#22 Italy Dreaming, Scotland & Ireland Doubting, and England Dominating

Six Nations round one is done and there’s a lot to unpack. Jim, Goodey and Bigs dive into Italy’s superb win over Scotland, how Gonzalo Quesada has transformed the Azzurri, and whether this result puts real pressure on Gregor Townsend ahead of a huge Calcutta Cup clash. The lads then turn to England v Wales, looking beyond the scoreline at England’s attacking evolution, George Ford’s control, and whether discipline could become an issue against tougher opposition. Wales’ struggles, green shoots at U20 level, and what a response at the Principality might look like are all on the agenda. We also look at Ireland’s poor performance in Paris, what went wrong in that first half, France’s physical edge, big TMO calls, and what has changed with Ireland. Listener questions, Smartest Call of the Week, news, shout-outs and live shows in Dublin round out a packed episode of proper Six Nations chat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You can listen to #22 Italy Dreaming, Scotland & Ireland Doubting, and England Dominating online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

#22 Italy Dreaming, Scotland & Ireland Doubting, and England Dominating is an episode from The Rugby Pod by The Ringer.

This episode is 71:52 long.

This episode was published on Feb 10, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from The Rugby Pod when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.