The Offside Line Podcast

While Burnsy is stuck in Edinburgh, Barney is ensconced at Twickenham with Mark Palmer and Craig Watson and all four come together to preview the 2025 Calcutta Cup and examine the Wales-Ireland and Italy-France matches. 

Barney and Burnsy emerge from their deep funk to dissect the horrors of Scotland’s Six Nations match against Ireland, pick over the bones of the Under 20s result and look ahead to Twickenham. They also analyse Italy’s win against Wales (and the news that Warren Gatland has stepped down as Wales head coach), England’s victory over a calamitous France, the latest round of the Celtic Challenge and the Men’s Premiership and look ahead to this weekend’s fixtures. For full match coverage and analysis, check out www.theoffsideline.com

Barney and Burnsy get into the nitty gritty of Scotland’s opening win of the Six Nations, discuss Wales-France, Ireland-England and the threats that Ireland are going to bring in round two. They also touch on the Celtic Challenge, the men’s Premiership and the Under-20s Six Nations with an exclusive interview with outside centre Kerr Yule. Finally, Barney dials in with Richie Vernon and Chris Fusaro as they make their way to Stranraer to begin a 700-mile cycle aiding funds for the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation. You can find out more (and donate) here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/washed-up-warriors-for-doddie-2025?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=CL&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaYYaKYuGrgBpqrbFNObJo2iAHccUM9z-9YK13-M9cEdxqrAJnm7MGzxZvw_aem_ljXUeMY0SeB8M7ekl0_iqA

Barney and Burnsy get into the nitty gritty ahead of Scotland’s opening round clash of the 2025 Six Nations with Italy at Murrayfield. We also hear from the new CEO of Scottish Rugby, Alex Williamson, and cast an eye over the other fixtures coming our way this weekend.

This week Barney and Burnsy dive into Saturday’s Premiership matches, the Celtic Challenge and review two rounds of Champions Cup and Challenge Cup action. Barney tells us all about his trip to Rome for the Six Nations launch and then the conversation turns to Scotland’s pre-tournament injury woes, where the Pigeon of Misfortune sh*ts on the squad as Sione Tuipulotu, Scott Cummings and Dylan Richardson are ruled out before a ball has been kicked. Will these injuries (plus others, such as Kyle Steyn’s) derail Scotland’s Six Nations chances? We wait and see . . .

This week Barney and Burnsy head down to the Edinburgh HQ at Murrayfield for an exclusive sit down with the club’s managing director Doug Struth. They talk past, present and future in the men and women’s teams and discuss the club’s far-reaching ambitions. A massive thank you to Doug and Stuart Rutherford for this interview.