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The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
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The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby

Author: David Barnes & Peter Burns

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Welcome to the Offside Line Podcast with your hosts Peter Burns and David Barnes.


In this weekly show we examine all aspects of Scottish rugby, from the grassroots level to the Test arena, and discuss the goings on in the wider global game – helped by a regular panel of special guests and featuring exclusive interviews. 


David Barnes has worked as a freelance rugby journalist since 2004 covering every level of the game in Scotland for publications including The Herald/Sunday Herald, The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, The Scotsman/Scotland on Sunday/Evening News, The Daily Record, The Daily Mail/Mail on Sunday and The Sun. He established the Offside Line in 2016 to provide high-quality, independent and up-to-date coverage of all aspects of Scottish rugby.


In 2005 he co-authored Jim Renwick’s autobiography, Centre of Excellence, and in 2008 was shortlisted for Rugby Book of the Year at the British Sports Book Awards for The Accies: The Cradle of Scottish Rugby. He is the co-author of the critically acclaimed Behind the Thistle: Playing Rugby for Scotland and Behind the Lions: Playing Rugby for the British & Irish Lions.



Peter Burns is a William Hill Sportsbook of the Year shortlisted author and the managing director of Polaris Publishing Ltd. He has written eleven sports books, including Behind the Thistle: Playing Rugby for Scotland, This is Murrayfield: 100 Years of History in 100 Matches, Behind the Lions: Playing Rugby for the British & Irish Lions, This is Your Everest: The Lions, the Springboks and the Epic Tour of 1997When Lions Roared: The Lions, the All Blacks and the Legendary Tour of 1971 and The Men in the Arena: England, Australia and the Battle for the 2003 Rugby World Cup. He is also the author of the forthcoming children's book series, Shadow Thieves.



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72 Episodes
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Barney and Burnsy get together for a quick pre-Christmas pod to discuss the 1872 Cup first leg, the Celtic Challenge and the Inter-District Championship. Merry Christmas to all our listeners, we hope you have a wonderful time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hello Offside Liners, welcome to this week’s show. Barney and Burnsy bask in the glory of Glasgow’s extraordinary comeback win over Toulouse, delve into Edinburgh’s loss to Castres, go over the result of the National Youth Cup finals, the Grand Final of the Arnold Clark Women’s Premiership, the results from the Arnold Clark Men’s Premiership and chat to Eric Jones about the upcoming Celtic Challenge.This week's episode is sponsored by Wyre. With the recent budget bringing more attention to salary sacrifice schemes, Wyre provides a unique way to simplify your company's car / travel benefits: SalaryBoost. It's the best way to not only save your business money, but also provide a competitive edge in retaining top talent. Sign your business up with Wyre and you'll be able to provide employees with incredible savings on new electric cars, while saving your business £1,500 a year on average for every staff member who takes a car. Stay ahead of the curve with Wyre trywyre.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hello Offside-liners, welcome to a special women’s rugby bonus pod ahead of the play-off Grand Final between Stirling County and Watsonians. In this episode, Barney and Burnsy sit down with Eric Jones, until recently the head coach of last year’s champions Corstorphine Cougars to talk about the Arnold Clark Women’s Premiership, the pathway, the Celtic Challenge and Test rugby as well as his own coaching career. We hope you enjoy it. If you have any questions or comments, please get in touch with us via our social media channels or you can email us at contact@theoffsideline.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Delicious humble pie

Delicious humble pie

2025-12-0840:29

Hello Offside Liners, welcome to this week’s show. Barney and Burnsy get tucked into some delicious humble pie after writing off Glasgow and Edinburgh’s chances in the opening round of the Champions Cup, only for both sides to record famous bonus-point victories. They analyse these two games and dive into the usual examination of domestic rugby. And don’t forget, we have a whole new range of Offside Line merch which you can now purchase from the site, along with a selection of brilliant rugby books – a one-stop-shop for all your Christmas presents. https://www.theoffsideline.com/shop/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hello Offside Liners, this week Barney and Burnsy dive into Scotland’s draw for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, pick over the bones of a disappointing round of URC fixtures, delve into clubland and preview this week’s game – including Edinburgh and Glasgow’s Champions Cup round 1 matches.And don’t forget, we have a whole new range of Offside Line merch which you can now purchase from the site, along with a selection of brilliant rugby books – a one-stop-shop for all your Christmas presents. https://www.theoffsideline.com/shop/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Autumn Wrap

The Autumn Wrap

2025-11-2558:49

Barney and Burnsy get together to pick over the bones of the autumn Test series and analyse where Scotland are ahead of the Six Nations. They also dive into domestic rugby and preview this weekend’s coming games.This episode is sponsored by Arnold Clark – we’re sure you’ll have heard of them! A major supporter of Scottish rugby, they’ve got an unbelievable Black Friday deal. They’ve scrummed together thousands of used cars – and you can grab yourself an extra £500 off this Black Friday.Visit your local branch or head straight to www.ArnoldClark.com to get your £500-off voucher.So, what are you waiting for? Don’t get caught offside – kick-start your search for your next car today! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hello Offside Liners, this week Barney and Burnsy go down to Breadalbane Finance’s HQ to pick over the bones of the Scotland-Argentina match with Jamie Lindsay and Roddy Grant. The quartet discuss everything from supporting grassroots rugby and rugby charities to moving into Prestonfield for fundraising season, as well as diving into domestic results and analysing this month’s autumn Tests. It’s a bumper episode which we know you’re going to love.Today's podcast is sponsored by Breadalbane Finance – Trusted Commercial Finance Brokers, based in Edinburgh, Working across Scotland – visit What We Do - Breadalbane Finance: Trusted commercial finance broker for more information Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hello Offside Liners, welcome to this week’s show. The curse of the All Blacks continues for another year. Barney and Burnsy dive into an analysis of the game, go over domestic fixtures and other autumn Test and preview Scotland versus Argentina this weekend. Enjoy (if you can)! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, things go a little bit off kilter as Barney and Burnsy delve into the Curse of the All Blacks, pick over Scotland’s victory over the USA and dredge up old nightmares of Barney Snr’s Hawick scarf. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Barney was meant to be having a thoroughly well-deserved day off – but he couldn’t stay off the pod. This week the boys delve into a preview for Scotland-USA, Lee Radford’s teeth, Gemma Fay’s appointment as first Managing Director of Women’s Rugby, Border clubs boycotting the Scottish Cup, a tribute to the late, great Terence Froud, and a round-up of last weekend’s fixtures. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Barney is joined by Mark Palmer and Craig Watson at Oriam to pick over Gregor Townsend’s squad selections for the 2025 Autumn Tests. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hello Offside Liners, welcome to this week’s show. Apologies there was no show last week, but Burnsy forgot that he was away on holiday. He and Barney catch up to discuss the resurrection of the Scotland/GB Men’s Sevens squad, cast an eye over the Scotland squad ahead of Gregor Townsend’s announcement on Tuesday, and delve into the latest URC and domestic Premiership action. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week Barney and Burnsy eventually get the podcast over the line at the third attempt – and they delve into the latest results in the men and women’s Scottish Premierships, the URC and the Rugby Championship before taking a deep dive into R360 while also scrutinising Gregor Townsend’s new role with Red Bull and the appointment of Lee Radford as Scotland defence coach. It’s all a bit of a shambles – but a fun one! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Olé, Olé, Olé, Olé

Olé, Olé, Olé, Olé

2025-09-3027:38

This week Barney and Burnsy get into the Ryder Cup, celebrate Porty’s prop power and dig into the Womens’ Rugby World Cup final, the latest URC action and the Rugby Championship. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week the boys dive into Barney’s trip to Mull, the new the Scottish Women’s contracts, match cancellations and fixture reviews and previews, plus they sit down with Currie head coach Mark Cairns to discuss his time at the club, how the season is going and the way he and his company Coach Logic are forging new frontiers with AI. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hello Offside Liners! This week Barney and Burnsy are sitting down with Edinburgh Rugby 2025/26 Captain Magnus Bradbury and Scottish Building Society CEO, Paul Denton to discuss the season ahead as well as Scottish Building Society’s extension as Main Club Partner of Edinburgh Rugby. A huge thank you to Magnus for chatting to us and to Edinburgh Rugby for setting this up. The boys also dig into the Women’s World Cup, club land and some of the controversy surrounding the roll out of the new National Talent Pathway programme.Learn more at: https://www.scottishbs.co.uk/ and https://www.theoffsideline.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hello and welcome to a special bonus pod with David Jordan. Jordan became Glasgow Rugby’s chief executive in 1997 and was therefore right in the eye of the storm during the wild west days of early rugby professionalism. He went on to become the Celtic League’s first tournament director in 2005, running the competition out of his dining room in Bearsden. He has been at the vanguard as the league has morphed into the Pro12, Pro14 and now United Rugby Championship and he has some incredible insights to share on these years. We hope you enjoy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Welcome to the Offside Line, the first for Scottish rugby. Barney and Burnsy are delighted to be joined by Stuart Bathgate to chat about the Women’s World Cup before the boys get into the latest injury news coming out of the Edinburgh and Glasgow camps; they then run an eye over the latest goings on in the men and women’s Premierships and preview this weekend’s games. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week Barney and Burnsy head down to Oriam in Edinburgh for a press conference with Alex Williamson and David Nucifora as Scottish Rugby announces new contracts for Gregor Townsend, Franco Smith and five high-performance coaches. The boys are joined by Mark Palmer from the Sunday Times to pick over everything that was discussed. They also reflect on Scotland Women’s victory over Fiji, preview their final pool game with Canada and discuss the latest action in the men and women’s domestic Premierships – plus Barney delves into the Offside Line’s new subscription model. Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Walloping the Welsh

Walloping the Welsh

2025-08-2501:01:30

This week Barney and Burnsy are joined by Eve McTiernan, who is part of the Offside Line team working on the ground in Manchester covering the Women’s World Cup, to discuss Scotland’s record-breaking win over Wales. The guys also review the first round of action in the Men’s Prem and Barney heads to Murrayfield to chat to Neil Graham, Gavin Scott, Stuart Edwards and Pat MacArthur about the new schools Open Conference competition. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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