This weekend has Leinster travelling to the Liberty Stadium so for the latest in our “Opposition View” series I spoke to Ospreys fan Brandon Smith about their varying fortunes over the years, what key players we can look out for this weekend, and the task ahead for coach Toby Booth.  We also spoke about the full Welsh test team and what they’ll be looking for from the upcoming Autumn Nations Cup.

Brandon Smith Podcast > https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5R7Yr-jt9e1zflS1JT8E-Q

The Welsh Rugby Roundup show > https://www.facebook.com/TheDragonsBalls

Harpin France v Ireland writeup > http://www.harpinonrugby.net/2020/11/france-35-ireland-27.html

Harpin Glasgow v Leinster writeup > http://www.harpinonrugby.net/2020/11/glasgow-warriors-19-leinster-32.html

In the latest from our Opposition View series I asked one of Glasgow Warriors' biggest fans David Arnott to tell us about how their squad is looking this season.  Then as a bonus I’ve recorded an audio version of my Ireland v Italy match writeup which you can read here.

To read our Leinster v Zebre writeup click here.

And you can follow David Arnott on twitter here > https://twitter.com/thepenGW

This weekend sees both Leinster & Ireland in action, against Zebre and Italy respectively, so for the latest in our “Opposition view” series I was lucky enough to be able to talk to Italian rugby super fan Andrea Tronchin, who is curator of the Italy twitter account for RugbyUnited as well as those for both Benetton and Zebre.  I asked him how the game has grown in Italy since they joined the Six Nations, what upcoming players we should look out for from Zebre, and how the national team will be approaching Saturday’s big match at the Aviva Stadium.  He kept apologising for his English, though I thought he was fine, definitely a hell of a lot better than my Italian that’s for sure.  But just in case, in the programme notes you’ll find a link to a blog where I’ve paraphrased his answers - for my part I thought he gave some really good insight to what the game is like over there.

Transcript is here > http://www.harpinonrugby.net/2020/10/podcast-s02e015-opposition-view-for.html

Munster v Benetton full match as mentioned by Andrea can be found here.

Andrea is on twitter at these accounts > @RugbyIta @Rugbytreviso_ & @RugbyZebre

Also at the Rugby Treviso Facebook page and group.

The touch rugby programme he mentioned can be found here.

Ready to start thinking about an Ireland matchday squad that can win the 2020 Six Nations?  Here's as good a place as any to get you started.  

Joining me for the discussion this week were Michelle Tobin (@CorkSeashell - Munster), Padraig Kelly (@the2ndrow - Connacht) and David Topping (@davethewingnut - Ulster) and we had a slightly different way of putting a squad together that you probably shouldn't try at home 😜

Michelle Tobin’s Lions 2017 diary > http://www.harpinonrugby.net/2017/06/a-lions-tour-diary-by-michelle-tobin-1.html

Padraig's 'The 2nd Row' > https://www.facebook.com/The2ndroww

David's 'The Ulster Rugby Round Up Show' > https://www.facebook.com/WhiteWalkersChatandCraic

Harpin Benetton v Leinster writeup > http://www.harpinonrugby.net/2020/10/benetton-25-leinster-37.html

In this week’s Harpin writeup I talked about the Player Of The Match performance of Jamison Gibson-Park, so I thought I’d use this pod to expand on those thoughts and joining me is Big Joe Shep, who has a thing or two to say about scrum halves and box kicking but just about manages to put them aside for a decent chat on the Irish-qualified Kiwi and where he might fit down the line for both Leinster and Ireland.

Harpin Leinster v Dragons writeup > http://www.harpinonrugby.net/2020/10/leinster-35-dragons-5.html

Three Blokes a Ball & BOD > https://www.facebook.com/thethreebodrugbygroup

With a new season about to kickoff, I assembled a panel of fellow Leinster fans for our first ever pod of 4 to discuss the careers of recently retired Leinster stars as well as looking ahead to the futures of the boys in blue in particular and league in general.

This week's guests...

Conor Cronin (aka @ccbooms on Twitter)

Richard Mifsud (@RichMif)

Kevin O'Brien (@johnshine89) - check out Kev's recent Harpin post titled "Whether it's the Euro loss or the perfect Pro14, Leinster shouldn't over-react"

Also, here's a little rant of mine from earlier in the week titled "Sarries seems to be the hardest topic"

Well you won’t need me to remind you that last weekend didn’t exactly go to plan for Leinster fans, and joining me on the pod this week to find the positives is Neil ‘Keego’ Keegan who shared some thoughts from his own writeup which can be found over at TheCouchPunditIreland.com.  We also discuss whether or not Leinster’s season as a whole was defined by this result as well as a brief look ahead to the rest of the Champions Cup as well as the Six Nations.

Our Leinster v Saracens writeup is here > http://www.harpinonrugby.net/2020/09/leinster-17-saracens-25.html

Keego’s writeup here > https://thecouchpunditireland.com/2020/09/22/the-irish-exit-europe-but-it-is-not-the-end-of-days/

Jeff & Keego’s pod on the US Presidential election is here > https://anchor.fm/whatsthestorywith

To start the build up to Saturday’s Heineken Champions Cup quarterfinal, in the latest of our “Opposition View” series of chats I invited Saracens fan Debbie Knight onto the pod to talk about how she came to follow them, what the salary cap and Owen Farrell situations were like from her side, and also how their starting XV might look at the weekend.

Debbie has her own sports writing blog here > debsknigsport.com and can be found on Twitter here > https://twitter.com/debsknig

ICYMI check out our Guinness Pro14 final writeup here > http://www.harpinonrugby.net/2020/09/leinster-27-ulster-3.html

To start the build up to Saturday’s Guinness Pro 14 final, in the latest of our “Opposition View” series of chats I invited Ulster fan Ian Frizzell onto the pod to talk about the last meeting LEIvULS a couple of weeks ago, that amazing comeback in Edinburgh, and how he reckons they’ll line up at the Aviva this weekend.

You'll find Ian on Twitter here > https://twitter.com/rava_ian

Our Leinster v Munster semifinal writeup is here > http://www.harpinonrugby.net/2020/09/leinster-13-munster-3.html

For the third season in a row, Leinster meet our old friends from down the N7 in the Pro14 semifinal and although it will be in a deserted Aviva Stadium as opposed to a hopping RDS, it still promises to be a classic.  In the latest from our new series of “opposition view” chats I had Munster fan Michelle Tobin back on the pod to look at how she feels their chances are of getting the better of us this time around.

2021 Lions Tours can be booked from Rugby Travel Ireland here > https://rugbytravelireland.com/lions-tour-2021-south-africa/

Michelle Lions 2017 tour blogs > http://www.harpinonrugby.net/2017/06/a-lions-tour-diary-by-michelle-tobin-1.html

Our Ulster v Leinster writeup is here > http://www.harpinonrugby.net/2020/08/ulster-10-leinster-28.html