David Pembroke, Eddie Jones and Ewen McKenzie review Ireland v Scotland, Wales v Italy, and the England v France thriller, including refereeing decisiveness, yellow card impact, and how teams actually play under advantage. They also cover Scotland’s ceiling, Ireland’s depth and evolution, Wales’ improving spine and settled selection, Italy’s emotional challenge backing up a landmark win, and the early preview for World Rugby’s new Nations Championship fixtures in July.
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In this episode:
00:00 🏁 Six Nations finale reactions
02:00 🍀 Ireland v Scotland review with Eddie Jones
03:05 🦁 Scotland back three: Kinghorn, Graham, Steyn praised
04:10 🌍 World Rugby reality check: Scotland resources and ceiling
06:15 🧠 Ewen McKenzie on Ireland direct play and ruck work
07:25 🧱 Tadhg Beirne impact and “talisman” role for Ireland
08:05 🧭 Jamison Gibson-Park scanning, running phases, Dupont comparison
10:05 📝 Six Nations marks: Ireland and Scotland rated out of 10
15:05 🐉 Wales v Italy: Cardiff intensity and lineout tries
16:05 🔑 Wales spine: Dewi Lake, Wainwright, Williams, Edwards, Rees-Zammit
19:30 🇮🇹 Italy emotional hangover after England win discussed
26:05 🎇 England v France 48–46: classic finish and turning points
28:00 ⚖️ Advantage and cynical play: refereeing protocol debate
32:05 🟨 Yellow cards and 15 v 15: Steve Hansen idea discussed
37:25 🏴 Steve Borthwick pressure and Michael Cheika rumours
48:20 🗓️ Nations Championship Round 1 fixtures preview
53:05 🏆 U20s Six Nations and Rugby Europe Championship results
55:35 🧪 World Rugby anti-doping case: Georgia investigation explained
1:01:01 🗣️ Rugby Unity updates: Big Three, Substack, upcoming interviews
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39 Comments
Enjoyable, deserves more subs.
35:20 guys Rassie managed to coach the Boks to adapt in-game and win despite red & yellow cards vs France & Italy
I think contentious penalties should not decide important matches. How you could call that a high tackle when the ball carrier was crawling across the ground. This is where a captains TMO challenge could be helpful. Important games should not be decided by the referee but by a legitimate score and time winding down
England finally brought a smile on my face . they lost because of a moronic kick in the box lesser than 2 mn before the end of the Game . i believe the pick and go was the answer ( who wouldn't agree ? ) . EJ is smart guy but can confuse players mind with his sophisticated assessments while coaching i really wonder …
Easily the best 6 nations ever. Only thing missing is the insane long kick from Paul Thorburn 64 meters. I enjoyed it because next to super rugby its 2 levels above imo not to say SR isn't getting better every week cos it is but its below as it should be as its proper international rugby and we in NZ are missing the Boks badly. Btw England would have beaten France if they didnt have 2 brain explosions and they aren't 'small' things they are massive things such as not running around to the bloody posts and pollock acting like a pollock at the wrong time in the absolute crucial moment of the game. baffling is it a gen Y thing? not thinking. cos theres no way Zinzan Brooke would do anything so dumb at that time of the game. Great that the northern teams are running it now.
I'm from Scotland. I think Australia is a bit like a super charged Scotland.
I say supercharged because Aus is a bigger country than we are and a code of Rugby (League) is one of your 2 major winter sports so you get some crossover like Lomax and Su'ali'i. But like in Scotland it's basically taken really seriously in a few areas and some private schools.
So there probably is a ceiling on how far we can go.
Winning a 6N is probably the absolute stretch.
I think something incredible would have to happen for us to really contest a world cup.
White shirts vs light blue shirts, hard to differ on a small screen at the pub. Was that only my problem and I need to go to Specsavers? But great game though!
We wanna know about Eddie's Sri Lanka clinic!
How did it go, what's it like there?
As soon as you guys, started talking about law changes you started loosing me. Round, about the 35min. My personal opinion: You should " Get on with it" as you rightly said in 37th min and not try and change the game to suit you sensibilities. Find ways to win games and not try influencing WRC on changing laws. You all are coaches, not rugby law makers.
I respect Ewen but did he really imply Wales had a better tournament than Italy with his scores?
Ewen McKenzie is too intelligent for his own good. Great advice
I’m not really sure what’s the alternative for sending off a player. If a player cynically prevents an assured try, they do so knowing they “take one for the team”. If the player is subbed, it’s totally worth chancing it, as the team is not really losing much. There needs to be consequence for players badly infringing or repeated infringement, ruining the game.
Is World Rugby committed to the Nations Cup starting this year?
Mid March and there's next to no information online
"The best playing the best to see who is the best" Still can't understand how this adds anything to the World Cup.
Steve Hanson just wants to go back to the good old days where NZ when under pressure were allowed get away with a cheap head shot. Penalty under post not enough, proper sanction is required for foul play hence red and yellow cards.
McKenzie was ‘wondering’ about Tadhg Beirne? Has he been living under a rock?
The moment the attacking team commits a foul—whether it’s a technical infringement (like a knock-on) or a cynical act (like a punch or a deliberate obstruction)—the advantage is immediately over. You don't get to "bank" the first penalty and then commit your own foul.
Eddie Jones big dig at the Irish players on the Lions tour calling them British😮
England had it won? until last 2 minutes and they drooped the ball. End of story.
The thing with Borthwick was that after Rd1 when England thumped Wales, 12 consecutive wins each & SB himself told everyone that the final game, Le Crunch, in France was going to be the Grand Slam decider. SB wasn't quoting the press or anything like that – it was said off his own bat.
Then with each subsequent loss came the promises to learn & be better in the following game which obviously didn't happen & so it goes on. Promises, Talk, Promises, Talk & flop/fail…
Now it's 4 losses in a row & the next 3 games are Springboks at altitude Ellis Pk, Fiji at Everton FC & Argentina in Santiago. There was talk of Eng playing their 'B' side against Fiji. Could Eng be on a 7 losing game streak?
Did France have one call go against them?
Need that bit of Eddie saying "Steve's the right man to coach England" @42:32 in a short so I can share it with a few people.
I like Ewen's opinions given his past playing/coaching experience but…. Ewen is 'correct' in that the Top Final is in June & that the Nations Championship is clearly in July BUT the Top14 Final is the 27th June & the 1st round of the Nations Championship is the following week – 4th July. France have already said that no players whose teams make the Top14 Final will be considered to fly out to NZ & play on the Sat. The Final, the travel, the Jetlag & a 7 day turn around is just a non starter. France might be able to guess their squad as teams get knocked out of the Top14 Finals but won't know until after the Final, who is left standing.
When a Yellow Card is a result of cumulative infringements, instead of issuing the Yellow to the last offender, I wonder if an option could be given to the opposing Captain to decide which of the 'n' offenders to be issued with the Yellow? If the offences were committed by (say) Shirt Numbers 1, 2, 7, 9 & 15, the opposing Captain gets to choose which one of those 5 should get the Yellow.
The issue might be that the officials can't identify the 'n' offenders but it would be good if they could.
This is the first time I felt Ewen and Eddie got their assessment of a game a bit wrong. England were fantastic on Saturday because Borthwick finally unleashed them. Most of these players want to play attacking rugby and they have a very good attacking coach now who needs to be used more. Eddie is wrong about the identity of England's style of rugby. English cricket team used to play the most traditional and outdated cricket and now play expansive cricket in all formats. The same can be done in the rugby team. All the UK podcasts/journalists and ex players feel England are underperforming and can play attacking rugby which Borthwick is holding them back. There still needs to be a review and address why England were so lackluster against Ireland at home. England fans pay £160 for an average ticket to watch England play at Twickenham so we are entitled to be critical of the management and team. There still needs to be a review. No England coach has had so much control and support as Borthwick. And RFU is probably the richest board, so it's unacceptable to lose 4 out of 5 games.
Finally, I agree with Ewan about finding out the viewership of the final games. Apparently in France there's a waiting list for the new French jerseys and the game has never been so popular. ITV showing every England game on free terrestrial tv is a huge opportunity to really help the game get stronger. The 6 nations are huge in the UK because it's on the BBC and ITV. Every pub in South west London is heaving during the 6 nations. ITV will show all of the nations cup, so it's a huge coup for rugby and hopefully they won't blow it in promoting the game. England has lots of marketable players and they need to promote them and their personalities better.
Easily the best Rugby pod in the world, three very wise & experienced men, unique angles on matter ( Eddie) , highly intelligent all three. Thank you gentleman, superb!
This is a great show, England fan here subscribed
Always get the feeling Eddie Jones doesnt like Ireland much…
🤫Pollock ! 🖕Pollock ! 🤡 Pollock !
Hi David. Thanks for uploading another analytical and unbiased edition. What a 6 Nations, literally down to the last few seconds. Maybe the English will now learn and not showboat so much in future. Well done France, back to back tournament winners. Interesting to see how they would get on against South Africa.
Little things come to discussion after a game only when you loose.😢😢😢
Well done on covering the REC trophy also.
Let's whinge, Ewen.
England 10 points ahead. France get a lineout. They put two, not one, two blockers in front of the catcher. The ref misses it. The TMO misses it. Andrew Brace does not. During multiple reviews on the screen, in which both ref and TMO seem to see nothing, Brace brings it to their attention several times, but NA ignores it. NA does not even give a reason. Genge gets sent off, and France get a penalty try.
First try: Attissogbe not only cuts across Jamie George but looks at him before he does it.
NA signals a penalty to England. As the game goes on, he decides to change his mind and barely whispers that it is just a knock on. Fin grubbers thinking it is a penalty. Instead of blowing it up, NA declares advantage over. France get a try.
The French try in the first minute of the second half. Ollivon receives the ball a yard in front Attissogbe(Again). The non English commentator was mystified as to why it was not even looked at.
But the chef's kiss came at the end. Guillard picks the ball up from the ruck. His head is less than two feet off the ground. => high tackle 🤨
If we don't want rugby to become like soccer, then we need the rugby authorities to have independent reviews of referees and TMOs.
That was the worst refereeing and TMO performance I have ever seen.
Good listen! What a weekend it was.
The Top 14 final will be one week before France's game against NZ. Players in France start pre season in August and finish their season at the start or end of June, depending on how far the club reaches. It is unrealistic to expect players to train/play 12 months in a row. World Rugby brings in limits like 2000 minutes and 30 games, yet wants the first choice French players to travel. This competition is important but no where near as important as the World Cup. So I would be surprised to see all the top players to travel in July and whoever France pick will still have a good chance to win at least 2 of their 3 games in July.
Aussies trying desperately to find a reason to moan that we haven’t got to league yet international rugby is in the best place ever. Guys no need to change the rules. League is a crap sport
I was enjoying your video until Smeagol started talking. Presumably you're not interested in growing the channel. Au Revoir.
US-based Ireland expat and fan here – enjoyed this, great analysis!
Thank you gentlemen. Ewen mentioned at the beginning the 0.5% / 1% issue of improving try conversion rate. That is, scoring tries closer to the post. This is an bugbear of mine for years. Australian super sides in recent times doesn't seem to care where they plant the ball. 'Under the post' doesn't seem to be a part of our rugby IQ. Anecdotally, there have been many occasions where Tom Wright just dive over the line irrespective of defenders' presence. Very interested in your views.
Allez les Bleus. Most successful team in 6N history, 8 championships, 4 slams, 3 championships in the last 5 years. Most tries, most points, most off loads, most run metres, most dominant tackles and highest points difference. A fabulous team.