RugbyBits

Kooks and Shaun review the fifth and final episode of Chasing the Sun 2, it gets going with the shocking claims by Tom Curry towards Bongi Mbonambi after what he thought was a racial slur. We carry on with the thoughts around the 7/1 split and go through the #RWC2023 Final

Kooks and Thala come together to do a quick podcast reviewing the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup quarterfinals and look forward to round 14 of the URC. We discuss Leinster’s great week in exorcising the La Rochelle ghost, signing Jordie Barrett and their social media entering their villain era. We discuss the issues with the South African teams in Europe and the flight issues that hounded the Bulls. We also celebrate the Sharks making the semis of the Challenge Cup. We then preview a big week in the URC with must-win matches for the Lions against Leinster, the Bulls v Munster and the Stormers v Ospreys. We also look at the key matches this weekend in the URC race to the playoffs. Finally, Kooks provides us with an injury update and a statement to people criticizing him for complaining about the 6:45 am Springboks v Wallabies kickoff.

Kooks and Sharks are at it again as they focus on the South African sides in the Champions and Challenge Cup. They look at sides which simply can not lose, Sharky makes a bold prediction and Kooks' hot take will make the South African's happy. #ChampioncCup #ChallengeCup #RugbyUnion #Stormers #Bulls #Sharks #Cheetahs #Lions #Springboks #JasperWiese #HandrePollard #FinnRussell

Kooks and Shaun go through the Chasing the Sun 2 episode rollercoaster as the Springboks prepare for and play Ireland in #RWC2023

Kooks and Shaun talk about the opening episode of Chasing The Sun 2 as all South Africans relive the amazing RWC2023 win with incredible insights from the Springbok camp

Shaun and Thala review round 12 of the URC which saw all 4 South African teams win their matches. We first look at the Stormers victory over Edinburgh and Shaun (who watched live) raved about how good Damian Willemse looks live and the encouraging signs from Wandi Simelane’s performance. For the Sharks game, Thala discusses whether the Sharks have finally found the right formula of Boks and youngsters in their team, how impressive Ethan Hooker is and why Makazole Mapimpi is a South African rugby legend. We rave about the Lions being the first South African team to beat Connacht away in the URC and them doing it after an early red card to Asenathi Ntlabakanye. We talk about impressive performances from JC Pretorius and Erich Cronje. We look forward to the Lions other matches and why they have a good chance of qualifying for the knockouts. We cannot help but look forward to the Bulls epic upcoming clash with Leinster after the dispatched the Dragons with a bonus point. The First Phase question today was what players have teams still not replaced and there was a lot of love for Jerome Kaino, Israel Folau and Jacques Kallis??

Thala and Kooks look back at the 6 Nations, the winners and losers from the tournament

Shaun and Kooks are joined by a surprise guest as we discuss the 6 Nations and Super Rugby shock results. This weeks first phase we discuss what song our favorite players would run out too. In the Six Nations we discuss if England have recipe to beat Ireland, Gregor Townsend is on the chopping block and how incredible the Italian midfield was.

Kooks, Shaun and Thala are joined by SA rugby Twitter bad boy AP Cronje to review the South African derbies in week 11 of the URC. We first react to the Bulls breaking their seven match losing streak against the Stormers with a convincing win at Loftus. AP breaks down how the Bulls have improved this season, we discuss why Johan Goosen should always wear his Grey College socks and whether the Stormers should start to worry now that they’re outside of the playoffs. We then move to the Lions victory over the Sharks and talk about how the Lions have stretched their resources to be in URC playoff contention, Kooks has a rant about the Sharks and we debate Bongi Mbonambi’s handling of the referee. We then finish off discussing the increasing popularity of the SA URC derbies, why Antoine Dupont’s role in winning France their first Sevens series in 19 is slightly overhyped and reports that England are tired of practicing their defence with Felix Jones.

Kooks and Shaun go through the weekends rugby and start the pod with picking 15's players suitable for the 7's game, Ireland and the war machine, Duhan suitable for the Boks and mixed feelings about Italy's final penalty

We welcome back Jared Wright as he returns at the perfect time as we discuss the Springboks and all the rugby going on.

Shaun and Thala review week 2 of the Six Nations. We start at the controversial no try call at the end of Scotland v France and debate whether the officials got it right. We also discuss why all the Scotland losses against the better teams all feel the same and whether France played a lot better than most give them credit. Moving onto England v Wales, we look at the positives for the young Wales team for as they fought to a narrow loss in Twickenham and we discuss what are the other ingredients England need to play the pressure game Steve Borthwick and Felix Jones are trying to implement. Then we move to the Aviva and rave about another impressive Jack Crowley performance, how Ireland’s rotated players stepped up in this game and we remain patient with Italy. Our First Phase question asked us to predict the World Rugby Player of the Year winners for the next 4 years and we discussed whether Antoine Dupont can still win it in 2024 even if he just plays Sevens.

Francisco Isaac joins us again as Thala and Shaun pick his brain about the 2024 REC after two rounds, red cards and all the South Africans involved

Kooks, Shaun and Thala review the first round of the Six Nations which saw 3 away wins. We start by discussing the player, try and moment of the round with love being shown for Joe McCarthy’s performance and the Duhan van der Merwe try among others. We begin by reviewing Ireland’s dominant victory over France. We look at how Ireland shut the French out, the big performance of Jack Crowley, the failures in France’s rucking and kicking, and how much the Paul Willemse red card is to blame. Then we move to Wales near comeback from 27-0 down against Scotland. Is it same old Scotland? What can Wales implement in their approach in future? We rave about the 2nd half Aaron Wainwright had and discuss whether the Finn-Tuipulotu-Huw Jones 10-12-13 might be the best attacking trio around. We finally look at England’s victory over Italy. We discuss England’s struggles to adapting to Felix Jones’ rush defence, whether Italy are getting closer to winning consistently and the man of the match performance of Ethan Roots. Our First Phase question discussed who would be in rugby’s Mount Rushmore and we discussed the rumoured appointment of Duane Vermeulen in the Springbok management structure.

We certainly run out of time but Francisco takes us through a bit of the weekends action, talk about the tournament format and the disruption in teams due to coaching changes along with everyone waiting on World Rugby to confirm RWC2027 qualification. Francisco talks warmly about the retiring Rayner Parkinson from Germany and a look at his career #SaffasAbroad

Kooks, Shaun and Thala come together for a comprehensive preview of the 2024 Six Nations which starts this weekend. We look through each team and the changes made to the squads since the 2023 Rugby World Cup, we discuss the players we are looking forward to seeing and what a pass mark will be for each team. Which team do we think will win the Grand Slam and which surprising team do we think Wales will get the wooden spoon from Italy? Who do we think will be the Six Nations Player of the Tournament? How do Ireland and France move on without key players like Jonathan Sexton and Antoine Dupont? Can Scotland finally make the step up? Who will Borthwick pick in his England team?

Thala and Shaun review the weekends Champions Cup action. They talk about the Sharks...AGAIN and have a look at the Round of 16 fixtures. We pick our winners to go through to the Quarter Finals try and unpack what is going on with the Sharks, Owen Farrell and how the Bulls and Stormers nearly slipped up. Enjoy

Kooks and Shaun get 2024 underway as they take a look at the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup action from the weekend. We talk Finn, Antoine, Damian, Hacjivah and much more. We then dive into what 2024 will bring and a look at contenders for the Springbok jersey as well as what this year will bring for France, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, England and more.