LTW Fancast – Details, episodes & analysis

Woohoo Leicester Tigers Women were back in action, and although it was another home defeat, we reflect positively on 12 amazing debutants for the club as well as other encouraging signs of growth against a decent Sharks side! Before then, we have a lengthy news section comprising of the Red Roses vs Black Ferns (including Twickenham Toilets obviously), get excited for WXV and a Scottish side red hot on form with our Thistled Tigers in tow. As Jacob talks us through his insights after attending the Sale match (including his mama's, well the only ones safe to air anyway) we then preview an intriguing PWR Up Series finale against Loughborough Lightning SLASH Northampton Saints away at Franklin Gardens as we gear up for our first women's East Mids Derby of the season. Enjoy! 

Recovering from the devastating news of James Earl Jones' passing, Jess and Jacob reunite after a summer break to dust off the airwaves and speak about all things Leicester Tigers' Women. We chat the Olympics and Paralympics, activate 'Operation Don't Panic' with the news about Meg Jones' injury and yet again have another discussion about inadequate social media content by the club of the women's team (which is basically a weekly ritual for us now). 

Jess has some exciting news about a brand new initiative that she is on the committee of, and we get excited about Tigers' new signings as well as getting ready for WXV and the women's first game of the season in the PWR Up Series against Sale Sharks at Mattioli Woods Welford Road, where we get geared up to see all the new players in action and look for signs of improvement from last season. Buckle up for another bumper! It's so good to be back! 

As always, leave us a review on Spotify, message us on our socials and give us an email at the ltwfancast@gmail.com to get in touch. 

Returning from the other side filling in for Elliott on the Rolling Maul, Jess manages to talk even more about scrums with Jacob as we delve into Round 2 of the Women’s Six Nations (basically gloating about Meg Jones and Elis Martin, so standard LTW Fancast format at this point) and the USA’s victory in a friendly over South Africa. 

With not much women's rugby to talk about this weekend, we focus more in-depth on the Allianz Cup fixture on the 13th April as well as get very twitchy about the men’s Saturday night fixture against Leinster.

 Before finally we round off Episode No.17 with a super fantastic interview with Paul Morgan of the PWR. Even with not much rugby this weekend, it’s still a, you guessed it, bumper episode! 

Jess and Jacob are back to gloat about the performances of Tigers internationals (unfortunately no Mike Cooper impression of Tiger Watch was made) in the opening weekend of the Women’s Six Nations before having a look at the stakes of the Fantasy League. 

We then start the build-up to Tigers return to action on the 13th April at home against Quins in the Allianz Cup. 

We also then discuss in-depth (CW: mentions of misogyny, sexism and rape) the Welsh Rugby Union before previewing the Red Roses fixture against Wales this Saturday at Ashton Gate.

After a couple of weeks’ hiatus, Jess and Jacob are finally back to discuss the Saracens away game as part of the SuperPWR weekend, in which we give our two pennies worth on the Poppy Cleall ban. With the domestic season on a break, our attention turns to the Six Nations, where we poorly defend our English focus despite having our Scottish Tigers contingent being the more numerous. Alongside another news section we discuss a juicy transfer rumour as well as discontented murmurings about having 7 point unconverted tries being trialled in the women’s game. If that isn’t enough, we are extremely delighted to be joined by journalist Jess Hayden to chat about Contested, the Six Nations, and the release of her awesome new book on the Red Roses. Finally, Jess and Jacob round off the pod by previewing England’s Six Nations’ opening against Italy this weekend with a bit of a deep dive on Italian women’s rugby.

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After a long weekend of a LOT of rugby to get over Friday night’s disappointment of a tough and (surprising) defeat at home to Mattioli Woods Welford Road, Jess and Jacob are here to offer listeners some catharsis, as well as digressions on the lore of Jacob’s lucky socks, and have a good natter as to what the club can be doing to improve promoting the girls side and making MWWR a fortress moving forward. We also get really excited for SuperPWR weekend as all PWR games will be televised/live-streamed for the first time ever and preview Tigers away fixture against Sarries. 

Our player profile this week is on Welsh international Amelia Tutt and like other player profiles we have a quick chat on Welsh women’s rugby which (Content Warning) does involve discussions around SA.

Giddiness and excitability are almost at an all-time high as we are joined by club’s mega superstar Magic Meg Jones for a quick chat on the amazing growth this team has undergone this season. 

We chat about the season ticket news for the 24/25 season and quickly cheer ourselves back up with the news that 5 Tigers players have been called up to Scotland ahead of the Women’s Six Nations. We then get back to the giddiest of giddy levels as we preview Friday Night Lights as we face Ealing at Mattioli Woods Welford Road coinciding with a bumper player profile on Amy Cokayne, who judging by all the club promo, will be making her long-awaited debut for the Tigers on Friday after too many biscuits and brew on the sidelines in rehab. Enjoy! 

How sweet does revenge taste? As sweet as Pancake Day, or as sweet as Valentine’s Day chocolates? Nahhhhh as sweet as the Canadian maple syrup that Claire Gallagher had in her wheetabix! Jess and Jacob go over what pancake filling is best, and then more importantly, the massive Derby Day win away at Franklins Gardens, talking about the ramifications but also still plenty of room for improvement. 

In our news section, there’s some exciting news about us setting up a Fantasy League for the Women’s Six Nations and then we get confused as to whether it’s called EQP or EPQ or even PEQ as we delve into the news that Tigers and Sale received points deductions last week for not meeting EQP averages in our match day squads. 

Then we talk about our hard-hitting South African second row Catha Jacobs for our player profile and talk about the state of women’s rugby in South Africa and its growth since the start of the last women’s World Cup. So join us for quality analysis including but not limited to Jess’ preferred pancake toppings, Meg Jones getting slow clapped, how lineouts help doing Swing Dance aerials and more wild Amy Cokayne predictions from Jacob in episode 12 of the LTW Fancast. 

It was not quite David and Glawsiath-Hartpury, but my word did we give the (albeit heavily rotated) defending champions a big scare and score some absolute beauties. Jess and Jacob are back on the airwaves as Jacob shows off his editing skills to get round man-flu and wifi-connection issues to give the impression/illusion of coherence to go through the game. 

Jess is then joined by grassroots player and Tigers superfan Alex Bugg, who was there in the Tradeview Stand, to give their perspective of the match and get excited about the potential of the Gallagher-Jones midfield partnership. Interspersed with a chat about our pod ethos, player profile on super sub Charlotte Fray and a preview of this Saturday’s tasty-looking East Mids derby return fixture against Loughborough at Franklin Gardens. Podcast no.11 of the LTW Fancast is another banger of an episode for you lovely listeners.

With no game to review, all eyes are on Saturday as Leicester Tigers Women host the defending champions and league leaders Gloucester-Hartpury. Before that, Jess and Jacob delve into the circumstances surrounding Forward Coach Luke Stratford’s 7 week matchday suspension and the impact that will have on the team in this period, before a look at the furore surrounding the gendered language of World Rugby’s tweet in the documentary on officiating in the last World Cup. 

Then, courtesy of Jess’ LinkedIn totally-not-stalking and Jacob’s goldmine-discovery of an archived post on the University of Ottawa’s website, we have a mega player profile on recent signing Claire Gallagher where we get equally giddy about her potential, equally befuddled about Canadian collegiate awards as well as do an insight into the state of women’s rugby in Canada. Rounding off Episode 10, we explore the possibilities awaiting Tigers facing the daunting challenge of Gloucester-Hartpury, and where the gyals can look to improve on their showing from the heavy defeat away fixture in the end of November and continue to build from their first victory in the PWR against Sale.