Today I was delighted to be joined by the founder of The Arthur Wharton Foundation, Shaun Campbell!

Arthur’s incredible story started when he moved from Ghana to Darlington in 1883 whereupon he became the first black professional footballer, the first official fastest man as well as a professional cricketer and rugby player!

The Foundation works to promote racial harmony for the public benefit by promoting knowledge and mutual understanding between different racial groups and advancing education and raising awareness towards the promotion of equality and diversity by promoting activities to foster understanding between people from diverse backgrounds.

On Saturday 17th October Darlington Mowden Park rugby club will be welcoming Shaun and the Arthur Wharton trust to celebrate Black History month and Darlington will be presenting a ball signed by all of their players of colour from the minis to the seniors.

Today I thoroughly enjoyed doing a deep dive on an outstanding new fly-half who made the first two URC matches in South Africa that little bit more exiting!

Born in Austria and following in his father's footsteps, Casper joined Leinster rugby during covid and after making his first cap last year has now since started twice against the Lions and Sharks.

In this video I go into his background, his motivations, the skills in him that caught my eye and where I think he sits in the Leinster fly-half pecking order! Always love seeing a new player make a good account of himself! Keep it up Casper 👍 Also available wherever you stream your podcasts 🏉

This week I was overjoyed to reunite with a legend of Champ rugby and phenomenal fly-half, Bruce Houston!

Bruce’s rugby CV boasts a wide range of experience from club level to international duty as he toured South Africa, Canada and America playing for Zimbabwe. I first spoke to Bruce in 2025 whilst we played with Champ side Cornish Pirates and we really hit it off, Bruce’s enthusiasm and experience makes an interview feel more like a chat and now the Ulsterman returns to The Champ the tournament will be more thrilling then ever!

Honing his skills with Ulster, Edinburgh, Ealing Trailfinders, Cornish Pirates, USBPA rugby and even on an international duty with Zimbabwe, Bruce is certainly one to watch and as I’ve keenly been watching his career with interest, I can’t wait to see what’s in store next for the 26-year-old!

Also an impromptu and unexpected chat about golf for good measure!

This week I was delighted to be joined by one of my favourite rugby YouTubers, Riaan Louw! Riaan is a serial Lions & Springbok supporter as well as a fair and fun observer of all teams and games and when it comes to South African rugby there are few people who can match his passion and knowledge. Riaan’s love of the game speaks for itself.

Dedicating six years to creating nearly 200 fun and informative YouTube videos; the Rugby Updates, Riaan is a regular guest over many podcasts and he works hard to share his devotion of rugby to all supporters worldwide!

I first came across the Rugby Updates when a video entitled “What is Rugby” popped up on my feed and I’ve been hooked ever since. Riaan offers a funny, fair and has knowledgeable opinions on a wide array of games from club to international, women’s and men’s games alike!

We discuss what got Riaan into rugby, his beloved Lions and how they put the All Blacks to the test, how the Springboks maintain such dominance in the world of rugby as well as take a look at the upcoming URC season starting this weekend!

You can find Riaan on YouTube, X and Instagram!

With the new URC season starting on Friday next week, I took a moment to look back and reflect on my top five comical/unusual and downright embarrassing moments I’ve had when meeting Leinster players and their family over the years.

Each encounter has been at away games as living in the UK it’s much easier to see them when they come over and as ever the players always make time for us fans, mad ones and all.

Despite being six months out of being 40 so older than all players concerned, a rugby writer and technically a journalist to the players, I find that like any fan I find when meeting the players that my brain and voice decide to go on their own little adventure resulting in me asking the most bizarre questions or making the most ludicrous statements. Long may it remain.

So I compiled my top five moments meeting Leinster players and I hope you enjoy!

As Ronan O'Gara decides La Rochelle is home and that's where he's staying I took some time to think about another front runner in the Leinster head coach race, Felipe Contepomi.

The Argentine already has great familiarity with Leinster both on and off the field, between 2003 and 2009 Felipe scored an astonishing 1225 points for Leinster before returning in 2018 to become the back's coach.

During his time as Argentina head coach Felipe can hang his hat on an impressive number of international wins including a series win against Scotland as well as defeating Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa as well as their first win on Dublin soil as they defeated the British & Irish Lions.

Can Felipe's experience and prowess help Leinster achieve that ever elusive fifth star? Here's hoping!

Today I was delighted to be joined by Guernsey Raider’s dead-eye fly-half Charlie Simmonds!

Charlie’s remarkable story stood out to me as his journey to the number ten shirt was quite different to many other players. Diagnosed with ulcerative colitis whilst at university, Charlie spent years managing the condition before eventually undergoing surgery to have his colon removed.

The operation left him with a stoma bag however it has not diminished his enthusiasm for rugby and with his impressive skillset Charlie helped Gurnsey Raiders this year to retain one of rugby’s oldest ever trophies; the Siam Cup.

Charlie’s story doesn’t end there.

The Guernsey Raiders this year teamed up with neighbouring rivals Jersey to form a collaboration known as The Channel Islands.

This collaboration took on Poland’s international team in July and won an impressive 38 – 27 at Footes Lane in Guernsey. From overcoming medical issues to facing international teams, Charlie’s story is an inspiration to everyone and one to keep an eye on as his career develops!

This morning I was delighted to speak to Senior Sports Reporter for the Irish Examiner, Simon Lewis!

Simon has a decade of experience in the field and as a Munster fan he is delighted to be able to write, report and on occasion follow his beloved team around which increases the joy and satisfaction Simon gets from the game no end.

Simon was kind enough to make time for me on his travels as from his location in La Rochelle he was getting ready for tomorrows pre-season friendly between Ronan O'Gara's La Rochelle and his old club Munster! Forgive the WIFI dropout around minute 11 however we didn't let it stop us 🤣

You can find Simon at @irishexaminer and across all other social media platforms 👍

Feel free to like, share and subscribe and I'll see you out there 🍀🏉👍 #rugby #rugbyunion #ireland #münster #munsterrugby #larochelle #france #preseason #rivals #irishlegend #irfu #irishrugby #top14 #podcast #podcasting #journalism #reporting #reporter