Episode 3518: Munster Mismanagement, Leinster’s Quest, Talking Italian, One Last Wallow
Budapest, Ronaldo’s red, Parrott mania, the week in Prague – do we say “don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened” or, wallow some more?

©INPHO/Ben Brady
Leinster resume their European quest on Sunday, against Edinburgh, in Lansdowne Rd. Their form hasn’t been great this season, they’re fourth in the URC, but they have been winning most of their matches. We chat to Gerry Thornley and Tom English about the Nienaber era so far, who starts at 10, and if Leinster even need to play all that well for the next few weeks, given their Champions Cup draw.

©INPHO/Steve Haag Sports/Christiaan Kotze
After a good start to the season under new head coach Clayton McMillan, Munster have been tanking since with 7 losses in the last 9, news that senior coach Mike Prendergast will leave at the end of the season and an announcement last week that the province are offering a voluntary redundancy programme for staff members and will be reducing their playing budget. Gerry believes this has been coming for years and comes down to mismanagement, poor recruitment and coaching churn.

Plus there’s the Stu effect in Connacht, talking Italian and coaches pushing presenters.
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Go to PatreonToday we chat to Alan Shipnuck and ask him why Rory told him to Fuck Off.*
*He’s just published a book about him.
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— Second Captains (@secondcaptains.bsky.social) 2 April 2026 at 14:20