Le French Rugby Podcast

Lyon's leader Jordan Taufua joins us to talk life in the culinary capital of France, their Challenge Cup title, the Top 14 marathon, coaching relationships from Scott Robertson to Pierre Mignoni to Xavier Garbajosa, international ambitions and much more. We discuss his journey from the brink of an All Black cap for years and over 100 appearances and three Super Rugby titles for the Crusaders to a...

It's been a good festive period in Bayonne and, after five wins and a draw in their last seven games, we catch up with South Africa international back rower Uzair Cassiem to find out how a newly promoted side has made it into the Top 14 play-off places. We get the lowdown on how everything's going in the Basque Country from the influence of Gregory Patat and Camille Lopez to the French Jonny May a...

Johnnie and Jerome are joined by Manny Meafou to discuss Christmas in Toulouse, from secret santa to the rigours of the festive period for players and coaches. We also discuss Manny's recent French citizenship test, Antoine Dupont's moustache, scrapping with Sale, Tom Curry's on-field chat and much more. Plus, we look at the best of the action from Round 2 of the Heineken Champions Cup and pick ou...

Marquee signings don't come bigger than this... La Rochelle & France's reigning Heineken Champions Cup & Six Nations winner Greg Alldritt joins the pod for the first of a number of appearances this season. We get the lowdown on France's autumn, Shaun Edwards' impact and the similarities between Fabien Galthie and Ronan O'Gara. We discuss his love affair with the European Cup from an early...

We're back with an apology for our short mid-season break and a look at the recent coaching chaos. We discuss whether Eddie Jones could rock up in the Top 14 and, as well as debating his and Wayne Pivac's dismissals, we chat to Bordeaux fly half Zack Holmes about the departure of Christophe Urios, a Christmas party in a chateau, a scooter accident, Matthieu Jalibert's dog and much more. Plus, ther...

We're joined by Springbok and Montpellier man Nico Janse van Rensburg, who was in Marseille at the weekend, to discuss the titanic clash between France and South Africa, Wayne Barnes' performance, Rassie Erasmus' tweets and videos and much more. We chat about whether he was tempted to play for France, his experience with the Boks last year and what he needs to do to get back in the squad ahead of...

Springbok World Cup winner and current La Rochelle scrum coach Gurthro Steenkamp joins us to look ahead to France's epic clash with South Africa in Marseille. He discusses where the respective front rowers rank among the best in the world, the role of specialist coaches in modern rugby, the evolution of the Top 14, what Ronan O'Gara is like behind the scenes, his ambitions for the future and who w...

Jerome Kaino and Johnnie Beattie are joined by former Australia international Joe Tomane to look ahead to France's opening Autumn Nations Series game against the Wallabies this weekend, as well as discuss the possibility of him switching allegiance to Samoa. Jerome and Joe also pick their current combined Australia and New Zealand XV with the news emerging that an ANZAC team could be in line to fa...

We're joined by Racing 92 assistant coach Rory Teague to discuss coaching under Eddie Jones with England, his journey to the top job at Bordeaux, the backlash he faced from fans there, how the move to Paris came about, the prospect of working under Stuart Lancaster next season and, of course, the situation surrounding Finn Russell and his exclusion from the Scotland squad this autumn... Plus, we d...

New Racing 92 winger Christian Wade joins us to talk settling into Parisian life, adjusting back to rugby from American football, his journey to the NFL, the standard of coaching in rugby, the sad situation at his old club Wasps, his England disappointments over the years, the prospect of working with Stuart Lancaster again next season and much more... Plus, we discuss Fabien Galthie's squad for t...

There's transfer rumours galore on the show this week... are Toulon taking Elton Jantjies, is Dan Biggar off to Brive, who's the latest All Black heading to Toulouse, could Joe Marchant quit Quins for Stade Francais and what on earth has been going on behind the scenes with the Parisians this week? Plus, we chat to Josh Brennan after his run of starts for Toulouse at the beginning of the season ab...

We're back... with a formal apology for missing the first five weeks of the season but with a massive marquee signing to unveil in order to make up for it! Toulouse assistant coach and double World Cup winner Jerome Kaino has signed on the dotted line to join the pod this season and he gives his view on what Sam Simmonds and Stuart Lancaster can expect when they move to the Top 14 as well as discu...

Good things come to those who wait... we're joined by Montpellier hero Paolo Garbisi after a whirlwind of a week involving some epic celebrations and a long drive to join up with Italy ahead of their upcoming internationals! We discuss what it's like to win a first ever Top 14 title for Montpellier in his first season with the club, what the celebrations were like, how he could've ended up in Engl...

We're joined by the King of Castres, Rodrigo Capo Ortega, who has been at the heart of the club's previous Top 14 triumphs over the past decade to look ahead to the final against Montpellier. We look back on the semi-finals, break down the tactical battle in the final, discuss when the Capo Ortega statue is being built and find out how close he came to leaving the club and moving to the Premiershi...

Bordeaux second row Kane Douglas joins us to fill us in on how the team prepared for their victory over Racing in the Barrages without Christophe Urios for most of the week, the response of Matthieu Jalibert and Cameron Woki after being called out and whether relationships will be mended this week! Plus, we discuss Toulouse's latest win over La Rochelle, Perpignan's triumph in the accession match...

After a frenetic final weekend in the Top 14 regular season, we catch up with one of the key men from surprise table-toppers Castres and the top tackler in the Top 14 this season. Australian second row Tom Staniforth fills us in on his journey from Canberra to Castres, the family environment at the club, how a bunch of battlers go about beating off competition from a host of teams with much bigger...

We try desperately to join in with the epic looking party in the port at La Rochelle as well as analysing how they managed to prove seemingly everyone wrong and beat favourites Leinster to lift the European Cup. Plus, we discuss Lyon's first major trophy since 1933 and what the fact that both they and La Rochelle came up together from PRO D2 just eight years ago says about French rugby. There's al...

We're joined by La Rochelle back row Wiaan Liebenberg to chat about his decision to retire from playing at the age of just 29 and the thinking behind it, the journey that's taken him to France, what comes next and the chances of riding off into the sunset with a trophy! A bit of Champions Cup chat and an insight into the cut-throat life of a professional rugby player and the decision-making proces...

Lyon's player of the match in the win over Wasps that saw them through to a first major final since 1933, Joel Kpoku, joins us to discuss making a big impression early on in his career in France, what went wrong for him at Saracens, international aspirations and much more. We talk Sarries' big dogs, lazy comparisons to Maro Itoje, Eddie Jones, the slower pace of life in France, salary caps and, of...

Toulouse centre Pita Ahki joins us to discuss the drama of the penalty shootout at the Aviva Stadium, whether he'd have fancied taking one, returning to Dublin to take on Leinster and much more. Plus, Benji reveals he was next in line to take a penalty when Leicester beat Cardiff in a shootout in 2009, we analyse all the European action, chat about the prospect of Eddie Jones moving to the Top 14...

We chat to La Rochelle's South Africa international Dillyn Leyds ahead of the all-French Champions Cup quarter-final against Montpellier to find out about Ronan O'Gara's spikiness, how he ended up in the west of France instead of South West London and his chances of a Springbok recall. Plus, we look at the madness of the Top 14 where still nobody is guaranteed a play-off place with two rounds to g...

We're joined by an Englishman in the Pyrenees as Pau fly half Zack Henry talks us through his journey from Rouen in Federale 1 up through PRO D2 and to the Top 14 via a stint at Leicester in the Premiership. We hear how playing under Steve Borthwick at Tigers wasn't the right fit, what Gabin Villiere was like back in his days as a back-up scrum half in the French third tier, how dangerous Chouffe...

Benji's back with tales from the back-to-back Kayser derbies between Clermont and Leicester and we discuss the dominance of Top 14 sides in the Champions Cup for a second straight season, unfair criticism of Montpellier, Toulouse's tenacity, what should be done about the red cards and sanctions we're seeing at the moment and how big a job Jono Gibbes has on his hands. Plus, we look ahead to the Eu...

Reigning champions Toulouse clung on to stay in with a shout of qualifying for the quarter-finals, despite being down to 14 men for 70 minutes against Ulster, and we chat to try scorer Manny Meafou about his journey from rugby league to NFL prospect to double winner with Toulouse in double quick time! He tells us about Antoine Dupont buying the forwards dinner, Toulouse's 1000kg pack, the task of...

The guests keep getting bigger, literally, as big Will Skelton joins us to talk Ronan O’Gara v Christophe Urios, the slap, the trilogy against Bordeaux, how he hasn't heard from the Wallabies despite reports he isn't being considered for the series against England, life in La Rochelle, who the team jokers are and wait for it... how he's the smallest of three brothers! Plus, we look ahead to all of...