The Loose Pass Rugby Podcast!

The case for SA teams pulling off both upsets is real. Huw Griffin ran the numbers on both URC semi-finals and found something worth paying attention to: the Bulls out-kick Glasgow over the course of the season, and the Stormers match Leinster almost exactly on gain line statistics.📊 The case for SA teams pulling off both upsets is real, and MW and Huw build it with data across Glasgow vs Bulls a...

Kennedy Tsimba has spent years building a case that rugby teams are spending their training week on the wrong things. As Bulls skills coach, Tsimba has developed a formal thesis around transitions (the moments when possession changes hands), and the numbers from the Champions Cup final are hard to ignore. Bordeaux had 32 transition opportunities to Leinster's 20. They knew what to do with them...

A British and Irish League merger between the URC and the Premiership may be closer than anyone is admitting, and South Africa could be left with nowhere to go. Huw Griffin breaks down the clues: CVC's shared ownership stake across both competitions, Ealing Trailfinders reportedly being green-lit to join the URC, and quiet talks about merging the women's competitions on the same lines. Huw...

Rugby chose her. She made the most of it. Nadine Roos grew up on a farm in Limpopo, played cricket, athletics, netball and WWE with the boys, and did not know women's rugby existed in South Africa until she walked onto a university campus. She found out sevens was an Olympic sport. A month later she was in France. MW Welman and Huw Griffin sit down with the Springbok Women's star to go thr...

Huw Griffin went back and watched every Stormers try scored this season. All of them. What he learned confirmed everything he suspected about the 48-12 win over Glasgow Warriors. Huw breaks down where the Stormers actually score from, why Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu's numbers from this game are unlike any other fly half in the URC this season, and a first-phase pattern off scrums and mauls the S...

Neil de Bruin, Attack Coach at the Vodacom Bulls, has a rule about how much information a player should carry onto the field. It's less than you think. Most coaches give players more. More detail, more scenarios, more to think about. De Bruin does the opposite, and the Bulls are scoring the most tries in the URC.On the Loose Pass Rugby Podcast, fresh from a week inside the Bulls' preparati...

Huw Griffin is a Scarlets fan. He is also, this week, the most statistically informed person on the Bulls in the Loose Pass studios. Huw spent the week building a data portrait of the Bulls' season (measured, specific, gleefully conflicted), mapping points per 22 entry before and after the Bristol game, tracking 11 straight games of negative net 22 entries, and pinpointing exactly which jerseys ha...

THE LOOSE PASS sits down with Libbie Janse van Rensburg, women's Springbok fly half and four-time Super League champion with the Bulls Daisies. In this conversation: how a free trip to Paris and zero knowledge of contact rugby started a journey that ended in a Springbok jersey. The Italy game and the moment that stopped South African rugby in its tracks. The Black Ferns quarterfinal and what 4...

What actually makes good rugby, and who gets to decide? In this episode of the Loose Pass Podcast, Huw Griffin and MW Welman get into a conversation that starts with a simple question and quickly turns into something bigger. There’s a growing idea in the game that more tries and faster matches automatically mean better rugby. But that only really makes sense if you’re asking people who don’t watch...

The Stormers attack isn’t clicking right now, but that’s only part of the conversation. In this episode of the Loose Pass, MW Welman and Huw Griffin unpack what’s really going wrong with the Stormers, before shifting to the Bulls and what’s shaping up there, and looking ahead to a massive round of Champions Cup action. Bordeaxu take on Toulouse, Glasgow faces Toulon, Leinster plays Sale and Bath h...

Leinster are still winning. Still stacked with internationals. Still chasing Europe. But the numbers tell a different story. There’s been a sharp drop in performance this season, and it’s not just a feeling anymore. The defence isn’t producing the same outcomes, the attack looks uncertain, and the balance of the team feels different. So what’s actually changed? This episode digs into the detail be...

John Dobson didn’t dodge it. He fronted up after the match and called it humiliating, and Huw saw just how much it hurt him in the moments after the final whistle. We break down what went wrong fo the Stormers without piling on: the breakdown battle, the defensive slippage, and how quickly a tight game can turn into a runaway in Europe. We also talk about the Ardie Savea situation - but this was r...

Join Huw Griffin and MW Welman on the second last Loose Pass Rugby Podcast of 2025 as they cover everything from Huw’s guitar obsession to the chaos of European club rugby. They break down the Stormers’ seven-game winning streak, the Bulls’ puzzling second half against UBB, and the fascinating story behind Doddy Weir’s legacy Lions jersey. Plus, don’t miss the debut of their new weekly segment, “H...

Huw and MW dig into one of the most fascinating debates in South African rugby right now: the massive statistical divide between Manie Libbok and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. Their numbers could not be more different, and when you lay them side by side, the way Rassie is using both players suddenly makes a lot more sense. The conversation moves through what each of them does naturally well, why thei...

In this episode of Loose Pass, MW Welman and Huw Griffin dissect South Africa’s stunning comeback against France, a match where the stats were nearly identical. On paper, scrums, possession, and territory barely separated the teams, but the Springboks’ win revealed the real difference: Rassie Erasmus’ chess-like strategy. Huw breaks down how subtle tactical decisions, from the timing of substituti...

When does confidence cross the line into arrogance, and who gets to decide? In this week’s episode of The Loose Pass Rugby Podcast, Huw Griffin and MW Welman explore one of modern rugby’s most fascinating culture clashes: the fine line between swagger and "windgatgeid".Two young players highlight this divide. Henry Pollock, England’s breakout star, wears his confidence boldly, brash, exp...

The Jake White to the Sharks rumour? Let’s be clear — it lives entirely inside MW’s head. But that doesn’t stop him from trying to convince Huw Griffin that Jake is plotting a secret return to Durban to rescue the Sharks. Huw’s scepticism lasts about ten seconds before he bursts out laughing. Somewhere between that and a language lesson gone wrong, Huw learns the Afrikaans word “SKELM” — just in t...

Join Huw Griffin and MW Welman on the Loose Pass Rugby Podcast as they dive deep into everything rugby this week. Huw can’t hide his love for the retro 2012-2013 France jersey, while MW teases him for being a “draadsitter” on France's upcoming game against the Springboks. From the Bulls’ challenging start to the season under Ackermann to transfers and injury crises at the Scarlets, Lions, and more...

Some rugby moments stay with you forever, and this was one of them. Huw Griffin never expected to be so close to history. Representing Megafoon Rugby alongside Harry Jones from the Lekker Rugby Pod , he stepped into the roar of Twickenham — a sea of green and gold Springbok supporters, cameras flashing, and the electricity of a crowd fully alive. But nothing prepared him for the moment he met Siya...

The flyhalf debate is back in the spotlight after Sacha's brilliant performance, and we debate the question is whether Manie Libbok edges out Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. Many believe Sacha represents the future of South African rugby, but there’s a strong case that Manie’s vision, control and proven consistency continue to make him the more complete option right now. In this episode of The Loos...

The Springboks head to Kings Park in Durban for a crucial clash with Argentina, but this one could be a banana peel. Huw and MW break down whether South Africa can maintain their momentum, how the Pumas’ fast, skillful style could cause problems, and what this match means for the Rugby Championship standings. The drama doesn’t stop there. Rumours swirl around Faf de Klerk potentially moving to Tou...

Huw stands in for MW to interview the women's Springboks player Eloise Webb ahead of their huge quarter final against the New Zealand Black Ferns! She speaks all about the Springboks Women's journey to become one of the world's top sides and shares her own story in rugby from getting into the game in her late teens to facing the Haka for the first time!

This week on The Loose Pass Rugby Podcast we put South Africa front and centre, with the Springbok Women chasing history in the upcoming World Cup quarterfinal. The Springbok men stumbled unexpectedly poorly at Eden Park, raising questions about preparation and execution, while our Hospital Pass segment dives into the toughest talking points of the week, including referee decisions and the controv...