Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are joined on The 8-9 Combo by Melbourne Rebels head coach Kevin Foote, for an open and honest and at times raw conversation that attempts to explain a team playing good rugby under the clouds of a club in Administration.   On a number of topics that haven’t had a lot of attention, Kevin gives a pretty raw account of trying to coach a squad of players that currently do not know their employment status beyond the end of June, the frustrations and...

Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are back with their end-of-week offering, Games of the Week, where the guys work through the best games from each of the best competitions around the rugby world each weekend.   This week, they’ve picked: ·       Super Rugby Pacific – Fijian Drua v Queensland Reds in Suva ·       URC: Connacht v Stormers in Galway ·       Premiership: Harlequins v Bristol in London ·       Top 14: Montpellier v Toulouse in Montpellier   Plus, it’s finals time in...

Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are joined on The 8-9 Combo by legendary New Zealand broadcaster and author Tony Johnson, fresh from calling one of the games of Super Rugby Pacific this season so far, the Blues v Hurricanes blockbuster at Eden Park on Saturday.   With the top eight taking shape and only three rounds of the season remaining, the guys and Tony take a closer look at the state of play among the Kiwi teams, how the demise of the Crusaders is being received (gleefully,...

Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are back with their end-of-week offering, Games of the Week, where the guys work through the best games from each of the best competitions around the rugby world each weekend.   This week, they’ve picked: ·       Super Rugby Pacific – Blues v Hurricanes in Auckland ·       URC - Bulls v Glasgow in Pretoria ·       Premiership - Bristol v Saracens in Bristol ·       Top 14 - Toulouse v Stade Francais in Toulouse   Hopefully the AI Overlords...

Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are joined on The 8-9 Combo by two-time RWC winning Wallabies and Queensland legend Tim Horan, with the Stan Sport commentator and lover of stadium pies casting his eye over the state of the Australian teams and where the competition favouritism lays with four rounds to play in Super Rugby Pacific.   After a fascinating round of Show & Tell with some wonderful memorabilia out of the Horan Archive (a couple of sports bags under the stairs), Tim...

Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are back with their end-of-week offering, Games of the Week, where the guys work through the best games from each of the best competitions around the rugby world each weekend.   This week, they’ve picked: Super Rugby Pacific – Crusaders v Queensland Reds in Christchurch Champions Cup Semi-Finals: Leinster v Northampton in Dublin Toulouse v Harlequins in Toulouse Challenge Cup Semi-Finals: Sharks v Clermont in London Gloucester v Benetton...

Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are joined on The 8-9 Combo by Wallabies and former Queensland Reds lock/backrower and now Melbourne Rebels skipper Lukhan Salakaia-Loto for a thoroughly enjoyable chat about life, leadership and the difficulty the Rebels players are experiencing with their futures far from certain.   In a chat that covers everything from LSL’s stratospheric rise from starting out in rugby to the Junior Wallabies in 12 months, to the mixed feelings of on-field...

Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are back with their end-of-week offering, Games of the Week, where the guys work through the best games from each of the best competitions around the rugby world each weekend.   This week, they’ve picked: Super Rugby Pacific – ACT Brumbies v Hurricanes in Canberra URC: Stormers v Leinster in Cape Town Premiership: Bath v Saracens in Bath Top 14: La Rochelle v Toulon in La Rochelle   Plus, Games of the Week from Japan Rugby League One and...

Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are joined on The 8-9 Combo by Stan Sport commentator, marathon runner, and bad pun extraordinaire Sean Maloney for a mid-season recap on Australian fortunes in Super Rugby Pacific and their runs home over the final six rounds of the competition.   The resurgence of the Australian sides in Super Rugby this season has made for a much more enjoyable rugby product for fans, spectators, and broadcasters alike, and Sean explains what sort of difference...

Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are back with their new end-of-week offering, Games of the Week, where the guys work through the best games from each of the best competitions around the rugby world each weekend.   This week, they’ve picked: ·       Super Rugby Pacific – Blues v ACT Brumbies in Auckland ·       URC: Bulls v Munster in Pretoria ·       Premiership: Exeter v Bath in Exeter ·       Top 14: Toulon v Toulouse in Toulon (aforementioned in the title)   Plus, Games of...

Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are joined on The 8-9 Combo by co-founder and GM of Sport for Gain Line Analytics, Simon Strachan for a deep dive into the numbers behind the teams playing in not just all the major rugby competitions around the world, but in plenty of other sports as well. In a conversation that will impact the way you think about teams performing well and not so well, Simon explains how Gain Line’s deep analysis and research or playing groups helps teams in...

Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are back with their new end-of-week offering, Games of the Week, where the guys work through the best games from each of the best competitions around the rugby world each weekend.   This week, they’ve picked: Super Rugby Pacific – Hurricanes v Chiefs in Wellington Champions Cup Semi-Finals: Bordeaux v Harlequins in Bordeaux Leinster v La Rochelle at the Aviva in Dublin Northampton v Bulls in Northampton Toulouse v Exeter in Toulouse   Plus,...

Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are joined on The 8-9 Combo by new Wallabies assistant coach and one of the great rugby coaching brains in the game, ‘Lord’ Laurie Fisher, to discuss the ever changing trends in professional rugby as well as gain an insight into the preliminary discussions within Joe Schmidt’s growing Wallabies coaching staff. Where Laurie Fisher has forgotten more about rugby than many of us will ever know, this chat pulls back the layers on his coaching...

Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones have a new offering each week, Games of the Week, where the guys work through the best games from each of the best competitions around the rugby world each weekend.   This week, they’ve picked: Super Rugby Pacific – ACT Brumbies v NSW Waratahs in Canberra Champions Cup Round of 16 - Friday: Harlequins v Glasgow at the Twickenham Stoop Saturday: Stormers v La Rochelle in Cape Town Sunday: Northhampton v Munster in Northampton Plus Games of the...

Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are joined on The 8-9 Combo by South African rugby YouTube star and creator of the weekly Rugby Update, Riaan Louw, for the rundown on the United Rugby Championship in 2024 and whether South Africa cares about Super Rugby anymore.   With the URC (pronounced ‘ERK’) now in it’s third season, TV audiences have hit record levels, crowds are up throughout the competition including in South Africa where the same games in Super Rugby used to draw family...

Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones have a new offering each week, Games of the Week, where the guys work through the best games from each of the best competitions around the rugby world each weekend.   This week, they’ve picked: Super Rugby Pacific – Reds v Brumbies in Brisbane United Rugby Championship – Leinster v Bulls in Dublin Premiership – Northampton v Saracens in Northampton Top 14 - Montpellier v Stade Français in Montpellier Plus Games of the Week from Japan Rugby...

Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are joined on The 8-9 Combo by NSW Waratahs lock/backrower Ned Hanigan fresh from their heartbreaking golden point loss to the Fijian Drua in Lautoka in Super Rugby Pacific over the weekend.   It was the latest in a line of ‘what if’ games for the Waratahs in 2024, where their performances on the field aren’t quite matched on the scoreboard or the competition standings, and Ned is refreshing in his honesty of where the Waratahs are just missing a...

Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones have a new offering each week, Games of the Week, where the guys work through the best games from each of the best competitions around the rugby world each weekend.   This week, they’ve picked: ·       Super Rugby Pacific – Blues v Crusaders in Auckland ·       United Rugby Championship - Stormers v Edinburgh in Cape Town ·       Premiership – Saracens v Harlequins in London (pack the chinos, chaps!) ·       Top 14 - Bordeaux v Toulouse in...

Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are joined on The 8-9 Combo by one of the leading analysts in the game, Sam Larner from the Beyond 80 show on RugbyPass TV, for a great chat on how we all consume the game of rugby via stats and analysis.   What stats are meaningful? Which stats should you take notice of? Which one don’t mean as much as you think? There aren’t too many rugby people who have broken down rugby stats and rugby analysis better than Sam, and his Beyond 80 show goes to...

Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones have a new offering each week, Games of the Week, where the guys work through the best games from each of the best competitions around the rugby world each weekend.   This week, they’ve picked: ·       6 Nations – France v England in Lyon ·       Super Rugby Pacific – Highlanders v Brumbies in Dunedin ·       Japan Rugby League One - Kobe Kobelco Steelers v Saitama Wild Knights in Kobe ·       Major League Rugby - New England Free Jacks v NOLA Gold...

Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are joined by the looming face of Stan Sport’s rugby coverage, and the host of the Inside Line podcast, Michael Atkinson onto The 8-9 Combo for the first time in 2024, to discuss the flood of rugby content in Australia and just how much of it he hosts.   It’s a smorgasbord for rugby fans in Australia in 2024, with upwards of ten different podcasts and rugby shows four nights a week on Stan, and with the Wallabies RWC doco featuring well alongside...

Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones welcome former Wallabies, ACT Brumbies, Leicester Tigers, and Melbourne Rebels flyhalf Matt To’omua onto The 8-9 Combo for the first time in 2024, only to learn he’s moved into the podcast they vacated. Now the co-host of Brett and Harry’s former home, The Roar Rugby Podcast, Matt opens up on the promising start to the League One season in Japan for his side, the Mitsubishi Dynaboars, on the very apparent lift in competition quality with the...

Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones welcome Senior Rugby Writer for The Telegraph, Charlie Morgan to The 8-9 Combo, as the 2024 Six Nations looks more and more Ireland’s with every round. Charlie’s written analysis is some of the very best in the game, and in this episode he takes the boys on a proper deep dive into what he saw in Scotland’s wonder win over England at Murrayfield to secure a fourth straight Calcutta Cup. Plus, Charlie offers a wonderful insight into his writing...

Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones welcome to The 8-9 Combo one of their very favourite guests of the past in former Flying Fijians coach Simon Raiwalui. Now World Rugby’s High Performance Pathways and Player Development Manager, Simon opens up to Brett and Harry about the state of the game in the north and south and particularly why South America is ready to explode, his view of RWC 2023 now that he’s four months beyond turning his magnificent Fijian squad into the darlings of the...