Rugby Through The Leagues Podcast
Rugby Through The Leagues (Rugby TTL) shines a light on rugby beyond the mainstream — tier 2 and tier 3 nations, grassroots clubs, Spanish rugby, Rugby Europe, Super Rugby Americas, sevens and the global game. Honest interviews and analysis with the players, coaches and characters the spotlight ignores. New episodes regularly — subscribe on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Episodes
Physio Chris Jenkins, The Rugby Injury Physio, joins The Rugby in Europe Round-Up live with Carl and Pasc. He talks about his Game Ready index for medical rooms, why 4G pitches hit older forwards hardest, why the same knee injury tends to be worse on 4G, the mistakes amateur players make with injuries, why two weeks off is enough in the off-season, the words that get a rugby shoulder seen quickly, the night the invasion of Ukraine ...
Welsh filmmaker Mark Hegarty joins The Rugby in Europe Round-Up to talk about Liberia 7-15, his project to take rugby sevens to all 15 counties of Liberia within five years. It started with a choir trip in 2021. Now every player has to complete education on preventing violence against women before they can play, and a meal after training is a big part of why the kids come. We also talk about recording in George Weah's studio, runni...
Arthur Lennon joins The Rugby in Europe Round-Up live, the day after his first start at fly-half for FC Barcelona Rugby, where he scored inside two minutes. He talks to Keith Hammond, Pasquale and Ethan Bradley about the debut, losing at the death with a young squad, seven-hour coach trips in Spain's second tier, and what a successful season looks like for Barça.
Plus London City Sevens with Perpignan, Wales v Spain, the best coachi...
Carl talks to Max Derbyshire, DotDarbs on Instagram, from a borrowed bedroom in Yerevan. Darbs has hitchhiked from Georgia, where he was filming the Didi 10, to spend time with Armenia's rugby community and the Iran national team.
It all started with a phone that went missing in the post and a cheap flight to Madagascar two days later. There he found what's reported to be the city with the most rugby clubs on Earth: kids playing in ...
Rugby TTL exclusive: Arthur Lennon reveals his move to Barça Rugby — with Carl and Pasquale from Game Day Bites.
In this episode: the call from director Javier Soler and why a dropped-down Barça appealed more than the safe option; what new head coach Juan Pablo Socino wants from his fly-half; and what years in and out of Spanish rugby taught a player who arrived mid-COVID without a word of the language.
Subscribe on YouTube (yo...
Two days before British & Irish Expats Rugby play their first ever fixture, Carl talks to the man who built it.
Dan Elsom grew up in Sydney, played Shute Shield, then spent five years in the English national leagues — and came home missing the culture he'd found in British and Irish grassroots rugby. The idea arrived watching the Lions take on the Wallabies. The maths arrived shortly after: there were already dozens of Bri...
A special one before the season restarts. Carl talks to Nathan Mason, the man behind Match for Mental Health — back at Cardiff Arms Park on Friday 30 October, kick-off 19:30, raising money for Tough Enough To Care and Looseheads RFC.
Nathan never set out to organise anything. A conversation about sevens turned into "I've got the Arms Park, do you know any charities?", and he said yes before he'd thought about it. The first edi...
The Ascent Rugby Series miniseries continues. Carl talks to Niel Otto of The Dukes, Den Bosch, before their opening festival in Frankfurt — and the weekend after, when the Dukes host one of their own.
Niel was at Griquas in the Currie Cup. His contract ended at 27 and he had all but decided to stop playing and go into strength and conditioning. He moved to the Netherlands, Googled the nearest rugby club just to meet people, an...
The Ascent Rugby Series miniseries continues. Carl talks to Dan Gdula, captain of Pogoń Siedlce — back-to-back champions of Poland — before their opening festival in Frankfurt against RC Eemland.
Dan on a squad drawn from five nations, a game plan built on winning the collisions, and why this competition matters far beyond one weekend: Polish clubs have had no European pathway, the Super Cup move never happened, and the ...
Frankfurt head coach Byron Schmidt on hosting the first-ever Ascent Rugby Series festival — and how the whole competition started as his idea.
In this episode: how a cross-border youth format became Central Europe's newest senior series; Frankfurt's running brand of rugby and the players to watch; and what fans can expect in Frankfurt on 22 August.
Subscribe on YouTube (youtube.com/@RugbyTTL) · Spotify · Apple Podcasts · rugbyt...
On the Rugby Through the Leagues podcast, Carl speaks with Mitch McGann, head coach of Dutch club RC Eemland, a founding team in the new Ascent Rugby Series beginning 22nd August in Frankfurt and now expanded from six to seven teams, including two Dutch sides (RC Eemland and The Dukes). McGann explains Eemland's identity as a family-oriented club with a strong youth pipeline and a recent shift from a forward-heavy style toward more...
This week on Rugby Through the Leagues, Carl sits down with George and Dave from Attica Rugby, the team behind the Aegean Rugby Festival, to talk about growing rugby in Greece through sport tourism. They cover the festival's origins, the vision of showcasing Greece as a sporting destination, and the reality of 2026 — a scaled-back event after travel uncertainty and rising costs forced multiple cancellations, yet still deliver...
This week on Rugby Through the Leagues, Carl sits down with Xhino, chairman of the Albanian rugby federation, for the story of how a sport almost nobody was playing became a national project. Xhino traces it back to 2010–2012, when a handful of students inspired by YouTube clips started throwing a ball around — through the founding of Tirana Rugby Club to official federation recognition in 2024. He and Carl get into Alb...
German rugby is rebuilding — and new head coach Mike Poppmeier is the man tasked with leading it back.
In this episode, Carl sits down with Mike Poppmeier, the new head coach of Germany and a former Germany international, for an open conversation about Rugby Europe, the national team's future, and the funding gap holding it all back. Mike talks through his South African upbringing, his German/Austrian family roots and 11 years...
The Rugby Through the Leagues podcast welcomes Jordan, organiser of Heart of Wales 7s, and Stu from The Flaming Unicorns / Tough Enough To Care, to talk rugby, community and mental health.
Jordan charts the tournament's growth from 16 men's teams to an 11-year event drawing around 1,500 people — with the goal of 6,000 — and the entertainment that's grown with it: Flamingo Bingo, boxing, netball, charity matches and the f...
Former Wales and British & Irish Lions flanker Josh Navidi on the neck injury that ended his career and life after the game.
In this episode: the injury & retirement call; Wales & Lions highlights; the transition out of pro rugby; advice for young players.
Subscribe on YouTube (youtube.com/@RugbyTTL) · Spotify · Apple Podcasts · rugbyttl.com. ⏱ Add chapters from 00:00.
00:00 Passport Panic Intro
...
Sam Hollingsworth on swapping the RFU Championship for Spain's División de Honor — Nottingham to VRAC Valladolid, the ACL injury, and what English players should know about Spanish rugby.
In this episode: leaving the English system; standard of the División de Honor; the ACL comeback; advice for imports.
Subscribe on YouTube (youtube.com/@RugbyTTL) · Spotify · Apple Podcasts · rugbyttl.com. ⏱ Add chapters from 0...
Copa del Rey winner Vidal Souza breaks down Alcobendas' 40–39 derby final win over Cisneros and the clutch mentality behind it.
In this episode: the 40–39 final; turning late losses into a title; the Madrid derby; Spanish club rugby.
Subscribe on YouTube (youtube.com/@RugbyTTL) · Spotify · Apple Podcasts · rugbyttl.com. ⏱ Add chapters from 00:00.
00:00 Clutch Mentality Intro
00:16 Podcast Welcome...
Rugby TTL hosts Charlie from What's All the Ruckus to debate the future of tier 2 and tier 3 rugby and how to grow the game.
In this episode: why tier 2/3 matters; Rugby Europe & MLR; World Cup 2031/2035; emerging nations.
Subscribe on YouTube (youtube.com/@RugbyTTL) · Spotify · Apple Podcasts · rugbyttl.com. ⏱ Add chapters from 00:00.
00:00 Podcast Collaboration Intro
00:44 Why Cover Tier Two
01:56 G...
Fiji great Nikola Matawalu on the Aegean Sevens festival, growing sevens in Greece and the Fijian pathway.
In this episode: the Aegean Sevens project; sevens in Greece; Fiji pathways; moving into coaching.
Subscribe on YouTube (youtube.com/@RugbyTTL) · Spotify · Apple Podcasts · rugbyttl.com. ⏱ Add chapters from 00:00.
00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro
00:36 How Nikola Joined Aegean Sevens
01:40 Greece Rugby Revival
0...
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
DISGRACELAND is an award-winning music and true crime podcast about musicians getting away with murder and behaving very badly. Jerry Lee Lewis's 5th wife? Dead. Sid and Nancy? Both dead. Why? Because musicians are insane, and insane things happen to them. Why did we lose Amy Winehouse at 27? Was Debbie Harry really abducted by Ted Bundy as she claims? Is Patti Smith not just the "Godmother of Punk", but also the "Original True Crime Girl"? What really happened the night of the Jay Z nightclub stabbing? What do the Diddy indictments truly reveal? All these stories and more, on artists from every genre and their true crimes, in our massive 260-plus story archive. The Dead, the Stones, Johnny, Willie, Frank, Kurt, Courtney, Gaga, Lana, Taylor, and too many to name. DISGRACELAND is music history come to life through audio storytelling as you've never heard it before, with revealing facts: yes, assassins are the real reason the Beatles quit touring—reclaimed myths: no, Mama Cass didn't die from choking on a ham sandwich––and constant reckoning between art and artist––all told through the lens of true crime. This is the podcast for the self-proclaimed "Disgos", the musically obsessed and the true crime heads; the outsiders, the independent thinkers who know that the best history is the history that gets buried. DISGRACELAND is where host Jake Brennan tells the stories they didn't want told. The kind you'll end up telling someone else. Get ready to uncover hidden truths and buckle up for truly edge-of-your-seat storytelling. New, fully scripted, sound-designed episodes are released every Tuesday. Bonus chat-style episodes where Jake responds to voicemails, texts, and emails from Disgos hit on Thursdays, and "Rewind" episodes from our archive drop on Sundays. DISGRACELAND is not a journalistic podcast. It's an entertainment podcast inspired by true events. Certain dialogue and scenes are dramatized, as is common in scripted entertainment based on real stories. Sources and credits for each episode are available at www.disgracelandpod.com. To unlock ad-free listening, exclusive content, and connect with your fellow Disgos, go to www.disgracelandpod.com to become an All Access member. Rocka Rolla.