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The Rugby Pod

#16 New Year Reckoning, Festive Box Office Rugby, and 2026 Predictions

The Rugby Pod

The Ringer

Sports, Comedy, Rugby

4.75.3K Ratings

🗓️ 6 January 2026

⏱️ 77 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Rugby Pod is back for 2026 and the lads kick off the new year by rounding up a huge festive period of rugby before looking ahead to what promises to be a blockbuster year. Jim, Goodey and Bigs dig into the Premiership at the halfway mark, picking their biggest surprises so far, before a deep dive on England’s wing options as Immanuel Feyi-Waboso steals the show and selection debates rage ahead of the Six Nations. There’s statement wins for Northampton, Leicester and Newcastle, big questions for Harlequins and Gloucester. Over in the URC, the table is turned on its head as the Dragons surge, Leinster and Ulster flex their muscle, and the South African derbies deliver some chaos . The lads also preview a massive weekend of Champions Cup action on Premier Sports, fire through some predictions for 2026, and hand out the first Good, Bad & Ugly of the season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Pod, pod, pod, pod.

0:06.3

Rugby pod.

0:10.1

Hello and welcome back to the rugby pod and a happy new year to listeners one and all.

0:19.2

Yeah, good to be back, lads. It's great to be back to all our listeners as well.

0:23.1

We're going to be having a look over all of the festive period of rugby, but more

0:27.0

importantly, we're going to look ahead to what's coming in 2026.

0:30.6

We are indeed, the Six Nations, the new Nations Championship, which I'm very, very excited

0:35.5

for, and of course two very competitive domestic competitions with the Prem and URC. very, very excited for. And of course, two very competitive domestic

0:38.3

competitions with the Prem and URC. Yes, sir, sir, and a mems and all of you out there.

0:43.7

So settle back in joy. You know the drill by now. But if you forgot, all we need to do is

0:47.6

subscribe to, where is it, Andrew? Spotify. That's the one another boy.

0:52.7

This episode is brought to you by HubSpot.

0:56.2

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1:00.4

Well, that's like playing a rugby match with one-fifth of a team, Andrew.

1:04.6

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1:07.0

Unless you have HubSpot.

1:09.8

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1:14.4

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1:20.7

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1:28.4

Why do growing businesses love working in Slack?

1:31.5

Let's ask Christia Ari Bikes.

1:33.3

Running things in Slack saves me so much time.

...

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