80+ column : March 25
Our weekly newsletter looking at the wider rugby world
ON THIS WEEK’S COLUMN…
WRAP OF A WRAP
THE IMPORT-ANCE OF BEING REIKO
PROJECT HAIL MARY’S
JACK OF ONE CLUB
BEN AND GONE
ACCUSED
WOMEN’S 6N PREVIEW
LEINSTER SQUAD UPDATE
TROLL PATROL
COMPETITION UPDATES (incl Super Rugby)
NEXT HARPIN’
WRAP OF A WRAP
It’s always a pleasure to have Cian “RugbyKino” O’Muilleoir on the pod, since he was doing his own show MudderRucker , which follows women’s rugby along with also‑friend‑of‑the‑pod Ailbhe O’Nolan, his opportunities to appear have been limited to say the least. Obviously it was a shame that his appearance had to be for a bad Leinster loss, but still, there was a job to be done picking apart what went wrong, and he did an excellent job as ever. If you missed it, click here to check it out.
THE IMPORT-ANCE OF BEING REIKO
“…he hasn’t added any clear and obvious lift in quality to ‘the big show’ the east coast province are so used to delivering.”
Why Rieko Ioane is struggling to match Barrett’s X-factor impact for Leinster
Nick Bishop - Rugbypass.com
We touched on this in the wrap pod, and clearly we’re not the only ones who noticed.
Two factors to consider before continuing. First, I’m wary of accusations of “import blaming”, something that has been known to happen at clubs not doing well across all team sports. Second, we have to acknowledge that it was highly unlikely Reiko’s Leinster cameo was ever going to come close to Jordie Barrett’s — although the similarities between them are plentiful, there are also plenty of differences, so expecting the same output would have been crazy.
All that said, he has hardly set the world alight for us. It’s true his intercept and pass on the run to JJ Kenny for our opening try in Scotstoun was quality, but when you wear that blue 13 jumper in particular you are expected to fulfil defensive duties as well, and he was found wanting for more than one of the tries Glasgow made look all too easy.
To be perfectly honest, were I to pick an elite matchday squad for Leinster right now — even leaving out those injured — I can’t find a place for Rieko, which surely calls into question the value for money we’re getting from him.
PROJECT HAIL MARY’S
There was just under three minutes on the clock when a Neary penalty broke the deadlock in this contest
Neary the hero as St Mary’s end 24-year wait for Leinster Schools Senior Cup glory
DaireWalsh.com
Congrats to St Mary’s. It is, of course, very good for the competition to have different winners, and while the actual Rock players on the day will be disappointed, as a school they should be happy enough settling on just the 72 titles for now.
JACK OF ONE CLUB
“After 15 seasons with my boyhood club all good things understandably have to come to an end.”
Connacht’s record scorer Jack Carty to retire at end of season
Neil Treacy - RTÉ.ie
This has a Leinster/Ireland angle as Jack’s departure will obviously pave the way for the arrival of Ciarán Frawley for next season.
But there’s no denying that the man himself has had a stellar career with the province which of course included silverware. Sadly due to a freak accident on a water slide he missed a lot of the season including the final but that takes nothing from the immense influence he has had at the province, I particularly remember a harrowing night for Leinster at the RDS around New Year’s Day 2021 when he totally bossed it.
He probably deserved more Ireland caps but that can be said for many players who’s careers overlapped with Sexton’s and we wish him nothing but the best for the future.
For the record, the fight between my older and younger selves over whether to title this portion “Jack Off” was intense. As you can see, younger me won the day.
BEN AND GONE
Newcastle are bottom of the PREM after one win in 11 games
Ex-Munster man Ben Healy joins Newcastle on loan
Murray Kinsella- The42.ie
I see a narrative going around a certain corner of the ruggersphere suggesting all Leinster fans were united in anointing Sam Prendergast as The Chosen One way ahead of his time.
Two things about that. First, it’s totally false — for one thing, we never took that line on these pages. Second, that corner of the ruggersphere might need reminding that there absolutely was a fair amount of anointing going on when Ben Healy broke into the Munster senior squad (earning him the moniker “Kylo Ben”), leading to a fair amount of anger when he was allowed to leave to fight for a place in the Scottish squad.
Obviously I’m not happy he has fallen out of favour enough to take this loan move to the bottom team in the Premiership, and to be fair he has had injury issues that have coincided with the rise of other Russell replacements such as Kinghorn, Jordan, Hastings, Thompson, Burke and Lancaster.
That’s a crowded field for just one or two actual test spots per match, so this move seems exactly what Ben needs at this stage of his career. It certainly worked for Harry Byrne.
ACCUSED
The 6ft 10 second row, who has represented Ireland U20s, UCD, and Leinster, has yet to enter a plea to the charge
Leinster rugby player accused of assaulting woman at nightclub
Tom Tuite - Irish Examiner
We followed the Stuart Hogg story very closely on these pages, so I certainly can’t ignore this one.
My overall point is that although we should respect player’s private lives for the bulk of the time, stories involving allegations of violence against women fall into a different category.
OBVIOUSLY we can neither assume guilt nor innocence, but we most certainly can’t ignore the story altogether. Alan was just breaking into the Leinster senior team, so we shouldn’t pretend he’s suddenly disappeared from the squad picture without explanation.
Nothing further will happen legally until May 27 by all accounts so we should refrain from further comment on the case itself until then, but I do wonder if Ulster fans in particular will be keeping a keen eye on how things develop both in the courts and the young lad’s career once all is done.
HARPIN ON…WOMEN’S 6N PREVIEW
“Last week saw a crazy end to the Men’s Six Nations, now we’re just a couple of weeks away from the women’s competition kicking off and luckily we have Cian O’Muilleoir aka Rugby Kino from the great MudderRucker podcast to harp on it for us. As we all know, the Irish test side is very much on an upward curve the past few years, after all that went before that, two consecutive 3rd place finishes in the Six Nations, 2nd place in the top tier of the last WXV and getting within 5 points of the French in last year’s World Cup quarterfinal are quite the achievement, now it’s time to start building on that. Not the easiest of starts for us in this tournament Kino, but overall how are things shaping up for the squad?”
LEINSTER/IRELAND SQUAD UPDATE
After two URC defeats in a row, my call is for Leinster to go “full bore” until the end of the season. For me, full bore means Harry Byrne at 10, because if Sam starts he probably needs Ciarán Frawley alongside him, and I couldn’t bring myself to leave Jamie Osborne out of the starting XV. Also, I hear rumours that RG Snyman has already been “further assessed” (hence the *) and that the results aren’t good — I hope those are way wrong — but I have left him out of my 23 for now even though we are seriously short on locks, to the extent that I even considered putting Jack Conan in the row.
HARPIN’ POSSIBLE MATCHDAY 23 V SCARLETS
H Keenan, T O’Brien, G Ringrose, J Osborne, J O’Brien, H Byrne, J Gibson-Park
A Porter, D Sheehan, R Slimani, J McCarthy, B Deeny, J Conan, J van der Flier, C Doris (c)
R Kelleher, J Cahir, T Furlong, C O’Tiarnaigh, M Deegan, L McGrath, C Frawley, R Henshaw
caveat : I have no “ITK” a la Thornley
OFFICIAL INJURY REPORT
AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
Andrew Porter is available for selection again after recovering from a calf injury.
FURTHER ASSESSMENT REQUIRED:
James Ryan is due to be further assessed on a calf injury and a final decision will be made later in the week.
RG Snyman is due to be further assessed and a final decision will be made later in the week.*
Ryan Baird is due to return to full training this week.
NOT AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION:
N/A.
NO FURTHER UPDATES ON:
Jack Boyle, Hugh Cooney, Jordan Larmour, James Lowe, Diarmuid Mangan, Paddy McCarthy.
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.
Sam started the fight with “Hasto”, did he? Were you guys even watching???
Yeah, I know, players should be able for the “rubbing of the head after a negative outcome”, but it’s still a dick move, and Hastings is a full‑on panto villain who knew exactly what he was doing, so maybe spare the pearl‑clutching. I mean, I get it — Scots fans in general, and Warriors ones in particular, would have been in a really good mood at that moment of the match given how things had gone a week earlier at the Aviva.
It’s still classic trolling, though, so SRP are this week’s detainees.
Time to quickly turn the spotlight on Super Rugby this week, I normally do so for the Saturday morning Broken Play article as I write that with a match on in the background as tries are being scored every other minute. Having bitched and moaned about Reiko in the Front Five section, it kind of stings even more to see Jordie’s Hurricanes top of the log with a game in hand. They should stay there after this weekend as they host the Reds while my Saturday scribble looks set to be accompanied by the Western Force hosting the Chiefs.
Meanwhile in the Harpin Prediction League, I seem to recall I was on top 5 minutes ago now I’m 6th??? Last season’s champion Tom as returned to 1st, although he lost his semifinal for the coveted Harpin Mug to rookie Hugo, with Rich and last season’s Mug holder Conor squaring off this weekend to join him in the final.
Has to be Railway Union 49-19 UL Bohs in the Woman’s AIL, a result that breaks the Limerick side’s 16 match winning streak. I have a feeling there MAY be a caveat in there, given the Celtic Challenge semifinals were taking place in Galway and the Six Nations is just beyond that, meaning the best players are missing at a crucial stage of the season, but still an eye-catching result.
WOMEN’S SIX NATIONS
CELTIC CHALLENGE
FINAL
WOLFHOUNDS V CLOVERS
Sunday, March 29 KO 3pm
Hive Stadium, Edinburgh
URC IRISH SHIELD
Leinster 14-31 Munster
Munster 17-15 Connacht
Leinster 24-20 Ulster
Munster 8-13 Leinster
Connacht 24-29 Ulster
Ulster 28-3 Munster
Leinster 52-17 Connacht
Connacht 23-34 Leinster
Ulster 19-26 Connacht
Apr 17 Ulster v Leinster
Apr 25 Munster v Ulster
May 9 Connacht v Munster
ALL IRELAND LEAGUES
WOMEN’S
MEN’S 1A
MEN’S 1B
LEINSTER SCHOOLS SENIOR CUP
FINAL (replay)
St Mary’s 25-22 Blackrock
FINAL
St Mary’s 24-24 Blackrock
SEMIFINALS
Terenure 10-17 St Mary’s
Blackrock 22-17 St Michael’s
QUARTERFINALS
Terenure 57-3 Gonzaga
Blackrock 57-14 St Gerard’s
St Michael’s 21-10 Roscrea
St Mary’s 12-0 Newbridge
FIRST ROUND
Terenure College 51-14 Kilkenny College
Clongowes Wood College 15-22 St Mary’s College
Newbridge College 38-31 Wesley College
Belvedere College 8 -18 Cistercian College Roscrea
Gonzaga College 62-7 Temple Carrig
St Gerard’s School 24-17 Pres Bray
St Gerard’s School 17-19 Pres Bray
St Fintan’s 10-22 St Michael’s College
Blackrock College 47-32 St Vincent’s
VINNIE MURRAY CUP
QUARTERFINALS
(4 semifinalists advance to Senior Cup)
St Vincents 26-24 CUS
Temple Carrig 14-14 St Andrews
St Fintan’s 59-23 St Patricks Navan
King’s Hospital 12-19 Pres Bray
(replay) Temple Carrig 17-12 St Andrews
EPCR CHALLENGE CUP
PREMIERSHIP
Round 11
Bath Rugby 62–15 Saracens
Harlequins 19–26 Gloucester Rugby
Northampton Saints 28–27 Newcastle Red Bulls
Exeter Chiefs 26–14 Sale Sharks
Leicester Tigers 33–19 Bristol Bears
Round 12
Fri 27 Mar
Newcastle Red Bulls v Exeter Chiefs
Sat 28 Mar
Gloucester Rugby v Leicester Tigers
Bristol Bears v Harlequins
Saracens v Northampton Saints
Sun 29 Mar
Sale Sharks v Bath Rugby
🔝🐱🐴
PROD2
SUPER RUGBY
Round 6
Highlanders 07–50 Hurricanes
Brumbies 33–24 Chiefs
Fijian Drua 06–21 Reds
Moana Pasifika 21–50 Crusaders
NSW Waratahs 20–35 Blues
BYE: Western Force
Round 7
Fri 27 Mar
Moana Pasifika v Highlanders
Brumbies v NSW Waratahs
Sat 28 Mar
Hurricanes v Queensland Reds
Blues v Fijian Drua
Western Force v Chiefs
BYE: Crusaders
JAPAN LEAGUE ONE
Round 12
Kobelco Kobe Steelers 29–38 Yokohama Canon Eagles
Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars 35–32 Tokyo Sungoliath
Saitama Wild Knights 31–7 BlackRams Tokyo
Urayasu D-Rocks 35–59 Kubota Spears
Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo 22–24 Mie Honda Heat
Toyota Verblitz 24–34 Shizuoka BlueRevs
Round 13
Sat 28 Mar
Kubota Spears v Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo
Shizuoka BlueRevs v Kobelco Kobe Steelers
Tokyo Sungoliath v Saitama Wild Knights
Yokohama Canon Eagles v Toyota Verblitz
Sun 29 Mar
BlackRams Tokyo v Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars
Urayasu D-Rocks v Mie Honda Heat
MAJOR LEAGUE RUGBY
Saturday 28 March
California Legion v Anthem RC
Saturday 4 April
Seattle Seawolves v Old Glory DC
Anthem RC v Chicago Hounds
Sunday 5 April
California Legion v New England Free Jacks
Saturday 11 April
New England Free Jacks v Old Glory DC
Sunday 12 April
Anthem RC v Seattle Seawolves
Monday 13 April
Chicago Hounds v California Legion
STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 13
Next match : 2nd semifinal, Conor v Rich
The Harpin Mug is a knockout comp using each player’s score in a given Superbru round.
NEXT BATCH OF HARPIN’
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In the meantime be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP