond that and just his mere presence in the setup had to be an inspiration to all our locks and especially our backrowers…in particular Ryan Baird who has really stepped up since the Wallaby left to play a much similar role for us. And if what I’m saying is right about Baird who was just coming into the team at the time Scott came along, I can only imagine what he’ll do with someone like Ciaran Prendergast who’s already banging on the door of the test team as it is.

URC FORMAT TWEAK

A lot of talk about Heineken Cup formats this season but here’s a couple of alterations being made by the URC for next season. They have to do with the Shields, which are the geographical sub-divisions within the competition that has four distinct tables for Irish, Welsh, South African, plus of course the Scots/Italian one.

Essentially there are three announcements here…

1. First of all, it’s important to point out they are keeping the shields at all. Could have easily scrapped them but I believe they’re a good way to add spice to the schedule.
2. My favourite portion of this can be seen in the tweet below – in fact I’m pretty sure I brought this up in an 80+ column earlier in the season. Now there will actually be a proper Irish Interprovincial Championship once more with actual silverware on offer. As if the interpros needed more of an edge, I know, but it’s still very welcome.
3. Finally and the one that most people will be happy about, the silverware I mention above is the only prize guaranteed to the winners. Since it is now only based on the derby results, it wouldn’t be right to base Heineken Cup qualification on it anymore, which now means the most for Welsh and Italian clubs since they will have to qualify by finishing in the actual URC top 8 as nature intended.

FIFITA TRY CALLED BACK BY “DR. NO“

Earlier in the season when he refereed Leinster’s St Stephen’s Day trip to Thomond Park I gave Chris Busby the name “Dr No” for the way he kept shouting “NO!” to forwards at breakdowns saying to stay away from the ball…well on last Friday evening at Scotstoun it caught him out in the incident below.

Much was said about the try being called back, and I was surprised that the debate was only over whether or not Fifita was actually offside. For me, the referee’s call of “no” followed by allowing the player to take the ball was way too misleading for both sides and perhaps the best course of action would have been to blow his whistle immediately, own up to the ambiguity (easy mistake tbf we’ve all done something like that) and restart the match with a Glasgow scrum.

Instead Fifita ran the length of the pitch only for the incident to be looked at several times before being ruled offside which gave the Warriors a penalty. Obviously that is technically the right call but my point is that while I do like the way officials bark instructions at forwards to keep them from doing no-nos that will disrupt the flow of play, there will be times when they can get their instructions mixed up and I reckon this was one of them.

WOODBURN RED

Another controversial decision from the weekend of rugby just gone was this one. As you can see, Couch Referee has quoted chapter and verse what the right call was and I can’t argue.

But there are some other factors in the debate which need addressing. First, the offence was NOT considered to be a red card one, and much of those grumbling online seem to be the same ones (including some actual current players sadly) who get their knickers in a twist for every red shown for a blow to the head.

The reason Woodburn had to leave the pitch was because this was his second yellow card offence. We may disagree as to whether or not it deserved a call at all (and tbh I wasn’t 100% sure myself – the ref based the PT award on the fact that Woodburn had dragged the player into touch when I thought it was Hogg).

Actually my own biggest issue with all of this was the fact that he looked at it at all. I have a feeling the TMO check might have been what kicked off the online anger because a lot of rugby fans seem to be WAY too obsessed with anything that might slow down the game. I know delays can be a pain but there have to be limits and foul play in the act of scoring, of which this was definitely in the ballpark on first look, need to be checked. Although having said that, the high tackle on Chris Cosgrave as he scored for Leinster was not only checked, it was called, yet not actual sanction was given but that’s another story I guess…

IN THE BUNKER

This looks to be sensible. Basically instead of “if in doubt, give a yellow and it will be looked at during the week”, we now have “if in doubt, give a yellow and we’ll have a look while you play on and will let you know if it’s a red”. This will avoid the absolutely bonkers incident involving Super Rugby recently when a flying headbutt went completely unpunished.

AI ON LEINSTER’S SUCCESS

Last week I used ChatGPT to produce a report on Leinster’s HCC quarterfinal against Leicester, and while it did get a lot of the players names wrong, the result was perfect and overall looked believable at least to someone with only a passing interest in rugby. 

This week however the AI has gone one better as just for the craic I asked it to weigh in on a debate that was been raging in the ruggersphere lately… 

Write 500 words on the reasons for Leinster’s success. 

Leinster Rugby is one of the most successful rugby union teams in Europe, with a long history of winning championships and producing top-quality players. There are many reasons why Leinster Rugby has been so successful over the years, including a strong coaching team, excellent training facilities, and a relentless focus on player development. In this essay, we will examine these reasons in more detail.

One of the most important factors in Leinster Rugby’s success is the quality of its coaching team. The team has been led by many top-quality coaches over the years, including Joe Schmidt, Matt O’Connor, and Leo Cullen. These coaches have not only been successful in winning championships but have also put a strong emphasis on player development. They have been able to identify and nurture the talents of some of the best players in Europe, such as Johnny Sexton, Tadhg Furlong, and Garry Ringrose.

Another key factor in Leinster Rugby’s success is the quality of its training facilities. The team has access to some of the best facilities in Europe, including a modern high-performance center and a well-appointed training ground. This allows players to train at the highest level, ensuring that they are fully prepared for the challenges of professional rugby. Furthermore, the team has a culture of continuous improvement, with players constantly being challenged to improve their skills and fitness levels.

Leinster Rugby’s success is also the result of its relentless focus on player development. The team has a world-class academy system that identifies and nurtures young talent from an early age. This system has produced many of the team’s current stars, including Jordan Larmour, James Ryan, and Josh van der Flier. It is also renowned for its ability to develop players’ leadership skills, ensuring that the team always has a strong core of leaders on and off the field.

Leinster Rugby’s success is also due to its strong team culture. The team is renowned for its tight-knit group of players, who are all committed to the same goal of winning championships. This culture is fostered by the coaching staff, who encourage players to work together and support each other throughout the season. This has led to a team that is not only successful but also has a great sense of camaraderie and spirit.

Finally, Leinster Rugby’s success is due to its ability to adapt to changing circumstances. Over the years, the team has faced many challenges, including injuries and changes in the rules of the game. However, the team has always been able to adapt and overcome these challenges, ensuring that it remains competitive at the highest level. This is due in part to the team’s strong coaching and training systems, which allow players to develop a range of skills and techniques that can be applied in different situations.

In conclusion, Leinster Rugby’s success can be attributed to a number of factors, including its strong coaching team, excellent training facilities, and relentless focus on player development. The team’s great team culture and ability to adapt to changing circumstances have also been key factors in its success. All of these factors have helped to create a team that is not only successful but also a great ambassador for the sport of rugby.

“WADE-ING” INTO PUNDITRY

I’m bringing our “Eurowatch” feature back this week, where basically I study the latest match for Leinster’s upcoming European opponents and produce a TikTok summarising what happened. This weekend it was Toulouse v Lyon, and what a match it was, like “joué joué on steroids”.

That vid should be ready on Wednesday, but for this column I simply had to share this bit of commentary from Christian Wade. Earlier in the season James Lowe was commentating on a Leinster v Chile friendly and I thought his laid back approach was brilliant – well for this match Wade did a real “hold my beer” on that notion.

After the first try of the match this is what he said…

“See me I love tries, when I touch the field, when I get my hands on the ball it’s like I want to make something happen you know, it’s just in my blood to get like white line fever, I feel that there’s another feeling that’s more than white line fever that’s what I have”

Christian Wade in commentary during 🚽 🚽 v 🦁

We need more of this IMO.

INJURY REPORT

Unfortunately the term “Rhys Ruddock’s All Stars” for Leinster’s travelling squad to South Africa will have to be symbolic for our match against the Bulls next Saturday as he picked up a knock. In our Harpin WhatsApp group we have it between Dave Kearney and Max Deegan for the captain’s armband in his stead.

On the actual injury report itself it was really unfortunate for Vakh to follow up his superb try with a neck injury and hopefully he’ll be back soon. And as ever the “no further updates” section is full of nailed on HCC starters so I try to be in denial so I’d best go back to trying to work out a possible matchday squad for the weekend.

For me it’s all about finding a balance between keeping important units together and getting caps into as much of the touring squad as possible. For me I’d leave 11-15 and 4-8 untouched with the exception of Ruddock.

(note – the above team is purely from my imagination, it’s certainly not one of those quasi-leaked Thornley teams which are always 22 out of 23 correct)

AIL UPDATE

There were a few ways the top 4 in the AIL1A could have changed in round 18 yet with the top 3 all winning it was as you were which means the league semifinals will both be Leinster/Munster affairs as Tarf will host the Cookies and Cork Con will travel to Lakelands next Saturday.

When it comes to relegation I have to offer a correction, as I have been covering the AIL all season I was wrong in how I was explaining the format. The way it actually works all through the divisions is that the 9th team in the higher tier is joined by 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the next one down in a knockout playoff for the one place in the higher division. This means Shannon, Old Wesley, Belvo & Highfield will all have a chance to win two matches and join 1B champs City of Armagh in next season’s Division 1A.

Further down the league it’s congrats to Queens, Greystones and Instonians for winning Divs 2A,B & C respectively, especially Inst who won all 18 of their matches.

I’ve said it many times before but it’s worth repeating, it’s a shame the AIL isn’t covered a lot more on an actual TV channel – there was some YouTube streaming but the 2:30 kickoff time on Saturday meant they clashed with both the Women’s 6Nations and the URC.

DIVISION 1A

Ballynahinch 17-7 Lansdowne

Clontarf 50-29 UCD

Dublin University 66-14 Garryowen

Terenure 29-17 Shannon

Young Munster 26-36 Cork Con

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PLAYOFFS

Sat Apr 22

Clontarf v Young Munster

Terenure v Cork Con

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DIVISION 1B

Banbridge 16-10 Highfield

Buccaneers 24-31 City of Armagh

Naas 35-39 Old Wesley

St Mary’s 21-32 Old Belvedere

UCC 20-10 Malone

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Promotion Playoffs

April 22

Shannon v Old Wesley

Old Belvedere v Highfield

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DIVISION 2A

CHAMPIONS : Queens University

PROMOTION PLAYOFFS : Banbridge v Barnhall, Blackrock Coll v Nenagh Ormond

RELEGATED : Dolphin

DIVISION 2B

CHAMPIONS : Greystones

PROMOTION PLAYOFFS : UL Bohs v Sligo, Galway Corinthians v Dungannon

RELEGATED : Enniscorthy

DIVISION 2C

CHAMPIONS : Instonians

PROMOTION PLAYOFFS : Galwegians v Bruff, Skerries v Tullamore

RELEGATED : Sunday’s Well

MLR UPDATE

As I’m typing this section the news is just coming through that both Dave Kearney and Adam Byrne have announced they are moving to the MLR to play for the Chicago Hounds, a very interesting development indeed. Definitely a great move for Dave to see out his brilliant career but when it comes to AB I have to assume he’s doing it with a view to qualify for US Eagles caps but whatever the reasons we of course wish both all the best.

On this season’s comp I had intended to feature the Toronto v New England match as one to watch but once I got spoiled on the score over twitter, or more to the point when I realised what a blow out it was, I decided instead to focus on Leinster’s next European opponents Toulouse.

So as you can see by the tables below it’s the Free Jacks and Legion leading the way in the conferences at the halfwy stage

More on the league next week.

ROUND 9

SD 48-24 CHI

OGDC 42-31 NYI

UTAH 41-35 SEA

HOU 33-21 DAL

NOLA 7-23 ATL

TOR 5-80 NEFJ

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ROUND 10

NEFJ V ATL

OGDC V UTAH

DAL V SD

CHI V NOLA

NYI V HOU

TOR V SEA

HARPIN’ PREDICTION LEAGUE

I CAUGHT HIM!!!! Slow and steady may not have won the race just yet, but having been behind Kino for most of the season, to overtake him with just 15 matches left to predict isn’t the worst timing ever. The key ironically was Leinster’s match in Johannesburg, I was very tempted to go for the home win but decided against it while Kino thought differently. Still many ways that 2 point lead can still evaporate however, and with Mark and Tom not a million miles behind either.

THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

So it’s the Bulls this weekend…Mark Jackson will join me on Friday for the preview, with Conor Cronin & Nathan Johns lined up for the wrap pod on Sunday. This will actually be the first Leinster match this season I’ve been unable to watch live, although I reckon my son’s birthday dinner is a decent enough excuse! We’ll still be doing our regular features where possible so do keep an eye out and get involved in the conversation when you can.

 In the meantime, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are.  JLP

NOTE : PREMIER SPORTS IS NOW ALSO KNOWN AS VIAPLAY

FRIDAY, APRIL 7

SATURDAY, APRIL 8

SUNDAY, APRIL 9

3PM – LA ROCHELLE V SARACENS – CHAMPIONS CUP – ITV1, BT SPORT 1

MONDAY, APRIL 10

4PM – CLOGHER VALLEY V BALLYCLARE – ULSTER TOWNS CUP FINAL – www.ulster.rugby/recast

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Welcome to my 80+ column, a weekly post featuring final thoughts from the week of rugby just gone.  

WRAP OF A WRAP

Bit of a hectic weekend – first I was of course at the RDS on Friday night then I had commitments all day Saturday & Sunday which took longer than expected and for a while there it was touch and go whether I could do a wrap pod at all.  

Thankfully I was able to find pockets of time here and there to cobble together a show and even more thankfully, Ciarán Duffy was able to lend his own pod producing experience to help me out and get a sizeable chunk of the recording done by the time I was finally able to dial in.  Many thanks also to Tom Coleman for his patience and between them they did a super job harpin’ on the match on top of it all.

If you missed it, check it out here or on most major platforms.

HARPIN ON…THE STORMERS & LEINSTER’S NEW RIVALRY

No time to record a bonus clip this week so instead I just put out an excerpt from the pod where myself and Tom talked about the Stormers, how the approached the match at the RDS and how a new multi-national rivalry seems to be developing similar to that we had with the Ospreys back in the 2010s.

If you’re playing the clip above maybe pop over and subscribe to the channel too?  That’s where we post our Preview Show as well as other content throughout the week.

HARPIN’ PREVIEW SHOW TIK TOK 

Didn’t have time to produce a TikTok from the main pod so I’ll use this segment to plug the Preview Show which we do generally soon after the Leinster or Ireland team is named during the week and can be found on our You Tube channel although we also put it out as a pod…

WOMEN’S SIX NATIONS

Like I said earlier I was busy Saturday so didn’t get to watch this match but by the sounds of things it was extremely disappointing.  Since the failure to qualify for the World Cup there has been a good bit of positivity on the organisation side of things but it’s pretty clear that there is a long, long way to go and the problem is that as we try to recover the other nations are hardly going to pause and wait for us so by the time we reach a standard close to what we see from the top sides now, they would have moved on even further.  And it certainly doesn’t get a whole lot easier for them as they face France next.

Of course it’s impossible to avoid contrasting this result with the achievements of the men’s team just a week earlier, but I hope you appreciate I don’t say this to be mocking, far from it.  Maybe conditions for the women’s team are improving but it still pales in comparison to the long-standing infrastructure in place to support the men’s game. At the very least you’d hope there was enough support to provide for a dedicated sevens squad without depriving the XVs of the games top players in the process.

As always when I harp on women’s rugby here I must direct your attention to those who understand the issues much more and in the tweet below we have one such excellent source pointing out articles from another.

SEE ALSO THE SEVENS SECTION BELOW FOR A FURTHER UPDATE ON IRISH WOMEN’S RUGBY

DAN LEAVY TWEET

I was surprised by the reaction I got to this answer to a Twitter question, although I guess I can’t be surprised that I’m not the only one who thought Dan could have gone on to be one of the greats. In fact imagine if Leinster had himself, JVDF AND a never-injured Will Connors to choose from all this time!!!

Of course there was the odd bit of whataboutery in response but the truth is everyone was going to have their own choice in a question like this and the reality is that it’s one of those things where nobody is right and everyone is right all at once.

SOURCE MATERIAL

You’d like to think a player with the caliber and experience of Gareth Anscombe would be the best source of info on his own contract negotiations, yet Peter Jackson clearly thought he had a better one, and his reply below caused much amusement amongst the rugby Twitterati on Monday.

Who knows, maybe there is some truth in it after all, although I would have thought it was a courtesy to run an article like this by the man himself before publication? Come to think of it, maybe he did!!!

KING TROLL HIMSELF

TBH I’d much rather not have to mention Ewan McKenna’s name on these pages but once in a while it’s worth sharing his pseudo-man-of-the-people shite if for no other reason than to call it out as pseudo-man-of-the-people shite.

Kudos to Tom “Leinster Royalty” Coleman for coining the very tongue-in-cheek phrase “King Troll” in our WhatsApp group.

UNDER 18 FESTIVAL

Just going to copy paste some info from a press release, this series looks interesting and can be followed for free on a streaming service…

INJURY REPORT

Obviously the headline news here is about Johnny Sexton and to be honest, I’d rather not harp on it right now if you don’t mind, still processing the very real possibility that his start on New Year’s Day against Connacht was to his last in Leinster blue.

For now I’d rather turn my attention to our possibilities for selection for the Champions Cup this weekend, hosting an Ulster side who I am very sure will come to Dublin with a decent chance of knocking us out if we’re not careful.

The way I see it the immediate concern of the injury report is the HIA protocols for Ringrose, Keenan and Doris. Obviously it’s paramount that they see them out fully, but if as suggested by the injury report they could be available pending further assessment, I’m pretty sure all three would start.

Which leaves us with a quandary in the selection process, where we’d need to decide on back up if they are unavailable. We have tried several different options at 15 this season without HK but I’m thinking since Larmour wore the 15 most recently then he must be considered for Saturday. Then in the centre obviously Robbie will play 12 or 13 depending on Garry’s fitness with Frawley ready to play inside centre if required.

That all in turn makes the 23 jersey an interesting debate and I had no hestitation putting Liam Turner in the mix for it as he is having a fine season. And speaking of the bench I decided to also go for a 6/2 split option as with the likes of Jimmy O’Brien, Larmour and Frawley likely to be involved we could afford to beef up our pack replacements and while Scott Penny has done brilliantly of late I think Deegan might just pip him for the extra spot although it’s very, very close.

(note – the above team is purely from my imagination, it’s certainly not one of those quasi-leaked Thornley teams which are always 22 out of 23 correct)

AIL UPDATE

With all of the top four at home in round 16 of Division 1A it was kind of inevitable that all would cement their places and the gap of 9 points to fifth place will be tough to close. It’s looking very much like we’re going to have two Leinster v Munster semifinals to look forward to.

Meanwhile down at the bottom although both UCD and Shannon lost the Students did manage a precious losing bonus which gives them a crucial four point lead over the Limerick side with both teams at home in Round 17 against mid-table opposition.

As you can see I’ll be including the race to qualify for next season’s top division in this section for the rest of the season. And what a finish it promises to be with not only four teams vying for the two top spots (winner goes straight up, runnersup get a playoff) but theres the added bonus of there being one club from each province in the four!!!! City of Armagh would appear to have the inside track but there will no doubt be more twists and turns to this division before the season is out.

DIVISION 1A

DIVISION 1B

SEVENS UPDATE

For reasons I have still yet to find on the internet, the 2022/23 World Series Sevens circuit is making two visits to Hong Kong, at least for the men, maybe it’s to make up for an event lost to COVID?

The Irish men, who nudged up one place to 9th after a final four appearance in Vancouver, got themselves a stinker of a pool draw with New Zealand, South Africa and Kenya all finding their way into the deathiest of pools of death with us.

Meanwhile the women, still fifth despite a poor outing in Canada by their standards, don’t have it too much easier with Fiji, Australia and Brazil on the horizon. 

UPDATE – The tweet below posted shortly after I published this article.

MLR UPDATE

For this week’s feature match I stayed in the Eastern Conference to check out Old Glory DC as they hosted NOLA Gold.

The venue was the soccer ground of Loudon United, a feeder team for DC United from the MLS. It’s actually located in Virginia not Washington, although that’s not surprising as most of the people who work in the nation’s capital actually live in Virginia.

Normally I have issues watching these MLR games because of the visible lines on the pitch from other sports yet although you could see the soccer markings my attention was more drawn by the actual grass itself, it looked like it could have done with a wee trim that morning, the conditions underfoot looked a bit sub-standard.

And whether it was the grass or not the match itself was something of an error fest with several penalties and knockons and although the visitors did have a stingy defence, Old Glory must have concerns that it took them an hour to cross the line with all the possession they had.

They were winning penalties in the first half enough to go into the break with a 12-10 lead thanks to the boot of their former Puma outhalf Joaquín Díaz Bonilla although New Orleans made the most of their one chance as JP du Plessis finished off a fine exchange in loose play.

After the break the scrappiness continued with nobody seemingly able to control the ball until eventually Jordan Lautaro got them ahead only for Gold fullback and former Auckland Blue Jordan Trainor to hit straight back and with less than ten minutes left Aussie 10 Rodney Iona kicked the three points that gave the visitors the win.

Far from a classic but still both sides look well in contention for the playoffs.

More on the league next week.

ROUND 6
OGDC 17-20 NOLA
NEFJ 10-9 DAL
UTAH 47-19 TOR
HOU 40-28 ATL
CHI 5-27 SEA

ROUND 7
UTAH V NEFJ
DAL V TOR
CHI V HOU
NOLA V SEA
NYI V ATL
SD V OGDC

HARPIN’ PREDICTION LEAGUE

Not a good weekend for the actual predictions, with nobody ever risking a draw as their forecasted result plus there were unexpected wins for the Scarlets and Lions, but I still managed to claw my way closer to Kino at the top of the HPL with the gap now just half a point, although even with just 23 matches left you could say all of the top five are in contention.  As for “No Picks Keego”, well, he’s clearing a space in his wardrobe for The Jersey Of Shame…

THE NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’

I hate the chopping and changing around competitions as it is over the course of the European season, but this time of year it gets extra crazy as we must go from Six Nations to URC to Champions Cup in successive weekends.

But you can be sure I’ll be ready to give Saturday’s visit of the Ulstermen the full Harpin treatment with a preview Friday, wrap Sunday and all the usual features in between.

In the meantime, be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are.  JLP