Harpin' On Rugby

To celebrate this our 50th episode, I’d like to take some time to go back over Leinster’s 2019/20 campaign and the unbeaten run, a body of work which overall is a testament to everyone involved at the province.  I go over the timeline from September to March, reading out a small passage from our HarpinOnRugby match writeup and throwing in a few thoughts along the way. Links to all our Leinste...

This is the 6th episode in our new feature we call the Pod of Three, where we share clips from the best independent rugby podcasts. Today we include samples from former Ulster hooker Niall Annett’s pod Wind Yer Neck In where he talks to Keith Wood about the reasons behind his decision to move to Harlequins, then the Rugby Bricks has Stephen Larkham explaining how things are going at Munster, and f...

This is the 5th in our new series of mini pods which we call the Pod of Three, where we share clips from the best independent rugby podcasts. Today we include samples from the Pro14 Podcast Under The Sticks and they’re looking forward to the return of top flight rugby from New Zealand on the telly, then we go back a bit to mid April when the Craggy Island Podcast spoke to Connacht coach...

For the next couple of weeks we’re turning our attention to the subject of rugby jerseys.  On our twitter account @HarpinOnRugby we’re running a light hearted competition called the Leinster Jersey McJerseyface Cup whereby followers get to vote for their favourite design. In this pod, first I’ll be chatting to Neil ‘Keego’ Keegan about the general topic of rugby jerseys, then Big Joe Sheppard...

This is the 4th in our new series of mini pods which we call the Pod of Three, where we share clips from the best independent rugby podcasts. Sometimes we’ll do these with a theme and sometimes not...this is the second kind.  First up we have the Dead Ball Area’s podcast Rugby Reimagined interviewing Tom Savage from the excellent Munster website Three Red Kings, then the RugbyReferee.net blog...

Today’s edition has two themes - all three clips come from international sources,  and they’re all giving their take on Bill Beaumont’s victory in the recent World Rugby election. 1. Scottish Rugby Blog Podcast : “Episode 108 – Scavenger Hunt” https://www.scottishrugbyblog.co.uk/2020/05/podcast-episode-108-scavenger-hunt/ 2. Rugby Wrap Up : “Agustín Pichot: What’s Next? USA Rugby Issues &...

For the seventh instalment of the series I was joined by Conor Cronin to talk about that crazy England v France match at Twickenham at the end of the 2015 Six Nations, though first we pay a quick tribute to the Leinster & Ireland career of Fergus McFadden. Match stream >   https://youtu.be/W4SO4aDPO70 Haskell incident referenced > https://youtu.be/Z6tMj5w_kbE Match stats > https:...

Today’s edition has a women’s rugby theme with first Post To Sport talking to Fiona Reidy of Munster & Ireland about the best memories from her career, then Ulster Rugby Lad asks Leinster & Ireland’s Jenny Murphy about the sacrifices involved at playing at the top level, and finally the Women’s Rugby Pod gets former England captain Catherine Spencer to name her all-time greatest Red Roses....

Featured podcasts : 1) The Loose Head : "Mike Prendergast" https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/ep-12-mike-prendergast/id1499118300?i=1000472885782 2) The 2nd Row : "The Shane O'Leary Interview" https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/the-shane-o-leary-interview/id1364222879?i=1000472900108 3) Three Blokes, A Ball & BOD : "British & Irish Lions Series Part 1" https://www.facebook.com/threeb...

For the sixth instalment of the series I was joined by Kristian Ross who was keen to talk about one of Ireland’s best outings at a Rugby World Cup, that against the Wallabies to kick off our campaign in 2011.  Trust me, this is the best chat on Irish rugby between a Yank and a Geordie you’ll hear today. Match stream (part 1 of 4 videos) > https://youtu.be/2FxSD0BkSpY   Match stats &gt...

For the fifth instalment of the #RetroRugby series I was joined by Michelle Tobin who did 12 great blogs for us back in 2017 outlining her experiences following the Lions around New Zealand.  Today our focus is on the second test but she also shares some stories from the trip as a whole and it was a great rugby chat all round. Match stream (highlights) >   https://youtu.be/KF0s-qiMyLY...

For the fourth instalment of the series I was joined by Ciarán Duffy from PostToPost Sport to feature one of the greatest World Cup matches of all time, South Africa v Japan from 2015.  We discuss the amazing timeline from the match and also the way the fixtures from the pool stages made it all but impossible for the Brave Blossoms to build on their famous victory.    Match stream &...

For the third instalment of the series I was joined by Neil 'Keego' Keegan of CouchPunditIreland.com to discuss the 2009 Heineken Cup final between Leinster and Leicester Tigers - we were banging on for over an hour but truth be told, not only could we have gone longer on this match, we referenced at least half a dozen other games from the same season which could easily get the #RetroRugby treatme...

For the second installment of our #RetroRugby series I was joined by Conor Cronin to discuss Ireland’s unforgettable win over Wales in Cardiff back in 2009 - normally I go for pods of about half an hour but we had so much to harp on from this match I let it go even further... RUNNING ORDER Intro 1  What was rugby like at the time? 2 The first half hour 3 From the first score to "TOMMY BOOOOWE...

To help fill the COVID19 void, I have enlisted some contributors to a project I call #RetroRugby where we look back over great contests from years gone by.  The idea is not just to go over the match in question but also to see how the rugby world stood at the time.  First on the list was France v Ireland from the 2018 Six Nations and rewatching it with me was @RugbyKino. Some links from...

This week I spoke to Richard Mifsud a Leinster fan who hails from Gibraltar and has been a long time commenter on the Harpin on Rugby Facebook page.  We had a great chat covering Leinster’s unbeaten start, the influence of Scott Fardy and the overall culture of rugby at the province, as well as a quick look at Andy Farrell’s first few matches at the helm for Ireland.

On Friday morning I went to Energia Park in Donnybrook to watch the Irish Men’s and Under 20s teams being put through their paces in an Open Training session.  I met up with long time Harpin contributor Joe Sheppard, now of Three Blokes A Ball & BOD fame, as well as Conor Cronin.  Afterwards I took the opportunity to head for a coffee at Insomnia Donnybrook where we had a quick chat...

For today’s pod I had a quick chat with Neil Keego Keegan from TheCouchPunditIreland.com - it was less than 24hrs after what happened at Twickenham but we managed to put the disappointment aside for a while to harp on thinks like areas where Ireland didn’t perform as well one of our favourite topics, that of the immense over-reaction from certain quarters online. Check our our own match writeup he...

This week my Back and Forward chat is with Leinster fan and frequent Harpin contributor Conor Cronin, also known as @ccbooms on Twitter.  With the Pro14 regular season having just passed the halfway stage we went through the league team by team to see how their campaigns are going so far.  Conor also gives some thoughts on Leinster’s wet windswept win over the Cheetahs last Saturday, as...

This week my Back and Forward chat is with Brendon Shields from Rugbycology.com.   We talked about the valuable data and analytics he provides in real time for coaches, mostly at schools level, as well as crunching some interesting numbers from the first two rounds of the Six Nations.  Then since Brendon happens to be a fan of both Leinster and the Cheetahs, we also discussed the match t...

An audio version of the HarpinOnRugby match writeup for Ireland's 19-12 win over Scotland last weekend. Written form can be found here > http://www.harpinonrugby.net/2020/02/ireland-19-scotland-12.html

This week I chatted to Keego about a few issues arising from Andy Farrell’s first match in charge of Ireland, including the Murray/Cooney debate and Johnny Sexton’s supposed play-acting. Check out his review of Ireland v Scotland here > https://thecouchpunditireland.com/2020/02/03/ireland-v-scotland-review-play-acting-and-keeping-calm/ You can catch our own writeup here > http://www.harpinon...

With no Leinster or Ireland match last weekend I set out to interview fans from all four provinces ahead of the Six Nations.    I have elected to round off the mini-series by presenting my match preview of Ireland’s opening match of the 2020 Six Nations in podcast form, offering my own take on the questions I asked my previous guests. 1) How do you think Andy Farrell will approach the Si...

With no Leinster matches the week before the Six Nations I decided to use the extra time to get opinions from fans of all four Irish provinces on a few key questions : 1) What way will Andy Farrell approach his new job 2) What do you make of Johnny Sexton as captain and 3) What team would you pick for the opening game against Scotland? Looking back in our podcast feed you’ll see I have already had...

With no Leinster matches the week before the Six Nations I decided to use the extra time to get opinions from fans of all four Irish provinces on a few key questions : 1) What way will Andy Farrell approach his new job 2) What do you make of Johnny Sexton as captain and 3) What team would you pick for the opening game against Scotland? After talking to the blue-goggled Conor Cronin on the last pod...