The Lekker Rugby Pod!

Three journalists were in the room with Dave Rennie and CEO Steve Lancaster at NZR HQ in Auckland. Martin Devlin was one of them.Rennie has a word for what he wants from this team. He has a number every player must hit. He already has a starting XV in mind for the first game in South Africa. What he said in that room has not been reported anywhere else.Martin Devlin is back on the Lekker Rugby Pod, and this is the first of many conversations as we build toward the Greatest Rivalry Tour. We will also be joining Martin on the ground in South Africa for live events during the tour. More details coming soon.On this episode, MW Welman and Harry Jones sit down with Martin to hear what the new All Blacks coach said behind closed doors, and what it means for the tour..

Brok Harris spent years scrumming in Wales. What he learnt there is why the Stormers generated 58 scrum penalties this season. On this episode, scrum coach Brok Harris and tight-head Sazi Sandi break down how the gap between Welsh and South African scrum philosophy shaped the most dominant set piece in the URC. The timings are different. The mindset is different. The risk appetite is completely different. Brok had to figure that out the hard way when he crossed hemispheres. Now he coaches it. Sazi executes it.From Sazi's journey through Grahamstown and St Andrews College to his 50th cap, to Brok's years in Wales before coming home to coach, this is an inside look at the culture and thinking behind a penalty machine.On this episode of The Lekker Rugby Pod, MW Welman and Harry Jones sit down with Brok Harris, DHL Stormers scrum coach, and Sazi Sandi, Stormers tight-head and 50-cap Springbok, ahead of a crucial URC quarter-final positioning game in Cardiff.

Harry Jones has one word for Leinster going into the URC knockouts: ominous. But is it by design, or did they just get hot at the right time?On this week's Lekker Rugby Pod, the Harry Index sizes up every team with a seat at the table. The Bulls are back from the dead and looking dangerous. The Stormers are quietly building toward something big. Glasgow are leaking. And Munster? There is a lot going on at Munster right now.MW and Harry also call the final-round fixtures, including one upset nobody else is picking.

The Stormers are second on the URC log, and yet their attack coach sometimes has no idea what's coming next. That is not a gap in the system. That is the system.Dawie Snyman has spent many years building the Stormers attack around one idea: give the right players the freedom to express themselves and trust what follows. On this episode, he and captain Ruhan Nel break open how that philosophy actually works: How the penalty decision gets made in real time on the field, why the new aerial contest rules have reshaped modern attack, what playing on a 4G surface does to a team that likes to use its feet, and what "peaking" looks like for a squad nobody can quite pin down. Real answers, Not press-conference ones.Ruhan Nel also unpacks his journey from trials rugby at Tuks to Stormers captain, and what sevens taught him about reading a 15-man game.

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.