Leinster v Harlequins 05.04.25

You just knew it was going to be a long afternoon when RG Snyman chucked one out the back door inside the first ten minutes. Leinster were in the mood.

Despite starting well, visitors Harlequins were simply no match for the home side which contained more Ireland caps than the Ireland team which had beaten England in the 6 Nations a couple of months earlier. The Londoner’s didn’t help their cause either by turning down an easy three points a few minutes into the game, electing instead for a line out which ultimately led to nothing.

Anyway, why let a game of Rugby ruin a sunny spring weekend away in Dublin? The day had started well, with no ill effects from a Friday night in Temple Bar and a 9.30am parkrun at Brickfields with a committed bunch of Quins fans.

The march that wasn’t

Then it was straight to Fallon & Byrne for breakfast before joining the bulk of the Quins fans who had gathered at Madigans in O’connell street for a few prematch bevvies before a planned march through the streets of North Dublin to the legendary Croke Park.

Despite a confident start, the parade fizzled out about 300 yards up the road before people realised: (a) nobody actually knew the way, and (b) maybe parading a massive Union flag through North Dublin wasn’t the brightest idea. Retreat, regroup.

Thankfully, the Bridge Tavern was on hand, a proper GAA pub, painted murals from top to toe and run by two top blokes, Liam and Paul. A great place to experience the match day vibe, meet the locals and get a few shots (of the photographic variety). It was here that I snapped some of the young lads from the Tullamore Rugby club, who were making a pilgrimage from their home town to Croke Park, a journey of 70 odd miles.

The weight of Croke Park

Then onto Croker itself. It’s not pretty (concrete and steel like Twickenham), but it towers over the little terrace streets and carries a weight of history no other stadium can match. Hill 16, standing packed with thousands, belting out Dirty Old Town, that was worth the trip alone.

Notable performances, brutal scoreline

The rugby? Well… Josh van der Flier, Garry Ringrose and James Lowe tore Quins apart and to rub salt into the wounds, Leinster bought on Jordi Barrett, whose first move from the half way line, was to chip the ball over the Quins defence, catch it and nearly score a worldie. As for the Harlequins, they really missed the presence of former players, Joe Marler and André Esterhuizen, whose muscle and experience could have helped make the scoreline a bit more respectable. Final result: 62-0. Ouch.

Back to the craic to discuss the sack

As for the 2,000 or so Quins fans who had made the journey, it was back to the city centre to drown our sorrows, swap excuses, moan about our head coach and remind the locals that at least we still had better outfits.