8/9 Rugby

A very different and very short Weekend Post-Mortem for The 8-9 Combo Rugby Podcast, with Brett McKay giving a quick run through the two biggest games in Harry Jones’ convenient Springboks celebration-shaped absence on the ground in Dublin. And it was two intriguing contests for very different reasons. South Africa dominant in their win, but Ireland somehow staying in a contest they maybe had no r...

Riaan Louw joins Brett McKay and Harry Jones on The 8/9 Combo Rugby Podcast once again as the Autumn Nations Series and November Tests reaches its penultimate weekend of a series that feels like it’s been going for longer than it has. And there’s so much to talk about in the rugby world suddenly! Are we seeing a changing of the guard in the Six Nations? Is there a chance of an upset anywhere this...

Brett McKay and Harry Jones are back for another Weekend Post-Mortem for The 8-9 Combo Rugby Podcast, after another big Saturday of Autumn Nations Series and November Tests in the norf’. An outstanding match in London, in which England really have upset the world rugby order after their impressive defeat of New Zealand, 14- and at a time 13-man South Africa got home over Italy in a weird game in T...

Charlie Morgan once again joins Brett McKay and Harry Jones on The 8/9 Combo Rugby Podcast as the Autumn Nations Series and November Tests heads into what looks like the most intriguing weekend of matches so far. Three of the six matches really stand out: England v New Zealand in London and Ireland v Australia in Dublin both on Saturday, followed by Scotland v Argentina in Edinburgh on Sunday. All...

South Africa have overcome a red card and France in Paris, Italy has conquered Australia again, and Scotland were just one Damien McKenzie away from history against New Zealand, and Brett McKay and Harry Jones pull it all apart on the Weekend Post-Mortem for The 8-9 Combo Rugby Podcast. The second weekend of Autumn Nations Series and November Internationals has thrown up some engrossing performanc...

Brett McKay and Harry Jones are back on The 8/9 Combo Rugby Podcast after one of them went missing temporarily in Chicago, and they’ve teamed up with Martin Devlin from the DSPN in New Zealand for a look back on the Ireland-All Blacks game at Solider Field. What was it that clicked on the hour for NZ? How did Ireland lose control of the match so quickly? And what on earth was going on with the set...

Brett McKay and Harry Jones are back on The 8/9 Combo Rugby Podcast after an enjoyable late-season break, and they’ve used their first pod in three weeks to catch up on one family holiday and several intriguing current rugby matters. Namely, how was Brett’s trip to Japan? How much of the famed 8/9 travel budget is left? (Spoiler: not much) How have the Stormers started the URC so well? How on eart...

The Weekend Post Mortem is back for whatever we're calling the end of year rugby internationals, and it's a special one, with Brett McKay timing the end of a family holiday to finish in Tokyo, and Geoff Parkes deputising for Harry Jones on The 8-9 Combo Rugby Podcast. The Wallabies have started their northern tour with a win over Japan in Tokyo in front of Brett and the family, and a win is a win,...

With the rugby world taking a little break in the international calendar, Brett & Harry have taken this little window to revisit some of their favourite episodes from The Rugby Championship. This week, a look back at the week following Australia’s historic win over South Africa in Johannesburg, with Riaan Louw joining the show to recall all the ways he and Harry were wrong about the Ellis Park cla...

With the rugby world taking a little break in the international calendar, Brett & Harry have taken this little window to revisit some of their favourite episodes from The Rugby Championship. This week, a look back at our TRC Post-Mortem following the Wallabies famous – infamous, for some – victory over the Springboks at Ellis Park in Johannesburg, snapping a streak that went back more than 60 year...

The Rugby Championship has been run and won for 2025, but the real question would seem to be has it been run and won forever? Rugby writer and author Geoff Parkes joined Brett McKay and Harry Jones on The 8/9 Combo Rugby Podcast to ponder that very question. And as a way to wrap up The Rugby Championship properly for 2025 (but maybe forever), Harry sat a couple of homework tasks before this week’s...

The All Blacks have swept the Bledisloe Cup series, and Brett McKay and Harry Jones pull it all apart in another TRC Post-Mortem for The 8-9 Combo Rugby Podcast. A relatively even first half contest looked more comfortable than perhaps it was, courtesy of two late tries, before the Wallabies cruelled their own second half with silly mistakes, skill errors, and poor decision-making, leaving them an...

It’s the final round of The 2025 Rugby Championship this weekend, with a couple of key southern hemisphere matches to be played in Perth and, er… London? Brett & Harry ask the key questions for TRC Rd.6. Can the Wallabies square the Bledisloe Cup series in Western Australia, and can Los Pumas possible bounce back against the Springboks at Twickenham? This week's key questions: Q1. Despite the Horr...

With the Bledisloe Cup decided for another year, but the return Test and The Rugby Championship still very much up in the air, Kiwi rugby journalist Jamie Wall joined Brett McKay and Harry Jones on The 8/9 Combo Rugby Podcast to dive deep into the fallout. While the result at Eden Park wasn’t so surprising last weekend, the way the All Blacks closed the game out, and the way the Wallabies simultan...

The All Blacks have retained the Bledisloe Cup for another year, and Brett McKay and Harry Jones feel like the nine-point margin was about right on another TRC Post-Mortem for The 8-9 Combo Rugby Podcast. New Zealand started sharply and looked ominous early on, before Australia swing momentum and reduced the halftime margin to just three points. After the break and in the end, it will be another c...

Global CEO of Rhino Rugby equipment Reg Clark joined Brett McKay and Harry Jones on The 8/9 Combo Rugby Podcast to get into the weeds about a rarely-thought, but crucial part of the modern game: the humble tackle bag. Rhino Rugby are perhaps the dominant player in the technical training equipment game, supplying so many national unions and the British & Irish Lions with crash pads, training aids,...

We keep saying The 2025 Rugby Championship is the tightest one yet, and so it remains after four rounds. Everyone has two wins and two losses. Everyone has won and lost at home, everyone has won and lost away. Brett & Harry ask the key questions in this TRC week off before we resume for Round 5 next weekend. But how will Australia and New Zealand bounce back after stinging losses? And how confiden...

The Rugby Championship is officially nuts. After four rounds, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, amd Argentina all have four wins. Brett McKay and Harry Jones try to make sense of it all on another TRC Post-Mortem for The 8-9 Combo Rugby Podcast. In Sydney, Los Pumas scored the two point-win they perhaps should have claimed a week ago, though Australia now lead the tournament courtesy of double...

If the 2025 Rugby Championship is the tightest one yet, Round 4 this weekend looms as the hardest to pick yet. Australia and Argentina have both rung the changes to their teams, forced and not, New Zealand appear to have beefed up their pack but snuck a debutant on the wing, and South Africa have named such a young side that Rassie may well be now operating two RWCs ahead. Brett & Harry ask the ke...

It is officially the tightest Rugby Championship anyone can remember and former Argentinean centre Marcello Bosch joined Brett McKay and Harry Jones on The 8/9 Combo Rugby Podcast to flip a coin in an attempt to work out what happens this weekend in Round 4. Certainly, the rise of the Wallabies has helped, but the rise of Los Pumas cannot be ignored in that conversation. Marcello can’t be more imp...

The Wallabies have found another comeback win and the All Blacks’ Eden Park fortress remains intact and impenetrable, as Brett McKay and Harry Jones delve into another TRC Post-Mortem for The 8-9 Combo Rugby Podcast. In Townsville, the Wallabies came from 21-7 down at halftime, and turned down three penalty attempts after the final siren to find an 86th winner, to beat Argentina 28-24 in the north...

Former Queensland and Wallabies captain James Horwill joined Brett McKay and Harry Jones on The 8/9 Combo Rugby Podcast to ponder the tightest start to The Rugby Championship anyone can remember. The Wallabies, Los Pumas, All Blacks and Springboks all head into Round 3 of the TRC with one win apiece, and as we enter the second block of matches in Australia and New Zealand, it’s hard to pick which,...

Not too many people ride the Wallabies highs and lows quite like Sean Maloney, and the great Stan Sport/Nine Network Australian commentator joined Brett McKay and Harry Jones on The 8/9 Combo Rugby Podcast to relive all the extremes of the Wallabies opening to The Rugby Championship for 2025 in South Africa. The memorable Ellis Park win has completely shifted the narrative on the Wallabies, to the...

All is not well in Springbok Nation despite squaring the series with the Wallabies, as Brett McKay and Harry Jones delve into another TRC Post-Mortem for The 8-9 Combo Rugby Podcast, after South Africa accounted for Australia 30-22 at the DHL Stadium in Cape Town. Yes, the ‘Boks got the win, and yes, there was a reaction, but its level of convincingness will vary among the Springbok faithful. A Wa...

Riaan Louw joins the 8/9 Combo Rugby Podcast and the therapist is in! Riaan and Harry delved into all the ways they were wrong about the Bok-Wallabies game at Ellis Park last weekend, while Brett McKay just sat back and enjoyed it all. But that means there will be some degree of reaction in the return match in Cape Town, where Harry comes to you from, and where both South Africa and Australia have...