Shows / The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Welcome to the Offside Line Podcast with your hosts Peter Burns and David Barnes.
In this weekly show we examine all aspects of Scottish rugby, from the grassroots level to the Test arena, and discuss the goings on in the wider global game – helped by a regular panel of special guests and featuring exclusive interviews.
David Barnes has worked as a freelance rugby journalist since 2004 covering every level of the game in Scotland for publications including The Herald/Sunday Herald, The Sunday…
Episodes
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
New Scottish Women contracts and a Mark Cairns exclusive
This week the boys dive into Barney’s trip to Mull, the new the Scottish Women’s contracts, match cancellations and fixture reviews and previews, plus they sit…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Magnus Bradbury - the comeback captain
Hello Offside Liners! This week Barney and Burnsy are sitting down with Edinburgh Rugby 2025/26 Captain Magnus Bradbury and Scottish Building Society CEO, Paul…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
The business of rugby: David Jordan and the URC
Hello and welcome to a special bonus pod with David Jordan. Jordan became Glasgow Rugby’s chief executive in 1997 and was therefore right in the eye of the…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Downed by Canada, it's time for the Red Roses
Welcome to the Offside Line, the first for Scottish rugby. Barney and Burnsy are delighted to be joined by Stuart Bathgate to chat about the Women’s World Cup…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Gregor and Franco sign on for more . . .
This week Barney and Burnsy head down to Oriam in Edinburgh for a press conference with Alex Williamson and David Nucifora as Scottish Rugby announces new…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Walloping the Welsh
This week Barney and Burnsy are joined by Eve McTiernan, who is part of the Offside Line team working on the ground in Manchester covering the Women’s World…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Season two kicks off!
Welcome to season two of the Offside Line Pod. Barney and Burnsy are back to preview the start of the Women’s Rugby World Cup and the men and women’s…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 50: 2025 World Cup Squad Announced
Barney and Burnsy raise their bats to the clubhouse as they notch episode 50 of the Offside Line Pod – and they welcome Stuart Bathgate to discuss the Scotland…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 49: The MCG breakdown
Barney and Burnsy delve into the Lions’ second Test at the MCG and also chat about Scotland Women’s match against Italy, the heart-warming return of Emma…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 48: Melbourne Test week
This week the boys dive into Scotland v Samoa, coaching merry-go-rounds, the Under 20s and they review the Lions vs Australia first Test, the First…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 47: Fiji review and a Lions 1st Test preview
After a (very brief) summer break, Barney and Burnsy saddle up again to review Scotland’s loss to Fiji, Scotland U20’s win over Ireland and preview Scotland v…
The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish RugbyEpisode 46: A bonus pod with Alex Stewart
This week Barney and Burnsy sitting down with Corstorphine, Edinburgh and Scotland back-rower Alex Stewart to discuss her meteoric career so far as well as her…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 45: Season Review
Now that Scotland’s 2024/25 domestic season is over, Barney and Burnsy team up with their old pals Mark Palmer and Craig Watson to review Edinburgh and…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 44: R360 – a new dawn for the game?
This week, Barney and Burnsy talk URC quarter-finals, preview Glasgow’s semi-final visit to Leinster and review Edinburgh’s season. They also dive into the…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 43: Rants and reviews
This week Barney and Burnsy delve into the Melrose 7s, the general state of worldwide international 7s, the Club World Cup announcement, the European finals…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 42: Edinburgh and Glasgow into the URC knock-outs – and a Melrose 7s preview
This week Barney and Burnsy break down the final round of the United Rugby Championship regular season and look ahead to Glasgow’s home quarter-final against…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 41: Into the Lions’ Den
Fresh from Burnsy attending the Lions squad announcement and speaking to one of the coaches, the boys delve into Andy Farrell’s selection and review the…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 40: Lions selection: who makes the cut?
This week, Barney and Burnsy look back on an action-packed weekend of action in the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup and make their predictions for Andy…
The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish RugbyEpisode 39: Bath time
This week Barney and Burnsy are joined by Duncan Hodge from Accelerate Rugby to reminisce about playing for Edinburgh against Bath in Europe back in 1996…
The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish RugbyEpisode 38: Schoooooooe!
This week Barney and Burnsy have an exclusive sit down with Pierre Schoeman to discuss Edinburgh’s recent turnaround in fortunes, his pride in playing for the…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 37: Glasgow suffer Dublin horror show but Edinburgh march on
This week’s episode is recorded live at the Hive Stadium, so please accept out apologies for the background noise. We were covering a brilliant event for…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 36: Sun, fun and knock-out phase runs
Barney and Burnsy get the show back on the road after a week’s break (Burnsy is still picking himself off the floor after a vets’ tour to northern Italy) to…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 35: Reflections, ruminations and relegations
Barney and Burnsy dive into their overall reflections on the men’s Six Nations then buoy themselves with the action from the women’s edition, give their…
The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish RugbyEpisode 34: Paris preview pod
Barney, Mark Palmer and Craig Watson call in from the pitch at the Stade de France to preview the final game of the 2025 Six Nations. Can Scotland pull off a…
The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish RugbyEpisode 33: Slaying the Dragon (just) – and picking over its corpse with Duncan Hodge
We’re delighted to be joined by the great Duncan Hodge, who among many other playing and coaching accolades, won 26 caps at fly-half for Scotland and now runs…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 32: Welcoming the dragon
Barney and Burnsy preview this weekend’s Six Nations matches with a focus on Scotland hosting Wales and review the latest action in the URC and the Men’s…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 31: Farewell (for now), Calcutta
Barney and Burnsy get together to pick over the bones of Scotland's match at Twickenham, chat Wales-Ireland, Italy-France, the Under-20s, the Prem and the URC…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 30: Calcutta Cup preview!
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…
The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish RugbyEpisode 29: And another thing . . .
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…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 28: Ciao bella!
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…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 27: Italy preview!
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…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 26: The Pigeon of Misfortune
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…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 25: The Struth and nothing but the Struth
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…
The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish RugbyEpisode 24: The big 2024 review and 2025 preview
Merry Christmas and a happy new year one and all! It’s the mega review of 2024 and our preview of 2025. Barney and Burnsy are joined by special guests Mark…
The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish RugbyEpisode 23: Hampden is calling
This week Barney and Burnsy dive into an 1872 Cup preview with an exclusive interview with Glasgow’s Stafford McDowall. We also chat to new Glasgow signing…
The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish RugbyEpisode 22: More Currie, please
In this bumper episode, Barney and Burnsy welcome special guest Matt Currie to the pod as he signs a new two-year deal at Edinburgh. They also speak to…
The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish RugbyEpisode 21: Jamie Dobie and Calum Forrester
This week Barney and Burnsy head to the Clubhouse restaurant in Glasgow for an exclusive sit-down with GHA’s head coach Calum Forrester before swinging over to…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 20: The Autumn Review
On this week’s show, Barney and Burnsy review Scotland’s Autumn Nations Series performances, discuss Scotland A vs Chile and delve in the SRU’s AGM. Hosted on…
The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish RugbyEpisode 19: George Gregan, Peter Horne and the big preview show
Welcome to part two of this week’s pod. Barney sits down with Scotland A coach Pete Horne to discuss Saturday’s game with Chile, while Burnsy has an exclusive…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 18: Reviews, rants and a rebel league
This week Barney and Burnsy have such a mega rant about various off-field matters (the rumours surrounding a new pro rugby league, the SRU’s most recent…
The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish RugbyEpisode 17: State of the Nation pod: Portugal
Welcome to the Offside Line State of the Nation pod! The aim of the series is to explore the unique cultures, challenges, and triumphs that have shaped the…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 16: Bomb Squad defuse Scotland’s threat
It’s a bumper episode! Sit back and relax while Barney and Burnsy take you through all the weekend’s action, from the Men and Women’s Premierships and an…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 15: Flying Fijians are grounded with ease but Springboks loom large
This week Barney and Burnsy get into the meat of the first two Autumn Nations Tests that saw Scotland take on Fiji, while England faced New Zealand. They also…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 14: Squad Pod
Barney and Burnsy catch up for a quick bonus pod to discuss Gregor Townsend’s selection for the Scotland-Fiji game at Murrayfield, which kicks off the 2024…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 13: The Wight Stuff
Barney and Burnsy go through all the weekend's action in the Men and Women's Premiership and the URC and are joined by special guest Scott Wright, the former…
The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish RugbyEpisode 12: Two-ipulotu: Gregor Townsend names his 2024 Autumn Test series squad
Barney and Burnsy delve into Gregor Townsend's 2024 Autumn Internationals squad - and we hear from the man himself. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for…
The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish RugbyEpisode 11: We've got the (George) Horn(e)
This week Barney and Burnsy are joined by George Horne from Glasgow’s base in Stellenbosch to review the Warriors’ game against the Sharks, preview their match…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 10: Dead cat bounce?
Join the guys as they dissect a cracking weekend of rugby in the URC, WXV2, the Men and Women’s Premierships and chat to Alan Lorimer for our first section on…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 09: Hampden Roars and Lions’ Jaws
This week the boys delve into Glasgow’s announcement that they are going to hold their leg of the 1872 Cup at Hampden Park, the Glasgow triumph on the field in…
The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish RugbyEpisode 08: Dan Biggar and Ross Harries on The Biggar Picture
The boys have a chat about all things domestic Scottish rugby, Scotland Women at WXV2, the Rugby Championship and Scots abroad before getting into the meat of…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 07: Great White Shark leaves blood in the water
This week Barney and Burnsy chat about John Jeffrey’s acrimonious withdrawal from the campaign to become the head of World Rugby alongside special guest Mark…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 06: There’s been a murder . . .
Barney has to hold his hands up for throwing Musselburgh head coach Derek O’Riordan under the bus before their game against Ayr at the weekend. Stuart Bathgate…
The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish RugbyEpisode 05: It’s an emergency pod!
It’s an emergency pod! Barney and Burnsy cancel all their plans to bring you news of Scottish Rugby’s breaking announcement that Alex Williamson is going to be…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 04: Hammerings everywhere!
This week Barney and Burnsy chat about Scotland Women’s thumping victory over Wales, another epic between South Africa and New Zealand, the Argentine…
The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish RugbyEpisode 03: Glorious weather and some glorious (and inglorious) rugby
This week Barney and Burnsy are joined by Stuart Bathgate as they dive into the latest action in the Arnold Clark Men and Women’s Premierships, discuss the…
The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish RugbyEpisode 02: Bonus Pod - the Big Interview with Matt Scott
On this special Big Interview bonus pod, we head to Murrayfield for a chat with Matt Scott. The Scotland centre has recently re-joined Edinburgh for his third…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Episode 01: Is David Nucifora the man to positively reshape Scottish rugby?
In today’s episode David and Pete discuss the SRU’s appointment of David Nucifora, look at Leon MacDonald’s departure from the All Blacks, have a chat with the…
- The Offside Line Podcast: The First for Scottish Rugby
Introducing the Offside Line Podcast
Welcome to the Offside Line Podcast with David Barnes, editor of the Offside Line, and author Peter Burns. This episode is a little introduction to your hosts…