Episode 1596: It’s The All-Blacks In The Quarter-Final, Reasons For Irish Optimism, Sub-Two Hour Marathon For Kipchoge, But Is This All Just A Nike Ad?
Ireland beat Samoa on Saturday morning, but that never looked likely to be enough to get us top spot in the pool, and so it’s New Zealand in a World Cup quarter-final next Saturday morning.

©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
Are there ANY grounds for optimism? Eoin outlines a few, and Gerry Thornley feels there’s still enough quality in this Irish team to pull off a major surprise. New Zealand television superstar and friend of the show Scotty Stevenson gives us his impressions of an extraordinary night in Yokohama last night.

©INPHO/Tommy Dickson

©INPHO/Craig Mercer
We also talk to David Epstein, author of “The Sports Gene”, about Eliud Kipchoge’s sub-2 hour marathon in Vienna on Sunday morning, and Brigid Kosgei smashing the women’s world marathon a couple of hours later.
The greatest feeling. pic.twitter.com/sTBp49DdHF
— Eliud Kipchoge (@EliudKipchoge) October 13, 2019
Plus there’s Stuart Barnes and why the rugby world wants us to lose, sneakers, and a grandchildren to tell time moment.
This is a well-written, balanced recap of the recent scientific quest for a sub-2hour marathon. https://t.co/luUUdl3Xu8
— Rodger Kram (@RodgerKram) October 12, 2019
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Ken has fully absorbed Tbilisi's cultural palette and it's next- stop, Geneva.
He joins us from Switzerland to discuss Saturday's underwhelming performance. Bad as it may have been, was it actually much worse than a lot of what we've watched this year? https://t.co/554y3qWFS2 pic.twitter.com/Xhr2NfLynW
— Second Captains (@SecondCaptains) October 14, 2019
We talk to @DavidEpstein (author of The Sports Gene) about his new book Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World https://t.co/eyxddus8TC pic.twitter.com/jn3p0R6U4r
— Second Captains (@SecondCaptains) July 26, 2019
Matt Doherty explains to @RichieSadlier why he’s incapable of lying and how his self-confidence can sometimes be misinterpreted by other players and the media as cockiness https://t.co/lP6wwsjOHM pic.twitter.com/GKaaD2yfyg
— Second Captains (@SecondCaptains) October 2, 2019