The Official Scottish Rugby Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast hosts Caroline Blair and Chris Paterson welcome two exciting guests to the pod. First, an in-depth chat with new Scottish Rugby Performance Director, David Nucifora. David talks through his impressions of the role so far, what he hopes to acheive in his position and the challenges and opportunities ahead for rugby in Scotland. 

Then, the pair are joined by Edinburgh Rugby Women’s team Head Coach for the upcoming Celtic Challenge, Claire Cruikshank. Claire steered Edinburgh to an impressive second placed finish in the team’s inaugural season, and will now take on the role in a full-time basis as part of the Scottish Rugby Female Performance Pipeline, funded by Royal London’s Level the Playing Field programme, enabled by the British and Irish Lions.

The Official Scottish Rugby Podcast returns to preview a bumper weekend of action in Edinburgh. Scotland round out their Famous Grouse Nations Series campaign when they host a resurgent Australia on Sunday. The result of that game will go a long way to setting the mood of November.

Before that, Scotland 'A' are back in action on home soil for the first time in a decade as they host Chile at Hive Stadium. Caroline Blair and Chris Paterson preview both fixtures, and reflect on the Autumn as a whole.

There is also special mention for an extra-special attendee to Sunday's game. Sione and Mosese Tuipulotu's 'Granny from Greenock', Jaqueline Thomson will watch her grandsons play rugby in the flesh for the first time, after she was flown over by Skyscanner, Official Partner of Scottish Rugby. 

Chris Paterson, Dale Clancy & Calum Johnston review the 2024 Men's Premiership and National Leagues as the end of season approaches. 

They also preview this Saturday's Men's Premiership Final between Hawick and Currie Chieftains and Calum speaks to Shawn Muir from Hawick and Jamie Forbes from Currie ahead of the big game at Mansfield Park.

Scotland captain Rachel Malcolm sits down with Caroline Blair to review their Guinness Women's Six Nations campaign to date, including last weekend's win against Italy in Parma - the first time in 25 years Scotland women have won on Italian soil.

She looks ahead to their final match against Ireland in Belfast this weekend - a match which if they win will see them finish third in the table and qualify for both the Rugby World Cup and WXV1.

Rachel also talks about her leadership style, the mood in camp and what the support of the fans means to her and the squad, following their first ever home sell at Hive Stadium this month.

On this week's Offical Scottish Rugby Podcast, Caroline and Chris catch up with some of the players who will be involved in the upcoming FOSROC Super Series Sprint, which gets underway this weekend.

Tom Currie from Edinburgh A, Kerry Johnstone from Glasgow Warriors A, Ross McKnight from Stirling Wolves, Corey Tait from Boroughmuir Bears, Finn Duraj from Watsonians, Jake Shearer from Ayrshire Bulls, Sam Derrick from Southern Knights and Lewis Wells from Heriot's all feature in our preview show as we look ahead to the first round of matches.

The first game is between Southern Knights and Edinburgh A at the Greenyards on Friday 19 April (kick-off 7.35pm) and will be live on BBC ALBA.

Scotland international Louise McMillan joins us on this week's episode of the Official Scottish Rugby Podcast to reflect on her 50th cap for Scotland against France last month.

Louise chats to Caroline and Chris about the upcoming sold-out match against England at Hive Stadium this weekend and why their first ever sell out means so much to the players.

She talks about her journey to the Scotland team, the growth of the women's game in Scotland, including the benefits of the new Celtic Challenge competition, and her love for Taylor Swift.

Scotland full-back Meryl Smith joins Caroline and Chris on this week's podcast to chat about the historic win against Wales in Cardiff.

Smith, who plays for Bristol Bears, also looks ahead to Saturday's match against France in the Guinness Women's Six Nations at Hive Stadium and talks about some of the differences playing full-back, compared to centre or stand-off.

Scotland women's attack coach Matt Banahan joins Caroline and Chris on this week's podcast.

The former England international, who played for Gloucester and Bath, hung up his boots in 2021 and joined Bryan Easson's coaching team in 2023, ahead of their successful WXV 2 campaign in South Africa.

Ahead of this year's Guinness Women's Six Nations, which gets underway this weekend, Banahan chats about the growth of the women's game, transitioning from player to coach and what their priorities are for the campaign ahead.

Scottish Rugby’s former Chief Medical Officer and current Scotland Team Doctor, Dr James Robson MBE joins Caroline and Chris on this week's episode of the Official Scottish Rugby Podcast ahead of his final game this weekend.

Robson will retire following this weekend's match against Ireland, after 33 years at Scottish Rugby.

He reflects on some of the highs and lows of his career, chats about that moment when he lifted the Calcutta Cup last month following Scotland's win over England and looks ahead to life after rugby.

This is a wide-ranging and emotional chat with a man who has given so much to Scottish Rugby over the last three decades.

On this week's podcast Chris and Caroline are in the Scotland men's team hotel to speak to backrower, Andy Christie, who has made an impact off the bench during the last couple of rounds of the Guinness Men's Six Nations.

Andy talks about coming back from injury, the win over England and looks ahead to this weekend's match against Italy in Rome.

He also chats about the work he does for charities, including being a Patron for Show Racism the Red Card.

Chris and Caroline then head to Hive Stadium to catch up with Scotland women's captain Rachel Malcolm and centre Emma Orr, ahead of the upcoming Guinness Women's Six Nations, which kicks off in just over two weeks.