Can Canada shock England | TRC Round 5 preview | Is it URC time already?

Kooks and Thala preview a gigantic weekend of rugby, including the 2025 Rugby World Cup final, Round 5 of the Rugby Championship, Bledisloe Cup and the start of the United Rugby Championship.

We start with the World Cup final by discussing the impressive performance by Canada in knocking out the defending champions, New Zealand and England sweating it out against France. We debate whether England can slow down Canada, can Canada match up front against England and key players such as World Rugby Player of the Year nominees Sophie de Goede and Meg Jones.

We then look at a largely unchanged Springbok side ready to host Argentina in Durban. We ponder if this is currently the best 23 that Rassie has and the Bok's continual shift in approach. We consider why Argentina is dangerous, having picked a 6-2 bench and what South Africa should do against a team that does not mind winning away from home.

We then look at the Bledisloe Cup match in Eden Park. Kooks finds out the starting time for Saturday's game and we discuss whether the Wallabies can break the streak, in spite of the many injuries.

We then congratulate the Griquas for winning the Currie Cup final as the Lions yet again lose it at the death. This leads us to preview URC Weekend 1 with the Stormers hosting a strong Leinster team being the highlight.

There is much more in this week's podcast - including multiple rants about World Rugby, the announced system for WXV, the beginning of the PREM competition, and Samoa and Chile's World Cup qualification match up.