RugbyBits

Shaun and Thala are joined by Charlie Morgan to review week 3 of the Nations Championship.

First Shaun and Thala look back on the Springboks' 43-0 victory against Wales. We discuss an impressive debut by Carlu Sadie, the impact of Paul de Villiers and Jaco Williams' combination with Jesse Kriel.

Shaun and Thala then debate what their Springbok 23 would be for Rugby's Greatest Rivalry tour - who starts between Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu or Manie Libbok? Would Ethan Hooker start in our team? Would we go 5-3, 6-2 or 7-1? Shaun and I then discuss way too early Rugby World Cup 2027 squad hot takes involving Cobus Wiese and Kurt-Lee Arendse.

Charlie Morgan then joins us to discuss the wild Argentina v England game. Charlie discusses what England have learned from this year, the discipline issues that England has as they had 4 yellow cards in this game and the impressive performance of Immanuel Feyi-Waboso. We then debate the non-try from Bautista Delguy and how Angus Gardner handled a very contentious game.

We then break down the rest of the weekend's games, including the All Blacks looking impressive in beating Ireland, the Baby Boks grinding out a win against France in the Junior World Championship, Fiji putting in a respectable performance against Scotland, Hong Kong China beating Uruguay and we discuss if Les Kiss has been handed an access card by Rugby Australia yet.

00:00:00 Start
00:00:45 Springbok Chat
00:04:38 Vusi Moyo, Ruben van Heerden, Carlu Sadie and Jaco Williams
00:08:10 Herschel Jantjies
00:11:23 Paul de Villiers excellence
00:16:15 Wales and their poor game plan
00:21:29 Our Bok 23 for Greatest Rivalry
00:43:53 Shaun's hot Springbok takes ahead of RWC2027
00:50:50 BabyBoks, Nations Cup and Nations Championship results
00:56:02 Los Pumas v England
01:15:57 All Blacks v Ireland
01:38:52 Les Kiss
01:41:26 Charlie Morgan joins and discusses England and why he is optimistic

Kooks, Shaun and Thala review Week 2 of the Nations Championship, which included the Springboks beating Scotland in a try-fest.

We discuss which of the second string Springboks impressed, including Paul de Villiers, Ethan Hooker and Zachary Porthen, why the defensive lapses are worrying but are not all on Ntutukho Mchunu and the ups and downs of the Handré Pollard performance. While Scotland’s attack impressed and Sione Tuipulotu, Scott Cummings and Ben White were fantastic, we discuss why Gregor Townsend yet again failed to use his bench proactively and how Scotland failed to capitalise in yet another big game.

We discuss the other Nations Championship games. We wonder where Australia is going as Les Kiss sits in the stand and watches France steamroll Australia in the second half. Shaun discusses why French coaches have chosen to ‘settle down’ with Theo Attissogbe.

We debate whether Will Jordan is the best right winger the All Blacks have ever had, why Fiji need to repent for allowing a Henry Pollock hat trick, Eddie Jones’ rant on Japan playing a home game against Ireland in Australia, whether Argentina can build on this win against Wales (spoiler: no), the Springbok Women’s loss to the USA and the epic draw between Uruguay and Romania in the Nations Cup

Shaun and Thala review the weekend of Nations Championship and Nations Cup games which saw a lot of entertaining rugby and tries.

We start with the Springboks thrashing England on the back of impressive games from Damien Willemse, Jasper Wiese and Paul de Villiers. The Boks adjusted to the late withdrawals of Kolisi and Etzebeth, but we are left with questions about what Steve Borthwick is doing as England loses their 5th game in a row. We also break down a much changed side for the next game against Scotland.

We then review the other Nations Championship games, which include thrilling try fests between New Zealand and France and between Australia and Ireland as the likes of Ardie Savea and Hugo Keenan impress. Japan and Wales get surprise victories against Italy and Fiji respectively. In the Nations Cup we have impressive wins for Georgia, an honorable loss for Zimbabwe against Tonga and a high scoring draw between Canada and Spain.

Finally the Springbok Women make a statement as they beat the United States after leading 34-0 as they start their climb up the world rankings.

Kooks and Shaun shake off the FIFA World Cup blues after Bafana Bafana's exit and look ahead to the opening Nations Championship clash against England after Rassie Erasmus names his match day squad early.

We unpack the side, look at the strength's and weaknesses and look ahead to the England threats and how they will approach the game. We then take a deep dive into the tournament as a whole and try and predict where the teams will finish on the North and South side plus figure out what the Wallabies and the All Blacks will bring

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