The 99s Rugby Podcast

As the sun sets on another Sevens Summer, we come back to review the good, the bad and the ugly of our 2023 season . This week The 99's mysterious benefactor and worst player Tom Bigland joins the pod along with 99's legend and all-round great bloke Joe "BFJ" Callery. We break down our season, tournament by tournament, and we discuss the origin story and what the future holds for the man, the myth, the legend: Big Fat Joe. Huge thanks to our sponsors who have supported us and let us do what we do: 2fawcett – Empowering Recruitment Investasearch - Your Link to Regulated Advice Biltong - Village Biltong The Clubhouse (clubhouse-dbc.co.uk)

Content Warning: More swearing than usual! Back again with a grumpy episode. Dan and Dav both have rants to go on in this episode, taking aim at the standard of refereeing across the game, the future of professional rugby and as always the RFU. There a few positives however as we set out our plan to save rugby union with our breakaway league The Ultimate Rugby Championship (Trademark pending), and give the forgotten towns of Leicestershire some much needed publicity!

We're Back! After an extended period with no spare time or no internet, we're finally back and ready to prepare for the 2023 season and beyond. This week we discuss the RFU's controversial new tackle law, the RFU's general incompetence and take a look at the weekend's opening round of the Six Nations. It's good to be back!

We're back! After a 5 month long week off. This week, we take a look back at our summer of sevens and set out our plan for the future both on and off the pitch. Also, bucket hats for sale!!!!! Get in contact and get yourself a shiny new hat and support some great charities too.

This week we run down numbers 6 through 10 of our Rugby bucket list. More travelling makes the list this week with a little bit of civic pride thrown in to the mix. We also get a bit lost down a few tangents and discuss fighting, pain killers, and global geopolitics. As promised, here are clips from the good ol' days: "Uppercut, just give him a telling off" - Peter Stringer punches Martin Johnson - YouTube The best Lions moment ever - Duncan McRae punches Ronan O'Gara - YouTube

We finally get the chance to record the pod in person over the sunny bank holiday weekend. We start of this week discussing what Rugby Union can learn from it's cousin Rugby League before moving on to coming up with the solution to keep grassroots clubs going post-pandemic. Finally, we get around to discussing the main topic this week. The first five of our starting XV of rugby bucket list items, a selection of things that all rugby fans should try their best to experience at least once in their lifetimes. This week we have 5 travel oriented experiences for both playing and spectating that we think everyone should make an effort to have.

A BIG week of MLR action this week with some BIG games and some BIG results. Utah take control of the playoff race in the Western Conference with a big win over Austin; New York look back to their best after a big win in a fiery East Coast derby vs Old Glory DC and biggest of all the Giltinis took their second defeat of the season against the on fire Rugby ATL down in Georgia (Nursey called it perfectly).

After last weekend's European finals we discuss the fall and rise of our hometown club Leicester Tigers and lay out our plan for the club for when we strike it rich on the Euromillions. After a number of years in decline and only avoiding relegation due to Saracens' points deduction last season, Leicester has been a club growing stale for a while now and we believe we have a foolproof plan to bring back the glory days to Welford Road. Also keep an ear out for the rugby headlines of the week and disappointing brief coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest

Another big week of MLR action gets rounded up. LA and Austin squared off in the Bad Names Derby; The eternal rivalry between the cities of Boston and New York gets a new rugby chapter; And NOLA continue to show that they don't get beat down in the Bayou. We also look forward to a huge week of MLR matches next week and the predictions battle goes right down to the wire.

Something a little bit different this week, we talk about our journey's in the sport of Rugby Union from our beginnings at the tender age of 5 all the way through to the 99's. We chat about how we got started and the people who influenced us along the way, and also give a little insight in to how the original 99's became friends at first sight. What was meant to be just a short little episode talking about ourselves became a trip down memory lane for two friends and ended up being therapeutic for the both of us. Showing that men can talk about our feelings and open up when we need to.

We round up the latest round of fixtures in Week 9 of Major League Rugby. LA christened the SoFi Stadium with a rebound win after last weeks shock defeat to New York. San Diego look like they've finally got back to their best with a surprise win at home to NOLA and despite a bad result for RUNY, Dav is happy to see the predictions belt head back to where it belongs.

We give our take on the biggest rugby news of the year with the announcement of the British and Irish Lions squad last week. We also look in to what the future holds for the Lions as fixture congestion, the lack of a global calendar and the dispute between club and country continue to disrupt the spectacle of the Lions. We also take a look at what appears to be the death and rebirth of Super Rugby, and look at what will happen to the South African teams and the Jaguares in the future. This week is the last week of our kit crowdfunder so please donate if you haven't already and you would like too: The 99's Rugby Kit Fund - a Sports crowdfunding project in Honiton by The 99's (crowdfunder.co.uk)

Move over Greece in Euro 2004, Leicester City's Premier League Title win in 2016 and Japan vs South Africa in 2015. There's a new greatest sporting upset of all time as the Giltinis travelled to the Big Apple in Round 8. We round up the rest of the fixtures from the weekend and look ahead to next week too, and the prediction battle went right down to the wire this week.

This week we are joined by our very first guest!!! As an extended pre-season approaches for many players who haven't been able to train for months, personal trainer, strength & conditioning coach and all round nice guy Audace Muhoza shares his tips for getting fit to play rugby and dispels a few fitness myths along the way. We also discuss the weekend's European semi-finals, France vs England Women's ill-fated rematch and manage to find time to talk about E-Sports. Alongside a tribute to Leicester Tigers and rugby broadcasting legend Bleddyn Jones. Thank you for joining us Audace and rest in peace Bleddyn.

A shortened round of fixtures for Round 7 of the MLR this week with only the 4 games to take a look back at. A double header in the City of Angels, a game of two halves down in the Bayou as NOLA hosted Toronto and RUNY survive a scare on the road in Seattle. We also look ahead at full round of fixture for Week 8 and interesting development in the Predictions Battle.

After last week's look at the grassroots game we take aim at the professional set up around the world and suggest a few changes. We question whether enough is being done to grow the game both globally and in established rugby nations by the powers that be, and dive in to the extent that Rugby is being affected by the root of all evil. We even find time to engage in a little bit of class warfare. We get heated in this one so prepare for angry swearing and several pops at the RFU.

We take a look at Round 6 of MLR which this week featured a host of local derbies. Toronto shock Dav's beloved RUNY, Austin make it 4 in a row and Los Angeles win the battle of California to continue their 100% start. We also discuss what the professional game in Europe can learn from MLR and the predictions belt goes on the line again.

This week we work at putting the grassroots game in England to rights (sorry the rest of the world). The RFU have outlined a plan for a restructure of the league pyramid in England and we have a few things to say about it. We also take aim at whether semi-professionalism is doing the game any good and how can the grassroots game be structured to be beneficial for clubs and players alike.

Welcome to our new show! We change things up a little bit and give Major League Rugby the spotlight in a second weekly podcast. This week sees a bumper round for MLR action with a hatful of points scored across the board. A week which saw Austin go three in a row, a resurgent Toronto and Los Angeles extend their 100% record. Dav puts his undefeated streak on the line in our weekly prediction battle.

With the news coming out last week that the RFU are looking in to bringing in a "risk assessment" for trans women to play rugby, we take a look at their proposal and discuss whether or not it's the right way to approach the issue. As much as we're totally unqualified to talk about the issue (didn't stop us starting a podcast in the first place), we think that having a conversation is the first step to making rugby open and safe for anyone to play our game. We also take a look at the weekend's European action, cover a few headlines and have our weekly Major League Rugby round up. Also, there's a chance for you to win a free hat!