The Counter Ruck: The Irish Times Rugby Podcast

It's only four short years since the Champions Cup was restructured to the liking of the big French and English club and yet here we are with an Irish team going into the final as roaring hot favourites. Gavin Cummiskey and John O'Sullivan are with us to break down the pinnacle of the club rugby season and lay out the reasons why Leinster cannot lose.The road to test-playing status for Irish cricket has been long and often hopeless but this weekend they play Pakistan in Malahide and take their place among the nations of the earth. Our man Emmet Riordan is in studio to tell us all about it and he has dragged former captain Trent Johnston in along with him to break down what we can expect from Ireland's first ever test match.There's also snooker, naked press conferences and a fair amount of cursing.

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The Giro d'Italia comes this year with an overload of controversy attached. Cycling writer Shane Stokes tells us why he has decided against attending the start of the race in Israel and fills us in on the doping row surrounding Chris Froome and Team Sky.Real Madrid and Liverpool have found their way to the Champions League final, yet somehow a consensus has built up that neither team is really all that good. Miguel Delaney joins us to drill down into why this might be so and also to lament the sad end to the road for Arsene Wenger.Also in the mix we have the start of the Gaelic football championships, the return of the Sunday Game and the poker playing magazine writer who might just have found the way out for the rest of us.All this in your bank holiday weekend Added Time Podcast with Malachy Clerkin and Pat Nugent.

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In a bumper podcast this week we have Sonia O’Sullivan and Ian O’Riordan in the studio to talk through the issues around Caster Semenya and this week’s IAAF ruling on athletes with Differences of Sexual Development (or DSDs). Do we need a new classification for athletes beyond male and female or are people being punished for their natural gifts?Katie Taylor takes to the ring on Saturday night in a world title unification bout that has gone curiously low on the radar. Johnny Watterson joins us to preview the fight and predict what Katie does next.Tony Evan’s book ‘Two Tribes’ recalls the tumultuous 1985/'86 season in English football and the titanic struggle for supremacy between Liverpool and Everton, played out against the backdrop of Heysel, hooliganism and hatred (mainly directed towards Margaret Thatcher). Ahead of next week’s Champions League second leg, and after the tragic events of Tuesday night, we also touch on AS Roma and their history of violence with Liverpool.There’s also Jose Mourinho getting his excuses in, and golfers picking their walk-on music, all in this week’s Added Time podcast with Pat Nugent and Mary Hannigan.

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Bilbao, here we come! With the path apparently clearing for both Leinster and Munster to stride on to the Champions Cup final, we have Gavin Cummiskey and John O'Sullivan in studio to go through the formalities of previewing this weekend's semi-finals. Never ones to get ahead of ourselves, both lads predict an All-Ireland final - what could possibly go wrong?Mo Farah is back in the spotlight this weekend, running the London Marathon on Sunday and aiming himself towards the race in Tokyo in 2020. Ian O'Riordan joins us to thrash out how we should feel about Farah these days and why all the unanswered questions around him have shattered his reputation.There's also, finally, a goodbye to Arsene Wenger, a love-letter to the World Snooker Championships and the best UKIP sausage-roll headline you're ever likely to come across.All in today's Added Time podcast with Malachy Clerkin and Mary Hannigan.

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The world greatest horse race is ready for the off at Aintree on Saturday and for Katie Walsh, this will be her sixth attempt at winning the Grand National. She joins us from Liverpool to fill us in on what its like to ride in the race all jockeys dream of winning and tells us about the year she was going so well in the race, she was afraid to admit it to Barry Geraghty when he asked her.Conor McGregor's latest adventures have been front-page news across the planet, cementing his transition from sports star to what-will-he-do-next celebrity. We talk to Dave Hannigan in New York about the circus around the MMA fighter. There's also Masters champion Patrick Reed and the tensions brought about by sporting talent, Sonia O'Sullivan on Caster Semenya and the feet of clay belonging to heretofore presumed nice guy Harry Kane.All in this week's Added Time podcast with Malachy Clerkin and Pat Nugent.

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Jackie Tyrrell and Ian O'Riordan are in studio to talk about the new-look, super-tactical Kilkenny team that Brian Cody has fashioned and a Tipp side looking to end a desperately poor run of league final defeats stretching back a decade.And with the Manchester derby coming up this weekend, Michael Walker digs deep into the mind of Pep Guardiola, his brilliance and his vulnerability and the building blocks of his management style going back to his time as a player.As well as that, we talk about how April became Not The GAA Club Championship month, we laugh heartily at Sergio Garcia and we hope against hope that Jordan Spieth doesn't reduce the Masters to a cakewalk.All this in your new episode of Added Time with Malachy Clerkin and Pat Nugent.

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There's nothing like Masters week. And for as long as anyone can remember, there's nothing like this particular Masters week. With so many of the Augusta regulars in such good form in the run-up to this year's tournament, it feels like there's no way we aren't in for a classic. Which can mean only on thing: Bonus Podcast.Our golf correspondent Philip Reid joins us from the media centre at Augusta National and talks Tiger, Phil, Rory and the buzz that has electrified the place this year like no other. He also makes his pick for the green jacket - and it's not one of the top five in the betting.Veteran caddie Colin Byrne is on Rafa Cabrera-Bello's bag this year and has 25 years of experience inside the ropes at the tournament. He came into us before heading Stateside to share his insights, including his memories of the 2007 Masters when his man Retief Goosen was leading the tournament standing on the 12th tee on Sunday.All this in your super extra bonus Added Time podcast with Malachy Clerkin and Pat Nugent.

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With the Six Nations but a glorious memory now, the Champions Cup takes over and both Munster and Leinster welcome foreign big-hitters this weekend with the rest of the season at stake. Gerry Thornley and Gavin Cummiskey run the rule over Munster v Toulon and Leinster v Saracens to see which patched-up outfits can remain standing into the closing stages of the tournament.The GAA leagues are coming to their zenith as well we have Ian O'Riordan and Keith Duggan on the Dublin v Galway Division One final that has been spiced up considerably by their recent encounter. Malachy Clerkin has some eye-opening stats about Cavan v Roscommon and we break down the other finals as well.There's also plenty of Aussie cricket disgrace, the hurling league semi-finals and, er, Leinster cycling routes.All in today's Added Time podcast with Malachy Clerkin and Pat Nugent.

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Due to popular demand (mainly from the host) Mary Hannigan returns to Added Time podcast duties to bring her particular brand of wonder to the weekend's sport.The Ireland soccer team are back on the road tonight and that means Emmet Malone is back on the road with them. He joins us to preview the game against Turkey and we end up delving deep into questions of nationality and identity along the way.Mayo and Donegal face off on Sunday to decide the final relegation spot in Division One of the National Football League and we have Seán Moran and Keith Duggan on to riddle it out. In hurling, we look at Galway and their need to flip the switch sometime soon and get stuck into the year properly.Also in the mix, we have the club hurling final replay, protests against elitism in the boat race and a conspiracy theory around Rory Best and The Irish Times Grand Slam poster.All in your Added Time podcast with Malachy Clerkin and Mary Hannigan.

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On a weekend of total sporting overload, who better than our Sport on TV columnist Mary Hannigan to guide the Added Time Podcast through it all?Ireland are in Twickenham chasing only their third ever Grand Slam against an England side playing for their rugby lives. Gavin Cummiskey has found himself accidentally going under-cover in the England camp and he brings us a dispatch from Pennyhill Park and John O'Sullivan joins us on the line as well to break it all down.St Patrick's Day means the GAA club finals and in times past, it meant the Railway Cup. It also meant one of the first serious rows between the GAA and the national broadcaster. Historian Mark Duncan tells us about the bizarre face-off in 1954 when Radio Eireann proposed combining coverage of the Railway Cup with a soccer match from Dalymount Park. We'll chat to Eamon Donoghue about the games between Cuala and Na Piarsigh and Nemo Rangers and Corofin as well.And of course, we will pay tribute to Jim Bowen, presenter of Bullseye, purveyor of speedboats and catchphrase machine who died this week.All in Added Time, with Malachy Clerkin and Mary Hannigan.

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