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Just four mates chatting about rugby. Kooks, Jared, Thala and Shaun talk all rugby with a major focus on the Springboks, URC and #SaffasAbroad
52 Episodes
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Thala is joined by YouTube rugby content creator Riaan Louw to break down a dramatic Six Nations Super Saturday and to look forward to the final third of the URC league season.After discussing Ireland keeping Scotland at arm's length, Wales finally winning their first Six Nations game in 3 years and Thomas Ramos winning the Six Nations at the death against England, we discuss who the winners and losers of this year's Six Nations were.There is a lot of love for Stu McCloskey (and Ulster) and Andy Farrell, we discuss the impact of Joe Heyes and Kyle Steyn, we debate if Mathieu Jalibert has made the 10 jersey his own, but we raise some eyebrows on what England's tactical plan is, whether each coach has done enough to keep their jobs and is rugby and its tactics all looking very cookie cutter and samey right now.We get the Lions' biggest fan to discuss whether his team can finally break into the top 8 and discuss their tough run in. We look back at the Bulls faltering in the second half against the Stormers and what each South African side needs to do to qualify for the playoffs.
Shaun and Thala preview the final weekend of the Six Nations with France, Scotland and Ireland gunning for the championship.We preview each match and ask if Scotland can finally end their drought to Ireland and who will get the upper hand in the ruck battle. The Wales v Italy has a lot more significance, with Italy chasing their best Six Nations performance and Wales building their confidence from two previous games. Finally we discuss if the pressure will get to France and if there’s any way for England to give a good account for themselves.We finally preview the catch up of URC games this weekend, including a massive Bulls/Stormers clash with big implications for the winners.
Kooks, Shaun and Thala are back all together to break down a dramatic weekend in the Six Nations.We start in Murrayfield for Scotland’s 50-40 win over France in one of the most impressive Scotland performances we’ve ever seen. Shaun gets a chance to rave about Kyle Steyn and Kooks is feeling smug about Finn Russell, while we wonder what happened for France to lose their heads after halftime of a crazy game.In Rome Italy finally beat England for the first time. While Italy and Tomasso Menoncello deserve the plaudits, we debate whether Steve Borthwick should continue and why can’t he get his game plan, tactics and substitutions all correct at the same time.Finally the main thing we can about for Ireland v Wales is the amazing Rhys Carré try and Ireland get a bonus point win without much drama.We also have a rant from Kooks about all time Super Rugby teams, we celebrate the Blitzboks victory in Vancouver and debate which Australian WWE wrestlers would help their rugby teams.
Shaun and Thala look back on Round 12 of the URC and preview Round 4 of the Six Nations.We start with the breaking news that Dave Rennie has been appointed as the All Blacks head coach. We debate whether Jamie Joseph should have got the job instead, what Rennie brings and what he learned from his time at the Wallabies.Next we preview the Six Nations where Steve Borthwick made some confusing selections in the backline including Seb Atkinson and Tommy Freeman in the midfield. We wonder if this is Italy's best chance to finally beat England. Ireland have rotated their squad for their clash against Wales on Friday, who will be looking to continue from their performance against Scotland. We also debate what Scotland's chances are against France and whether they can suck them into a joue joue contest.Finally we look at a big weekend for the inland SA URC teams with big wins for the Lions over the Stormers, who extend their losing streak to three in a row, with Morne van den Berg in fantastic form. The Bulls continue in their good run and the Sharks drop their second consecutive game since JP Pietersen was appointed as a permanent head coach. We discuss the landscape for the South African teams in the URC as we enter the home stretch.
Kooks and Thala review the weekends rugby, including Round 3 of the Six Nations and the Lions beating the Sharks in the URC.We start in Twickenham where Ireland shock England 21-42. While Jamison Gibson-Park, Stu McCloskey and Rob Baloucoune impressed, we discuss the selection and game plan issues England suddenly have, McCloskey chasing down Marcus Smith and how did Fin Baxter do in the royal box with Kate Middleton.We look at Finn Russell and Scotland stealing a win in Cardiff against a much improved Wales, France in 3rd gear crushing to a bonus point win over Italy where Thomas Ramos did the brilliant and the daft and Emmanuel Meafou was impressive.We also react to the first Springbok alignment camp squad for the year with surprise inclusions including Frans Malherbe and some talented Baby Bok players, and finally where the Lions victory and Morne van den Berg’s performance leave both them and the Sharks in the hunt for URC playoff places.
Kooks and Thala chat through a busy time in world rugby right now.We start with the South African derbies in the URC, with the Sharks and Bulls bagging vital wins. We discuss how the Stormers have fallen off the top of the log, what has changed for the Sharks, are the Bulls back or were the Lions horrible and Willie le Roux clap backs on Twitter.We then preview the upcoming Six Nations by discussion our one question or take for every team (except Scotland), look at the upcoming France v Ireland clash on THURSDAY and make our predictions for who will win it all.Finally, we react to the Rugby World Cup fixture release, which sees Australia open the World Cup against Hong Kong China, South Africa face Italy and no midweek matches.We also rant about Super Rugby Pacific’s new law variations and react to the unfortunate retirement for Uini Atonio.
Shaun and Thala look back on the last round of European Champions Cup and Challenge Cup games, but they start with the big news of New Zealand removing their head coach, Scott Robertson.Shaun and Thala debate whether this was the right call, the influence of the players in removing Razor and who are the likely candidates to replace Robertson and will Tony Brown possibly leave the Springboks to join the All Blacks (in spite of Rassie saying Brown will stay).Then we go through the Champions Cup results, which include the Bulls first win in 8 games, the Stormers and Sharks getting big wins at home, shocking home losses for Munster and La Rochelle knocking them out and impressive campaigns from Glasgow and Bordeaux. We look at the knockout bracket and see who we think will make the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup finals.
Kooks and Sharky get stuck into the Razor and All Black troubled relationship (We recorded this before the big news of him stepping down)We look into the most exciting Champions Cup Pool stages since the new format and again discuss how the South African teams can capitalize on this opportunity moving forward but are under no illusions that the URC is the number one focus.
Kooks, Shaun and Thala look back on the weekend’s matches, which includes the Springboks record win in Cardiff over Wales.We talk about impressive performances from Andre Esterhuizen and Damian de Allende, but the big controversy is Eben Etzebeth’s red card for eye gouging and we discuss why there’s so much noise surrounding this incident.We then quickly review the weekend’s URC games, which include the Stormers comeback win over Munster and the Lions surprising the Bulls in Loftus. We talk about the crazy red cards from the Top 14, as Antoine Dupont comes back to rugby.We do a pool by pool preview of the Champions Cup, trying to predict which teams will make the knockouts, how difficult the Sharks will find it playing in Toulouse in the first week and the Bulls hosting the defending champs Bordeaux.Kooks tells us about his experience in Cardiff and making a new friend in a former Wales international player, we rant about apology letters in citing processes and Kooks has a massive rant about the Sharks.
Shaun and Thala review the week's Autumn Nations Series matches which include victories for England, Ireland, Wales, France and Argentina.We start in Twickenham where England passed their big test against the All Blacks, coming back from 12-0 behind. We break down George Ford's masterful performance and big games for some newer faces like Fraser Dingwall and how the All Blacks did not adjust to England's 2nd half.Then we move to Dublin where Ireland had a record victory over Ireland where they found their attacking and kicking game and Mack Hansen impressed at fullback. In Paris, Fiji comes back from 21-0 down to tie 21-21, but France pull through at the end with big performances from Charles Ollivon and Nicolas Depoortere. Wales have their first win in Cardiff in two years with Jarrod Evans last minute penalty against an impressive attacking Japan. Finally Shaun and Thala unleash on Scotland who lost to Argentina after establishing a 21-0 lead and conceding 33 points in 27 minutes. We wonder if Gregor Townsend is failing with using his bench, why Scotland falter in the last quarter and whether it is finally time for him to go.We finally react to breaking news of the matches for next year's Rugby Nations Championship being announced and we debate whether this competition is a good idea.
Shaun and Thala review South Africa's 14-man victory over Italy in Turin.Shaun and Thala are once again in awe of this special Springbok team and try to figure out how they are so good at playing with 14 men. We discuss Damian Willemse's masterful performance at fullback, Rassie Erasmus' proactive substitutions and tactical changes and Johan Grobbelaar finally earning his stripes with the Boks.We then debate on whether Franco Mostert's red card was deserved and Shaun is tired of all this talk about conspiracies against the Springboks. We also discuss whether Italy panicked with the man advantage, whether Tomasso Allan should've started instead and Italy's general play attack faltering.
Shaun and Thala preview the rest of the slate of international fixtures for the upcoming weekend.The match of the weekend is at Twickenham where England and New Zealand play for the right to be seen as the second best team in the world. We discuss why do both teams still confuse us even if they win regularly, whether England can outrun the All Blacks and whether the All Blacks need to keep it tight.We then move to Dublin for a must-win game between Ireland and Australia. While both teams have made some confusing selections, we focus on their halfbacks with Sam Prendergast starting for Ireland and inexperienced Ryan Lonegran and Tane Edmed coming off the bench for the Wallabies.We then preview the other internationals this weekend, including discussing why Maxine Lucu will be important for France to get back to winning ways against a dangerous Fiji side, Wales loading their side with experience for their big clash with Japan with massive RWC27 implications, Scotland and Argentina clashing to be the 6th best team in the world and discuss Belgium and Samoa setting up a massive winner-takes-all clash for Rugby World Cup qualification.
Shaun and Thala react to the South Africa and Italy squads selected for the test in Turin. The Springbok Hooker/hookers are the main story - with Johan Grobbelaar getting a rare chance to impress, Marco van Staden as the back up hooker and Ethan Hooker getting a chance to start at 12.On the Italian side, after a massive win against Australia, they will be feeling confident playing against a second string Springbok side with many of their key players that did not make the July tour to South Africa returning.Find out why Shaun has worries about the Springbok halfbacks, why this is a free hit for Boan Venter and Zachary Porthen, why a fast start is important for Italy and why David Odiase should be a name that Springbok fans should remember.
Kooks takes the helm as we unpack the weekends action. We start off as Kooks tells us about his week in Paris and how the forwards things, we're joined by Thala on his train back home from France via Brussels and Shaun rants about toxic fans.We start off with the incredible game between the Springboks and France and laugh off the notion that France 'weren't ready'. We highlight the performances of Malcolm Marx and Jasper Wiese along with the other players after securing an impressive result with 14 men, we dive into the red card and other incidents too.The sad in Scotland must be real after their loss to the All Blacks and we look at why, Joe Schmidt is killing his reputation in Australia but don't discount how good Italy were.No England v South Africa in 2025 could be a master marketing stroke of genius and Steve Tandy under immense pressure already despite showing some glimpses of a turn around but the Welsh ran into a confident and ruthless Los Pumas
Shaun and Thala review the first weekend of November test matches, which include a big Springbok win over Japan in Wembley.We rave about the performances of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Cheslin Kolbe. We debate how the Boks replace Ox Nche who is out for the rest of the November tour and how Thomas du Toit could be an important player for the Springboks next clash against France.We then move to New Zealand’s defeat of Ireland in the United States. We discuss impressive performances from Fabian Holland, Quinn Tupaea and Leicester Fainga’anuku, whether Razor Robertson has stumbled upon his best backline and how do the All Blacks replace Scott and Jordie Barrett. We debate if the end of Ireland’s run near the top of international rugby is near, is the squad aging out or is the team just rusty.Then we move to Twickenham for England beating Australia. We debate Tommy Freeman’s move to centre and why England are looking scary two years from a World Cup.We finally finish on Scotland thrashing the USA, Antoine Dupont extending his contract with Toulouse with 2031 and Shaun and Thala debate whether the experiment of bringing rugby to the USA will ever work and Shaun comes up with a crazy plan to save rugby there!
Kooks and Thala try to divide the 16 URC teams into four tiers to determine who are the contenders from the pretenders.We debate whether the Stormers are championship contenders after their unbeaten start and nilling the Scarlets. Does Johan Ackerman have cause for concern about the Bulls defence? How to even analyze the unpredictable Sharks and how much cause for concern should Lions fans have. We also discuss other teams tough to rank - like Glasgow, Ulster, Benetton and which of the Welsh sides will make a challenge.We then look at other news around the rugby world, including Bath looking unbeatable, Carter Gordon returning to the Wallabies, the All Blacks upcoming Grand Slam tour and the major rugby unions refusing to support R360.
Shaun and Thala chat about the final round of the Rugby Championship, which the Springboks won after their victory over Argentina in Twickenham.We conduct a team by team review by giving each team a rating out of 10, discussing who their MVP and breakthrough players were and what they still have to work on. Listen as we discuss why Jasper Wiese might be the Bok MVP, the impacts made by Ethan Hooker, Leroy Carter and Max Jorgensen, why Len Ikitau might be the best back in the Rugby Championship and the stats Santi Carreras and Marcos Kremer topped.We then review Round 2 of the United Rugby Championship, which saw the Stormers keep their impressive form with Wandi Simelane and Vernon Matongo impressing, the Bulls overcoming Leinster and the impact of Willie le Roux, the Sharks being lucky to escape with a draw against the Dragons and the Lions staring into the abyss after their loss to Zebre.We also look at Bath’s impressive victory in the rain against Sale, Bordeaux and Lyon entertaining us in the Top 14, we reflect on the unfortunate diagnosis on Lewis Moody and our First Phase we discuss players we will never sell our stocks on, which includes a discussion on Ruan Pienaar and Howard Mnisi
Shaun and Thala review the weekend's rugby and look forward to the last round of the Rugby Championship.We start by discussing the record-breaking performance of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu against Argentina that earned comparisons to Dan Carter. We discuss how the Springboks have become a more balanced side, the chaotic test in Durban and what to look forward to in the clash in Twickenham this weekend.The All Blacks retain the Bledisloe Cup for another year and we discuss the impact Cam Roigard made to the side and why this weekend's game is a must win for the Wallabies.We celebrate England capping off a historic dominant run with winning the World Cup at a packed Twickenham and how that will inspire improvement in the women's game and Sophie de Goede winning World Rugby Player of the Year.We then wrap up by discussing the first round of the United Rugby Championship, which included the Stormers nilling Leinster, James Slipper retiring from international rugby this weekend, Chile qualifying for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, a chaotic draw between Northampton and Exeter in England and Steve Diamond being sacked by Newcastle Red Bulls with Gregor Townsend coming in as a part-time consultant.
Kooks and Thala preview a gigantic weekend of rugby, including the 2025 Rugby World Cup final, Round 5 of the Rugby Championship, Bledisloe Cup and the start of the United Rugby Championship.We start with the World Cup final by discussing the impressive performance by Canada in knocking out the defending champions, New Zealand and England sweating it out against France. We debate whether England can slow down Canada, can Canada match up front against England and key players such as World Rugby Player of the Year nominees Sophie de Goede and Meg Jones.We then look at a largely unchanged Springbok side ready to host Argentina in Durban. We ponder if this is currently the best 23 that Rassie has and the Bok's continual shift in approach. We consider why Argentina is dangerous, having picked a 6-2 bench and what South Africa should do against a team that does not mind winning away from home.We then look at the Bledisloe Cup match in Eden Park. Kooks finds out the starting time for Saturday's game and we discuss whether the Wallabies can break the streak, in spite of the many injuries.We then congratulate the Griquas for winning the Currie Cup final as the Lions yet again lose it at the death. This leads us to preview URC Weekend 1 with the Stormers hosting a strong Leinster team being the highlight.There is much more in this week's podcast - including multiple rants about World Rugby, the announced system for WXV, the beginning of the PREM competition, and Samoa and Chile's World Cup qualification match up.
Shaun and Thala review the weekend’s rugby, which saw South Africa men inflict a record defeat on New Zealand and the South African women be competitive against the world champion Black Ferns in their World Cup quarterfinal.We start in Wellington where the Springboks ran riot in the last 20 minutes to run in 6 tries against the All Blacks. Jasper Wiese impressed in his comeback from suspension and Damian Willemse roared back to form with a Player of the Match game. We discussed what was different between this game and previous Bok games, why this means for selections and where the All Blacks go from here.At the Rugby Word Cup quarterfinals, the Springbok Women impressed after staying level with the Black Ferns at halftime, but the Black Ferns ran away with the game in the 2nd half. We discussed the innovative game plan that the Boks played, the mauls from scrums and 15 player lineouts and the significance of this performance for the future of rugby in South Africa.In other quarterfinals, we saw a game of the year as France steal the game against Ireland. It was a game that had everything - from worldie tries, big performances from Aofie Wafer and Charlotte Escuerdo and biting allegations. We look forward to the semi finals that see New Zealand play Canada and England face France.Finally, we look at Australia falling short against Argentina, the Lions and Griquas winning the Currie Cup and we reflect on the death of former Springbok Bevan Fortuin.
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