The Lekker Rugby Pod!

The Bordeaux versus Bath Champions Cup semi-final ignited a very public clash between two of rugby's most prominent online voices over the standard of commentary, the integrity of the TMO process, and where the line sits between legitimate criticism and agenda-driven noise. MW and Harry work through what each side got right, where both overreached, and what the controversy reveals about the TMO system under pressure. The pod also covers a shifting Harry Index, Leinster rounding into ominous form at exactly the wrong time, the Junior Springboks closing in on a championship, and what the All Blacks depth chart really looks like under pressure.On this episode of the Lekker Rugby Pod, MW Welman and Harry Jones weigh in on the drama that has split rugby online.

MW Welman started a sports channel. Harry Jones was writing about rugby from the other side of the world. One conversation changed everything.In this episode of The Long Way to the Game, Paul Avenant sits down with MW and Harry to tell the full origin story for the first time. How Megafoon Rugby found its footing, how a single phone call became Lekker Rugby Pod, and how a channel that began with Formula One content quietly grew into a rugby platform with a South African heartbeat and a genuinely global footprint. Not a plan they executed. A thing they built, recognised mid-flight, and then pushed as hard as they could. The apology tours, the coaches who pushed back, the WhatsApp from Dobbo, and the breakfast in Pretoria where two men realised their dreams had already been exceeded.Hosted by Paul Avenant, with MW Welman and Harry Jones on The Long Way to the Game.

Franco Smith has been calling himself a Dreamgiver for years. This conversation explains what that actually means.Jamie Lyall, who commentates for World Rugby and writes for RugbyPass, has watched Franco up close since 2022, when a teacher from the Free State arrived in Glasgow with no recruitment budget, inherited a staff, and started coaching scrum sessions he had never run before. Lyall unpacks what makes him different: a cultural intelligence that can hold Jack Dempsey and Sione Tuipulotu inside the same framework, and an ability to make players believe in something before they have any proof it works.The conversation also covers Glasgow's URC title run and that afternoon at Loftus, Franco's legacy at Italy, Kyle Steyn's place in world rugby, and an honest read on Gregor Townsend's record when the pressure is on.On this episode of the Lekker Rugby Pod, MW Welman sits down with rugby broadcaster and journalist Jamie Lyall.

The DHL Stormers are top of the URC log. They also just lost one of their own. This conversation sits inside both of those realities.Rito Hlungwani has built one of the most dominant forwards packs in world rugby. The way he does it, the rituals, the methods, the connection he builds in the room before battle. You won't find it written down anywhere. Ben-Jason Dixon is the engineer inside that machine. The man whose questions in team meetings take weeks to understand, and are always proven right.Together they sat down with Harry Jones and MW Welman before the Stormers' European tour. On Chippie Solomon. On what holds a group together when everything hurts. On what it takes to lead the URC when you're carrying grief.On The Lekker Rugby Pod, MW Welman and Harry Jones explore the people, ideas, and moments shaping South African rugby and the world game.

Gráinne Seoige has watched Ireland and South Africa play each other from both sides of the fence.One of Ireland's most recognisable broadcasters, she now lives in Pretoria, was at Loftus when the Springboks settled the score in 2024, and has been inside SA rugby culture long enough to see the pattern clearly. On this episode she makes the case that the two nations share more than their rivalry suggests: in how they talk, how they host, how they grieve, and why the underdog story never goes away in either country. She also defends Connacht, corrects Harry Jones on the Galway win over the Stormers, and says "hoendervleis" in the most Irish accent you will ever hear at Loftus.On this episode of The Lekker Rugby Pod, MW Welman and Harry Jones sit down with Gráinne Seoige, Irish broadcaster, Connacht fan, and resident of Pretoria.