Indo Sport
Bits & Bobs | Friday mailbag ✉️ | Robbie Keane's next job | Could ROG coach England?
13 Mar 2026
Chapter 1: What topics are covered in this week's Friday mailbag?
This is an Irish independent podcast. Welcome to Friday Bits and Bobs. Happy to say in studio Rory O'Connor is here. Hello. Hi, Joe. And Will Slattery, of course, is here. William. Hello, Joe. I bounded around the corner there excited for Bits and Bobs and I could, in the distance, you have a strong, a loud voice. Powerful. Baritone. Yeah. I could hear you first.
Yeah.
It's often the way. And then I could hear Rory in a chorus. Two rugby men just amongst themselves discussing the cadence of the 2027 Six Nations schedule. Deep, deep in conversation.
No, not a 440, not a 415 between us. Well, one thing I learned today is that Joe, despite hosting the Six Nations, balks if you ask him, oh, what do you think about this weekend?
Chapter 2: What is the controversy surrounding drug testing in the AIL?
And he's like, why are you asking me?
That's not true.
Well, you were holding court on RT Radio only this morning with the Six Nations. Very impressively, I thought. Indeed, yeah, it's true. Missed that. They went to the rugby expert, unfortunately.
I saved my best offer in here.
Good. Yeah, somebody caught it, emailed in. What's happening? I'm listening to Morning Ireland, no less, and I thought my ears were deceiving me when it was announced that Joe Malloy would be coming up on the Today programme to preview the rugby. I have many questions. Is Will jealous of Joe's brand building? When did Joe decide to take the soup? What's Dez Cal really like?
Regards, Aaron. How did you find going from gamekeeper to poacher? Less comfortable. Less comfortable.
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Chapter 3: What are Robbie Keane's prospects for becoming a manager?
I like asking any bold predictions around here. That's not Joe's style, Rudd. Joe doesn't make predictions. He just asks other people.
Well, I said Ireland to win. It's not that bold, is it? No. I think everyone in the paper tomorrow has Ireland to win. Ireland to win, France to win. A finale not befitting the championship that's been. That was my bold prediction.
Yeah, perhaps. Although I think if England won...
yeah obviously from an Irish point of view that would be fantastic although there is something like 96 permutations to go through tomorrow but yeah I think France losing but still winning the championship would be the least fitting way for it all to end a flavour of what's on this weekend the Six Nations finale as mentioned the players championship in the golf Shane Larry with an 8 on the 18th last night Thursday night found the water twice Roy McIlroy little wayward off the tee said his back was fine bar when he was kind of reaching for ball below feet
Or chipping, but generally it was okay. League of Ireland Premier Division, full schedule. Formula One, the Chinese Grand Prix is on. The word seems to be, by the way, they'll announce it this weekend. They're cancelling the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix's for... Grand Prix? Grand Prix's.
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Chapter 4: How did Ronnie Delany become an Olympic icon?
Grand Prix. Grand Prix. For obvious reasons. GAA Football and Hurling. some of the TV highlights. Kerry Mayo in Tralee in the football on Saturday around four o'clock. Cillian O'Connor back after 21 months out, age 33. Dublin Armagh, relegation type fixture, seven o'clock TG Carr. Sunday has Waterford tip in the hurling on the TG Carr player.
There's URC, Ulster and Connacht making up for those cancelled games. And then, again, this is not an exhaustive list, but finally, Premier League, Arsenal against Everton on Saturday. David Moyes defending, Mikel Arteta and the Arsenal style of play. West Ham have Manchester City then, 8 o'clock, so we'll see. Sunday, Man Utd-Aston Villa at 2 o'clock.
Jamie Carragher, they would be mad not to get Unai Emery. You heard it here first. Don't say that to Villa fans. And Liverpool will take on Igor Tudor's Spurs at half past four. Sunday. I see Pep got manager of the month, by the way.
Chapter 5: What are the implications of Ronan O'Gara potentially coaching England?
First time since 2021. Correct.
That was my quiz question.
Did he have a particular month?
I read the same headline. I suppose he kind of picked City up off the floor and generated briefly a real feel of title race. You know. But yeah, I mean, I'm sure he's thinking I've had better months than this in the last five years. On Movie Club, Matt Walsh said, call it flicks and pops.
That had been muted in the office, but rejected. Sorry, Matt.
Yeah. Somebody asked me of that little movie club gathering we had this week, why Dave Hanrighty is called Urswell Dave. Oh, yeah. We're going back to June 2025. It is Will Slattery's all-time favourite moment. on the podcast ever. I was talking to our erstwhile colleague Dave in the lift. He said you had seen this new Formula One Brad Pitt business.
Erstwhile means former.
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Chapter 6: How does the Irish rugby community feel about O'Gara's coaching ambitions?
No. I think it means decent, worthy.
We're doing live patterns corner now?
Erstwhile. It means former. No. Yeah. Surely I can't be misusing all these words. I think erstwhile, I'd be 99.9% sure it means that.
Sorry, pass the mustard.
Yeah. We'll talk amongst ourselves, Joe, while you look this up. I'm with you on that one. I actually got caught with that one, Joe. Jesus, it means former. Yeah. No, Dave is still much with the company as far as I know. Sorry, Dave. What was I looking for there? No, no, no, no.
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Chapter 7: What are the concerns regarding doping in rugby?
Is that the first time you listened back to it since then?
You played it another time.
Thankfully, it went up on YouTube as well, so if anyone wants to see the real-time reactions of all of us and Joe, the dawning look of horror in Joe's face.
Because someone said to me, were you looking for a different word like erudite or something like that? I was like, no, no, no, I've been misusing it.
but listen a nickname was born he waited in the land grass for nine months and then sprung that Transformers joke on me last week as revenge and clocked me right in the jaw yeah that's good
It happened to a bishop, Joe. I listened to a very celebrated broadcaster earlier misuse the word fulsome, which is a commonly misused... Fulsome apology, that one? Fulsome apology or fulsome praise, which, in fairness, I misused and then was called up by the Sunday Indo desk and now... It's a jungle out there.
Yeah. Lads, so I'm just going through some emails here, as I said. Enjoyed the COVID discussion. Wasn't expecting to be brought back to that time with so many relatable feelings and memories. Can we hear more about Joe's brunch train? Has he ever managed to pick it back up again? Would we all have got to have brunch with Joe had COVID not had happened? This could work as a great Friday slot.
Best wishes, James. I have never rekindled my brunch train, I'm afraid.
So how did the brunch train... Give us a little flavour of what the brunch train was like.
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Chapter 8: What are the latest updates on the Six Nations and upcoming matches?
What do you mean?
It was just like weekly. So every week?
Every week. Where are we going this week? Oh, you know. That's more about kids. There's some place that people on Instagram say is nice. We'll go there. It's more about kids than COVID.
Kids kill the brunch train. Because brunch, you'd kind of wake up mid-morning. Think about maybe going to 12.
I had a good 18 months of two years where I could have been brunching before the kids arrived post-COVID. It really did kill it. It was a rupture.
Certainly for me, it was kids killed.
I can see that. I can see that. No, no. But for me, it was COVID.
It sounded like you'd rekindled it because you recounted watching some woman stuff her face with pancakes recently. It sounded very brunchy in the scene you were describing.
That was. But that was just brunch with my wife as opposed to like the...
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