The Knock On Rugby Podcast

This is The Knock On, KCLR, and Scoreline.ie's weekly rugby podcast. In this episode, Stephen Byrne is joined by Tom Crotty from Carlow Rugby Club, James Blanchfield from Kilkenny RFC and Paddy Browne from Tullow RFC. 

The Kilkenny men’s fixtures on Sunday last were called off late due to the stormy weather. The J1 and J2 games against Gorey have been refixed for this Saturday. 

The Kilkenny women are at home to Ashbourne, it’s their first game of the league this season. Bective beat Carlow’s J1’s at the weekend, Tom Crotty felt they could have won it and that their scores came off Carlow's mistakes. They were disappointed not to get a losing bonus point and the seconds had a better game beating the Dublin side. Tom says the fitness levels required for Division 1A are huge, the ball is faster and they feel like they haven’t caught up quick enough. 

Carlow’s ladies' team have their first game in over a decade this weekend against De La Salle Palmerston. Tullow’s Dannah O Brien was part of the Irish women’s senior team who made history at the weekend beating the Black Ferns. Dannah kicked the score that won the game at the end. 

Meanwhile, Wicklow beat Tullow’s men’s teams in the league. Paddy Browne says Wicklow were relentless and Tullow had a hard day against them. Tullow could have some luck on their side for the next game though as Adam Johnson and Stevie Smith could be back for the clash in a week. The women were also beaten in their opening AIL game at home to Wicklow, they picked up three player injuries. 

The ladies play Cooke near Belfast in the next round.

This is The Knock On, KCLR, and Scoreline.ie's weekly rugby podcast.

In this episode, Stephen Byrne is joined by Tom Crotty from Carlow Rugby Club, James Blanchfield from Kilkenny RFC, and Paddy Browne from Tullow RFC.

Tullow started their Leinster League season with a loss to Ashbourne. It's a game they would have been aiming to win having come up against them a lot over the past few years. The second team however did beat Ashbourne and even brought on their BUM-SQUAD as they call it which included 62-year-old Tommy Dwyer. The men travel to face Wicklow this weekend in a tough match against their old rivals.

It's a huge week for the women's team as they start life in the AIL on Saturday when they take on Wicklow at home, a huge crowd is expected for that one.

Carlow lost in their league opening game in Division 1A away to Suttonians. They have another tough game in store this weekend as they take on Dublin side Bective, however they do have home advantage for that one.

Kilkenny lost to Mullingar in their opening league game. Several players made their debut on the day however it was the three sin-binnings that did the damage as the backs lost continuity during the game and it's something they'll have to work on this week says James Blanchfield. The Seconds also had several debuts on their team and won their match.

Kilkenny are at home to Gorey this weekend where they're looking to bounce back and are expecting big numbers at Foulkstown to watch that one.

The Kilkenny women are in action against the South East Lions.

This is The Knock On, KCLR, and Scoreline.ie's weekly rugby podcast. In this episode, Stephen Byrne is joined by Tom Crotty from Carlow Rugby Club, James Blanchfield from Kilkenny RFC, and Paddy Browne from Tullow RFC.

Carlow open their Leinster League campaign away to Seapoint this weekend in their first Division 1A game this season. They have already picked up silverware this season with the South East League title. Carlow has a women's team for the first time in over a decade again, and we hear the news from over the summer as well as youth news.

Kilkenny are away to Mullingar this weekend in Division 1B of the league, James Blanchfield is quietly confident. He talks about the club's new players this year, the departing ones, and new coaches. Kilkenny's focus will be all on the pitch action after investments into their facilities over the last number of years. James also talks about women's and youth rugby. 

Tullow get their Division 1A season up and running at home this weekend against Ashbourne. Paddy thinks they're a bit undercooked coming into this one as they didn't play in the South East League, and their training numbers are down due to the GAA season still in progress. Sean O'Brien is also a huge doubt this season playing with Tullow as he struggles with a hip injury. The Tullow women begin life as a senior team in the AIL when they take on Wicklow on the 28th of September.

On the final edition of The Knock On for season 3 (the 2023/24 club season), The Knock On team wrap up the season and have a look back over what was a successful campaign for the three clubs of Tullow, Kilkenny and Carlow including 

• Back-to-back Provincial Towns Cup wins for Tullow, and promotion to Division 1A for Carlow
• Tullow ladies securing AIL rugby for the 2024/25 season
• Sean O'Brien and Stevie Smith also revealed that they will play again next season as they bid for the three in a row.
• Kilkenny turning their focus to onfield matters for 2024/25 following facility improvements and club developments this season in Division 1B
• Plus, Doc O'Connor has stepped down as the coach of the Kilkenny firsts, however, he will remain on as a player with Corey Carthy comes in as the new manager for next season.

On the show, we have a preview of the Provincial Towns Cup Final between Tullow and Ashbourne which takes place on Sunday at 3pm in Carlow Rugby Club.

The lads feel that Tullow are favourites going into the game with Sean O'Brien's rugby brain and knowledge the key factor in the clash.

The Tullow ladies lost in the final of the Paul Flood Cup last weekend however, they have a huge game this weekend against Queens University in the AIL promotional playoff.

Tullow's Dannah O'Brien and Katie Corrigan are on the Ireland women's team to take on England in the Six Nations this weekend.

We check up on youth fixtures and chat about J2 and J3 action in the local clubs.

On this edition of The Knock On Rugby Podcast... 

• Tullow are into the final of the Towns Cup with a 36-26 win over Gorey and now play Ashbourne in the decider after they beat Wicklow 24-22. The final is in Carlow on Sunday week and we look ahead to the big game.
• The Paul Flood Cup final takes on Sunday where the Tullow ladies take on MU Barnhall.
• There's J3 action as well with the local clubs involved, Kilkenny has never won the Anderson Cup, we discuss that and what the lads refer to as 'old relics' coming back and togging out for it.
• And Carlow are hosting a 'give it a try' initiative at the club over the next few weeks, it's for ladies and they try to set up a ladies team. 

#rugby #podcast #rugbypodcast

On this week’s edition of The Knock On rugby podcast…

Carlow and Tullow get ready for a Provincial Towns Cup quarter-final showdown this weekend with the Division 1B champions and the reigning cup champions squaring up at the Black Gates on Sunday.

Carlow beat Portlaoise 41-7 in their quarter-final, Kilkenny beat North Kildare 27-20 and Tullow beat Athy 34-3.

The quarter final draw sees Mullingar v Wicklow, Gorey v Kilkenny, Tullow v County Carlow and Cill Dara v Ashbourne all with the possibility that should Kilkenny progress past Gorey we may see yet another local derby at the semi-final stages.

And we discuss SETU's loss to DCU in Iris colleges final.

 This week... Carlow are the Leinster League Division 1B champions, they join Tullow in 1A next season.

We preview a weekend of Towns Cup action, Kilkenny head for North Kildare, Carlow entertain Portlaoise and Tullow host Athy.

Tullow ladies team get the better of Mullingar in the Paul Flood Cup while Kilkenny beat Wanderers in the Paul Cusack Cup.

Tributes are paid to the late James Coady who played for Kilkenny and was buried on Thursday and also to club man Willie Purcell from Tullow. 

Carlow needs just a win or draw away to Cill Dara this weekend to win the league, it comes after they beat neighbours Kilkenny in last weekend's clash.

Tullow play top of table Monkstown this weekend, they'll finish the league in fourth place, something Paddy Browne says they're very happy with it in their first season back up in division 1A. A top-four finish means Tullow can play in the AIL Cup next season.

Kilkenny are at home to Longford this weekend.

We chat about women's and youth's rugby this weekend and get the lads' predictions on Ireland's Six Nations game against England.

Tullow Ladies win the Div 1 cup beating Mullingar 60-7, they now go into a round-robin to try and go Senior into AIL, also looking to retain Paul Flood Cup when it returns in a few weeks.

Tullow firsts lose out to Seapoint in the Leinster League  27-20.

Carlow beat Dundalk 46-29 in a tough encounter, it keeps the momentum going for the side who are looking to finish the season with a chance to go for promotion. 

Kilkenny lose to Boyne 40-31, down a lot of players through injury and other reasons. 

Kilkenny Ladies lost to South East Lions.

All sides have a weekend off this weekend.