Brett McKay and Harry Jones are joined on The 8-9 Combo by The Telegraph’s senior rugby writer Charlie Morgan to look back over the first full weekend of matches of the Northern Spring Autumn Series Tour, with New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Fiji and South Africa all recording wins in a sweep of southern hemisphere dominance. Of course, that means we probably should brace for some kind of reaction, and in the case of Ireland, England, and Scotland, their supporters are already demanding that....
Nov 12, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Season 1Ep. 81
Brett McKay and Harry Jones rip into another Test Match post-mortem before giving it any thought at all, with this week's fulltime focus on the Wallabies absolutely stunning 42-37 comeback win over England at Twickenham, as well as looking back at New Zealand’s 23-13 win over Ireland in Dublin on Friday night An incredible win from Australia. Is it too big a stretch to call it the single greatest win in rugby history? No, we didn’t think so.. Social media: #89Combo Twitter: https://twitter.com/8...
Nov 09, 2024•38 min•Season 1Ep. 80
Brett McKay and Harry Jones push Games of the Week deep into the second week of the November Internationals, where they welcome Australian rugby writer for RugbyPass and The Roar, John Ferguson, along for a proper preview look at the biggest Test Matches of the weekend. This week’s Games of the Week: • Ireland v New Zealand in Dublin • England v Australia at Twickenham • Scotland v South Africa at Murrayfield • Top 14 Rd.10: Toulon v Bayonne Social media: #89Combo Twitter: https://twitter.com/89...
Nov 07, 2024•42 min•Season 1Ep. 79
Brett McKay and Harry Jones are joined on The 8-9 Combo by The Guardian rugby correspondent and surprise new music reviewer (true!) Rob Kitson for a proper review of the first weekend of the Northern Spring Autumn Series Tour, in which New Zealand held out England 24-22 at Twickenham, and Scotland were too good for Fiji, winning 57-17 at Murrayfield. Attention now turns to the first ‘full’ round of the NSAST this weekend coming, with Ireland, Australia, Italy, Argentina, France, Japan, Wales and...
Nov 04, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 78
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones launch into another Test Match post-mortem before giving it any thought at all, with this week's fulltime focus on a fantastic opening to the Autumn Nations Series where New Zealand have hung on – just – to beat England 24-22 at Twickenham. Did England err in bringing Marcus Smith off? Did New Zealand get away with a win despite a bit of late confusion as to who was doing what? And why haven’t we just always been able to hear ref mics inside the stadi...
Nov 02, 2024•30 min•Season 1Ep. 77
Brett McKay and Harry Jones switch Games of the Week back into international mode for the start of the November Internationals, where the guys set, manage, and temper expectations for the SANZAAR nations, as they work out best and worst case scenarios for South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and Argentina from their Northern or Spring Tours, or Autumn Nations Series, or whatever we’re calling this next month of Test rugby. This week’s Games of the Week: • England v New Zealand at Twickenham • M...
Oct 31, 2024•31 min•Season 1Ep. 76
Brett McKay and Harry Jones are joined on The 8-9 Combo by legendary New Zealand Sky Sport broadcaster and author Tony Johnson to wrap up a thoroughly enjoyable season of NZ’s National Provincial Championship, including the Final decided in OT on Saturday in Wellington, while also looking back and forward at the start of the All Blacks northern tour in Japan and with four Tests to follow in Europe. Despite missing the chance to call the annual NPC Mascot Race, TJ was on hand to call NZ’s 64-19 w...
Oct 28, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 75
Brett McKay and Harry Jones return with another edition of Games of the Week, where the guys work through the best games from each of the best competitions around the rugby world this weekend, including the NPC Final in New Zealand, and the first of the November internationals a week early, with the All Blacks having a stopover in Japan. And Harry attempts to bring ABBA into the equation… This week’s Games of the Week: • Japan v New Zealand in Yokohama • URC: Leinster v Lions at the Aviva in Dub...
Oct 24, 2024•22 min•Season 1Ep. 74
Brett McKay and Harry Jones go it alone on The 8-9 Combo this week, delving into a couple of topics they’ve wanted to cover off in a bit of detail: the introduction of new and not-so-new Law Variations into the Autumn Nations Series this November, and the resulting debate that has dominated rugby for weeks leading in, and the arrival and expected impact of high profile league convert and schoolboy rugby prodigy Joseph Sua’ali’i into Australian Rugby and the Wallabies. This is a really entertaini...
Oct 21, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 73
Brett McKay and Harry Jones return with another edition of Games of the Week, where the guys work through the best games from each of the best competitions around the rugby world this weekend, before launching into comprehensive and definitive rulings on the best and worst jerseys running around in the Premiership, the URC, and the Top 14 in season 2024/2025. Head to the 8-9 YouTube channel to see the jerseys in all the glory and awfulness: https://www.youtube.com/@8-9Combo This week’s Games of ...
Oct 17, 2024•28 min•Season 1Ep. 72
Brett McKay and Harry Jones get super technical on The 8-9 Combo this week, getting right into the sweet spot of goal-kicking with South African rugby and American football kicking coach and consultant, Wihan van der Riet, founder and professional coach with his Rocketfoot Academy. A former kicker in the Canadian Football League, Wihan has long been a student of legendary NFL kicker Mike Hollis and his ProForm methods, and offers specialist virtual coaching from South Africa. Wihan explains that...
Oct 14, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Season 1Ep. 71
Brett McKay and Harry Jones return with another edition of Games of the Week, where the guys work through the best games from each of the best competitions around the rugby world this weekend. This week’s Games of the Week: • URC: Leinster v Munster at Croke Park • Premiership: Leicester v Northampton at Welford Road • Top 14: Bordeaux v Perpignan in Bordeaux • NPC: Quarter Finals across the weekend, but Tasman v Canterbury in Blenheim And find Harry's Confessions of a Rugby Fixer on the Megafoo...
Oct 10, 2024•23 min•Season 1Ep. 70
Brett McKay and Harry Jones welcome to The 8-9 Combo the new holder of the record for the Most Test Caps for Australia, James Slipper, for first-hand insight into the Wallabies rebuild under Joe Schmidt, and how the Wallabies themselves have marked their performances through the July Internationals and The Rugby Championship. And now, all eyes will be on the Wallabies as the head north for the November Internationals, where they’ll play their last four Tests before the 2025 British & Irish L...
Oct 07, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 69
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are back with another special edition of Games of the Week, with the guys take a look back at The Rugby Championship for 2024 and discuss once and for all what we have learned about the four SANZAAR national teams from this tournament, and what it might mean for the November internationals in the northern hemisphere. This week’s Games of the Week: • URC: Lions v Edinburgh in Johannesburg • Premiership: Northampton v Harlequins at Franklin’s Gardens • ...
Oct 03, 2024•34 min•Season 1Ep. 68
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are joined on The 8-9 Combo by Planet Rugby writer and connoisseur of stadium security dominant tackles, Jared Wright, for a full look back on South Africa’s thumping of Argentina to wrap up The Rugby Championship for 2024, and what has really made this Springbok team so dominant on their way to their first southern hemisphere title since 2019. The guys also ponder the future of The Rugby Championship and what it might look like in the years New Zeala...
Sep 30, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 67
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones launch into another Test Match post-mortem before giving it any thought at all, with this week's fulltime focus on another weird and curious Bledisloe Cup contest in Wellington, where the All Blacks overcame some first half issues to put the Wallabies away 33-13. After their almost comeback in Sydney, this loss in Wellington will have to be one that the Wallabies review harshly after one of their strongest first halves of the year, while the All Black...
Sep 28, 2024•30 min•Season 1Ep. 66
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are back with the final Rugby Championship edition of their end-of-week offering, Games of the Week, coming after a weekend where the guys survived each other’s close companies, and have emerged out the other side to explore the final weekend of Test rugby in the southern hemisphere for 2024. Plus, it’s a return to the original Games of the Week format, with the guys pulling out the best games to watch in various competitions back underway, or in thei...
Sep 26, 2024•32 min•Season 1Ep. 65
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are joined on The 8-9 Combo by New Zealand Herald Chief Sportswriter Liam Napier for a trans-Tasman deep-dive into the surprisingly tight first Bledisloe Test of the year in Sydney on the weekend just gone, and what is now likely to eventuate in the return bout in Wellington this weekend coming. Whilst Sydney Bledisloe Tests have often been fairly evenly split in terms of support for both the Wallabies and All Blacks, the 31-28 result in that perhaps ...
Sep 23, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 64
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones launch into another Test Match post-mortem before giving it any thought at all, with this week's fulltime focus on a surprisingly entertaining and tight contest between Australia and New Zealand in the first Bledisloe Cup Test of the year in Sydney. In a classic game of two halves, the Wallabies should now take a lot of confidence to Wellington next week, despite the loss, and the All Blacks will be asking how what should have been a comfortable win s...
Sep 21, 2024•29 min
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 and Brett are both preparing to make the trip to Sydney for the first Bledisloe Cup Test between the Wallabies and All Blacks. But in a GotW episode a day earlier than normal, we’re left to but speculate on what sort of teams we might see for the Bledisloe contest, and for what Los Pumas might serve up for the Springboks too, with ...
Sep 18, 2024•35 min•Season 1Ep. 62
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are joined on The 8-9 Combo by TVNZ presenter, SENZ Breakfast radio star and still the pod’s favourite home baker Scotty ‘Sumo’ Steveson for a proper in-depth look back at all that ills New Zealand Rugby, Rugby Australia, and the game as it stands in both countries heading into the first Bledisloe Cup match of the year. Coming at a time where Rassie Erasmus and his Springboks remain four steps ahead of everyone, both the All Blacks and Wallabies find ...
Sep 16, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 61
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones are joined on The 8-9 Combo by Radio New Zealand sportswriter, author, and new South African travel ambassador Jamie Wall fresh from his tour with the All Blacks for a complete debrief of his two weeks in the Republic. But where a rugby podcast and YouTube video would typically centre around the on-field action, this time around Jamie’s first ever experience in South Africa, and what he learned and consumed about the local cultures, and the vast diffe...
Sep 10, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 60
Rugby podcasters Brett McKay and Harry Jones launch into another Test Match post-mortem before giving it too much thought, with this week's fulltime focus is on South Africa’s 18-12 win over New Zealand with Harry still there in Cape Town, and Argentina’s record 67-27 thumping of Australia in Santa Fe. It’s South Africa’s fourth straight win over the All Blacks for the first time since 1949, while Los Pumas recorded their biggest ever win over Australia – and it’s the Wallabies worst loss in the...
Sep 07, 2024•29 min•Season 1Ep. 59
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. An intriguing contest awaits, with both sides making changes that hint to potential tweaks of their approach for the game. In Argentina, an equally fascinating return leg looms between Los Pumas and the Wallabies, ...
Sep 05, 2024•29 min•Season 1Ep. 58
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. The return match represents a real contrast, where the game could be both tight and open, the result both close and high-scoring. Argentina and Australia find themselves in kind...
Sep 02, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 57
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. And head to the 8-9 Combo YouTube channel for an exclusive mini Post-Mortem on Argentina v Australia in La Plata. Brought to you by Chasing the Sun 2 c...
Aug 31, 2024•23 min•Season 1Ep. 56
Brought to you by Chasing the Sun 2 coming soon to RugbyPass TV – head to rugbypass.tv and sign up for FREE, to watch wherever you are in the rugby world! 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 ...
Aug 29, 2024•25 min•Season 1Ep. 55
Brought to you by Chasing the Sun 2 coming soon to RugbyPass TV – head to rugbypass.tv and sign up for FREE, to watch wherever you are in the rugby world! 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, follow...
Aug 26, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 54
Brought to you by Chasing the Sun 2 coming soon to RugbyPass TV – head to rugbypass.tv and sign up for FREE, to watch wherever you are in the rugby world! 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 Argent...
Aug 19, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 53
Brought to you by Chasing the Sun 2 coming soon to RugbyPass TV – head to rugbypass.tv and sign up for FREE, to watch wherever you are in the rugby world! 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 30-12 win over Australia in the wet west in Perth, and New Zealand’s very much expected...
Aug 17, 2024•30 min•Season 1Ep. 52
