8/9 Rugby

The Wallabies shock win over the Springboks at Ellis Park didn’t just break a 62-year drought, it’s completely thrown The Rugby Championship on its’ head for 2025. But it surely isn’t over already? Is it? Brett & Harry ask the key questions ahead of this weekend’s 2nd Round of TRC matches in Cape Town and Buenos Aires. What sort of reaction will we see from the South Africans? And can Argentina bo...

The Rugby Championship is underway for 2025, and Brett McKay and Harry Jones have fired up the TRC Post-Mortem for The 8-9 Combo Rugby Podcast, after the Wallabies shock 38-22 win over the Springboks at Ellis Park, Johannesburg. Australia’s first win in Jo’burg since the 1960s will rank as one of the biggest Test rugby upsets of the professional era, and certainly the most incredible Wallabies com...

The first weekend of The Rugby Championship is here, and Australia, Argentina, and New Zealand have finally named their teams, roughly 10 days after Rassie Erasmus dropped his South African selection. Brett & Harry ask the key questions going into this weekend’s all-important first round – with the Springboks hosting the Wallabies in Johannesburg, and Los Pumas hosting the All Blacks in Cordoba. T...

All eyes on the TRC! With the British & Irish Lions 2025 Tour of Australia well and truly behind us, the international rugby world now turns to The Rugby Championship which begins this weekend, with Brett McKay & Harry Jones launching an 8/9 Combo Rugby Podcast into the competition opener in Johannesburg. The world champion South Africans are unbackable favourites – despite anything Harry says – f...

The British & Irish Lions have bid farewell to their 2025 Tour of Australia, heading back to the Home Nations with the trophy in their pockets and winning bonuses in their wallets. But with still so much to wrap up from the series Brett McKay & Harry Jones welcomed onto The 8/9 Combo Rugby Podcast Jonathan Drennan from the Sydney Morning Herald. All the key questions will be asked: which coach is...

The Third Lions Test has been run and won, and the series is done now too, and Brett McKay and Harry Jones another Lions Test Post-Mortem for The 8-9 Combo Rugby Podcast, after the Wallabies finished the series on a high, beating the Lions 22-12 at Accor Stadium in Sydney. After the game was delayed for lightening, the recording suffered both weather and technology issues, and for which you have t...

The British & Irish Lions have sealed the Test Series of their 2025 Tour of Australia, winning a Melbourne Cricket Ground thriller in the 80th minute, and all in front of a record crowd for a Lions Test. And with so much to go through it was timely that The Telegraph’s Charlie Morgan joined Brett McKay & Harry Jones on The 8/9 Combo Rugby Podcast. And with so many moments to get into and analyse a...

Brett McKay and Harry Jones jump into the Second Lions Test Post-Mortem for The 8-9 Combo Rugby Podcast, in which the British & Irish Lions wrapped up the series with a 29-26 win over the Wallabies at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Australia produced perhaps their best 70+ minutes of rugby every from this playing group, which makes the heartbreaking three-point loss, and with it the series gone, al...

If the 2025 British & Irish Lions Tour is to follow the 2001 and 2013 scripts, the Wallabies simply must win in Melbourne this weekend to send the series to a decider. The great Jim Tucker joined Brett McKay & Harry Jones on The 8/9 Combo Rugby Podcast to contemplate everything the Second Test needs this weekend. The Gods of rugby timings blessed this week’s episode with both the Wallabies and Lio...

Brett McKay and Harry Jones rip into the First Lions Test Post-Mortem for The 8-9 Combo Rugby Podcast, in which the British & Irish Lions have beaten the Wallabies 27-19 in front of more than 52,000 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. The Lions will be annoyed to have been ascendant all game, yet only winning by eight, while the Australian can take plenty of positives out of the First Test, knowing th...

We’re just days away from the Wallabies v British & Irish Lions Test Match, but why haven’t the protagonists on each side emerged yet? Lee Calvert from the Blood & Mud podcast joined Brett McKay & Harry Jones on The 8/9 Combo Rugby Podcast to ponder what the series has so far missed. Tidbits about the teams are starting to filter out. The Coach may not pick the Son. Storylines of heartbreak and tr...

Big scores and statement wins were all the rage, as Brett McKay and Harry Jones pull apart another big weekend of July Internationals on the Weekend Post-Mortem for The 8-9 Combo Rugby Podcast. The AUNZ XV offered throwback jerseys but not much else to the British & Irish Lions in Adelaide, the All Blacks delivered the obsessive, emphatic result over France the pundits so desperately wanted a week...

The ACT Brumbies gave the British & Irish Lions their sternest test on tour, but how many questions have they answered for Joe Schmidt? Irish Sportswriter, Producer and Playwright Pat McCarry joined Brett McKay & Harry Jones on The 8/9 Combo Rugby Podcast this week for the pulse check on the Lions, little more than a week from the First Test in Brisbane. Which Lions enhanced their chances in the 3...

‘Twas a weekend of just scraping through, as Brett McKay and Harry Jones pull apart the first full weekend of July Internationals on the Weekend Post-Mortem for The 8-9 Combo Rugby Podcast. The Wallabies needed 79 minutes to beat Fiji, the Lions saved their worst performance on Tour for a Waratahs Harry and most other writers has written off, a French 3rd XV described as ‘disrespectful’ pushed the...

The British & Irish Lions on tour present the ultimate test of talent v cohesion. Gain Line Analytics know an awful lot about cohesion and how teams benefit from it, and co-founder and former Wallabies prop Ben Darwin joined Brett McKay & Harry Jones on The 8/9 Combo Rugby Podcast this week to get into the nuts and bolts of it. So how do the Lions build the cohesion they need? And which positions...

The British & Irish Lions Tour of Australia in 2025 in finally underway, as Brett McKay and Harry Jones rip into the first Lions Tour edition of the Weekend Post-Mortem for The 8-9 Combo Rugby Podcast. The Western Force asked plenty of questions of the Lions for as long as they could in Perth, before the tourists’ class and experience rose to the top, sealing the 54-7 eight tries to one win to ope...

Acclaimed crime and rugby author and notable weekly columnist Geoff Parkes joined Brett McKay & Harry Jones on The 8/9 Combo Rugby Podcast (briefly) to wrap up the Super Rugby Pacific Grand Final, where the Crusaders proved way too strong for the Chiefs in Christchurch. And Geoff was supposed to join the 8/9 as we slip firmly into Lions Tour mode, too, only for a network outage in New Zealand to r...

Already large trophy cabinets in Christchurch are now overflowing and the 2025 Lions Tour is officially underway! Brett McKay and Harry Jones rip into another Grand Final edition of the Weekend Post-Mortem for The 8-9 Combo Rugby Podcast. The British & Irish Lions got off to a rocky start with a 28-24 loss to an Argentinean team thrown together in the same timeframe, the Crusaders have won yet ano...

Legendary New Zealand commentator Tony Johnson joins Brett McKay & Harry Jones on The 8/9 Combo Rugby Podcast to contemplate the clash of styles, the different journeys, and the mouthwatering contest that awaits the Super Rugby Pacific Grand Final, where the Crusaders host the Chiefs in Christchurch. The Chiefs will be determined to kick the perennial ‘bridesmaid’ tag in their third straight decid...

The first domestic silverware of the year was handed out in London and Dublin, and Brett McKay and Harry Jones rip into it all for the first Grand Final edition of the Weekend Post-Mortem for The 8-9 Combo Rugby Podcast. Bath and Leinster took the spoils in the Premiership and URC deciders respectively, the former overcoming a valiant Leicester and the latter doing enough to stay ahead of and with...

It’s the pointiest weekend of all in the URC and the Premiership this weekend, and rugby Youtube star Riaan Louw joined Brett McKay & Harry Jones on The 8/9 Combo Rugby Podcast to ponder style over substance, power over precision. Leinster host the Bulls in Dublin in the URC Grand Final, while all English rugby eyes turn to a sold out Twickenham, when Bath and Leicester face off in the Premiership...

Finals Series are set and finals formats are up for debate, as Brett McKay and Harry Jones rip into another Weekend Post-Mortem for The 8-9 Combo Rugby Podcast. While the URC Semi Finals went pretty much as expected, a major boilover has shaken up Super Rugby Pacific, with the most unlikeliest of scenarios exposing the one slight flaw with the new six-team finals format. The Premiership is set for...

Super Rugby Pacific talked a big game this season, promising better, faster rugby and better contests on the field, and even more ambitiously, they promised better social media presence and a significantly better fan engagement. Stan Sport‘s Sean Maloney joined Brett McKay & Harry Jones on The 8/9 Combo Rugby Podcast to concede that yes, they might just have ticked all the boxes. The regular seaso...

Finals series are taking shape around the rugby world, as Brett McKay and Harry Jones rip into another Weekend Post-Mortem for The 8-9 Combo Rugby Podcast, and in which they explore the power of song as a coping tool for loss. The URC Quarter Finals saw a fine line between plausible cramp and genuine shithousery, Super Rugby Pacific set its top six with a couple of genuine danger teams lurking, th...

Rugby YouTube star Huw Griffin makes a rapid return back to The 8-9 Combo Rugby Podcast with Brett McKay & Harry Jones, as the fallout from the Champions Cup Final celebrations continue. Zebra-related injuries are not something a team typically plans for, but may feature in reviews of Bordeaux’s European campaign. From there, the URC moves into knockout mode, with Quarter Finals to be played in Sc...