RugbyBits

Shaun and Thala react to the first Springbok teams announced for the year in preparation for the Springboks clash against the Barbarians and the South Africa A curtain raiser against Zimbabwe.The big surprise is Quan Horn starting at flyhalf and we discuss why he was selected there and the opportunity he has to establish himself as a utility player. We see Riley Norton and Vusi Moyo getting opportunities with the Springbok side. We discuss why Carlu Sadie has a big opportunity on Saturday and whether Andre-Hugo Venter or JJ Kotze can take advantage of the lack of depth at hooker.In the South Africa A side, it’s a ton of Baby Boks in the team and we discuss why Zekhethelo Siyaya might be the most impressive, why Hashim Pead or Vincent Tshituka have opportunities to play themselves into the main squad and how much Markus Müller can learn playing next to Lukhanyo Am.Join us as we discuss why Dave Wessels has the toughest job in the world, whether Kevin Foote will be waiting with a bus to take his Baby Boks straight to the airport and a little bit about Gloucester Hartpury being shocked in the PWR semifina

Shaun and Thala review a jam packed weekend of rugby, which included the semi finals of the United Rugby Championship.We start with the Bulls 18-point comeback win over Glasgow in Murrayfield off the back of huge performances from Embrose Papier, Steadman Gans and Cameron Hanekom. We discuss how the Bulls turned it around, whether the Canan Moodie centre experiment is working, and how Glasgow collapsed in another home knockout game.We then go to the Stormers loss to Leinster in Dublin where the Stormers heroically defenders and made over 200 tackles, but Jamison Gibson-Park broke hearts late. We discuss the controversial cards on Ruan Ackerman and Salman Moerat and the tunnel scuffle between Caelan Doris and Conor Evans.Then we break down the Springbok squad for the Barbarians and the SA A v Zimbabwe double-header, including the inclusion of a host of under 20 Baby Bok stars. We discuss why Tony Brown’s appointment to the NZR in 2028 is bad news for the All Blacks.Then we catch up on all the Prem, Top 14, Super Rugby, Japanese Rugby League One big clashes, the Blitzboks winning the Sevens series, all the coaching news and the strange Ellie Kildunne/Harlequins story.

Shaun and Thala look back on the finals weekend in the EPCR, which saw Bordeaux thrash Leinster in the Champions Cup final. We rave about Lucu and Jalibert dominating the game and the impacts of Woki and Moefana. We discuss Bordeaux controlling the game with their kicking and defence and why they are already one of the great historical European teams.We then turn to the Leinster post moterm and why they have lost yet another final, some lackluster performances from key players and debate on how much blame Jacques Nienaber and his defence deserves.We also do a quick preview of the URC quarterfinals and discuss why the Stormers and Bulls should be wary in their home quarterfinals and heat the Lions can do to upset Leinster. Hear why we think Munster and Connacht might be the teams best placed to steal a quarterfinal away.We also review Montpellier thrashing Ulster in their Challenge Cup final and Cheslin Kolbe signing with the Stormers for next season.

Kooks and Sharky dive into a review of the weekends Champions and Challenge Cup Semi Finals. We get underway with the controversies of the UBB v Bath game with Sharky not fully subscribing to all the footage being hidden and asks how a business as big as the EPCR will allow a random TV Director influence their product. Kooks also weighs in and provides insights from a production point of view and we debate whether the social media fall out between SquidgeRugby and Andy Goode was necessay.We then take a look as to why UBB were triumphant and it was off the back of some exceptional defence which kept Bath snatching at opportunities all game. Equally so, Leinster were sublime on defence to get their win over RC Toulon despite nearly losing it and we look at the Challenge Cup games and how Ulster advancing will impact the URC.With the Dragons' loss, Kooks had to put his Dragons Rugby merch order on hold for another year.Finally we discuss the Luke Littler and Mo Farah half marathon debate. Who wins...?

Shaun and Thala look back on the weekend's rugby, including the quarterfinals of the Champions Cup.We start with Bath's comeback win over Northampton which saw Bath come back from 21 points down after fantastic games from Finn Russell and Alfie Barberry. We also debate the pivotal penalty and yellow card to Henry Pollock.In Glasgow, Toulon outlast Glasgow, who will be kicking themselves for missing out on making a Champions Cup run. Toulon were spearheaded by Nacho Brex and Charles Ollivon, and we are impressed by young Georgian Mikheil Shioshvili.Leinster ease past Sale and we discuss the loosehead prop injury crisis at Leinster and we are SHOCKED that Rieko Ioane plays well on the wing (sarcasm).Finally, the big match of the weekend was Bordeaux v Toulouse and we debate if Bordeaux finally have Toulouse's number, rave about the impact of Ben Tameifuna and Maxine Lucu leading the defence. We debate whether any of the remaining teams can stop Bordeaux.We also look at the Challenge Cup quarterfinals, which saw a thriller won by Kooks' Dragons over Zebre and Exeter beating Benetton in a try fest. We also look at the international womens rugby that started this weekend with the Women's Six Nations and the Pac4 Championship.#Leinster #RiekoIoane #BathRugby #FinnRussell

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.

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 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.

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.

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 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.

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 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