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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
48 Episodes
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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.
Shaun and Thala run through the teams and preview a massive weekend in South African rugby with the Springbok men facing the All Blacks and the Springbok Women facing the Black Ferns in the Rugby World Cup quarterfinal.We run through the team and discuss the new lock pairing, how to fix the lineout issues, what we excited about and what we are scared about with the new backline, how Damien Willemse is now the older experienced leader of the backline and the All Blacks dropping Rieko Ioane for speedy Leroy Carter.We then preview the World Cup quarterfinal and debate how the Boks can pull an upset on the Black Ferns, react to Swys de Bruin picking a 7/1 bench and discuss the importance of Zintle Mpupha and Byrhandré Dolf to the team. We pick out some Black Ferns danger players including Stacey Waaka and Jorja Miller.We finish off by previewing the Wallabies and Pumas 2nd test, the Currie Cup semifinals and the update on Asenathi Ntlabakanye’s doping charge.
ooks and Thala review Round 2 of the Rugby Championship and the last round of group games from the women's Rugby World Cup.We start in Eden Park where the All Blacks extended the streak after an impressive performance on Ardie Savea's 100th test. Kooks and Thala debate on what is currently ailing the Boks, including lineout and defensive issues, the surprising team picked for the upcoming test in Wellington and where does this leave the Boks in the middle of the World Cup cycle. We also discuss Australia's last-gasp victory against Argentina.We then look at the Springbok women's loss against France in the last group stage game of the Rugby World Cup. We discuss wheter Swys de Bruin was right in resting some of his first choice players, how impressive France looked and what do the Boks need to do to beat New Zealand in the quarterfinals. We debate whether Nadine Roos should play fullback or scrumhalf and who the danger women for the Black Ferns are. We also quickly preview the other quarterfinal matches and whether upsets are likely.Finally, we look forward to the Currie Cup semi-finals, Kooks finds out about the Super Rugby competition in Australia, Thomas Ramos doing Thomas Ramos things in the Top 14 and Fiji's surprise victory over Wales in the World Cup (again).
ooks, Shaun and Thala preview the Rugby Championship Round 3 matches, focusing on South Africa attempting to break the Eden Park curse against New Zealand.We have more questions than answers about the Springbok team selected as we debate on why a 5-3 bench was selected, what Willie le Roux brings to the team, how unlucky Jean-Luc du Preez is and whether the Boks will go back to their more traditional game plan.On the All Blacks side we discuss whether this is a must-win for the All Blacks, how they fix their high ball issues, what Simon Parker and Emoni Narawa add to the side and the impact of Ardie Savea on his 100th test cap.We then also preview the Australia v Argentina game, look forward to the final week of the Currie Cup, a Ranfurly Shield clash, SA Rugby becoming shareholders in the URC and how is the Top 14 already starting?
We discuss the significance of this victory and the road the Springbok women have taken over the last few years, the influence of Swys de Bruin on the team's attack, the Player of the Match performance from Libbie Janse van Rensburg, Nadine Roos' versatile role, the powerful carrying from Aseza Hele and Chumisa Qawe and the leadership of Babalwa Latsha. While the Boks had some issues closing the game out and letting in some soft tries, we dream a little about our chances against France and whether we could compete against either New Zealand or Ireland in the quarterfinals.We also look back on some cracking fixtures over the 2nd round of the Rugby World Cup, including the USA drawing to Australia after a double from 18 year old Wallaroo Caitlyn Halse, Fiji giving Scotland a scare and Evie Gallagher's monster 35-tackle performance, and celebrating Samoa and Brazil scoring their first points of the Rugby World Cup, with Bianca Silva scoring Brazil's try in style.We then switch over to the Rugby Championship where the All Blacks have an injury crisis, the Boks have recalled Faf de Klerk to bring most of the 2019 band back together and why Kooks calls the early kickoff times for Australia and New Zealand "utter woke nonsense".
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