RugbyBits

Kooks, Shaun and Thala are back all together to break down a dramatic weekend in the Six Nations.

We start in Murrayfield for Scotland’s 50-40 win over France in one of the most impressive Scotland performances we’ve ever seen. Shaun gets a chance to rave about Kyle Steyn and Kooks is feeling smug about Finn Russell, while we wonder what happened for France to lose their heads after halftime of a crazy game.

In Rome Italy finally beat England for the first time. While Italy and Tomasso Menoncello deserve the plaudits, we debate whether Steve Borthwick should continue and why can’t he get his game plan, tactics and substitutions all correct at the same time.

Finally the main thing we can about for Ireland v Wales is the amazing Rhys Carré try and Ireland get a bonus point win without much drama.

We also have a rant from Kooks about all time Super Rugby teams, we celebrate the Blitzboks victory in Vancouver and debate which Australian WWE wrestlers would help their rugby teams.

Shaun and Thala look back on Round 12 of the URC and preview Round 4 of the Six Nations.

We start with the breaking news that Dave Rennie has been appointed as the All Blacks head coach. We debate whether Jamie Joseph should have got the job instead, what Rennie brings and what he learned from his time at the Wallabies.

Next we preview the Six Nations where Steve Borthwick made some confusing selections in the backline including Seb Atkinson and Tommy Freeman in the midfield. We wonder if this is Italy's best chance to finally beat England. Ireland have rotated their squad for their clash against Wales on Friday, who will be looking to continue from their performance against Scotland. We also debate what Scotland's chances are against France and whether they can suck them into a joue joue contest.

Finally we look at a big weekend for the inland SA URC teams with big wins for the Lions over the Stormers, who extend their losing streak to three in a row, with Morne van den Berg in fantastic form. The Bulls continue in their good run and the Sharks drop their second consecutive game since JP Pietersen was appointed as a permanent head coach. We discuss the landscape for the South African teams in the URC as we enter the home stretch.

Kooks and Thala review the weekends rugby, including Round 3 of the Six Nations and the Lions beating the Sharks in the URC.

We start in Twickenham where Ireland shock England 21-42. While Jamison Gibson-Park, Stu McCloskey and Rob Baloucoune impressed, we discuss the selection and game plan issues England suddenly have, McCloskey chasing down Marcus Smith and how did Fin Baxter do in the royal box with Kate Middleton.

We look at Finn Russell and Scotland stealing a win in Cardiff against a much improved Wales, France in 3rd gear crushing to a bonus point win over Italy where Thomas Ramos did the brilliant and the daft and Emmanuel Meafou was impressive.

We also react to the first Springbok alignment camp squad for the year with surprise inclusions including Frans Malherbe and some talented Baby Bok players, and finally where the Lions victory and Morne van den Berg’s performance leave both them and the Sharks in the hunt for URC playoff places.

Kooks and Thala chat through a busy time in world rugby right now.

We start with the South African derbies in the URC, with the Sharks and Bulls bagging vital wins. We discuss how the Stormers have fallen off the top of the log, what has changed for the Sharks, are the Bulls back or were the Lions horrible and Willie le Roux clap backs on Twitter.

We then preview the upcoming Six Nations by discussion our one question or take for every team (except Scotland), look at the upcoming France v Ireland clash on THURSDAY and make our predictions for who will win it all.

Finally, we react to the Rugby World Cup fixture release, which sees Australia open the World Cup against Hong Kong China, South Africa face Italy and no midweek matches.

We also rant about Super Rugby Pacific’s new law variations and react to the unfortunate retirement for Uini Atonio.

Shaun and Thala look back on the last round of European Champions Cup and Challenge Cup games, but they start with the big news of New Zealand removing their head coach, Scott Robertson.

Shaun and Thala debate whether this was the right call, the influence of the players in removing Razor and who are the likely candidates to replace Robertson and will Tony Brown possibly leave the Springboks to join the All Blacks (in spite of Rassie saying Brown will stay).

Then we go through the Champions Cup results, which include the Bulls first win in 8 games, the Stormers and Sharks getting big wins at home, shocking home losses for Munster and La Rochelle knocking them out and impressive campaigns from Glasgow and Bordeaux. We look at the knockout bracket and see who we think will make the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup finals.

Kooks and Sharky get stuck into the Razor and All Black troubled relationship (We recorded this before the big news of him stepping down)

We look into the most exciting Champions Cup Pool stages since the new format and again discuss how the South African teams can capitalize on this opportunity moving forward but are under no illusions that the URC is the number one focus.

Kooks, Shaun and Thala look back on the weekend’s matches, which includes the Springboks record win in Cardiff over Wales.

We talk about impressive performances from Andre Esterhuizen and Damian de Allende, but the big controversy is Eben Etzebeth’s red card for eye gouging and we discuss why there’s so much noise surrounding this incident.

We then quickly review the weekend’s URC games, which include the Stormers comeback win over Munster and the Lions surprising the Bulls in Loftus. We talk about the crazy red cards from the Top 14, as Antoine Dupont comes back to rugby.

We do a pool by pool preview of the Champions Cup, trying to predict which teams will make the knockouts, how difficult the Sharks will find it playing in Toulouse in the first week and the Bulls hosting the defending champs Bordeaux.

Kooks tells us about his experience in Cardiff and making a new friend in a former Wales international player, we rant about apology letters in citing processes and Kooks has a massive rant about the Sharks.

Shaun and Thala review the week's Autumn Nations Series matches which include victories for England, Ireland, Wales, France and Argentina.

We start in Twickenham where England passed their big test against the All Blacks, coming back from 12-0 behind. We break down George Ford's masterful performance and big games for some newer faces like Fraser Dingwall and how the All Blacks did not adjust to England's 2nd half.

Then we move to Dublin where Ireland had a record victory over Ireland where they found their attacking and kicking game and Mack Hansen impressed at fullback. In Paris, Fiji comes back from 21-0 down to tie 21-21, but France pull through at the end with big performances from Charles Ollivon and Nicolas Depoortere. Wales have their first win in Cardiff in two years with Jarrod Evans last minute penalty against an impressive attacking Japan.

Finally Shaun and Thala unleash on Scotland who lost to Argentina after establishing a 21-0 lead and conceding 33 points in 27 minutes. We wonder if Gregor Townsend is failing with using his bench, why Scotland falter in the last quarter and whether it is finally time for him to go.

We finally react to breaking news of the matches for next year's Rugby Nations Championship being announced and we debate whether this competition is a good idea.

Shaun and Thala review South Africa's 14-man victory over Italy in Turin.

Shaun and Thala are once again in awe of this special Springbok team and try to figure out how they are so good at playing with 14 men. We discuss Damian Willemse's masterful performance at fullback, Rassie Erasmus' proactive substitutions and tactical changes and Johan Grobbelaar finally earning his stripes with the Boks.

We then debate on whether Franco Mostert's red card was deserved and Shaun is tired of all this talk about conspiracies against the Springboks. We also discuss whether Italy panicked with the man advantage, whether Tomasso Allan should've started instead and Italy's general play attack faltering.

Shaun and Thala preview the rest of the slate of international fixtures for the upcoming weekend.

The match of the weekend is at Twickenham where England and New Zealand play for the right to be seen as the second best team in the world. We discuss why do both teams still confuse us even if they win regularly, whether England can outrun the All Blacks and whether the All Blacks need to keep it tight.

We then move to Dublin for a must-win game between Ireland and Australia. While both teams have made some confusing selections, we focus on their halfbacks with Sam Prendergast starting for Ireland and inexperienced Ryan Lonegran and Tane Edmed coming off the bench for the Wallabies.

We then preview the other internationals this weekend, including discussing why Maxine Lucu will be important for France to get back to winning ways against a dangerous Fiji side, Wales loading their side with experience for their big clash with Japan with massive RWC27 implications, Scotland and Argentina clashing to be the 6th best team in the world and discuss Belgium and Samoa setting up a massive winner-takes-all clash for Rugby World Cup qualification.