Will the Nations Championship prove to be a success? Philip Doyle RIP

Neil Treacy· Host0:00

[rock music] Hello, and you're very welcome along to this week's RTE Rugby podcast. And the Nations Championship is upon us. Ireland taking on Australia this Saturday in Sydney, 10 past 11 in the morning, Irish time. Bernard Jackman is with me in the studio. So Gareth Steenson is on the line. I'll get to you in a second, guys. For those for whom this has kind of passed by a little bit, the Nations Championship, Ireland, for example, play Australia, Japan, and New Zealand down under across the last three weekends. Then in November, they host South Africa, Argentine- Argentina, and Fiji. You essentially have your Northern Hemisphere table, your Southern Hemisphere table. At the end of November, first place first, second place second, third place third, and on you go. A finals weekend in London, a chance for a trophy. That's the gist, Burch, of what this Nations Championship is. It's just trying to put a little bit of structure and format on essentially what still is the, the traditional summer and winter, winter test windows, but trying to put something on the line for it. Is that the best way to describe it?

Bernard Jackman· Guest1:07

Yeah, it's been a low-key build up to it, hasn't it? I mean, um- I did have to remind myself even this morning of j- I just better just double check how, how this all works and stuff like that. Yeah. Look, I like the concept of it because, um, the summer tours, uh, in the past have been a little bit mismatched in terms of how teams approach it. If you look at France over the last six or seven years, they've always sent a, a second string side down there. It has been an opportunity to blood