Well, well, well. Would you look at that? The All Blacks have gone and absolutely PUMPED the Wallabies. AGAIN.

And my word, that first half was a thing of beauty.

Champagne rugby. Free-flowing attack. Forward dominance. And a Wallabies defence that looked like it had collectively forgotten how tackling works.

The All Blacks piled on 36 points in the first half, and just three minutes into the second, they'd reached 43! Arguably the best rugby we've seen from them under Dave Rennie. It was glorious.

And at the heart of it all? BEAUDEN MOTHERFLIPPIN' BARRETT.

The old boy turned back the clock, bagged himself two tries, silenced the doubters, and reminded everyone of a very important lesson: Form is temporary. Class is permanent. And that man is ALL class.

But then... something happened.

The second half arrived, the champagne went flat, the injury stoppages piled up, the TMO decided to get involved, and the Wallabies finally remembered they were allowed to play rugby too. What had looked like a potential cricket score turned into a slightly frustrating second-half slog.

Still, a 43–21 thumping is a 43–21 thumping. We'll take it!

We dissect the good, the bad, and the slightly baffling from another All Blacks demolition job.

And, at long last, WE'RE TALKING WOMEN'S RUGBY!

Ding dong! The Red Roses' extraordinary 41-match unbeaten run is OVER!

Canada have finally knocked England off their perch with a historic 24–21 victory in Toronto, in front of a record-breaking crowd of 18,621 fans. An incredible performance, a dramatic finish, and exactly the sort of result women's rugby needs. We get stuck into what this means for the women's game.

Plus, the usual collection of tangents, absolute nonsense, and questionable rugby opinions.

Oh, and Mark has discovered the sound effects button on our recording software.

God help us all.

Anyway, grab a beer and enjoy

THE BLEDISLOE IS SAFE, BABY! 🏆🍻

After weeks of doom, gloom, injuries, nervousness and general All Blacks-induced depression, we headed into the fortress that is Eden Park with the Bledisloe Cup on the line and absolutely no idea what to expect.

Well, after a lightning start, a bit of a scare from the Wallabies up front, and some genuinely outstanding rugby, the All Blacks absolutely PUMPED the Aussies. And my God, we actually caught some aerial balls!

That's right. AERIAL BALLS. IN THE AIR. CAUGHT BY ALL BLACKS PLAYERS. WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE!

We won the aerial battle, dominated up front, and put together the kind of performance we've been crying out for. For the first time in what feels like an eternity, we're actually happy! And naturally, we've decided to sit down and talk about it.

Which probably means nobody will watch this episode, because apparently you sadistic bastards only tune in when we're miserable. Not that many of you watch us anyway, but still. We appreciate the suffering.

We break down the big win, look ahead to Bledisloe number two, talk our usual mountain of absolute bullshit, and bring back everyone's favourite utterly ridiculous game show: Post-Game Predictions of the URC!

It's a rare episode featuring two relatively happy All Blacks fans. Make the most of it. Who knows how long it'll last?

Grab a beer and enjoy! 🍻

Not a massive week of international rugby… so naturally, we got distracted.

With not too much happening on the Test rugby front, we take a slight detour this week. There’s a bit of chat about the NRL Grand Final, a quick look ahead to the Bledisloe Cup, Ardie Savea signing with the Blues, and the growing excitement around getting back to Eden Park.

But really, this episode belongs to you lot.

We dive into a stack of listener questions covering everything from the very real financial struggles facing New Zealand Rugby, to what our try celebrations would look like if either of us ever managed to score one. Some questions get serious answers. Others… considerably less so.

And before any of that, Tony takes everyone on an unnecessarily long journey through the mystery of a horrific smell that appeared in his car — and the increasingly desperate hunt to find out where the hell it was coming from.

A quick warning: we had a couple of audio gremlins right at the start of this one. Bear with us for the first five minutes or so and everything sorts itself out.

Grab a beer, send in your questions, and enjoy.

Australia did the unthinkable this week and beat South Africa.

Yes, yes, we know — “it was basically a B team.” But it was still the team Rassie put out there to win the game, and they couldn’t get it done. So perhaps that much-vaunted South African depth isn’t quite as deep as advertised.

There were still some seriously good players in that Springbok side, but throwing them all together and expecting instant cohesion proved a little ambitious.

That said… they very nearly bloody won it anyway.

Australia completely imploded late in the game, the communications at Optus Stadium completely shat the bed, Andrea Piardi appeared to spend half the match on the phone, and cards started flying out like it was Christmas. Four cards in a ridiculously short space of time somehow left Australia down to 11 men.

South Africa naturally piled on the pressure, but somehow the Wallabies held on for what has to go down as both a famous win and one of the most farcical, entertaining and downright absurd games of rugby we’ve seen in a while.

Elsewhere, we get into the newly named All Blacks squad. Frizell is back. Barrett is back. Darries — thanks for coming. Ruben Love has unfortunately done himself a mischief and is out, but overall the squad is looking pretty strong.

And Australia suddenly don’t look like the easy beats some people might have expected either. Under Les Kiss, there are signs that something pretty interesting might be building.

We talk about all of it, have a couple of beers, go wildly off topic and talk plenty of bullshit — exactly as you’d expect from Rugby’s Greatest Podcast.

Grab a beer and enjoy.

Two Cents Gets Distracted.

In another deeply upsetting week, the All Blacks blew their chance to square the Greatest Rivalry Series at 2–2 and were instead wholly and completely beaten by the Springboks, who deservedly wrapped things up 3–1.

Much to our disappointment and dismay, the right team won.

Despite what some might call a few 50–50 calls. Were they really 50–50 calls, though? Or is Tony just a bit sour? Who knows, really.

Anyway, we go deep on the final Test, assess where both squads are at, lick our wounds, talk some bullshit, and then finally look beyond the Greatest Rivalry Series at what else is happening in the wonderful world of rugby.

Hopefully, at some point soon, we can stop making thumbnails with sad faces. Getting a bit sick of this.

Grab a beer and enjoy.

Thanks to Severn River Rugby Football Club for the beers.

https://www.severnriverrugby.org/

One of the most depressing weeks we’ve ever had to record Two Cents Gets Distracted.

Soak it up, Springbok fans. Your team was better. You won the series in South Africa, and we are very, very sad.

Despite a pretty decent effort from the All Blacks and a cracking start, the Springboks eventually proved their class — particularly at set piece, where we had absolutely no answers.

And then came the moment.

Will Jordan scores. For a few glorious seconds, we tasted hope. Joy. Possibility.

Then it all turned to ashes in our mouths as we sat through perhaps the most painful 15 minutes of Springbok dominance imaginable, watching them completely take the game away from us.

So, naturally, we talk about it. We unload. We grieve. We attempt to process what happened. It is a bitter, bitter pill to swallow.

We also cover Argentina vs Australia — a draw that, from Tony’s perspective at least, was pretty hard to get too excited about after everything we’d just witnessed.

And a massive thanks to Four Paws for sponsoring the NPC segment. What an absolute champion that bloke is.

Grab a beer, Springbok fans enjoy our sadness, and let’s get into it.

Masiev thanks Again to 4paws!!

A very sad week in the 2CGD household as the Springboks get up and beat the All Blacks in Test Two of the greatest rivalry in rugby.

And, annoyingly, it was an absolute cracker.

Two contrasting styles, two heavyweight teams going at each other, and another reminder of exactly why this rivalry is so bloody good. Unfortunately, this one didn’t go our way, which leaves the series locked at 1–1 and sets up a massive, mouth-watering Game Three — the unofficial decider at FNB Stadium in the Republic.

Far more important, obviously, than that little moneymaker happening in Baltimore.

We go deep on the second Test: where it was won and lost, what the Boks did well, what the All Blacks will be kicking themselves about, and what needs to change ahead of the big one.

Tony also goes on a completely calm and measured rant about the outrage surrounding Dave Rennie having the sheer audacity to mention something to the media. We certainly can’t think of any other international rugby coach whose name begins with R who might occasionally use the media to apply a little pressure…

Cough cough, Rassie. Cough cough.

We also touch on the Lions v All Blacks opportunity that popped up during the week, start building toward the enormous third Test, and — because we’re nothing if not thorough — try not to completely forget about our friends in Australia and Argentina.

The Wallabies are quietly putting together something resembling a winning streak. What a time to be alive.

It’s a bit of a doozy.

Grab a beer, settle in, and enjoy.

The first block of the Nations Championship is done, and the All Blacks—much to our delight—finally played like bloody All Blacks.

For 40 glorious minutes at Eden Park, they were all over a slightly flailing Irish side. Ireland fought their way back into it after halftime, but putting 41 points on them and winning by 19 is a bloody good result. More importantly, it gives us a little bit of—keyword—optimism heading into the Greatest Rivalry Series.

Speaking of which, the Boks—or the B-Boks, C-Boks, or whatever version of the Boks was rolled out this week—put Wales away without too much trouble. South African fans weren’t exactly thrilled by the dropped ball and generally ordinary-looking performance, but they still won 43–0, and that scrum somehow looks even more terrifying than ever.

So, naturally, we dive into the All Blacks–Springboks rivalry and start looking ahead to the series we’ve all been waiting for. Tony throws a little chum into the water, so try not to bite too hard. It’s all banter at the end of the day. Probably. Rassie is definitely in our heads.

Elsewhere, Australia gave Joe Schmidt a fitting send-off by dominating Italy, Fiji scored some absolutely ridiculous tries despite losing to Scotland, and England and Argentina appeared to cram an entire year’s worth of yellow cards into one fiery, chaotic match.

Coming on the back of the spicy England–Argentina Football World Cup semifinal, the whole thing felt suitably hostile, slightly unhinged and, eventually, pretty entertaining.

We cover all of that, talk plenty of rugby and sprinkle in the usual amount of bullshit.

There’s no episode next week, but after the break, we’re going deep into South African content as the Greatest Rivalry Series finally arrives.

Grab a beer and enjoy.