Some sips of vintage Vine - our top ten posts

We have been thrown for a loop here at Harpin Manor.  After what seemed like just six seconds of fame, Vine is to be no more by all accounts.

It took us a while to hop on this social media bandwagon (once we accepted that nobody seemed to mind if videos were recorded off the telly!) but eventually we did with our first offering on April 5, 2015 as we tried to work out if Francois Louw had a swipe at Ian Madigan’s head during this controversial Champions Cup quarterfinal at the Aviva Stadium.

From then the account became part of the Harpin On Rugby network to go with this site, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, YouTube and Instagram.  Before this season kicked off we closed down the Google+ page...now it seems like a good time to do likewise to our Vine one, even if it makes a comeback.

So to provide some proper closure we thought we’d share with you the posts which followers found to be the most “loopy” from our 95 total offerings...some of our favourites didn’t quite make the cut like this one featuring a couple of disinterested Ulster fans but we’ll just embed a “top ten”...enjoy!

10.  What Mamuka Gorgodze wants, he gets, end of.  

This isn’t really the 10th most popular Vine but The Georgian Giant told me to include it anyway so I did!  In a World Cup fixture against Tonga, The Lelos were winning in the latter stages and their outhalf looked set to go crossfield with a penalty...he might have been bluffing but his skipper wasn’t taking any chances.

9.  The best drop-kick Thomond Park has ever seen?

You can be sure I was primed and ready to get some good-natured digs at Munster fans as Ian Madigan landed this unlikely drop goal conversion for Ireland against the Barbarians.  We were still on the losing side but it made for an interesting finish.

8.  Iain Henderson’s never-ending tackle

Remember when Ireland beat France in the World Cup and believed we could go on and win the whole thing?  O, how it was a simpler time.  Still, three moments from that match make our top ten and are definitely worth recalling, the first being this tackle from the mighty Ulsterman which knocked Bernard Le Roux and some of his team-mates into the middle of la semaine prochaine.

7.  A solo from Nadolo

Leinster fans now know full well how Nemani Nadolo can hurt you in several different way - back in Super Rugby 2015 he was giving us due warning for the Crusaders before his move to Montpellier.

6.  YESSSSSSSSSSS!

Not all “Vine-able” moments happen on the pitch; often they are reactions from fans and coaches and this rare sight of Joe Schmidt letting his excitement show proved to be well worth a share.  It;s the second top ten entry taken from that match against France in Cardiff and happened right after Rob Kearney went over for a try.

5.  No army can stop the Tank

The final offering from that win over France was this super-human effort from Sean O’Brien and shows just how much Ireland will need him in November.  Here’s he is in full beast mode and two Frenchmen can’t stop him halting their progress.

4.  The next Paul O’Connell?

Last June the “Wolfpuppies”, aka the Irish Under 20s, went from 17-0 down against Wales in their first match to reaching the final, beating the Baby Blacks along the way.  And the fightback began with this inspirational hit from skipper James Ryan.  He has a long, long, long way to go to being the next Paulie as some are suggesting but he clearly has it in him.

3.  Go Go Gorumaru!

Everyone remembers Japan’s famous victory over the Springboks in the World Cup but what about this stupendous try-saving tackle by their full-back Gorumaru against Scotland?

2.  Whatevs, Pascal!

Neither Jamie nor Greig have a clue what the ref is on about yet are unanimous in ttheir desire to just get on with it...In my haste to get the clip on Vine I mistakenly identified the ref as Jerôme Garces - instead it was Pascal Gaüzère, but the followers got the idea!

1. Par(isse) Excellence

One thing we learned during our relatively brief spell on Vine was that the key to getting lots of loops is timing.  When Sergio Parisse did this incredibly cheeky offload in the Top 14 playoffs for Stade Francais on their 2015 march to the title, we were first to post a clip of it and it got picked up on Twitter & Facebook and shared far and wide.  

For a few days you could actually see the counter speeding along at rate of knots.  We know many bigger websites are used to cracking 100k loops on a daily basis, but for our humble independent selves we enjoyed watching this one do well.

OK that’s it - we had fun putting this together.  Many thanks to all who shared our Vines.  We won’t be deleting the account altogether, we just won’t be adding new content.  That’s not to say we won’t be adding videos on our other channels, mind you!  Stay tuned. JLP

"Oh, look, we've scored! Meh."

Now, to be fair to these two Ulster fans, it had hardly been a classic match up to that point, especially if stingy defending isn't your thing.  Plus, there's every chance they were preparing to high five and start jumping up and down, waiting for himself to put out his smoke.

Still though...the BBC TV director has a question ot two to answer for switching cameras at that particular moment...

ICYMI click here for our 80-word review of Connacht v Ulster.

HarpinOnRugby

now also on Vine

Marvel comic baddie is a rugby fan

I notice that often when a US drama features people from different countries watching television themselves as part of the story, they are often watching soccer.  An Arab terrorist cell on Homeland chilling out before an attack?  Soccer.  Mexican drug dealers on Breaking Bad waiting to meet Heisenberg?  Soccer.

Come to think of it, as far as the American TV makers are concerned it seems to be only the bad guys who like the round ball game.  Until now.

In the Marvel comics series Jessica Jones on Netflix, when she has an encounter with the baddie Kilgrave, played by ex Doctor Who David Tennant, he is actually watching rugby, which leads me to believe there's an egg-chasing fan involved in writing the show.

As you see in the clip above, as Kilgrave is using his mind control powers to get a police officer to jump off the side of the building as he no longer needs him, the villain is ironically bemoaning a spear tackle in the match he is watching.  Perhaps it was a replay of the 1st Lions test from 2005?  Ahem...

HarpinOnRugby

now also on Vine

Vine of the Summer for Leinster fans...

Just in case we needed an excuse for a few celebratory beers on a fine summer's evening, here's one for all fans of the boys in blue.

There's a "new" name on one of the lockers down at Leinster rugby.  Maybe it won't be in actual use until November, but it's still great to see the name going up nonetheless.

What a simple yet excellent use of the Vine platform.

The Highlanders brand of rugby

There was a cracking piece of analysis by Murray Kinsella over at The42.ie during the week focusing on the Highlanders in Super Rugby, particularly their uber-positive style under their attack coach Tony Brown, who has been linked with the vacant Leinster job.

Well performances over the regular season are one thing but this morning they had a whole different challenge when they hosted the Chiefs, who have won two titles in recent years, in the first round of the playoffs.  Could they produce this brand of rugby with the season on the line?

Oh, you bet they did.  Two cracking tries involving scrum half Aaron Smith and winger Waisake Naholo combining with some magic - the first saw them passing it back and forth to each other like there wasn't a flailing Chiefs tackler to be seen around them and the second, as you see above, included a sublime long range offload from the Kiwi number 9.

And it wasn't just their attacking play that won the day by 24-14 either, as you can see by the hit Malakai Fekitoa planted on Chiefs outhalf Andrew Horrell, where he was completely unfazed by the decoy runners and knocked his target into the middle of next week.

Whether or not Brown is heading our way, I'd love to see the Otago-based franchise go all the way to the title, though the Hurricanes, who won 14 out of 16 to top the ladder, might have something to say about that.  JLP

HarpinOnRugby

now also on Vine

Nemani Nadolo scores tries for fun

Over in Super Rugby the Crusaders have had a season not unlike Leinster...well used to being involved at playoff time at the very least but this time around the results just aren't there.

But Nemani Nadolo most certainly has been an exception - I thought the above try finish was worthy of a Vine clip but no sooner do I have it posted than he only goes and does this...

I'm publishing this post with 47m on the clock so don't rule out him completing his hat-trick before this one is out and if he does I will of course add the third Vine.  As @JohnMurff remarked on the twitter machine...

@HarpinOnRugby The guy is sensational. Probably the form winger in the world. When's he off to Toulon...?

— John Murphy (@JohnMurff) June 13, 2015

HarpinOnRugby

now also on Vine

AND also Instagram

The definitive "cheeky offload" courtesy of Sergio Parisse

If you're going to shock the three-time Euro champs in the Top14 semifinals you need to do something special.

Now I'm not saying that this offload from Sergio Parisse was the only reason Stade Francais got the win this evening - there were some big placekicks from Morné Steyn, good scrummaging from Heinke van der Merwe, and it has to be said Toulon were very flat for the 80 minutes.

Still, this really was something special from the mercurial Italian as he gave his team mate Raphael Lakafia an easy finish.

As an added bonus, check out this commentary from TV5's answer to Ryle Nugent as Drew Mitchell got the first try of the match back in the simpler times of the early stages when we all assumed Toulon were going to romp to an easy victory...

OK maybe it's not quite on a level with "Tommy Bowwwwwwe!" but it still makes you want to say the Aussie's name out loud as soon as you hear it.

HarpinOnRugby

now also on Vine

Thrilling finish gives Wolfpuppies perfect start

OK - when I say "perfect" start in the heading, I may be over-reaching a tad.

The Irish Under 20s had enough territory and possession to have had this match won well before the last kick of the game, but nonetheless you have to admire the coolness of Munster's Thomas Quinlan who had the unenviable task of slotting this touchline pen to put away the Under 20s from Argentina, giving Nigel Carolan's squad a handy win to kickstart their World Championship campaign.

Personally as the pen was awarded I thought given its location there was time to kick for the corner and go for the winning score in closer, but clearly the lads on the field knew better!!!

Despite the inability to cross the whitewash there were impressive displays across the park, a decent outing by Joe Carberry at outhalf and enough evidence that they can grow into this tournament as it progresses.  Next up, Scotland on Saturday, but bravo to the boys for this result. JLP

HarpinOnRugby

now also on Vine

Nakarawa? Maradona more like!

After his side's excellent victory in yesterday's Pro12 final in Belfast, Glasgow Warriors coach Gregor Townsend let us into a little secret.

"Before the game I said to Leone Nakarawa, 'Leone I just want you going forward.  I'll be very happy if you don't make an offload today' - two offloads, two tries, he delivered big time."

There's no doubt that offloading is key to the Fijian's game.  A year ago at the RDS perhaps it was a little bit too key for him as Leinster were generally able to negate his effectiveness.

But a lot can change in 12 months and as Gregor points out, Leone thoroughly deserved his man-of-the-match award.  Over the past couple of seasons I have come to call him "The Octopus" for the way he can find a way to stretch out a long arm to get the ball to a team mate so long after the tackle...

Nakarawa's offloads are so late I swear we've seen a couple tonight from last week's semifinal. #MUNvGLA #Pro12final

— Harpin' On Rugby (@HarpinOnRugby) May 30, 2015

Yet it seems offloading is not his only skill!  How many locks do you see displaying the footwork finesse you see in the above clip?  Pretty neat improvisation as well if you ask me.

And of course we all know what referee Nigel Owens was probably thinking as Nakarawa completed his pass..."Hang on...maybe this IS soccer after all!"

Once more, from all of us here at HoR Manor, sincerest congrats to all from the WarriorNation for a magnificent triumph.  We'll be posting a full writeup on the match itself for Monday lunchtime.  JLP

HarpinOnRugby

now also on Vine

Come on home Johnny

Hardly the most action-packed Vine clip you'll ever see but for Leinster & Ireland fans, it still means a lot. (Also we've added some appropriate music in the YouTube clip below for you to play as you read)

When the news of Johnny Sexton's move to Racing Métro broke, the fear was that he'd be over-played and worn out appearing in the gruelling Top14 with it's August-June season.  How many times over the past two seasons have we checked reports on RM92's matches, not for the final score, but to see if he left the pitch under his own steam?

Clearly he's not a happy camper as he departed the Stade Jean-Bouin turf this evening...his side had been comprehensively dumped out of the playoffs at the barrage stage 38-15 by cross town rivals Stade Francais.  And I'm sure Jacky Lorenzetti must be wondering if he got his money's worth from his investment over the past two years.

Well all due respect to Parisian rugby, but this Irish fan reckons the past two seasons have gone brilliantly.  (This Leinster fan may not quite feel the same but we won't go into that just now!)  Back-to-back Six Nations titles, ranked third in the world, beat England, France, South Africa, Australia, and within a whisker of the All Blacks.

Cheer up, Johnny.  You're coming home now.  And there's exciting times ahead for both Leinster and Ireland.  JLP

#COYBIG #COYBIB

HarpinOnRugby

now also on Vine

Surely worth more than just two points?

It wasn't exactly Ian Madigan's greatest ever display, nor was it for Joe Schmidt's Ireland.

And if the Leinster star is to be concerned about any video clips from the encounter with the Barbarians it should probably be the one where he's raking his studs into the back of Georgian Konstantin Mikautadze in the first half.

He might also look askance at the footage of his long time team mate Shane Jennings flattening him with his shoulder in the second.

Still though...his shift should also be remembered for an improbable right-footed drop-goal conversion from the left touchline after Paddy Jackson's late try which at least gave his side a fighting chance of victory.  A hastily-taken kick like this really has no right to fall between the uprights and in a perfect world it would yield more than just the two points. JLP 

HarpinOnRugby

now also on Vine

Worcester get booted back to the Premiership

It's not often I harp on RFU Championship rugby here but WHAT a match at Sixways last night.

It was the 2nd leg of the final between the Worcester Warriors and Bristol.  The home side had come down from the Premiership last season while the visitors had spent a king's ransom (comparative for clubs in that tier anyway) over the past few seasons to get back up to where they feel they belong.

The Warriors won the first leg at Ashton Gate by just a point and actually pulled away even further here before a second half surge by Andy Robinson's Bristol established what looked like a winning lead with just over 5 minutes to go...

(aggregate score is in black on white background)

...but the Warriors weren't done.  First one yellow card then two led to not one try but two leaving Ryan Lamb a conversion with the clock red which literally meant the difference between Premiership and Championship rugby for the two clubs (see Vine clip).

You'd have to have a heart made of stone not to feel for Bristol Welsh Rugby and their supporters, but it was certainly quite the spectacle for the neutral, especially one watching on DVR feeding a 3-week old baby at 2 in the morning!  JLP

HarpinOnRugby

now also on Vine