Nations Pod Guide: Dublin
Rugby Union Weekly
BBC
4.6 • 5.3K Ratings
🗓️ 29 January 2026
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The fourth and final stop on the Nations Pod Guide is Ireland’s Fair City. From Croke Park to the Aviva, from Temple Bar to Ballsbridge - Chris, Tom and GRO discuss what makes Dublin special and so much more than a rugby city. Tom teaches us about Ross O’Carroll-Kelly, we get the lowdown on his favourite Dublin pubs and playwrights, and he even recites some poetry! But it’s not all highbrow conversation, we get stuck into Temple Bar, the Guinness and what’s it like on Paddy’s Day during a Six Nations weekend. How does the Aviva’s atmosphere compare to the other home nations’ stadiums? And what is the greatest achievement in Irish rugby history? Plus, we revisit England’s visit to Lansdowne Road in 2003 and the cultural and historical significance of their match at Croke Park in 2007.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts. |
| 0:05.7 | Hello, you're about to listen to a BBC podcast, and I'm Ed Gamble, host of another BBC podcast, The Traitors Uncloaked. |
| 0:12.7 | But my show is available only on BBC Sounds, just like Ellis and John's Saturday bonus episodes, |
| 0:18.2 | The Pop Top Ten podcast with Scott Mills and Rylan, and comedy specials |
| 0:22.2 | from the likes of Harriet Kemsley, Susie Ruffle and Rommashranganathan. |
| 0:25.9 | However, and maybe I'm biased, it's really all about the traitors uncoaked. |
| 0:30.3 | So for a whole bunch of exclusive scoops and podcasts, listen only on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.0 | Five Lives Rugby Union Weekly. |
| 0:41.6 | Okay, Nations Pod. |
| 0:43.9 | The Nations Pod guide this week. |
| 0:46.6 | Dublin, the fair city of Dublin, is our next and final stop, having done Cardiff, Twickenham, Edinburgh, and now we are in Dublin. Yes. You said you didn't have much to say about Edinburgh? We prized it out of you in the end. Yeah, yeah. I'm sure you've got plenty to say about Dublin. Grow, you've got plenty to say about Dublin too, I imagine. Yeah, loads. Loads. I used to live for two or three years, four years, actually. I to live, stones throw from Lansdowne Road, as it was then. And Lansdell Road and Dioviva, it's exactly the same site. It's the same site, but they've turned the pitch a little bit. Yes. So you're talking about you're living in Sandemado, out of Balsbridge, then are you? No, I was living, well, towards, on the canal, heading for Ballsbridge. But, you know, I mean, 10-minute walk. It's a much bigger city, I think, than I probably realized first couple times. I wait. You can't just have a whole rugby weekend around Bullsbridge, can't you? And Sandy Mounder. Or you, then you go into the guts and all bets are off. |
| 1:44.6 | I was there last month. |
| 1:49.0 | And so I lived in Dublin from 1996 to 2005. |
| 1:54.7 | And it's changed a lot since then. |
| 1:58.5 | So I'm walking around Dublin and I don't recognize a lot of it now because |
| 2:01.9 | there's new parts of it have been built in the years since. There's still the old, the old |
| 2:07.1 | towns like a stony batter, which is a beautiful. It wasn't a tech hub like it is now. No, no. It's |
| 2:13.8 | just, it's just building who've sprung up all over the place. New areas have sprung up all over the place. |
| 2:19.3 | So it feels bigger now than it even did. |
| 2:21.5 | And it felt pretty big when I was living there. |
| 2:23.4 | But it's, it's, yeah, it's an amazing city. |
| 2:26.4 | So I've spoken about the trip of night. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.