Rugby Direct

This week on Rugby Direct, Elliott Smith and Liam Napier are in Lyon and assess the All Blacks' big win over Italy and how it reshapes the Rugby World Cup - if at all. We also take stock of the Ranfurly Shield damage scandal story from back home, wonder if the Rugby World Cup should expand and discuss potential changes for the All Blacks' final pool game against Uruguay Friday morning. See omnystu...

On this midweek edition of Rugby Direct, Elliott Smith and Liam Napier assess the All Blacks side named to face Italy in their crunch World Cup Pool A match in Lyon, as well as run the rule over the other major news of the World Cup in the week to date. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Elliott Smith and Liam Napier jump on for Rugby Direct from Lyon, as the All Blacks take a backseat for a few days with the Rugby World Cup ramping up with two big pool games with major ramifications. First we review the Wallabies almost certain pool play exit and where the sport goes to in Australia after their dismal showing, before jumping into the Ireland-South Africa blockbuster and discussin...

On the latest edition of Rugby Direct, Elliott and Liam check in from Bordeaux - to discuss and update the midweek happenings at the tournament in France. We review Ethan de Groot's suspension, the All Blacks finding a useful stat to guide them in their week off, the Springboks opting for a 7-1 bench against Ireland this week and Drew Mitchell coming off the long run against Eddie Jones. See omnys...

This week on Rugby Direct, Elliott and Liam are in Toulouse to review the second week of the Rugby World Cup, including the All Blacks' win over Namibia, Ethan de Groot's red card and where it leaves New Zealand after two games. We also review Fiji's impressive win over the Wallabies and wonder whether this is a death knell for Australian rugby. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the latest edition of Rugby Direct, Elliott Smith and Liam Napier recap the opening weekend of the World Cup - leading with a big focus on the All Blacks' 27-13 loss to France and how they were defeated...and why. We delve into where to from here for the All Blacks and if they simply just don't have a seat at the top table currently in the sport. We also review the other big games of the first...

Elliott and Liam react to the All Blacks' 23 selected for the tournament opener against France Saturday morning NZT and react to the news that Emoni Narawa is out of the tournament. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Rugby Direct, Elliott Smith and Liam Napier count down to the opening weekend of the 2023 Rugby World Cup - looking at the All Blacks pool as well as the other three pools and picking who is likely to emerge from there into the quarters. We also touch on our earliest and favourite Rugby World Cup memories and pick who will win the tournament. Elliott and Liam also comb through NZR's g...

Elliott Smith and Liam Napier are again in London for this week's Rugby Direct podcast, reviewing the All Blacks' worst-ever defeat in the Qatar Airways Cup match against South Africa. What does this mean ahead of the World Cup and is it panic stations? We also update the Scott Barrett saga and review some of the weekend's other big warm-up matches including the Flying Fijians beating England at T...

This week on Rugby Direct, Elliott and Liam are in London - as the All Blacks count down to their final World Cup warm-up match against the Springboks. We debate that match, the likely selections as well as what is being gained from the warm-up fixtures. We talk the Owen Farrell saga, as well as the latest Eddie Jones and Rugby Australia hijinks as well as the ongoing question of the NPC. See omny...

This week on Rugby Direct, Elliott Smith and Liam Napier are in Hawke's Bay - reflecting on the Rugby World Cup squad announcement the night before as we debate the inclusions, the exclusions and the balance of the squad named by Ian Foster and his selectors to head to France. We also look back at the second Bledisloe Cup test against the Wallabies in Dunedin, with the All Blacks mounting a major...

This week on Rugby Direct, Elliott Smith and Liam Napier are in Christchurch after returning from Melbourne where the All Blacks decimated the Wallabies 38-7 to retain the Bledisloe Cup and Rugby Championship. The boys review that game and how the All Blacks were forced to win differently than the last two performances, as well as look at Scott Barrett's performance and how the changes might fall...

This week on Rugby Direct, Elliott and Liam look ahead to the first Bledisloe Cup meeting of the year on Saturday and debate the selection conundrums facing the All Blacks selectors as well as gauging the possibilities of an Australian boil-over in Melbourne. We also tackle the Farah Palmer Cup, the Rugby Championship's other match this weekend and whether rugby has managed to get the TMO sorted o...

This week on Rugby Direct, Elliott Smith and Liam Napier review the All Blacks' big win over South Africa in what was somewhat of a statement performance from them ahead of the Rugby World Cup. We discuss whether the blindside flanker debate is over in the wake of Shannon Frizell's form and how the second half performance might have told more of a story than the first. We also review the Black Fer...

This week on Rugby Direct, Elliott Smith and Liam Napier review the first All Blacks' test of season 2023, the big win over Argentina in Mendoza, while we also touch on the controversial pitch invader saga post match and offer some thoughts around that. We ask what's gone wrong with the under-20 programme, take a look at the Black Ferns' win over Canada and look ahead to the next assignment for th...

This week on Rugby Direct, we're in wine country in Mendoza counting down to the first test of Rugby World Cup year for the All Blacks - an assignment against Argentina. Elliott and Liam debate the likely starting side for the ABs and how the bench might look for the test as well. Before we get to that though, we need to discuss the new Blues coaching appointment and world rugby's new competition,...

This week on Rugby Direct, Elliott Smith and Liam Napier wrap the Super Rugby final as the Crusaders ascended to Seventh Heaven with their seventh title in as many years. We talk the major moments and controversies of the final, as well as how the narrative of the match has unfolded since fulltime. Elliott and Liam also crown the prestigious second annual Rugby Direct Medal winner for Super Rugby....

This week on Rugby Direct, Elliott and Liam beam in from Te Awamutu to discuss the 36-man All Blacks squad named by head coach Ian Foster, who also drops by the podcast to offer his reasoning on some of the key selections, along with forwards coach Jason Ryan. We discuss the Super Rugby semi-final match-up that has left us with a blockbuster grand final this week and we discuss the Hamish McLennan...

On this special edition of Rugby Direct, Elliott Smith and Liam Napier are joined by Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan for a feature-length interview covering plenty of issues around the game on both sides of the Tasman. We talk about McLennan's idea for a Super Rugby draft, whether he's willing for Super Rugby to be run by an independent commission and if there's a real chance of the Rugby...

This week on Rugby Direct, Elliott Smith and Liam Napier review the Super Rugby quarter-finals and debate whether Ardie Savea scored that try and whether the referee made the right call. We also zero in on the Chiefs' close-run game against the Reds and the Blues and Crusaders comfortable wins. It's nearly time for the first All Blacks selection of the year as well and we pick the spots where the...

This week on Rugby Direct, it's a bumper episode as we look at the Super Rugby regular season, a new rugby Knight and a couple of new coaches for the local franchises. The Crusaders have appointed Rob Penney as head coach and the 'Canes Clark Laidlaw, Elliott Smith and Liam Napier discuss the appointments and how they might fit with each franchise from 2024. Sir Wayne Smith has been knighted for s...

This week on Rugby Direct, Elliott and Liam recap a busy week of rugby news with Will Jordan re-signing with NZR top of the list, before offering their thoughts on Wayne Smith's new performance coach role and the Ruby Tui-Weetbix card saga. Super Rugby comes to the pointy end of the regular season with 11 teams to go into eight playoff spots after this weekend, we review the penultimate round of t...

This week on Rugby Direct, Elliott and Liam discuss the breaking news out of Moana Pasifika that coach Aaron Mauger has resigned as head coach and won't be back in 2024. We contemplate the different options to take on the job and where it leaves the franchise. In addition, we cast our eyes over the European domestic final, debate the resting of players and whether anything can be done about it as...

On this week's Rugby Direct, we review the Chiefs fall to their first defeat of the Super Rugby season while the Crusaders have the better of the Blues in a highly-anticipated local derby... we discuss the implications for the playoffs. We also pick apart New Zealand Rugby's memorandum of understanding with Japan and whether Roger Tuivasa-Sheck should stay or go if he's on the outer at the Blues....

This week on Rugby Direct, Elliott Smith and Liam Napier discuss the Fijian Drua's win over the Hurricanes and Moana Pasifika's close loss to the Blues and what these sides need to do to take the next step as they continue to build. We contemplate the All Blacks back three situation as crunch time for selection nears with a couple of Chiefs players continuing to put their hands up and ask whether...