8/9 Rugby
The long-ish tradition of Great Rugby Chats continues on 8/9 Rugby with an incredible array of guests, and available on YouTube and wherever you pod every week.
Tune in every week as Brett McKay is joined by a revolving list of well-known guest co-hosts from all corners of the rugby world, combining to blend the perfect combination of passion, humour, nonsense, and genuine insight.
And now in written form on Substack, too! Get great insights from a host of names you know and rugby opinions you respect every week.
151
Games of the Week 23 – One-Man Bomb Squad
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are back with another Rugby Championship edition of their end-of-week offering, Games of the Week – where this week Harry has shifted south to Cape Town for the second leg of the Greatest Rugby Rivalry between the Springboks and All Blacks.
26 min
152
Ep.30 – Consistently Inconsistent with Marcelo ...
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are joined on The 8-9 Combo by former Argentinean centre turned commentator Marcelo Bosch, to recap the Wallabies late win over Los Pumas in horrible conditions in La Plata, which now sets up an enticing return contest in Santa Fe – in much nicer weather – this weekend coming.
61 min
153
Test Match post-mortem 5 – Boks Escape Razor’s ...
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones love The Rugby Championship, and what better way to consume the international game than to launch into the Test Match post-mortem before giving it too much thought. This week's fulltime focus is on South Africa’s last-ditch 31-27 win overNew Zealand with Harry still there at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.
20 min
154
Games of the Week 22 – the 8-9 Draft
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are back with the next Rugby Championship edition of their end-of-week offering, Games of the Week – where this week Harry is in the carpark of Heathrow Airport in London en route to Johannesburg, to see South Africa v New Zealand at Ellis Park, while Brett is setting his alarm for that blockbuster match, plus Argentina v Australia from La Plata. Two very big games, but for four very different reasons.
23 min
155
Ep.29 – Calling All Locks with Geoff Parkes
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are joined on The 8-9 Combo by highly regarded Australian-based rugby writer and author Geoff Parkes, to consider the mouthwatering third round of The Rugby Championship this weekend coming. A belting weekend of Test rugby awaits, headlined by South Africa hosting New Zealand in Johannesburg, followed by Argentina hosting Australia in La Plata.
60 min
156
Ep.28 - Lab Experiments with Jim Tucker
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are joined on The 8-9 Combo by renowned Australian rugby writer and author, noted tourist and regular friend of the pod, the great Jim Tucker, to look back on the second round of The Rugby Championship and the lessons learned for the Wallabies, as they gear up for a now very important tour of Argentina.
60 min
157
Test Match post-mortem 4 – Contested then Uncon...
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones love The Rugby Championship, and what better way to consume the international game than to launch into the Test Match post-mortem before giving it too much thought.
28 min
158
Games of the Week 21 – Loaded Benches with Matt...
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are back with a special Rugby Championship edition of their end-of-week offering, Games of the Week – where this week Harry enjoys a quality chat with world-renowned SuperSport commentator Matt Pearce on the Wallabies-Springboks Test in Perth this weekend, before Brett and Harry also take a look at the return All Blacks-Los Pumas Test in Auckland.
43 min
159
Ep.27 – Transient Hyphens with Riaan Louw
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are joined on The 8-9 Combo by South African rugby YouTube sensation Riaan Louw to launch into discussions around the second week of The Rugby Championship, with return legs of the first games to be played in Perth and Auckland.
56 min
160
Test Match post-mortem 3 – Brisbane Boilover + ...
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones love The Rugby Championship, and what better way to consume the international game than to launch into the Test Match post-mortem before giving it too much thought. This week's fulltime focus is on South Africa’s record 33-7 win over Australia in Brisbane, and Argentina’s fantastic 38-30 win over New Zealand in Wellington.
30 min
161
Games of the Week 20 – Undisputed Underdogs
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are back with the First Rugby Championship edition of their end-of-week offering, Games of the Week – and the first round of the other big ticket annual series in Test rugby is here which means it’s an easy pick for GotWs this week, with two cracking contests to kick off the southern hemisphere’s premier tournament on either side of the Tasman Sea.
23 min
162
Ep.26 – Under Pressure with Paul Cully
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are joined on The 8-9 Combo by Stuff.co.nz Senior Sportswriter, and SMH rugby columnist Paul Cully to dig deep into the narratives and the four squads as selected for The Rugby Championship, and to try and work out where the Wallabies, Springboks, All Blacks, and Los Pumas are placed heading into the first round of the premiere southern hemisphere international rugby tournament.
68 min
163
Ep.25 – One More Angle with Brett Cronan
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are joined on The 8-9 Combo by Australian and World Rugby Television Match Official Brett Cronan, to help peel back the layers on how the TMO works in professional rugby, and thus help us all learn a thing or two about part of the game we experience every week, but perhaps still don’t fully appreciate.
64 min
164
Games of the Week 19 – What Have we Learned?
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are back with a special edition of their end-of-week offering, Games of the Week – with The Rugby Championship starting very soon, the guys take a look back at the July Internationals and discuss once and for all what we now know about the four TRC sides, and what we should expect when the Southern Hemisphere’s premier Test Match tournament begins on August 10.
23 min
165
Ep.24 – Chasing the Sun with Gareth Whittaker
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are joined on The 8-9 Combo by Director and Producer of brilliant Springboks documentary series, Chasing the Sun, Gareth Whittaker, the man behind the twin series which documented the ‘Boks rise in world rugby and culminating in the 2019 and 2023 Rugby World Cup triumphs.
63 min
166
Test Match post-mortem 2 – World-leading Wallab...
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones love Test Match Rugby, and what better way to consume the international game than to launch into the post-mortem straight after the final siren. This week, the fulltime focus takes in New Zealand’s 47-5 win over Fiji in San Diego, and Australia’s 40-29 win over Georgia in Sydney.
24 min
167
Games of the Week 18 – Equine Excuses with Bern...
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are back with another international edition of their end-of-week offering, Games of the Week, where the guys are again joined former Ireland hooker turned commentator and pundit Bernard Jackman – direct from Ireland Olympic team duties - for one last look back at lessons learned from the July Internationals, and the importance of the long list of rugby Internationals featuring the so-called Tier 2 nations this weekend.
40 min
168
Ep.23 – Grownups with Charlie Morgan
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones welcome back onto The 8-9 Combo Senior Rugby Writer for The Telegraph, Charlie Morgan to cast an eye back on the second week of July Internationals in the southern hemisphere, and consider the broader implications of this important week where so-called Tier 2 nations are hosted around the rugby world.
59 min
169
Test Match post-mortem 1 – Unbeaten!
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones love Test Match Rugby, and what better way to consume the international game than to react to it straight after the final siren. This week, the fulltime focus takes in New Zealand’s bruising 24-17 win over England in Auckland, and Australia’s workmanlike 36-28 win over Wales in Melbourne.
19 min
170
Games of the Week 17 - Swingprops
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are back with another international edition of their end-of-week offering, Games of the Week, where the guys work through the second weekend of July Internationals in the southern hemisphere, including previews of the big ticket series.
26 min
171
Ep.22 – False Countdowns with Sam Larner
55 min
172
Games of the Week 16 - Horsecollaring
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are back with the first International edition of their end-of-week offering, Games of the Week, where the guys work through the first chocka-block weekend of Test Match Rugby in the southern hemisphere, including previews of the big ticket series openers, and even bigger jersey collars.
24 min
173
Ep.21 – Rebuilding the Strategy with Daniel Her...
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are joined on The 8-9 Combo by Rugby Australia Chair Daniel Herbert for an open and frank discussion that outlines the delicate position the game finds itself in Australia – and how really transformative the next decade can be.
66 min
174
Ep.20 – Robbed of Points with Sam Windsor
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are joined on The 8-9 Combo by Australia’s Major League Rugby record points-scorer and Seattle Seawolves flyhalf/fullback Sam Windsor, to get a true insight into the quality gains in MLR since it was founded in 2017, and how life works for a professional rugby player in the United States.
74 min
175
Games of the Week 15 – Vikings are Shrinking
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are back with a bumper edition of their end-of-week offering, Games of the Week, where the guys work through plenty of important games from each of the best competitions around the rugby world, including the Finals of Super Rugby Pacific and the United Rugby Championship.
25 min