ON THIS WEEK’S COLUMN…
WRAP OF A WRAP
A STU DAWN
CHURCH BOW
#WINKGATE
HOME AND AWAY
SEVENS DEADLY SIN
IRELAND SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT
NEVER RYE WONDERING?
LEINSTER SQUAD UPDATE
TROLL PATROL
COMPETITION UPDATES (incl Japan League One)
NEXT HARPIN’
FRONT FIVE
A selection of eye-catching egg-chasing quotes & links from around the rugby media landscape
A STU DAWN
"I’m a firm believer in creating an environment that enables players to thrive and realise their potential, while playing a brand of rugby that inspires the community of which they represent."
Stuart Lancaster confirmed as new Connacht head coach
RTÉ.ie
What a coup for Connacht!!! Not sure what exactly went wrong in Paris, but I really do think this is the kind of boost the westies need after a poor season, especially with the new stadium almost ready to go. They really seemed to have issues on the defensive side of things, and Stu will be paying particular attention to that side of things but overall this appointment gives me a sense that the province is being taken seriously.
CHURCH BOW
Healy…has been called up by Baa-Baas head coach Robbie Deans for the game in Cape Town on 28 June.
Cian Healy set for one last match as Barbarians take on South Africa
Niall Kelly - The42.ie
Great way for the legend that is Church to bow out of the game. Maybe he’ll wear his Belvo socks which will essentially be BaaBaa socks.
#WINKGATE
“Wasn’t there a thing about Pete [O’Mahony] and Sam Cane? So there’s your answer,”
Nienaber: ‘Winkgate’ part of the game
SARugbymag.co.za
A lot going on here. Journalist being a bit cute trying to catch Nienaber between the rock of being South African and the hard place of having Irish employers. Then Jacques’ comparison is more than a bit disingenuous - is a bit of verbals off the ball the same as clear deliberate tampering with a player’s ability to take a decisive kick?
Plus we could also look at this the other way…is it just Irish fans who complain about perceived injustice? I refer you to the 2009 Lions series, when the Springboks protested a ban given to Bakkies Botha by wearing armbands emblazoned with the word “justice”…
My take on the incident in Durban is that I totally understand why Crowley was furious, and fair play to him for nailing the placekick anyway. Should the Sharks be cited for anything? Absolutely not. I’m not sure if Hendrickse really had cramp or not (one thing is for sure - that picture posted by Rassie proves nothing, anyone can flex their calf muscles) but all we can do now is tighten up the regulations around these penalty shootouts, while of course hoping against hope that they remain as rare as rare can be.
HOME AND AWAY
Discussions are under way to play the Fiji "away" match at the Allianz Stadium in Twickenham before trips to South Africa and Argentina.
England set to learn inaugural Nations Cup opponents
Chris Jones - BBC.com
Already we’re seeing the format for this clunky tournament being tampered with. It’s Fiji’s home match but it’s at Twickers. What else are they going to mess around with? I’m not seeing how the public are going to buy into this at all, certainly not during the 2026 Six Nations when the matches will also count towards this so called Nations Cup.
SEVENS DEADLY SIN
“World Rugby are deciding to look at themselves as an events company rather than go: ‘Do you know what? Let’s stand aside. We’ll be a federation’”
World Rugby, the HSBC SVNS Series and why it isn’t working like it could
David Barnes - The Offside Line
I’m not so much including this because of the sevens aspect, although the views expressed in the article do match mine when it comes to the late format changes made to the World Series format. But I thought this quote was interesting. World Rugby as an events company as opposed to a sport’s governing body. Same could be said for others from FIFA to the GAA and it really does look like it is the big corporate sponsors who are leading these priorities.
IRISH SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT
NEVER RYE WONDERING?
Not sure what else I can say about this rather than “Eddie O’Sullivan has a book about soda bread”. Although we did have some craic in the WhatsApp group coming up with bread puns “he clearly kneads the dough, etc etc”.
HARPIN ON…THE LEINSTER CAPTAINCY
Lead in question :
“Following Leinster's infamous defeat to Northampton, there has been much discussion about leadership on the field. Losing a captain like Caelan Doris to injury would challenge any team, and the confusion over a late penalty against the Saints has raised concerns about its impact on performances. We debated this in our WhatsApp group, so I wanted to bring it here to the pod. Tom, do you think leadership is an issue, and how should Leinster address it?”
LEINSTER SQUAD UPDATE
The words “further assessed” in injury reports never sound good so I had to make my selection this week based on the absence of JVDF, Ringrose & Tommy O’Brien, and I’m also assuming we plan to stick with the 6/2 split bench.
HARPIN’ POSSIBLE MATCHDAY 23 V GLASGOW
H Keenan, J O’Brien, J Osborne, J Barrett, J Lowe, S Prendergast, J Gibson-Park
A Porter, D Sheehan, R Slimani, J McCarthy, J Ryan, R Baird, J Conan (c), M Deegan
R Kelleher, J Boyle, T Clarkson, RG Snyman, S Penny, A Soroka, L McGrath, C Frawley
caveat : I have no “ITK” a la Thornley
OFFICIAL INJURY REPORT
Jordan Larmour has returned to full training after recovering from injury and will be available for selection this week. Josh van der Flier will be further assessed this week for a hamstring injury he picked up in Saturday’s win over Scarlets before a final decision will be made on his availability. Garry Ringrose will be further assessed for a calf injury and Tommy O’Brien will be further assessed for a foot injury before a final decision will be made on their availability. There are no further updates on Will Connors, Brian Deeny, Caelan Doris, Tadhg Furlong and Robbie Henshaw.
TROLL PATROL
Now it’s time for Troll Patrol where we ‘detain’ a social media commentator and charge them with gaslightery and general online mayhem.
“Winkgate” was always going to lead to a ton of trolling, especially when South African fans are involved. Only thing is, I can’t help feeling the exact same people would think differently if the roles were reversed…
WORLD UNDER 20 CHAMPIONSHIP 2025
IRELAND’S FIXTURES
June 29 v GEORGIA, Stadio San Michele, Calvisano
July 4 v ITALY, Stadio Luigi Zaffanella, Viadana
July 9 v NEW ZEALAND, Stadio San Michele, Calvisano
WOMEN’S RUGBY WORLD CUP 2025
IRELAND’S FIXTURES
August 24 v Japan, Franklin’s Gardens
August 31 v Spain, Franklin’s Gardens
September 7 v New Zealand, Brighton & Hove Stadium
WOMEN’S INTERPROVINCIAL C’SHIP 2025
FIXTURES
Round 1: Sunday, 10 August
Leinster v Ulster at Energia Park (KO: 2.30pm)
Munster v Connacht at Virgin Media Park (KO: 4.15pm)
Round 2: Saturday, 16 August
Leinster v Munster at Energia Park (KO: 2.30pm)
Connacht v Ulster at Dexcom Stadium (KO: 4.15pm)
Round 3: Saturday, 23 August
Connacht v Leinster at Dexcom Stadium (KO: 2.30pm)
Ulster v Munster at Kingspan Stadium (KO: 4.15pm)
Finals Day: Saturday, 30 August
Games will be played at Energia Park.
RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP
16 August
South Africa v Australia
Argentina v New Zealand
23 August
South Africa v Australia
Argentina v New Zealand
6 September
Australia v Argentina
New Zealand v South Africa
13 September
Australia v Argentina
New Zealand v South Africa
27 September
New Zealand v Australia
South Africa v Argentina
4 October
Australia v New Zealand
Argentina v South Africa
Premiership
🔝🐱🐴
PRO D2
SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC
RWC2027 QUALIFIERS
The RWC2027 tournament has expanded to 24 nations so with four extra spots up for grabs it makes for a fascinating qualifying process.
Rather than post the latest results and fixtures here however, I'd like to defer to the excellent work of frequent Harpin' contributor Ciarán Duffy who has been keeping close tabs on the qualifying process over at his own site Post to Post Sport.
Follow this link to see how the Road to Australia is progressing..
JAPAN LEAGUE ONE
PLAYOFFS
FIRST ROUND
SHIZUOKA 20-35 KOBE STEEL
SPEARS KUBOTA 20-15 SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH
SEMIFINALS
TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS 31-3 KOBE STEEL
WILD KNIGHTS 24-28 SPEARS KUBOTA
FINAL
TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS 18-13 SPEARS KUPOTA
MAJOR LEAGUE RUGBY
HARPIN PREDICTION LEAGUE
A good round for David, but it may be too little too late for him to catch Keego and avoid picking up The Jersey Of Shame. But things are really tightening up at the top with less than a point separating Kino and Tom, with Mark not totally out of the race yet. Just the two semifinals and the final to go, but with bonus points at stake as well, a lot can happen.
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
Thursday - Throwback Thursday (Substack)
Friday - Leinster v Glasgow preview with Keego
Harpin’ Dublin South radio slot after 5pm news
Saturday - Leave your thoughts on LEIvGLA at fulltime on our Facebook page
Sunday - Our wrap pod recording featuring Conor Cronin & Hugo Gordon