On this week's episode of Rugby Direct, Elliott Smith and Liam Napier review the All Blacks' victory over Wales, the Black Ferns' road to World Cup glory continues and big bad Brodie Retallick sits down for a chat.  

On this week's Rugby Direct, Elliott Smith (Newstalk ZB's All Blacks commentator) and Liam Napier (NZ Herald chief sports writer) review the Black Ferns' latest win at the Women's Rugby World Cup ahead of their quarter-final match against Wales. Elliott is in Tokyo with the All Blacks ahead of their opening match of the end-of-year tour against Japan. All that and more on the latest edition of Rugby Direct thanks to Employment Hero.

On this week's Rugby Direct, Elliott Smith (Newstalk ZB's All Blacks commentator) and Liam Napier (NZ Herald chief sports writer) return from activating the sabbatical clauses in their respective contracts and assess the Black Ferns' Rugby World Cup campaign through the first two games and also cast an eye to England and France's progress. Canterbury and Wellington have booked spots in the Bunnings NPC final, with the men from the capital looking in fine form as they try and go down to beat the red and black machine. We also look at Ardie Savea's 2024 stint playing in Japan, as well as cast a look over the All Blacks XV.

On this week's Rugby Direct, Kate Wells (Newstalk ZB sport journalist) is joined by former Black Ferns captain and New Zealand Rugby board member Dr Farah Palmer to analyse the opening of the women's Rugby World Cup which kicked off in Auckland last weekend. They discuss the Black Ferns' spine chilling haka, the sold out Eden Park crowd and who can win the tournament. We delve into how this tournament compares to Dr Palmer's experience, playing three Rugby World Cup's herself.

On this week's Rugby Direct, Elliott Smith (Newstalk ZB's All Blacks commentator) and Liam Napier (NZ Herald chief sports writer) look ahead to the Rugby World Cup 2021 (being played in 2022) kicking off this weekend at Eden Park and ask whether the Black Ferns are a realistic chance of winning it at this point in their rebuild against the likes of England and France. We chat Jordie Barrett's re-signing with NZR and the Hurricanes through to 2025 and the fortunes of the NPC sides as we approach the business end of the side.

On this week's Rugby Direct, Elliott Smith (Newstalk ZB's All Blacks commentator) and Liam Napier (NZ Herald chief sports writer) reflect on the All Blacks' 40-14 win over Australia that captured the Rugby Championship for another year. We ask whether Jordie Barrett is now the ABs man at 12, who the top 3 All Blacks are to this point in 2022 and give our marks for the year to date. We also ponder what was learned from the Black Ferns' romp against Japan, as we close in on the Rugby World Cup.

On this week's edition of Rugby Direct, Elliott Smith (Newstalk ZB's lead rugby commentator) and Liam Napier (chief sports writer - NZ Herald) review the All Blacks and Wallabies' Bledisloe Cup test at Marvel Stadium and the shock decision of referee Mathieu Raynal at the end. We discuss the make up of the side for Eden Park and whether the Wallabies can take some positives from the fact they probably should have won. We also talk Ranfurly Shield being on the move to Wellington and the Black Ferns' test against Japan this weekend.

On this week's edition of Rugby Direct, Elliott Smith (Newstalk ZB's lead rugby commentator) and Liam Napier (chief sports writer - NZ Herald) are in Melbourne ahead of the All Blacks and Wallabies' Bledisloe Cup test at Marvel Stadium on Thursday (which you can hear live on NewstalkZB and Gold Sport). We debate the likely team to be announced by Ian Foster for the match, the challenges the Wallabies might pose the All Blacks and whether the All Blacks can snap their win/loss pattern of recent times. The guys also debate the other big issues in the Rugby world, including whether player names should be on the back of jerseys.

On this week's Rugby Direct, Elliott Smith (Newstalk ZB's All Blacks commentator) and Liam Napier (NZ Herald chief sports writer) discuss the All Blacks' big win over Argentina in Hamilton and debate whether everything has been cured now. We pay tribute to the in-form Samisoni Taukei'aho, debate whether Richie Mo'unga now has a mortgage on the All Blacks 10 jersey and colours are nailed to the mast ahead of the Farah Palmer Cup final.

On this week's Rugby Direct, Elliott Smith (Newstalk ZB's All Blacks commentator) and Liam Napier (NZ Herald chief sports writer) reflect on yet another weekend of drama out of the All Blacks as Argentina stun them at Orange Theory Stadium in Christchurch. Elliott and Liam discuss how Los Pumas managed it, but also how the All Blacks blew any number of opportunities to at very least draw the match. Discussion also turns to the makeup of the side for this weekend and whether all-out change is the answer. In addition, the guys look at a repelled Ranfurly Shield challenge and discuss whether Hawke's Bay might hold it all year and also assess a shaky Black Ferns effort in Adelaide.