On today’s podcast, we’re joined by James Faktor — a stalwart of the Czechia national rugby team and a mainstay in their recent Rugby Europe Trophy campaigns.

With the new Trophy cycle kicking off this weekend, this episode started out as a timely preview of what lies ahead for Czechia and the competition as a whole. But what we didn’t expect was for James to drop some big news during the chat — after years of representing his country, he’s officially retired from international rugby, despite there being no public announcement until now.

That revelation shifts the focus of the episode from a look ahead to a celebration of James’ stellar career — from his debut in red and white to becoming one of the team’s most reliable and respected figures. The timing couldn’t have been better, and we were grateful to catch him for a wide-ranging conversation that reflects on both past glories and what’s next for Czechia rugby.

Quick heads-up: the intro runs a little longer than usual thanks to some exciting news on our end — but if you want to jump straight into the chat with James, skip ahead to around the 3-minute mark.

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X: @AllTheRuckusPod.