Trying Times

And with that the 2025 Men's Six Nations Season comes to a close. Ep.25 France have won and where do we go from here? Who's happy? Who's Sad? Who's thrilled that Stand-up Comedian and 1/3 of the sketch comedy group the Cronie Bros Patrick Conlan is here to join us? WE ARE. Are Irish Fans overly pessimistic? Will Scottish Fans ever know joy? Are headbutts now legal? It's all here. You can follow Patrick Conlan @patrickconlan123Thank you to Eoin Brosnahan (@brostheman) for the theme music. Thank you to Becky Cheatle for the artwork (@becky.cheatle).Please like and share this pod with your friends/lovers/enemies and acquaintances. You can follow the pod on all social media @tryingtimesrugby and keep up to date with the hosts gigs and other activities by following @nmaicomedy and @goodenoughgang on Instagram/Bluesky/TikTok/Threads etcIf you like this please review it. If you don't go away.

Well there goes that dream... Ep 24 and Week 4 of the 2025 Six Nations was where France establish themselves as one of the most frightening teams on the planet. Lose your captain and best player- no worries, lose a centre and have to play a flanker in the middle of the park- too easy, go to your biggest rivals for the tournament who beat you last season- completed it mate. My god France were good. Like Soo soo good. Joining us this week to talk about how good France were is the equally good Sinead Walsh (@sineadwalshcomedy). Sinead is a phenomenal standup, host of the "Queer as Fluich" podcast, and all round delight. You can catch Sinead's Work In Progress "Bye Bye Baby" in Sin é in Dublin at the Hysteria Comedy Club on the 19th of March. There were also two other games on but who cares? Thank you to Eoin Brosnahan (@brostheman) for the theme music. Thank you to Becky Cheatle for the artwork (@becky.cheatle).Please like and share this pod with your friends/lovers/enemies and acquaintances. You can follow the pod on all social media @tryingtimesrugby and keep up to date with the hosts gigs and other activities by following @nmaicomedy and @goodenoughgang on Instagram/Twitter/TikTok/Threads etc

Ep 23. Six Nations 2025 Week 3 recap. So Wales can still play...Who knew? Join us for another Six Nations 2025 recaps as we review week 3 with the fantastic Allie O'Rourke. We talk Wales resurgence, Scottish frailties, Italian pain and French ruthlessness as well as what kind of world Gatland leaves behind. Are Ireland building depth? Are they too cocky? Are we the baddies? We talk about it all. Allie is about to bring her show " Girl Dick Energy" tour so be sure to follow her at @allie.orourke to get more details of these dates.Thank you to Eoin Brosnahan (@brostheman) for the theme music. Thank you to Becky Cheatle for the artwork (@becky.cheatle).Please like and share this pod with your friends/lovers/enemies and acquaintances. You can follow the pod on all social media @tryingtimesrugby and keep up to date with the hosts gigs and other activities by following @nmaicomedy and @goodenoughgang on Instagram/Bluesky/TikTok/Threads etc

Ep. 22 Six Nations 2025 Week 2 Recap. THIS IS THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN. The Six Nations is in full swing as we have our first upset as England downed France in the last minute, Scotland and Ireland served up business as usual as Scotland fail to land a punch, and Italy marked a passing of the guard seeing off Wales. We are joined by Pat Ryan (@notions_comedy), a standup comic, host of Notions Comedy Club and a behind the scenes audio-fixer-upper that has saved Jack's sanity on more than one occasion. We discuss what a good welsh tournament looks like, why Scotland can only seem to get up for England and Ireland quietly getting down to winning. We also mention the Super Bowl. regrettably. Thank you to Eoin Brosnahan (@brostheman) for the theme music. Thank you to Becky Cheatle for the artwork (@becky.cheatle).Please like and share this pod with your friends/lovers/enemies and acquaintances. You can follow the pod on all social media @tryingtimesrugby and keep up to date with the hosts gigs and other activities by following @nmaicomedy and @goodenoughgang on Instagram/Twitter/TikTok/Threads etc

Ep. 20 Olympic 7s: An Introduction and Overview. Friends, once every 4 years we are greeted to loads of random ass sports every hour of the day for a glorious few weeks. In 2016, Rugby joined the party. But not Rugby like you remember it, sleek, fast, shorter rugby. 7s is all the bullshit of Rugby with none of the difficult to explain set pieces or pundits complaining everytime someone kicks the ball. It's different. It's hip. To bring us up to speed we have invited guest (and probably 30% of our listenership) Conor Fennell to catch us up to speed with what to expect as we bandwagon on to Rugby's sleek little brother. Filled with genuine insights, 5 a-side analogies, Come Dine with me references (what a sad little life Jane) we unpack and give a road map of what to look for and which players to tell your mates you knew they were great before the olympics. It's a fun one. Thank you to Eoin Brosnahan for the theme music. Thank you to Becky Cheatle for the cover art. Please like and share this pod with your friends/lovers/enemies and acquaintances. You can follow the pod on all social media @tryingtimesrugby and keep up to date with the hosts gigs and other activities by following @nmaicomedy and @goodenoughgang on Instagram/Twitter/TikTok/Threads etc

Ep. 19 Ep. 19 South Africa vs Ireland: Tie-gameWell, it ends in a draw. Ireland land a killer blow right at the death and we leave it honours even as Jack's blood pressure probably couldn't hack a third test. We talk to resident South African Neil Green and breakdown the second test in Durban. We talk Irish ferocity, South African goal kicking, Sasha's impact and Frawley's absolute balls resolve. We could have used a third game, but we will make do with a third podcast. Who knows we may stay on topic we may not. Thank you to Eoin Brosnahan for the theme music. Thank you to Becky Cheatle for the artwork. Please like and share this pod with your friends/lovers/enemies and acquaintances. You can follow the pod on all social media @tryingtimesrugby and keep up to date with the hosts gigs and other activities by following @nmaicomedy and @goodenoughgang on Instagram/Twitter/TikTok/Threads etc.

Ep. 18 South Africa vs Ireland 2: Electric Boogaloo. It's advantage South Africa. All that talk from Rassie was backed up by a big performance who shot out of the blocks to score early and strike a blow at Ireland's (not really a thing but people try to sell papers and get clicks say it's a thing so it might be a thing, Who's to say?) claim at being the Number 1 side in the World. Yes in a surprise to everyone the WORLD CHAMPIONS are pretty damn good. Join Guest Neil Green and Host's Jack Dolan and Nghia Mai as they unpack the 1st test and preview the 2nd test in this clash of the top of the table. Thank you to Eoin Brosnahan for the theme music. Thank you to Becky Cheatle for the cover art. Please like and share this pod with your friends/lovers/enemies and acquaintances. You can follow the pod on all social media @tryingtimesrugby and keep up to date with the hosts gigs and other activities by following @nmaicomedy and @goodenoughgang on Instagram/Twitter/TikTok/Threads etcAnd remember: Never. Stop. Trying.xxx (if you read this far text Jack as he doesn't believe anyone reads these as he writes about himself in the third person)

We are back for Season 2! Join Jack and Nghia as they continue to make their way through these Trying Times. In today's episode we are joined by one of our favourite guests, Mr. Neil Green, as we talk Ireland vs South Africa and the fastest rising rivalry in international rugby. It's the World Champions vs the World Champions in Springbok minds this week as Rassie takes on Farrell in a war of words, attrition, temperament and also rugby. In a game that is too close to call we talk about the importance of Braai's, how the countries differ their development plan, where international and club form leave us and who will come out on top. Have the Irish been disrespectful? Can Eben Etzebeth keep track of exactly how many members of the Irish team said they would see him in the final? Is it somehow Off the Ball's fault? We answer all of these questions and talk some rugby. This one is a doozy. Please like and share this pod with your friends/lovers/enemies and acquaintances. You can follow the pod on all social media @tryingtimesrugby and keep up to date with the hosts gigs and other activities by following @nmaicomedy and @goodenoughgang on Instagram/Twitter/TikTok/Threads etcYou can follow Neil Green at @neilgreencomedian to keep up with his shows. Thank you to Eoin Brosnahan (@Brostheman) for the theme music. Thank you to Becky Cheatle (@Becky.Cheatle for the cover art)