Loading…
Hosted by The Irish Times · 🇺🇸 US · EN · 227 episodes
Established thought leaders with verified media credentials.
A rugby podcast from The Irish Times, presented by Nathan Johns with regular panelists John O'Sullivan, Gordon D'Arcy and Gerry Thornley. Produced in association with Ohk Energy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Irish Times hosts The Counter Ruck, a sports show with 227 episodes published.
As world rugby moves away from multi match tours, instead preferring the nations championship, two of its biggest brands are going the other way. Ditching traditional southern hemisphere competitions, New Zealand a
Noah Byrne, a member of the Irish U20s, recently opted to move to Aussie rules instead of taking a Leinster academy contract. Is a move like this, often seen in GAA circles, going to become more prevalent in rugby, or ar
After defeat to the All Blacks wrapped up Ireland’s season, Nathan Johns, Gordon D’Arcy and John O’Sullivan talk through Ireland’s ups and downs. Firmly ranked below the world’s top sides, where do Ireland go from here a
What to make of Ireland’s 40-21 defeat to New Zealand on Saturday? A chastening, worrying performance or simply a fair reflection of Ireland’s place in the current global pecking order? Gordon D’Arcy joins Nathan Johns t
Nathan Johns and John O’Sullivan pick through Andy Farrell’s team selection ahead of this weekend’s clash with the All Blacks. Are Ireland deservedly underdogs or are we gearing up for another famous win on Kiwi soil? Pr
Gerry Thornley joins Nathan Johns on the line from Auckland to give his take on being at Ireland’s victory over Japan on Saturday. We also delve into David Humphreys’ media roundtable last week after the IRFU’s performan
After a 36-20 victory over Japan, Gordon D’Arcy, John O’Sullivan and Nathan Johns analyse Ireland’s performance in their latest Nations Championship action. What debutants put in strong performances? Did established play
Former Leinster and Scotland analyst Brett Igoe joins Nathan Johns to pick through the facts, figures and trends of last weekend’s Nations Championship action. We also look at Ireland’s heavily rotated team selection for
Fresh off Ireland’s victory over Australia in Sydney, Gerry Thornley dials in from Australia to discuss that win as well as the weekend of Nations Championship rugby as a whole with host Nathan Johns. What did we learn f
Ireland squeezed home against Australia after a Thomas Clarkson try and a missed kick from Ben Donaldson with the clock in the red. Was this a gutsy, narrow win on the road or a worryingly rusty start to their summer win
Andy Farrell and Ireland begin their latest bloc of fixtures with a clash against Australia in Sydney. Jonathan Drennan of the Sydney Morning Herald joins Nathan Johns to discuss why Joe Schmidt is still in charge of the
Ireland U20s began their Under-20s World Championship campaign with defeat in Tbilisi, and it was déjà vu as Toulouse secured another Top14 title. It’s also the start of an Ireland test week as the build-up to a cl
No Irish senior rugby this weekend but Ireland U20s do get their World Cup campaign underway in Georgia on Saturday. John O’Sullivan joins Nathan Johns to pick through the players to keep an eye on and Ireland’s hopes wh
Monday saw Leinster announce that Leo Cullen will leave the province once his contract expires at the end of next season. Gerry Thornley joins Nathan Johns to pick through why he’s going and who could replace Cullen atop
Reaction: Leinster outclass the Bulls to win URC crown Gordon D’Arcy and Nathan Johns pick through Leinster’s URC final victory over the Bulls. After Champions Cup disappointment in Bilbao, Leo Cullen’s side have
Shorn of multiple players due to injury, Andy Farrell has named his group to tour Australia and New Zealand this summer. Gordon D’Arcy and John O’Sullivan join Nathan Johns to pick through who is in and who might c
With confirmation arriving that James Lowe will leave Leinster, in theory ruling him out of Ireland’s World Cup bid next year, Irish Times rugby writer John O’Sullivan joins Nathan Johns to discuss how talks broke down.&
Leinster beat the Stormers on Saturday to secure another URC final appearance as they once again meet the Bulls in the final. Gordon D’Arcy joins Nathan Johns to pick through the action, look at where Leo Cullen’s
A number of narratives have emerged in an attempt to explain Leinster’s European malaise under the current coaching staff. Is Jacques Nienaber’s new system the problem or, rather, has he been given enough coaching power
The season has come to a close for Connacht and Munster after their respective URC quarter-final defeats. Leinster meanwhile beat a lacklustre Lions side to stay alive and reach the semi-finals. Gordon D’Arcy joins Natha
Detected from recent episode content. Sponsor presence is a real signal of listener purchasing power and show monetisation.
No public pitch examples yet for this show.
Generate your own personalised pitchBased on semantic analysis of episode topics and host coverage, this show is a strong guest fit for executives in:
Industry fit is computed by PitchCentric using vector embeddings of the show's episode catalog.
Shows with the most semantically similar episode content. Pitch one, pitch all; producers cluster.
The Counter Ruck has a verified contact on file. Create a free PitchCentric account to access it and generate a personalised pitch in seconds. Research at least 3 recent episodes first and lead with a specific angle that serves their sports audience.
The Counter Ruck is hosted by The Irish Times. The show is categorised under sports (rugby) and has published 227 episodes.
The Counter Ruck has published 227 episodes.
The Counter Ruck regularly covers sports, rugby. It sits in the sports category, with a rugby focus.
The Counter Ruck is accessible for guests with genuine sports expertise. A personalised, episode-aware pitch will still outperform a generic one every time.
The Counter Ruck hasn't explicitly signalled guest openness in recent episodes. That doesn't rule out pitching. your hook just needs to be especially compelling and relevant to their recent content.
Episodes of The Counter Ruck average 29 minutes. a focused format where a clear narrative arc and tight preparation matter most.
Our data rates The Counter Ruck's guest bar at 80/100 (Premium tier). Established thought leaders with verified media credentials. Sign in to PitchCentric to see how your own Pod Score compares against this show.
Methodology. Booking Probability™ blends Listen Score, 30-day Virality, open-to-guests detection, and Apple ratings. Data refreshed every 60 minutes. Listen Score and Booking Probability are calculated by PitchCentric. Last enriched 2 days ago.