As this season of the Scrum Down comes to the close, we are sadly marking it with the historic event of London Irish entering administration. In a season which has seen a fantastic Rugby product on the field and lots of success across different formats of the game, it has been blighted by the situations of Wasps, Worcester Warriors and sadly now, London Irish. Alex Corbisiero is joined by BBC Rugby Correspondent Chris Jones, to chat through news of the administration, what can be done to protect...
Jun 07, 2023•46 min•Ep. 40
The Gallagher Premiership season may be over, but there is still a lot of confusion and questions over the future of London Irish. Corbs is joined by the BBC’s Chris Jones, to discuss the latest stories, following on from a conditional extension from the RFU possibly being broken, and how that may affect the fate of the club in the near future.
Jun 01, 2023•41 min•Ep. 39
This week on the Scrum Down we continue to cover the developing ownership situation at London Irish, with only a matter of days remaining before the RFU's deadline for Irish to play in the league next year hits. To cover this, Alex Lowe joins again, fresh from a trip to Dublin where he watched the Champions Cup, and then we focus on Twickenham and the forthcoming Premiership Final between Saracens and Sale, and to preview the match we'll be joined by Performance Analyst Ross Hamilton.
May 24, 2023•45 min•Ep. 38
Ross Hamilton is back on the Scrum Down to review the semi-final games in the Premiership over the weekend with Saracens and Northampton Saints facing off as well as Sale Sharks and Leicester Tigers. And Alex Lowe is back as we keep on the pulse of the London Irish story, with more clarity on the ownership situation as well as the league preparing contingencies and setting deadliness for the situation to be resolved.
May 18, 2023•47 min•Ep. 37
On this weeks Scrum Down we look at both the exciting and worrying sides of the Premiership, with Alex Lowe joining to talk about the concerns that are still causing problems at London Irish as well as the latest developments with Worcester Warriors and Wasps. And then Ross Hamilton joins to go through the Premiership semi-finals by the numbers as we anticipating an exciting set of matches with Saracens taking on Northampton and Sale Sharks facing off against Leicester Tigers.
May 10, 2023•52 min•Ep. 36
Alex Lowe joins Corbs to discuss what’s happening at London Irish where the players have not been paid their wages for April. As we’ve had in previous episodes of the Scrum Down, Alex Lowe is the man in the know in the UK to bring us the inside info at the troubled clubs - as he has done with Worcester Warriors and Wasps so far this season. They discuss the status of the takeover deal, the best and worst case scenarios for the club and players, whether the match will go ahead against Exeter this...
May 04, 2023•39 min•Ep. 35
On this weeks Scrum Down, Chris Jones and Alex Lowe both join to discuss the big rugby news topics in the UK. They carry on the discussion from last week following Jack Nowell’s tweet and subsequent disciplinary action, before looking ahead to the upcoming semi-finals and discussing if anyone can stop Saracens, they then discuss the RFU’s changes to the tackle height law in the community game following last years poorly handled announcement.
Apr 26, 2023•47 min•Ep. 34
This week's Scrum Down sees the return of Alex Lowe to the podcast, to discuss the state of Premiership Rugby in the UK. From the playoff race to sending-offs and possible bans for Twitter comments, to the future of the league itself with a possible drop to 10 teams including an update on Worcester and Wasps as well as future collaboration with the RFU to strengthen the state of the game in England.
Apr 20, 2023•45 min•Ep. 33
On this weeks Scrum Down, Corbs runs through the past weeks action in the Heineken Champions Cup, discussing travel issues and wage disparities in the teams before touching on his thoughts on what English rugby needs to change and integrate between league and national team to benefit the sport. And then we are joined by USA 7s Eagle Kristi Kirshe to react to USA securing Olympic qualification, their growth as team this year on and off the field and her own journey into Rugby, having not picked u...
Apr 12, 2023•36 min•Ep. 32
London Irish’ Chunya Munga joins Corbs on The Scrum Down fresh off his 50th appearance for the club, the two react to Irish’s big win over Northampton, back to back Premiership Cup Final defeats, the success of the London Irish Academy, the run in to the playoffs ahead for London Irish with two big games remaining and much much more.
Mar 29, 2023•34 min•Ep. 31
For the final time in 2023, The Scrum Down focusses on the Six Nations which has been won by Ireland, who also won a Grand Slam. Corbs is joined again by Ross Hamilton to break down the numbers from the final round, evaluate the teams and see their progress throughout the tournament as well as look at some of the key stats that have determined the outcome of the competition.
Mar 22, 2023•39 min•Ep. 30
We continue our series of ‘Six Nations by The Numbers’ joined by analyst Ross Hamilton to look at a huge 4th round of the Competition where England got a huge wake-up call, Wales finally found winning form and Ireland continued on their way towards a grand slam. Ross and Corbs disect the weekends matches before looking ahead to the next round of the competition.
Mar 15, 2023•47 min•Ep. 29
Round 4 of the Six Nations take place this coming weekend - so continue our run of ‘six nations by the numbers’ podcasts, analyst Ross Hamilton is back with Corbs to look ahead to the key statistics that could make the difference between the teams in the tournament this weekend.
Mar 07, 2023•39 min•Ep. 28
Ross Hamilton is back on the pod to go breakdown the key numbers and stats from each game from the 3rd round of the Six Nations with Alex reacting and adding his insight. And then to talk Six Nations news story’s Alex is joined by the returning Chris Jones of the BBC, they discuss the Welsh player strike drama from last week, the state of the Welsh Team and rugby in Wales, Marcus Smith being dropped and assess Borthwick’s rebuild of the England Team.
Mar 01, 2023•47 min•Ep. 27
This weeks Scrum Down looks ahead to the third round of the Six Nations with analyst Ross Hamilton. We study the Six Nations match ups by the numbers to see where teams are performing best, how they’re styles match up and what will be the key statistics that could decide the games. And then Joe Schroeder from the Men's USA Sevens joins for a look ahead to the LA Sevens at the weekend as well as talking about the release of ‘The Pioneers part 3’ documentary from HSBC which will be released on the...
Feb 21, 2023•44 min•Ep. 26
Following the 2nd round of matches at the Six Nations over the weekend, former Ireland international Luke Fitzgerald joins us on the Scrum Down to discuss Ireland - the standout team of the competition so far. After that, Rugby statistician and performance analyst Ross Hamilton is on the show to break down all of the key numbers across the weekend and to analyze the performance of each team in the six nations from a data point of view.
Feb 15, 2023•52 min•Ep. 25
The Six Nations began in dramatic fashion with Scotland keeping hold of the Calcutta cup following victory over England. To react to this and gloat, Corbs is joined again by former Scotland International, Blair Cowan - who earns the podcasts bragging rights after a correct prediction last episode. And then Chris Jones of the BBC joins to summarize the rest of the opening weekend, talk England coach changes and selection for Italy, as well as looking ahead to this weekends matches and the road ah...
Feb 08, 2023•53 min•Ep. 24
This weeks pod features 3 guests as Alex Lowe joins us to revisit the ongoing saga regarding tackle height and the RFU in the UK, before we transition into the 6 nations. Alex talks about the current situation with England’s team and their chances heading into the tournament, and we also get a Scottish and Irish perspective with former Scottish international Blair Cowan and former Ireland international Luke Fitzgerald joining to talk about their teams and how they’re looking going into this year...
Jan 31, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 23
2:00 Alex Lowe 2:47 - Tackle Height changes and Upraor 6:33 - why is the RFU doing this now? 10:31 - Double Tackle Laws 13:00 - Will the rules reduce concussion? 14:22 - When will this filter into the professional game? 18:08 - Law Changes overshadowing the Six Nations 24:00 - Sam Sullivan & Cheta Emba 24:20 - Looking ahead to Sydney 25:13 - Looking back at Hamilton Silver 27:31 - Changes from last season 31:11 - Perfect time for possible Olympic Qualification 35:28 - Aaron Cummings & Da...
Jan 25, 2023•50 min•Ep. 22
01:47 - Eddie Jones News 06:46 - Should the RFU have prevented Eddie Jones’ switch? 12:40 - A Strong Australia squad going forward 17:20 - Will Eddie Jones and Warren Gatland both fulfil their 5 year plans? 24:00 - Sinfield and Borthwick announcing 6 nations team 30:40 - England Squad Selections 38:42 - England's captaincy and Owen Farell
Jan 17, 2023•55 min•Ep. 21
1:55 - Chris Robshaws’ life after retirement. 05:50 - Steve Evans appointment as England’s new attack coach 12:00 - Kevin Sinfield, England and the Six Nations 17:00 - Getting the Twickenham crowd back onside 19:45 - Chris and Corbs’s combined England 15 31:10 - English Rugby now has options 33:55 - Will England appoint a new captain? 41:00 - Team selection summary 42:50 - Getting behind Steve Borthwick 43:45 - Six Nations predictions
Jan 12, 2023•46 min•Ep. 20
01:30 Joe Taufete’e Intro 01:55 - Joe’s Injury Recovery 04:00 - MLR vs Premiership 4:49 - Departure of Steve Borthwick from Leicester Tigers 6:36 - Joe on Kevin Sinfield 7:36 - Should Leicester be worried with changes? 9:38 - Joe on new Head Coach Richard Wigglesworth 11:33 - Joe on Eagles missing on the World Cup 15:15 - Looking Forwards with the Eagles 16:53 - The departure of Gary Gold 20:19 - Alex Lowe 20:35 - Kevin Sinfield joining the England Setup 27:53 - Kevin’s contribution to England's...
Jan 04, 2023•48 min•Ep. 19
01:00 Corbs view on England and Steve Borthwick 08:33 - London Irish win against Saracens 13:55 - The ambition of London Irish 16:10 - Toms career and Journey 21:40 - Tom playing under Eddie Jones 24:00 - Has Tom spoken to Steve Borthwick? 25:00 - Tom’s aims for his career 29:30 - Tom using Breath Coach 33:00 - Similarities with Jonathan Fisher
Dec 28, 2022•35 min•Ep. 18
00:15 Corbs Reacts to 7s and Gary Gold News 06:45 - Steve Borthwick should become the next England Coach 14:00 - Steve Borthwick Tactics 17:00 - England Needing Defensive Improvements 19:30 - Leicester looking for Steve’s replacement 23:00 - Premiership Relaunch 30:10 - Will the restructure fix fundamental league issues? 32:00 - Latest on Wasps and Worcester bids and P Shares 35:55 - Differences between Premiership 1 and 2
Dec 14, 2022•42 min•Ep. 17
1:31 - Eddie Jones Dismissed 1:48 - Chris Jones initial thoughts 2:47 - Alex Lowe initial thoughts 4:11 - Corbs initial thoughts 6:22 - Eddie’s Coaching Staff 8:39 - Eddie’s Failures to rebuild 13:02 - What’s gone wrong since 2019? 16:12 - England ‘botching’ their succession plan 19:26 - Why was Eddie backed until now? 20:40 - Eddie Jones’ Successor 22:23 - Steve Borthwick 35:01 - USA 7s 36:15 - Womens 7s Results in Dubai 37:00 - Mens Results 38:25 - Areas for Improvement 41:18 - representation ...
Dec 07, 2022•48 min•Ep. 16
00:30 - England Chat 03:55 - England Fans booing 05:10 - Ross Young P1 Recap 09:15 - Player development pathways 13:37 - Should USA Rugby take more control of the pathways? 16:20 - Collectivising the Collegiate System 19:25 - Could World Rugby help finance the collegiate system? 24:27 - Is Dan Payne an unlikely fit? 26:30 - Should the USA share the Players between 7s and 15s? 30:30 - USA and World Rugby’s relationship 36:34 - Does Ross feel under pressure? 38:50 - Eddie Jones 41:00 - Foreign or ...
Nov 30, 2022•51 min•Ep. 15
4:50 - USA World Cup Reaction 8:29 - How big a blow to USA’s upward trajectory is not qualifying? 11:05 - Where does accountability lie? 13:03 - Ideas for moving forward 19:22 - A possible USA team in SLAR? 23:07 - Would SLAR create conflicts with MLR? 26:31 - Calendars and commercial strategies combining 29:25 - Will the USA completely Re-Draw their commercial model? 33:33 - Challenges faced with broadcasting deals 39:02 - Eddie Jones Teaser...
Nov 23, 2022•42 min•Ep. 14
On this weeks Scrum Down, we start by talking through the past weekends Rugby World Cup Final. Alex talks with Black Ferns Forwards coach Mike Cron about their transformation to world champions in 6 months and then he chats to former England international Kat Merchant about the final and the aftermath for both teams as well as the future of the woman’s game. And then, from Dubai - USA Head coach Gary Gold joins Alex ahead of their big world cup qualification decider with Portugal.
Nov 16, 2022•51 min•Ep. 13
1:33 - The Buzz Around the World Cup in New Zealand 2:18 - A sold out World Cup Final 5:06 - England vs Canada 10:01 - New Zealand Vs France 13:21 - The World Cup Final 15:55 - Englands Strengths 22:00 - Chris Jones Intro 22:25 - Autumn Internatioanls 23:39 - Wales vs New Zealand 24:27 - England vs Argentina 31:34 - Is Englands focus too much on the World Cup? 40:47- England need to ‘Bring It’ against Japan 44:04 - Ireland vs South Africa 46:40 - France vs Australia...
Nov 09, 2022•53 min•Ep. 12
1:17 - Intro to Abby Gustaitis 3:00 - The Semi Finals Top 4 4:14 - USA Vs Canada 8:11 - The USA Falling Short 10:27 - Where can the US improve? 15:54 - England vs Canada Selfie 18:46 - New Zealand vs France 23:14 - Corbs and Abby’s vote for the win 26:00 Bryce Intro 26:24 - Preparation in the US Squad 27:18 -The mood of the Eagles 30:45 - Coaching time with the Eagles 31:34 International players joining the camp 32:19 - The Passion representing the USA...
Nov 02, 2022•34 min•Ep. 11
