The Smith experiment and Farrell's return

09/22/23 • 29 min

It's bonjour from Lille as Sara pods from the England team announcement. She catches up with friend of the pod Marcus Smith who's been given the nod at full-back this weekend against Chile. He reveals it was Kevin Sinfield who first approached him about the playing at 15 and that Danny is suffering from pod FOMO. Captain Owen Farrell is back at fly-half after completing his ban and as Will Kelleher from the Times explains, he's very excited about it. There's also talk of bubble tea and what fans can expect from the city of Lille.

Previous Episode

The Paris showdown

Chris catches up with All Blacks great Andrew Mehrtens over coffee, croissants and cheese to preview another bumper weekend of World Cup action. We focus on the big showdown in Paris between Ireland and South Africa and ask where would Johnny Sexton rank in the pantheon of all-time greats if Ireland did go all the way this year. We go inside the Ireland camp to speak to scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park and we also get Springbok perspective from World Cup winning captain John Smit on Siya Kolisi and whether the class of 2023 is better than 2019.

Next Episode

The big weekend preview

Will this be one of the great weekends in World Cup history? Chris meets up with Tommy Bowe and Stirling Mortlock in the heart of Paris to preview Ireland's showdown with South Africa and talk 7-1 splits. How worried is Stirling that Australia's World Cup could be effectively ended by Wales on Sunday? And is Eddie Jones' reputation on the line in Lyon? We also discuss the news that has threatened to overshadow the whole weekend with Antoine Dupont suffering a fractured cheekbone.