RTÉ Rugby Podcast

Neil Treacy and Bernard Jackman are joined by a special guest this week, as former South Africa and Bulls head coach Jake White helps us look ahead to the BKT United Rugby Championship Grand Final between Leinster and the Bulls.
White, who brought the Bulls to three URC finals during his time in charge (22:00), explains why Leinster remain the "benchmark" for others to follow in the URC, and why the South Africans are better equipped to get the better of Leo Cullen's side in Friday's final at Croke Park (12:15).
The ex-Springboks coach gives us the South African perspective on where this week's final will be won and lost, with a big focus on the scrum (30:35) and the first quarter.
And we also get White thoughts on some of the changing trends in rugby (04:00), as well as putting some listener questions for the World Cup winner (50:30).
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Neil Treacy is joined by Ireland number 8 Aoife Wafer, as she discusses a record breaking Six Nations for Ireland's women, winning a second successive Player of the Championship, and and her belief that Ireland can become the best team in the world.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Neil Treacy is joined by Bernard Jackman and Gareth Steenson, as we look back on Leinster's URC semi-final win against the Stormers, and break down the big stories of the week in Irish rugby.
We start this week's podcast by discussing two great losses to the game in Ireland, paying tribute to former Ireland captain Fergus Slattery, and long-term chief executive of the IRFU, Philip Browne, both of whom passed away in the last week.
The panel breaks down a gritty URC semi-final win for Leinster against the Stormers (06:10), which sets up a Grand Final rematch against the Bulls at Croke Park on Friday, 19 June.
We also react to the confirmation from the province that James Lowe is set to leave Leinster and Ireland at the end of the season (31:17), and ask how both the province and the union allowed this to happen.
Bernard and Gareth give their take on the news that Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has agreed a new four-year contract to lead his side all the way to the Rugby World Cup in 2031 (44:00).
And we also discuss the two recent coaching appointments at Munster (55:30), and Jimmy Duffy and Jared Payne come into Clayton McMillan's coaching ticket for next season.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Neil Treacy is joined by Bernard Jackman and Jonny Holland to recap a week of high drama in Irish rugby, and the URC quarter-finals.
We discuss a couple of heated media exchanges between Leinster head coach Leo Cullen and senior coach Jacques Nienaber in the last week, and ask why Nienaber feels he isn't "valued" in Irish rugby.
Bernard also follows up on his own comments around Leinster's coaching decisions during the Champions Cup final, after Cullen took exception to them at the weekend (27:40).
We ask whether there is any chance James Lowe will be remaining at the province next season (46:00), and ponder what Andy Farrell must be thinking of how the situation has played out.
The panel also looks at Munster and Connacht's URC quarter-final defeats (46:00), and ask why no province has made a move to bring Glasgow Warriors attack coach Nigel Carolan back to Ireland (55:10).
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Neil Treacy is joined by Bernard Jackman and Gareth Steenson on this week's RTÉ Rugby podcast, as we look back on a pair of disappointing Champions and Challenge Cup final defeats for Leinster and Ulster.
We kick the show off on a positive note, with Gareth giving us his quick run through of his time with Ireland during the Women's Six Nations, before we discuss the brilliant scenes of celebrations after Bordeaux's Champions Cup victory.
The panel break down just where things went wrong for Leinster in the first half of their 41-19 defeat in Bilbao, as they gave up five tries and 35 points in the opening 40 minutes, while Bernard also takes a closer look at the big contrast in how the two coaching teams operated on the day.
We discuss Ulster's painful Challenge Cup final defeat to Montpellier, and how this season will be viewed after Richie Murphy's side missed out on a play-off spot and Champions Cup qualification.
And we take a quick look at how Connacht and Munster are shaping up for their URC quarter-finals this weekend.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.