8/9 Rugby

A familiar Nations Championship story for the Wallabies, who started brilliantly in Brisbane before being run down by an excellent France side in Brisbane. Geoff Parkes joins Brett McKay from Suncorp Stadium on the 8/9 Rugby Post Mortem to run through the tale of the tape. Winning their first game in Brisbane in 54 years, Les Bleus found themselves on the receiving end of a truly excellent first h...

The Nations Championship is officially here, but is it the "winner" the rugby world has been waiting for? Jamie Wall joins Brett McKay this week to break down the immediate impact of the new structure and its impact on the international calendar, and whether it delivers on the hype for fans and players alike. We also dive into the technicalities of the competition, from the scheduling hurdles to t...

The Nations Championship has started with a bang, but it’s a heartbreaking result for the Wallabies, going down narrowly to a very good Ireland team in Sydney. The great Jim Tucker joins Brett McKay on the 8/9 Rugby Post Mortem to wade through all the highs and lows. In a front of a new ground record at Allianz Stadium in Sydney, the Wallabies were well on top heading into the break, but missed ki...

How do you align 12 nations and dozens of match officials for a brand new rugby tournament? Elite referee Angus Gardner returned to 8/9 Rugby to discuss the incredible level of preparation required for the jump from domestic competitions to the Test arena. From managing massive 60-person Zoom calls to mastering up to ten specific Law Variations in play, Angus breaks down the incredible amount of b...

The Hurricanes of 2026 are quite probably one of the greatest teams Super Rugby has ever seen. Their demolition of the Chiefs in the Super Rugby Pacific Grand Final was one of the great performances, but in truth, that performance was really just the climax of a truly incredible season. Martin Devlin of the DSPN media network in NZ joined Brett McKay on the AUS Rugby Scene on 8/9 Rugby this week t...

The URC and PREM Grand Finals have been decided, and the respective silverware has been lifted. Brett McKay is joined by South African rugby YouTube sensation Riaan Louw to break down a massive weekend of rugby deciders. From Leinster’s clinical dismantling of the Bulls to Northampton’s gritty triumph over Exeter, we’re unpacking all the drama, the tactics, and the biggest talking points from an e...

The two best teams in Super Rugby Pacific will play in this weekend’s Grand Final. And though the Hurricanes and Chiefs got there as expected, the way they both navigated their Semi Finals was quite unexpected. The great Tony Johnson from Sky Sport TV and Sport Nation radio in NZ joined Brett McKay on the AUS Rugby Scene on 8/9 Rugby this week to work back through both Semi Finals, and ponder the...

Is Exeter’s defence the perfect tool to stop Northampton’s attack in the PREM this weekend? Rugby analyst and writer Sam Larner joins Brett McKay on 8/9 Rugby to examine Exeter’s outstanding win over Bath in the Premiership Semi Final, as well as Northampton overpowering Leicester. We dive deep into the tactical mastery of Rob Baxter’s side, debating whether that historic goal-line stand was pure...

The performance of the Australian teams in the Super Rugby Pacific Qualifying Finals last weekend was less than ideal. And the fallout from that performance has already asked serious question of the competition and the finals format. Jamie Wall from the DSPN pod network in NZ joined Brett McKay on the AUS Rugby Scene on 8/9 Rugby this week to explore all the Qualifying Finals moments, to ponder th...

The final round of PREM Rugby in England was chock-full of drama, and the Semi Finals are now all set, as Charlie Morgan from The Times joins Brett McKay on 8/9 Rugby. With only Northampton locked into top spots and the other three playoff positions in the sights of four teams, the five games kicking off simultaneously only added to the drama, as coverage from Exeter-Saracens took updates from Bat...

Sam Worthington from Stan Sport and nine.com.au joined Brett McKay on the AUS Rugby scene this week, as things start getting serious with Super Rugby Pacific reaching the knockout stage, starting with this weekend’s Qualifying Finals. The Australian record in New Zealand in finals matches is well known, but what better time for a bit of history? The QFs start with the Hurricanes-ACT Brumbies in We...

Irish rugby writer Pat McCarry returns to the 8/9 Rugby co-host chair, where he and Brett McKay cast an eye back over the first weekend of finals anywhere in the rugby world, the United Rugby Championship quarter-final weekend. Though the URC finished in a flurry, as teams jostled for the final playoff spots, the four QFs all went the way of the home teams, with Glasgow, the Bulls, Stormers, and L...

TV’s Michael Atkinson joined Brett McKay on the AUS Rugby scene this week, making time in his busy morning TV and Stan Sport Rugby schedule, to take a look at final round permutations for Super Rugby Pacific. Despite the top six being set, and even despite the top six being set back in March essentially, the final finishing positions for four of those six teams are still a long way from set, and w...

Rugby YouTube star Huw Griffin is back in the 8/9 Rugby co-host chair, where he and Brett McKay look back over the Champions Cup final and everything that worked for Bordeaux, everything that didn’t for Leinster, and to ponder whatever happened to Kurtley Beale’s mail. The European final was surprisingly one-sided and pushes Bordeaux’s unbeaten streak in the tournament out to 15 games. For Leinste...

Commentator, presenter, and former Sunwolves lock Sam Wykes joined Brett McKay on the AUS Rugby scene this week, to peer into the dangers of the final two rounds of Super Rugby Pacific. Looking resplendent in his old Mighty Moondogs team kit, Sam gave some great first-hand insights into the anxiety around the final games for Moana Pasifika, and the impediments stopping the Fijian Drua becoming the...

Rugby traveller and storyteller Harry Jones returns to 8/9 Rugby, reuniting with Brett McKay to dig into all the juicy bits in the lead-up to the Champions Cup Final in Spain this weekend, between Bordeaux and Leinster. The Bilbao clash pits a stark contrast of styles: the all-out, at times chaotic attack of UBB vs. the ideally impenetrable Jacques Nienaber defence of Leinster. From there. It’s ju...

Rugby writer, analyst and creator John Ferguson joined Brett McKay on the AUS Rugby scene this week, as Super Rugby Pacific properly hots up for the remaining three rounds. With the valid assumption that the Hurricanes and Chiefs are locked into the top two – which looks highly likely – the run home for the remaining eight teams in finals contention is examined to work out who might finish where i...

Jake Mangin, Head Coach of Chilean professional team Selknam joined Brett McKay on 8/9 Rugby this week, for another state of play chat around Super Rugby Americas. Following on from similar State of Play chats on League One in Japan, and Major League Rugby in the US, Jake provides first hand insight into the origins and structure of the eight-team Super Rugby Americas competition in South America,...

A peer behind the curtain into the world of rugby broadcasting on the AUS Rugby scene this week, as Stan Sport Exec Producer and Commentator Andrew Swain joins Brett McKay to share some of the secrets of what goes on behind the cameras at a rugby game, and how it all gets to air. As a commentator, ‘Swainy’ is also often juggling the many moving parts of live TV with having to call games – includin...

Gain Line Analytics co-founder Simon Strachan joined Brett McKay on 8/9 Rugby this week, to dig into the current state of play around League One in Japan. Following on from last week’s MLR State of Play, Simon provides great insights into how League One came about, the structures of corporate rugby in Japan within sport and business, how changes to League One player classification are impacting th...

Australian-based content creator and podcast producer Ollie Silverton joins Brett McKay on the AUS Rugby scene this week, for some thoughts on the success of Super Round, and some insight into just how much rugby content is available now. Ollie was a co-founder of some of the biggest rugby podcasts in the world, from The Rugby Pod in 2015 to Kick Offs & Kick Ons more recently. He was also a key pr...

US-based podcaster and commentator David Lawrence joined Brett McKay on 8/9 Rugby this week, for a deeper dive into the current state of play around Major League Rugby in the United States. MLR had one of the roughest off-seasons in the history of professional rugby at the end of their 2025 season, when four clubs – Utah, Houston, NOLA, and Miami – all announced they were suspending operations for...

New Zealand broadcaster and host of the popular DSPN podcast Martin Devlin joins Brett McKay on the AUS Rugby scene this week, to look ahead at the return of Super Round after a wild Round 10 last weekend. A round that had everything saw Moana Pasifika put up way more fight than expected, we had the first edition of extra time for the season in Hamilton, the Fijian Drua enjoyed a first away win in...

New Zealand rugby commentator Elliott Smith joins Brett McKay on the AUS Rugby scene this week, with news of Moana Pasifika’s demise dominating all discussion around the competition. Please note, Moana Pasifika confirmed their intentions to disband at the conclusion of the 2026 season soon after this episode was recorded, and before it was released, but the concerns expressed and thoughts on the w...

Charlie Morgan from The Times joined Brett McKay on 8/9 Rugby this week, to wrap up a truly intriguing weekend of Champions Cup Quarter Finals action across Europe, and setting up a couple of spicy Semi Finals in early May. The four matches were all gripping in their own right, and gripping for different reasons, as clashes of style and pace met head-on to find out who advances. And the Semis are...