The Good, The Scaz & The Rugby

They’re BACK! Straight off the plane from the USA, Scaz & Mo are home from the Red Roses’ North American tour, and they have some STORIES.

We start with Halloween in New York. Scaz, Mo and Alex went as a trio of grannies, Lilli and Berner were Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, Miss Trunchbull & Bruce were there AND a naked mole rat all made an appearance.

AND we get the low down on the TRAITORS in this squad… apparently no one was surprised that it was our Meg.

Then it’s down to business. The girls go through all three tests against Canada and the USA: the stats, the handling, and why Scaz thinks things “got a bit sloppy” out there.

And the World Rugby Dream Team’s back row of Maddie Feaunati gets a big shout out… too who hasn’t missed a single game since Mitch’s first proper selection back in 2023. 33 caps in just 3 years. Wild.

Elsewhere this week:

🚂 What noise does a train make? This one divided the squad…

👀 Lilli’s two black eyes

🎤 Frank Sinatra (you’ll have to listen…

⚡ Our Mitsubishi Electric Moment of the Week from the WXV Global Series

🇮🇹 The worrying headlines coming out of Italy

🏆 Congratulations to the World Rugby Player of the Year winners, Kaipo Olsen-Baker and Elinor-Plum King

💌 A bumper bag of your messages: booing American crowds, sports bra recommendations, relaxation techniques, a 2027 calendar(?!), and Scaz’s love of bidets…

👀 And finally, what’s next for Scaz as she heads into her next coaching adventure

Allianz All Together Sports Fund: grants of up to £5,000 for grassroots clubs across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Apply here 👉 https://www.allianz.co.uk/about-allianz/partnerships/sports-fund.html

Allianz Kickstart Pitch coming to England v Japan at Allianz Stadium on 14 November? Bring the kids down early to the fan village for T1 rugby, a photo booth, a claw machine and maybe a hero or two 👉 allianz.co.uk

Mitsubishi Electric: helping players chase their potential on and off the pitch. Find out more at parallelpotential.com

Keep your emails coming to info@goodscazrugby.com, we LOVE hearing from you!

Shira x

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We need to talk about Canada… again. Two defeats in a week, the series is gone, and for the first time in about a decade the Red Roses have lost back-to-back games. What went wrong in Ottawa, and where does Mitch go from here?

This week we’ve got a double act to help us work it out. GSR regular and Scotland lock Emma “Wass” Wassell is back, and joining her on her first ever trip to the pod is Trailfinders back-rower and Red Rose No. 271, Haidee Head!

The Rev’s away this week, so we’ve done the stats homework ourselves. The headline number: Canada made 13 line breaks to England’s 2 in Ottawa. Ouch.

Haidee’s journey to an England shirt is one of the wildest we’ve heard. A year ago, she’d just been dropped by the Queensland Reds. Her plan was a season in the PWR, then maybe a season in Super Rugby Aupiki in New Zealand, then back to Queensland to try to win her Reds contract back. Instead, she moved to Trailfinders, became a Red Rose and won a Six Nations… a tournament she’d never actually watched until she was playing in it! Now she’s an England player, and it sounds like she’s here to stay.

We also get into what it means to blood new talent. Haidee tells us how that trust gives a young player the confidence to step up in the big moments, and Wass explains why there’s no substitute for experience at international level.

Elsewhere this week:

🌹 England v Canada: the numbers behind losing the series, and what has to change.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotland: nine defeats in a row and four different attack coaches in the last year. But they led at half-time in Canberra, so are there signs of real improvement by the end of WXV? Wass gives us the inside view.

🇺🇸 USA v England: the Eagles arrive on a five-Test winning run for the Red Roses’ final WXV game this Friday (kick-off 21:15 UK - NOT a midnight KO, praise be!). Will it be a bounce back or a banana skin?

Make sure you check out Mitsubishi Electric’s toolkit at parallelpotential.com 💬

And if you need money for your rugby club, you can apply here for the Allianz All Together Sports Fund: https://www.allianz.co.uk/about-allianz/partnerships/sports-fund.html

They have £100,000 to giveaway to grassroots rugby clubs. Any RFU, WRU, Scottish Rugby or IRFU club in Northern Ireland can apply and the deadline is 21 November 2026.

Send us your post tour questions for Scaz & Mo - we’re recording with them straight off their flight back from North America… info@goodscazrugby.com 💬

Don’t sleep on Magic Meg’s merch: https://magicmegltd.myshopify.com

& please join us in manifesting a Red Roses win in New Jersey 🌹

Happy listening & watching, GSR fam!

Shira x

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We need to talk about Canada… The Red Roses have lost, the record is gone, and there's a series to save. Can England bounce back? We're asking the big questions this week, and we've got the perfect guest to help: Red Rose World Cup-winning hooker and brand-new mum, Lark Atkin-Davies! Our very own Reverend, Nick Heath, is also in with his analysis of the Canada clash. As always, he's brought the facts and stats to preview this weekend's third and final test.

Last weekend, Lark made it back on the pitch for Bristol Bears just 16 weeks after having baby Olive, and she scored their two opening tries, to boot! She shared some really honest truths about the trials and tribulations of a professional athlete's journey through pregnancy, childbirth and becoming a mother. We talk about how her body changed during pregnancy (that bump really got in the way of her knee drive!), how she managed gestational diabetes, and her decision to have a vaginal birth.

Like Abbie Ward, who has been a real inspiration to her, Lark is hell-bent on making pregnancy & early motherhood taboos a thing of the past, in society and especially in women's sport. Breast pumping in the Bears cafeteria is just one of the ways she's pushing herself out of her comfort zone, for the good of her baby and the good of the cause.

Spoiler: she wants to be the best mum AND the best rugby player, and she's got big plans for Lark 2.0.

There are now FOUR mums in the Red Roses set-up, so we also get into how much Mitch and the England environment have backed Lark, Abbie, Zoe, Rosie and Marlie, giving them the confidence to make the choices that are right for their families.

Elsewhere this week:

🌹 Losing the record: Nick has the stats on that defeat and tells us why letting go of the record might actually be freeing for this squad. It's only the size of the streak that makes this loss feel so big! Thanks to Opta for supporting the Rev's stat work.

🏉 WXV match-ups: who's playing who this weekend. Look out for a rundown of all the match-ups, and where to watch them, on our socials again on Friday.

🦁 Lions vs France: who has the edge at the Principality, and Lark's promise to be there whether she's in the squad or not.

🏆 PWR final: our summary, plus Lark's campaign to take the final to Allianz Stadium, which we're 100% here for.

Grab a cuppa and press play. And if you're a mum juggling work, sport or both, we'd love to hear from you in the comments, or email us at info@goodscazrugby.com 💬

Don't sleep on Magic Meg's merch: https://magicmegltd.myshopify.com

Please join us in manifesting a Red Roses win for our girls 🌹

Happy listening & watching, GSR fam!

Shira x

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The Red Roses take on their big rivals, Canada this weekend over in Toronto - so before Scaz & Mo flew to Canada, they popped to the Cabbage Patch to have a catch up with Elma.

They’d been training at Allianz Stadium before they left - something no Red Roses team had ever done for an entire camp before now. We hear all about that and look ahead to what they’re looking forward to doing in Canada.

It’s safe to say it’s quite a delirious episode. Scaz hasn’t had a day off in a while and she fully gets the giggles, which means there’s a Scazisms and Moisms around every corner.

We do manage to get enough sense out of her to look ahead to the ‘Rugby Rematch Tour’ with Amy Cokayne back in the starting line up and Sadia back on the bench, things are shaping up NICELY.

The girls take a vote on who’ll be best at running GSR Media Ltd’s HR department and we open some of the greatest listener messages and presents we’ve ever received.

Send us your emails at info@goodscazrugby.com.

This episode is brought to you by Apple: Scaz talks about her Apple Watch Series 12, and how the Readiness Score helps her decide between a “let’s go” day and a “do less” day. Learn more at apple.com/uk/apple-watch-series-12. Requires iPhone 11 or later. For general wellness purposes only. Not intended for clinical use or to detect, diagnose, monitor or treat medical conditions.

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Thank you to Tight Five Designs for sending us the caps - if you like the look of them, here’s the link: https://tightfive.co.uk/?srsltid=AU7gw4VZnPd-Kngp2IRLmQ7s6b9rjF7SbU16pxSH2IFhtibB084NYpEV

And don’t sleep on the Magic Meg merch, either: https://magicmegltd.myshopify.com/?utm_source=shop_app

Happy listening & watching GSR fam!

Shira x
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Scotland’s 75-cap star Lisa Thomson pulls up a seat at the Cabbage Patch in Twickenham to join Elma, Mo and Meggy for this week's episode. Meggy kicks things off with a Chardonnay slap (IYKYK) and then we get into how competitive the girls want that inaugural British & Lions Squad selection to be, before the conversation takes a rainbow-flavoured turn nobody saw coming.

Tommo, real name Lisa, is now known for her incredible skillset, but openly admits that she’s learnt a lot on the job. She couldn’t even pass off her left hand when she first got called into Scotland camp! She tells us about the goosebumps versus Wales a year ago, and what it was like to compete in what nearly felt like a home World Cup - all while playing through a serious Achilles tear, that would have seen a mere mortal like Elma, on crutches!

The efficiency with which Tommo speaks Mo-isms fluently, is revealed when a towel (?!) debate goes way too far. Then we take a journey through Tommo’s rehab experiences over the last year, just to keep things semi grounded.

Also in this episode: Scotland’s WXV campaign and the three-Test series against Australia, plus a fresh batch of listener emails, including the relentless penne debate.

Tommo, good luck with the rehab! Meggy, happy birthday in Canada! Send us your emails at info@goodscazrugby.com.

This episode is brought to you by Apple: Meggy talks about her Apple Watch Series 12, and how the Readiness Score helps her decide between a “let’s go” day and a “do less” day. Learn more at apple.com/uk/apple-watch-series-12. Requires iPhone 11 or later. For general wellness purposes only. Not intended for clinical use or to detect, diagnose, monitor or treat medical conditions.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Happy listening & watching GSR fam!

Shira x
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