Nathan Johns

speaker

3,934 appearances 33 recordings 2 series first heard Apr 2026 last heard 11 Sep

Nathan Johns’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 33 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 10.

Appearances

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The Counter Ruck: The Irish Times Rugby Podcast · Where do Ireland go from here? · 21 Jul 2026 podcast

You just look at the speed with which the best teams in the world are playing with in everything, but predominantly in attack, ruck speed, handling speed, skills, speed of decision-making. matched

Do you think it's safe to say that Ireland have fallen behind? matched

I mean, Leo Cullen said it after the Bordeaux final. matched

He said the top four, the speed at which that league is played is not replicated in Ireland or in the URC at the minute, and that's across the board. matched

It does feel like that just a step has been lost there for whatever reason it is. matched

No. matched

That's my question. matched

Why do we think Ireland are trying to do what they're trying to do compared to other teams? matched

Take case in point, Joe McCarthy was Ireland's top carrier on the weekend, a second row forward. matched

All of New Zealand's top carriers were outside backs. matched

But did they play the same? matched

Because here's where I think it gets interesting. matched

In the Six Nations, they said, right, we're going to kick more. matched

And again, we have this forward and back on Saturday, but Ireland were trying to manufacture transition opportunities during the Six Nations. matched

And against England, especially, it worked when they had the two fast guys on the wings. matched

You said they didn't necessarily get those opportunities on Saturday because they didn't get the aerial victories, which is fair. matched

But then you look back, they kicked the ball 15 times on Saturday, whereas during the Six Nations, at times they were doubling that. matched

So it just seems like anything that they were trying to do during the Six Nations. matched

Okay, so in that vein, if the top three teams above Ireland are playing to their strengths, quite often those are athletic strengths, pace on the flanks, all that type of stuff. matched

What are Ireland's strengths that they can play to better to narrow this gap that has clearly emerged between them and the top six? matched

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