RugbyBits

Rugby Takes That Could Get Us Cancelled, Bok Alignment, Champions Cup Ties & URC

It's all hands on deck this week as Jared, Kooks, Shaun, and Thala discuss the Springbok alignment camps, and what the purpose of these camps is, the reasonings for certain snubs and inclusions.
Plus, the gents deliver their hot rugby takes that could get us cancelled, review the SA URC results and look ahead to each team's run into the playoffs.
Finally, we take a look at the weekend's Champions Cup results and ponder whether Harlequins can complete the comeback?
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South African flyhalf power rankings, Blitzboks adapting to 15s, high tackle debate and Rugby Wrestlemania

Jared, Kooks, Shaun and Thala are all here to talk about the full house of South African URC victories in Round 14.
We talk about the progression of the Blitzbok stars in the Sharks and the Stormers like Werner Kok, Seabelo Senatla and Ruhan Nel in their victories over Welsh opposition. We gush over the Bulls loose trio performance against Duane Vermeulen's Ulster. We also debate the two yellow cards from the Bulls v Ulster game and the concerning lack of sanctions for high tackles in Super Rugby Pacific and why that is a threat to the game. We also look back to the Lions win over Edinburgh, discuss the current power rankings of the South African flyhalves and Shaun wants to bring every Lions star to the Sharks.
We also discuss our dream Rugby Wrestlemania match ups, give our predictions for the SA URC derbies and the Champions Cup match ups, Wayne Smith coaching the Black Ferns, Cheslin Kolbe and Nico Janse van Rensburg flying in the Top 14, the return of the unbeaten Blitzbokke and the return of South African schoolboy rugby.

The rise of Seabelo, Crumbling Curwin and a URC review

Thala, Shaun and Kooks are joined by SA Rugby magazine writer Dylan Jack as they take a deeper look at the South African URC teams. 
As we head into the business end of the competition we look at the state of the SA sides and debate which side is the best in the country, Who are the Sharks going to buy next and who might miss out on a spot in the playoffs.
If you were also wondering what Johnny Sexton does in Italy then you have another reason why you should listen to the pod. 
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Six Nations deep review: Le Grand Chelem, impressive Italy and the team of the tournament

The full squad is here to review an entertaining Six Nations competition by looking at each team's performance in detail.
We marvel at France's grand slam campaign, but Kooks starts asking questions about whether they have maybe peaked too early. Jared has to dig deep to defend England and compliment Ireland. Shaun continues his love fest for Joe Marchant. Kooks FINALLY criticizes Finn Russell and Kooks and Thala debate whether Scotland are making progress under Gregor Townsend. We celebrate Italy's first Six Nations win in 7 years and the progress they are making. We are also as confused as Wales seem to be about what their game plan is and how good (or bad) they actually are.
We also spend some time sorting out our Six Nations Team of the Tournament. Ballie or Genge? Cros or Doris? Ntamack or Sexton? Jaminet or Keenan?
We also spend some time remembering the life of Alex Tarr of the Elite Rugby Banter podcast and one of the good men of rugby twitter who has recently passed away. Our condolences to his family and friends.

The Raeburn Shield, Springbok/All Black Rivalry and plenty laughs

Thala, Shaun and Kooks are joined by the Raeburn Shield… Chairperson? CEO? Defender? Let’s go with Defender of the Shield, Dave Algie. We discuss how it all came about and the amazing history behind both the Raeburn and Utrecht Shields, tracking the winners in international rugby since the very first Men's test at Raeburn Place.
 
We look at some of the historical teams that have held it, why the Springboks holding the Raeburn Shield is bad news geopolitically and how the Raeburn Shield could give more meaning to tests in between World Cups.
 
We then recap Week 4 of the Six Nations results, including Ireland winning the Raeburn Shield off England. This is now the 8th game in a row the Raeburn Shield has changed hands (the first time that’s happened ever!) And we start looking forward to France’s possible coronation as Grand Slam champions.

Rugby Analyst, Coach and Gloucester fan, Ottavio Arenella, chats Italy and relegation

The RugbyBits team chat to Ottavio about Italian Rugby and their Six Nations run, why he supports Promotion/Relegation in the tournament and when, if ever, Sergio Parisse will play his Test match and will it be for Italy or Argentina.
 
A great dive and insight into the club scene, feeder systems and a look at the Italian coaches of the past plus we touch on the URC, Premiership Rugby and the Top 14
 

Everybody loves Eddie Jones

Thala and Shaun are joined by Charlie Morgan, the Telegraph's senior rugby writer to do a deep dive on Eddie Jones' England.
 
We look into England's reliance on Manu Tuilagi and whether anyone can step into his shoes. We discuss Eddie Jones experimenting with formation-less attacking structures and position-less backlines. We debate what England's ideal backline would look like, potential 2023 Rugby World Cup bolters and their performance in the Six Nations so far. We also try to understand why it seems like so many English people dislike Eddie Jones - I mean, who can hate any Australian?!
 
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Separating the men from the boys - Six Nations Round 3 and SA URC mini-tour

Thala is joined by Jared and Shaun to reflect on  Six Nations Round 3 where the top teams started separating themselves from the rest.
We discuss France's continued march to the Six Nations title. Thala calls out the British and Irish Lions players in the Scotland team and we ponder why Kooks is always missing pods when Finn Russell has a stinker. While Shaun and Thala go off on another meh England performance, Jared reminds us they have won 2 from 3 and can still win the Six Nations. We also debate the uncontested scrum rules that clouded the Ireland v Italy game.
The lads are also encouraged by the performance of the South African URC teams in Europe this weekend, especially the Stormers and Lions in close losses. We debate how many of the SA URC teams will make the quarterfinals. We finish by discussing the crazy end to the Blues v Hurricanes game and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck's Super Rugby debut.

Super Rugby Pacific Chat with Mitch Evans

Kooks, Shaun and Thala are joined by Mitch of the Rugby Fixation Podcast to look at the new Super Rugby Pacific competition.
We discuss the Fijian Drua’s spear and the issues with the Moana Pasifika’s entry into SRP, the issues had in the past with new teams in Super Rugby.
Mitch expertly goes through the different Australian Super Rugby teams, their expectations, the exciting players to watch and how will they match up to the New Zealand sides. We also debate the contenders for the Wallabies 10 and 15 jerseys.
Come listen to a comprehensive preview of Super Rugby Pacific 2022 and go to the Rugby Fixation Podcast for Mitch’s series of previews of the different sides.
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They don’t even go here: Springboks in the Six Nations debate

The full squad discusses the big bombshell rumour about the Springboks replacing Italy in the Six Nations from 2025 onwards and the implications for the game in South Africa, the Six Nations itself, Italy (and other emerging nations in Europe) and the Rugby Championship.
A wide-ranging conversation which considers issues such as the development of the Tier 2 nations in general, Italy starting to get their structures right with their age group teams, how this would affect the Rugby Championship and World Rugby's renewed push for a Nations Championship. We then give each of the lads the power to be World Rugby Chairperson for the day and what they would do to fix international rugby.
We then look at the prospects of the South African URC teams playing their one-off fixtures in Europe this weekend and make predictions for Round 3 of the Six Nations.