BROKEN PLAY by Jeff Pagano
For this week’s Saturday scribble I watch back Friday’s A interpro between Leinster and Ulster
Sat May 10, 2025
Hi there, welcome to Broken Play, aka my Saturday morning Substack scribbling, and since you’re here, if you haven’t already, please hit the subscribe button if you don’t mind.
I’d like to start this week’s offering with an announcement, an exclusive revelation if you will. Contrary to popular opinion, we Leinster fans are in fact actually human like the rest.
There’s a perception out there that we’re arrogant, that we just assume we’re going to turn up every weekend and win no matter what happens, when in reality this couldn’t be any further from the truth. Sure, there are some of us who might act that way, but they’re not true Leinster fans, they’re assholes, and those are a group certainly not confined to following one particular sporting team.
No, I think I can safely say that the vast majority of us, while rightly predicting a win over Northampton last weekend, were just as disappointed with the defeat as would be any fan of any team when they’re knocked out of a particular competition. And it has been a long week since.
Am I asking for sympathy? Of course not. I’m just relating what it has been like since walking out of the Aviva Stadium past the rightfully joyous Northampton fans. If you take any pleasure in knowing that, then I wonder if that says more about aspects of your character than it does my supposed arrogance.
So while most fans can just get on with life to banish the memory of that 80 minutes, some of us have committed to producing some rugby-related online content at regular intervals, which I dutifully accomplished throughout the week, including the masochistic rewatch of the match ahead of Sunday night’s wrap pod recording, many thanks again to both Rich and Hugo for suffering along with me for that.
But the show must go on as they say, and seven days later Leinster must turn their attention back to the URC, with two matches left to secure top spot on the ladder and the guaranteed home advantage that comes with it. And this meant I had a preview to record, and I was joined by Ciarán Duffy who not only helped me look ahead to the visit of Zebre but also celebrated his 200th contribution to Harpin’ On Rugby in just over 10 years, a great milestone indeed.
Our next challenge as Leinster fans was to pluck up the courage to actually watch a rugby match again, and thankfully there was a fascinating interpro taking place on Friday evening between Munster and Ulster. On top of all the obvious rivalry, there were also serious playoff repercussions involved as both were only on the fringes of the playoff race.
The first half was a lively affair with the two teams trading scores back and forth but in the second, home advantage held sway as Munster pulled away comfortably, with even The War God himself Peter O’Mahony poetically getting in on the try-scoring himself towards the end to seal a crucial five “log points”.
And apparently with the Sharks also winning it meant we now know the four teams who will be at home in the quarterfinals regardless of what happens in Round 18 next weekend, which means the league has now published a list of kickoff times for that opening knockout weekend.
The thought then occurred to me…”we’re going to be at home to Munster aren’t we, which means the media build-up is going to be dominated by endless repeats of that Jack Crowley drop goal”, as if we fans haven’t been traumatised by semifinal Aviva disappointments enough as it is? C’est la rugby, I guess.
But anyway…although the second half tailed off a little bit at Thomond Park entertainment-wise, my rugby-watching mojo had been restored enough to inspire me to get up that little bit earlier than usual on Sunday morning and start my scribbling while actually watching some action involving The Boys in Blue, namely the ‘A’ interpro that took place Friday afternoon against Ulster at the home of newly-crowned AIL champions Clontarf.
This is supposedly part of an official competition that was announced by the IRFU back at the start of the season as part of the 150 celebrations. The four provinces were to play each other in a round robin format home and away, and while this has been happening throughout the season, information on the competition has proven extremely difficult to find. Being the rugby nerd that I am I have tried to keep up with the results, fixtures and tables but the only place I have found anything close to regular coverage was a thread on boards.ie!!!
So while I’m typing here I have the match on in the background and for the next few paragraphs I’ll give you an update on what I see. A lot of interesting names in the Leinster lineup - the likes of Charlie Tector, Hugh Cooney and Alex Soroka have featured for the senior team this season while on Ulster’s side, there’s a lad playing number 10 called Owen O’Kane who is apparently so much of a prodigy he’s starting this match while he’s still in school! We’ll see how the match unfolds…
[first quarter] Despite both sides being sloppy defensively at restarts they’ve also been lively in other aspects of the game, three tries already on the board at the 20m mark. First after just 5m a scrum penalty for Leinster got us in their territory and a sweeping west to east move following the lineout got us as far as their tryline where after a series of phases it was skipper for the day Charlie Tector getting over to opening the scoring. Then it was Ulster’s turn to win a scrum pen and from their lineout they mauled to the line for a McCormac score - O’Kane missed the extras but followed up with a penalty to make it 8-7 to the visitors. Then a looping pass from Gabriel found Andrew Osborne in space and full back Hugo McLaughlin was in support to get it over leaving it 12-8 to Leinster after 20m
[second quarter] This is proving quite the interpro, very entertaining. A nice offload from Tector in his own 22 created the space out wide for Ruben Moloney to kick ahead and a good chase forces a 5m scrum way down the other end. Then despite another of many sloppy Leinster lineouts, we recover this one and after securing a penalty advantage, a kick pass from Gabriel gets well caught by Andrew Osborne and he dots down to make it 17-8. Next a chip over the top from O’Kane bounces perfectly for Zac Ward who only has to charge to the line and put it down but somehow he fumbles it with no challenge and is disgusted with himself. It turned out ok though as a few minutes later when he had space on the left he did a Stockdale-esque chip and retrieve to get a score after all which brought us to halftime with the score 17-13 to Leinster.
Meanwhile as I’m watching here on Saturday morning it has become time to max out my screens as the top of the table clash in Super Rugby between Crusaders and Chiefs is about to kickoff so that is now on my phone as I have the two laptops on the go watching & reporting on the interpro.
[third quarter] I might be starting to regret my decision to watch this match to cheer me up of a Saturday morning! Ulster dominated that 20m spell. There have been some really good performances from Leinster’s backs, Caspar Gabriel pulling the strings, strong runs from McLaughlin, Moloney, Tector etc, but the pack just can’t do anything right at set pieces and Ulster are taking full advantage, scoring three tries to our one in the quarter, including one with a man down after a Zac Ward yellow, leaving the score 24-34 going into the final 20m. Leinster’s lineouts have been particularly shambolic. My eye is starting to be drawn towards the Super Rugby, which the Crusaders lead 7-0 at the end of that first quarter.
[fourth quarter] No scoring in this quarter, and the sequence right at the end, where Leinster had possession then knocked the ball on uncontested before Ulster won a penalty at the scrum, summing up the match perfectly. Ulster VERY impressive on defence in the closing stages and after what transpired at Thomond Park, Richie Murphy might have wanted one or two of these players in his squad down there!
It wasn’t ALL bad for Leinster, like I say there were some decent performances in the backline especially from Gabriel but overall not the best day at the office for the boys in blue and we ship yet another defeat; one can only hope the lads at the Aviva can get us back to winning ways later today.
That’s not to say I haven’t enjoyed producing this latest Broken Play article…in case you hadn’t noticed I do enjoy harpin’ on rugby no matter what the scoreline and although the Crusaders seem to be in command at halftime I look forward to taking in the second half. As I type the future Munster coach Clayton McMillan is explaining what went wrong in that first half for the Chiefs…
…and as I’m transferring this post from draft to Substack, two quick tries by the Chiefs have put them ahead so whatever about my disappointment from the A match I’m certainly seeing plenty of scoring! Never a dull moment following this sport, that’s for sure.
NEXT HARPIN’
But as for this article I’ll leave it there for now, off to the Aviva later on where it looks like being perfect conditions-wise for some evening rugby.
Leave a comment on our Facebook page after the match this evening, let us know what you thought. Conor Cronin & Ciarán Duffy will be joining me for the wrap pod on Sunday.
In the meantime please don’t be shy with the commenting, liking, sharing, and subscribing and as ever be sure to enjoy your rugby wherever you are. JLP