RugbyBits

RWC Preview: South Africa v Tonga

Jared and Shaun take a dive into how the Springboks will get their 5 points on Sunday as they take on Tonga.
 
The Springboks will be looking to avoid the 2007 scare and seemingly have named a team to do so.
 
We look at key points for each player and talk about Siya Kolisi in his 50th test captaining the Boks.
 
We look at the bench and take a deep dive into Canan Moodie, Grant Esterhuizen and Handre Pollard.

Libbok/Pollard Debate, Zombies and Eddie ‘Doc Rivers’ Jones

Kooks and Thala review the 3rd week of the Rugby World Cup, focusing on a breathless encounter between Ireland and South Africa.
We dissect the Irish victory over the Springboks. We discuss how Ireland won the breakdown battle and the brutal defence shown by both sides. We then get to the Manie Libbok and Handré Pollard debate and we discuss what each could bring to the Boks, how to accommodate both and what consequences that would have on the Springbok bench.
We turn our attention to impressive Ireland and how they beat the Springboks in the gutters, the impressive Bundee Aki and when Ireland will get respect as the world number one.
We then look at the Wallabies who are hanging by a thread in the World Cup after the Wallabies loss to Wales. We discuss how Wales are executing Warrenball, why Eddie Jones is rugby Doc Rivers and why Kooks has no sympathy for Rugby Australia (clue: it has to do with playing test rugby on Thursdays).
We then review the other stories from Week 3, including the Antoine Dupont injury and whether France can still win without him, the epic Georgia v Portugal game, the Felipe Etcheverry fan club, what in the world Argentina are doing, how unlucky Italy and Scotland are and why the Boks should allow Steven and Aimee Kitshoff to have the week in Cannes.

RugbyBits n Pieces: RWC Week 3 preview, Samoa to surprise Argentina and what is Eddie Jones doing?!

Shaun and Thala record a special RugbyBits n Pieces preview for week 3 of the Rugby World Cup which has a lot of tasty clashes in store. 
We start with looking back at Italy's comeback win against Uruguay with Tomasso Allan and Lorenzo Cannone impressing the most. We also gush about Manuel Ardao and the 4 turnovers he made for Uruguay.
We look at the other games to come up this weekend. We are worried that France may get a bonus point in record time in their game against Namibia. We are stuck firmly on the fence in trying to decide who wins Samoa v Argentina. Thala has a sneaking suspicion that Portugal will run Georgia close. We are looking forward to see if England continues their run against Chile. Shaun stresses the importance of Scotland having a good performance against Tonga. 
We end by previewing Australia v Wales by looking at the news that Eddie Jones might drop Carter Gordon for Ben Donaldson, Australia calling up and then not calling up Dylan Pietsch, the mess up with the Will Skelton injury and if the end is near for Eddie Jones.

RugbyBits n Pieces: Boks v Ireland preview, 7-1 splits, DDA v Aki

Shaun and Thala record a special Rugby Bits n Pieces pod to preview the biggest Rugby World Cup pool game (ever?) between the world champions and the world number 1s.
The boys admit that they do not know anything about rugby, since Nienaber and Erasmus have flipped the script on everyone with the 7:1 bench. We talk about how the bench will be used, the 3 fetchers on the bench and the importance of slowing down Irish ruck ball and how rugby may change if the 7:1 split works for the Boks.
We then look at an Irish team with not many changes, we look at the tasty individual matchups, including Damien de Allende and Bundee Aki for the best 12 in the world right now, the loose trio battle, Dan Sheehan on the bench and Sexton against big South African forwards.

Andre Esterhuizen, the Mike Hussey of the Springboks

Kooks and Shaun take a deep dive into the Springbok win over Romania, how Deon Fourie and Marco van Staden handled the hooker duties and just how to deal with losing Malcolm Marx and not having an out and out hooker come in.
 
Shaun looks into how best to unleash Andre Esterhuizen and gets talked down twice by Kooks after going on a rant about the performance this weekend.
 
We go through the other results and look ahead to Ireland

Rugby World Cup Preview with Sam Roberts

Thala, Jared and Kooks are joined by Sam Roberts (Gallagher Premiership commentator, contributor to RugbyPass and Mr Rugby Journeys on Twitter) to preview the upcoming Rugby World Cup.
We go pool by pool and predict which teams come out of each pool.
Is this the biggest opening weekend of the Rugby World Cup ever? Can the loser of France v New Zealand still go far? Can Scotland sneak past either the world number 1 or the defending RWC champions? Will Thala’s Georgia and Fiji Pool C predictions materialize? Did Kooks say what we think he just said about England???
Hear from the knowledgeable Sam Roberts and the rest of us and get properly excited for the Rugby World Cup!

RugbyBits and Pieces: Fraud Watch and Upset Alert

In this RugbyBits and Pieces Rugby World Cup prediction episode, Kooks and Thala get their hot takes out as they discuss who should be on Fraud Watch and which games should come with an Upset Alert. Thala discusses why he is watching Eddie Jones and Warren Gatland closely, Kooks has a plot twist for his fraud watch pick and Thala continues his beef with Will Skelton. Join as we also determine if England, Wales or Australia losing is an upset or not.

RugbyBits and Pieces: RWC Player of the Tournament, Top Points and Try Scorer Predictions

Kooks and Thala come together to record a RugbyBits and Pieces pod where they make predictions on the upcoming Rugby World Cup. Today they make predictions on the Player of the Tournament, the Top Try Scorer and Top Points Scorer.
 
Do you take Antoine Dupont or the field for Player of the Tournament? Is it set up for Siya Kolisi to have his crowning moment? What could Player of the Tournament do for Jonny Sexton's legacy? We discuss whether Will Jordan or Damian Penaud is a better bet for Top Try Scorer. We then finish off on why Melvyn Jaminet is jealous of Thomas Ramos, Kooks being the driver of the Manie Libbok Hype Train and is Lima Sopoaga a sneaky bet for Top Points Scorer.

Springboks and Fiji have a historic weekend at Twickenham

Springboks and Fiji have a historic weekend at Twickenham, De Allende v Esterhuizen and are Samoa World Cup quarterfinals contenders?
Shaun and Thala reflect on the final weekend of Rugby World Cup warm up matches. 
We start with the Springboks’ record breaking victory over the All Blacks in Twickenham. We look at what the differences were between this victory and the loss in the Rugby Championship, we split some hairs on what the Boks did not do well in the game and discuss whether the All Blacks loss exposed long standing issues or was it a rare blip.
We spend some time looking at some of the selection dilemmas Jacques Nienaber still has, which include De Allende v Esterhuizen, Mostert v RG Snyman, Faf de Klerk v Jaden Hendrikse and which of the 4 wingers to pick.
We then discuss Fiji’s first win over England and marvel at the discipline in Fiji’s approach, their strong tight five and kicking game, their position as the favourites in Group C of the World Cup and where to from here for England.
We then round up the other weekend’s matches, including Samoa running Ireland very close, the brilliance of 2nd half Scotland against Georgia, Italy thrashing a Japan team that is looking very beatable and whether Australia’s loss to France is all part of Eddie Jones’ plan.

Siya Kolisi Returns, Jesse Kriel Shuts His Haters and Canan Cooks

Jared and Shaun wrap up the weekends action as they review the epic win by the Springboks and why, regardless of the opposition, it was so important.
 
We look ahead to the All Black clash on Friday discussing the selections and specifically Canan Moodie at 13.
 
Keith Earls gets props from the team and Shaun still feels he would have been a great 13.
 
We dive into the further demise of England after their loss to Ireland and the Billy Vunipola red card.