Doesn’t look like the Mayans had it right, but just in case, I’m going to shut down this blog for the holiers, and should the world as we know it remain intact, will be back up and running on Friday, January 4.
For now I’d like to thank the contributors without whom this HoR2 could not exist, and I have done so by putting together a light-hearted matchday selection.
Click each name to see their latest posts.
15 Sarah Lennon – safe as houses, Sarah slots in perfectly at full-back as she keeps us fully up-to-date on the women’s game in Ireland every Wednesday.
14 Rich Church-Keen – the Lions Selector panel have been a mainstay of HoR2 every Friday, and its four panellists make up the backline. On one wing from England we have Rich, from #rugbyunited, doing his best Chris Ashton swallow dive in the process.
13 Mark Jackson – Mark gave his latest Lions selection only this morning and is certainly worthy of Brian O’Driscoll’s position in this team.
12 Hywel Davies – Alongside BOD we have Jamie Roberts, aka Hywel, crashing though all opposition with his hard-hitting opinions & Lions selections straight from the valleys, as well as 606v2.
11 Kirsten Bruce – Making like Tim Visser on the other wing we have Kirsten, ensuring her beloved fellow Scots aren’t ignored in the Lions shake-up.
10 Liam Sinclair – at out-half you need a little bit of the unexpected. Liam put his hand up and took on an unusual topic, the “Non-Irish Pro12” and has certainly made it his own with a string of fine posts.
9 Felix McCabe – with a perfect delivery every time, Felix gets the nod at scrum-half as he keeps us up to date on the English Premiership every week in style.
1 Paul Cunnane – no team can be without a solid front row - by the same token rugby union can’t be without the grassroots game. Paul, Michael & Robert have done a great job keeping us up to date on their respective clubs all season, Paul’s is Claremorris RFC representing Connacht.
2 Michael Cahill – from Naas RFC in Leinster.
3 Robert Ford – from Queen’s RFC in Ulster.
4 Keego – the engine room of the blog is supplied by our two main columnists. Keego has supplied the most posts on HoR2 including the most popular one of all (see list below). Could easily have his own blog, but don’t tell him that we want him to stay here!
5 Brendan Grehan – at TH lock is Brendan, who was following Leinster rugby when Brian O’Driscoll was learning his multiplication tables.
6 John O'Sullivan – making up the back row we have regular columnists from the Irish provinces that aren’t Leinster! John is a HoR veteran having written for Roots&All last season and keeps us up to date on Connacht’s progress.
7 Kristian Ross – Kristian has certainly enjoyed his first spell of blogging, seeing how successful his beloved Ulster have been! And despite being based in Newcastle he does a fine job keeping up with his heroes.
8 Trevor Murphy – You need a number 8 who is willing to stand up and fight, and no better man than Trevor who regularly supplies us with his verdict on Munster’s fortunes. Fond of the word “shamozzle”.
16 Robbie Doyle – helped get the blog off the ground with some great posts about the youth club where he coaches.
17 Stephen Humphreys – another strong choice from the bench, @shumpty77 gave us excellent previews throughout both the SuperRugby and Rugby Championship campaigns.
18 Tim Cronin – They say your first pick is your tight-head and your second pick is your reserve tight head, so Tim gets this honour and with his regular weekly contributions mostly about his beloved All Blacks, is the strongest option off the bench in this selection.
19 @rhubarbsticks – A diehard of HoR’s Google+ page, this massive Leinster fan based in Brussels told us all about the supporters club he has set up over there.
20 Sharon Lovell – This rugby-mad Kiwi based in San Francisco told us all about the history of the famous Golden Gate club in the city.
21 Liz & Ginine Power – haven’t posted here on HoR2 (yet!) but helped me out big time by doing the writeup of the Sale v Leinster preseason clash when I couldn’t make it.
22 Kate McEvoy – gets the “ROG” bench slot, though probably won’t thank me for calling it that! Two excellent posts from her this season so far, with hopefully more on the horizon.
23 The Laighin Pit – Hope to hear more from RK & Z in 2013; their banner has become an icon at Leinster matches (not to mention the main HoR blog!) and their unique posts make for superb reading.
So that’s it from HoR2. Thank you for stopping by, have a great holiday season and you can be sure there will be more great posts to come in 2013!
Note…there will still be a bit of output on HarpinOnRugby over the next two weeks, like writeups of Leinster matches, the Midweek Quiz playoffs, plus the odd tweet here and there! JLP
