DSPN - RUGBY

The DSPN's Rugby Roundtable gets spicy fast, as Martin, John Day and Mark 'Watto' Watson dive straight into the mess around the All Blacks coaching group.

Jason Holland heading back to the Hurricanes has everyone raising eyebrows, and the boys don’t hold back on what it might say about life inside the current setup.

From there we rip into Eben Etzebeth’s eye-gouge defence, Razor’s role being “re-explained” by NZ Rugby, and whether Scott Hansen is actually steering the All Blacks more than anyone wants to admit.

Then it’s prediction time. We map out who makes the Rugby World Cup 2027 final, who chokes in the quarters, and which powerhouse could be running on fumes by the time Australia rolls around.

Find every episode and discover your next favourite podcast on the rova app or rova.nz

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today Marty dives into the heat around Scott Robertson, the All Blacks review, and why NZ Rugby’s delay and vague explanations aren’t sitting well with fans.

Razor’s the head coach, that much is clear, but does the setup around him actually stack up when you put it under the microscope?

We talk through what this review really needs to uncover, why the public deserves more transparency, and how long it’s been since the All Blacks showed real progress. It’s not a development side. The job is to win test matches, full stop.

Find every episode and discover your next favourite podcast on the rova app or rova.nz

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’ve got Wallabies royalty on DSPN today, and honestly, it’s a treat. Matthew Burke joins us to talk through the state of Australian rugby, the messy World Cup draw, and why planning too far ahead in this sport is basically asking for chaos from the rugby gods.

Matt opens up on everything from the physicality gap in Super Rugby to why Australia’s depth up front matters more than any superstar in the backline. He also gives a brutally honest take on league converts, the reality of building consistency, and why the new offside interpretations are driving him up the wall .

We also get some gold about catching high balls, what AFL skills rugby desperately needs, and the transition to Les Kiss as Wallabies coach. It’s smart, layered chat from one of the sharpest minds in the game.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on DSPN, we hand the whiteboard to Tony Johnson and ask him to redesign rugby. Not all of it… just the parts that are driving us all a bit mad. Tony turns up with a Christmas wishlist of six ideas, from reducing TMO interference to rethinking scrums, kicking contests and the chaotic length of modern test matches.

We get into the balance between human error and over-officiating, whether box kicks have swung the pendulum too far, and why fatigue used to make footy better. Tony also floats a few “just hear me out” ideas that could speed the game up or open it up, depending on your point of view.

It’s all up for debate, and we want your thoughts. What would you change? What did Tony miss? And yes, Sweet Caroline cops a mention.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Martin Devlin and Lachlan Waugh dive into a brutally honest look at next year’s All Blacks tour to South Africa, and Martin makes his stance crystal clear: offer him a two-all draw today and he’d take it without blinking. This isn’t defeatism. It’s rugby logic. The Springboks are operating on a different level right now, and the numbers back it up.

We break down why this four-test stretch is shaping as the hardest assignment the All Blacks have faced since 1996, what the squad is missing at the moment, and why the rugby gods may need to put in overtime across Super Rugby.

From there, Glass Half Full hits cricket, the Ashes, England’s bizarre decision-making, a frustrating Phoenix derby, Premier League chaos, Lando vs Oscar in F1, and Hayden Paddon’s WRC return.

Plus, a chat on the All Blacks review date that has us asking… why on earth is this taking until January?

Find every episode and discover your next favourite podcast on the rova app or rova.nz

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on DSPN, we dive into the rivalry that shapes modern rugby, and there’s no better guide than Harry Jones. He joins us to unpack Rassie Erasmus re-signing through to 2031, what that means for South African rugby, and why Springbok fans are so welded to the man who rebuilt their entire identity.

We also get Harry’s brutally honest read on where the All Blacks sit under Razor right now. Are we too cautious? Is the Springbok machine simply further ahead? And how much will next year’s four-test South Africa tour tell us about the road to 2027?

From the politics of hosting future Rugby World Cups, to Tony Brown’s growing influence, to the return of the scrum as rugby’s great equaliser, this is a wide-ranging, clever, and very real chat about where the sport is heading.

Find every episode and discover your next favourite podcast on the rova app or rova.nz

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week’s DSPN mailbag is stacked, and honestly, the game keeps giving us material. We kick off with the Eben Etzebeth eye-gouge saga and the eyebrow-raising drop from an 18-week ban to 12. We’ve all watched the footage. No excuses, no mitigating fairy dust, just a dirty act that should’ve stayed at the top end of the scale.

From there, we dive into the R360 delay and whether “strategic timing” is just a polite way of saying the whole thing’s run out of juice or players. Either way, 2028 suddenly feels very far away.

And yes, the World Cup draw has everyone heated again. Six pools, 24 teams, and somehow the top two sides still collide in the quarterfinals. Throw in the All Blacks conversation around Razor, Richie Mo’unga’s return, and where Beauden Barrett fits, plus your cuts, keeps, and question marks, and it’s a wonderfully chaotic inbox.

Find every episode and discover your next favourite podcast on the rova app or rova.nz

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We got Matt Williams back on DSPN because the rugby world has been flipped on its head again, and we needed someone unfiltered to walk us through it. This World Cup draw has landed the All Blacks and South Africa on a quarterfinal collision course, and Matt doesn’t hold back on why that simply shouldn’t be happening.

We dig into why World Rugby keeps repeating the same administrative headaches, how the top two teams could end up cancelling each other out early, and what this means for the entire tournament. Then we shift to on-field reality. Right now, South Africa look miles ahead of everyone else, and Matt explains in detail why their mix of power, skill, and insane depth is setting the standard.

We finish with the tough questions around the All Blacks. Are we improving? What needs fixing? And what kind of pressure is Scott Robertson really under heading into a brutal 2025? It’s a frank, fascinating chat about where the game is heading.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The World Cup draw has landed and, honestly, World Rugby has cooked it again. The All Blacks are likely to face the Springboks in the 2027 quarter-finals, and everyone’s asking the same question. How does a sport end up with its top two seeds crashing into each other that early? We dig into the mess, the maths, and the madness.

Martin breaks down the draw logic that somehow rewards the loser of the opening New Zealand-Australia match with the easier path. We also look at the gulf between the top sides and the teams ranked nine to 12, and why that pushes the whole format out of shape.

We also spoke with Razor and Scott Barrett at a press conference this morning, talking through the implications, the strategy, and how you prepare when you’re already pencilled in to meet the world champions in the knockout stages. Plenty to chew on.

Find every episode and discover your next favourite podcast on the rova app or rova.nz

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’ve got Tony Johnson back from the Northern Tour and straight into the fire, because there is so much to unpack.

The World Cup 2027 draw is out, and yep… the All Blacks have copped the toughest path. Tony walks us through how the seedings landed us here, why New Zealand and South Africa are staring at a quarterfinal collision, and whether World Rugby has painted itself into a corner by locking draws in years out.

We get into the (likely) Australia opener, the logistics versus logic debate, and the ripple effects for teams like England, Ireland, Fiji and France.

Then we shift to the All Blacks themselves. Tony breaks down the coaching structure questions swirling around Scott Robertson and Scott Hansen, what’s real, what needs clarifying, and how much of this conversation exists purely because the team didn’t close out England.

Find every episode and discover your next favourite podcast on the rova app or rova.nz

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices