#22 Italy Dreaming, Scotland & Ireland Doubting, and England Dominating

The Rugby Pod

The Ringer

Sports, Comedy, Rugby

4.7 • 5.3K Ratings

🗓️ 10 February 2026

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Six Nations round one is done and there’s a lot to unpack. Jim, Goodey and Bigs dive into Italy’s superb win over Scotland, how Gonzalo Quesada has transformed the Azzurri, and whether this result puts real pressure on Gregor Townsend ahead of a huge Calcutta Cup clash. The lads then turn to England v Wales, looking beyond the scoreline at England’s attacking evolution, George Ford’s control, and whether discipline could become an issue against tougher opposition. Wales’ struggles, green shoots at U20 level, and what a response at the Principality might look like are all on the agenda. We also look at Ireland’s poor performance in Paris, what went wrong in that first half, France’s physical edge, big TMO calls, and what has changed with Ireland. Listener questions, Smartest Call of the Week, news, shout-outs and live shows in Dublin round out a packed episode of proper Six Nations chat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Pod, pod, pod, rugby pod.
0:11.4	Hello and welcome back to the rugby pod where we have the six nations round one out of the way
0:17.9	and we had a massive win against Wales. Of course we did. I am English. Scotland were robbed. I know. I'm just trying to get the deflect in and get it all out the way. Scotland were robbed basically. The game should have been called off. They brought no snorkels. It was dangerous. There was lightning above and it didn't get
0:37.7	called off. Now or never, you said. Yeah, you said now or never, Jim. You said this was your year yet again. Well, it is. Because you're English. Let me get this in because people might just tune out straight after. Okay, you lads have been forcing me to say this is our year, right? You've been forcing me to say it. I haven't willingly said it.
0:55.0	Well, Jim, it's now a two horse race. It's basically France or England to win it. Maybe three, because Italy and Razzie and Lamarro, they all said they can dream. And they all think they'll have a shout. He has a dream. He has a dream, said Lamarro. Well, it could be worse, lads. You could be Welsh this Monday afternoon. So the precious
1:13.3	mountains, some sleepless nights for coaches already. We're going to get stuck into
1:17.8	basically Scotland, Wales and just pump up England and France, basically, yeah.
1:23.6	So you know the drill by now. Settle back. Enjoy. Make sure you're subscribed on Spotify, YouTube and everything. Let's get it out of the way. Let's go.
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