B-Side Bois: A Rugby Podcast

Dec 10

🎙️ Episode 164 is LIVE — and it’s the perfect way to wrap up a huge year of rugby! The Bois cover everything happening in the rugby world right now: from our Spotify Wrapped results and Wombats Scholarship launch, to a wild college coaching story, major college commitments, and a big opportunity for UNI Women and the HOA All-Stars. We also dive into USA Rugby updates, and the latest shakeups across domestic rugby, including the newly announced MLR structure and Natey Burgey’s retirement. Nichols takes us through the early Rugby World Cup pool breakdowns, global rankings, international fixtures, Eben’s 12-week suspension, growing youth numbers in the U.S., and the state of world rugby round out a loaded international segment. To close out the show, we look back on the best rugby moments of 2025, share our Christmas wishes for the 2026 season, revisit last year’s predictions, and make bold new predictions for the year ahead. 💬 Drop a comment: What was your favorite rugby moment of 2025? Who should be our dream guest in 2026? And what’s your bold prediction for the new year? Join the conversation and kick off the holiday rugby vibes with us! 🏉✨

Nov 21

The Bois are back! In this week’s episode, Mr. Gray, Philly V, and Sam Hendricks kick things off by recapping the college rugby playoff landscape for our local Iowa squads and previewing UNI Men’s Rugby as they gear up for a huge postseason run! From there, the crew breaks down all the action from the Midwest Finals championship matches. Then we’re joined by a special guest: Nick May of the D2 Midwest Champion South Side Irish! Nick gives us an inside look at SSI’s journey, how the club elevated themselves from “pretty good” to Midwest champions, and what’s next for the boys in green. After that, we bounce around the global game with a quick look at the international test matches, some USA Rugby news, SVNS and 6 Nations opportunities and then it all goes off the rails. We dive into more unserious MLR talk and finish with a Philly V blind ranking that is so bad we probably should’ve ended the show early. A huge thank you to all our sponsors Direct Voice, SingleSpeed Brewing, West Des Moines Wombats, Koality Works, The Iowa Rugby Foundation, and Tyler Dailey for supporting the podcast and Iowa rugby! 🎧 Listen now on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!

Nov 13

Episode 162 is here and it’s a BIG one! Mr. Gray and Nichols are joined by the triumphant return of Philly V and Iowa State Men’s Rugby Head Coach Ant Frein for a packed show. The boys break down the latest livestreaming updates, recap college playoff action, and look ahead at the huge matches still to come. They also dive into the Autumn International Series with all the chaos, drama, and standout moments you’d expect. Finally, we jump into part one of a massive conversation on reimagining Major League Rugby —inspired by feedback from our posts across social media. The debate got rolling so hard that we couldn’t even finish it… so stay tuned for more! As always, the MLR talk is just a fun thought experiment between a few guys saying random things from the comfort of the Wombat Den—but we’d love to bring in more voices from outside our “territory” to keep the conversation going about how MLR can grow, improve, and build long-term sustainability. Tune in, enjoy the chaos, and let us know your thoughts! 🎙️🍻

Nov 6

Mr. Gray, Nichols, and Sam Hendricks are back for another jam-packed episode of The B-Side Bois! The guys kick things off with a livestream reminder for the upcoming Iowa vs Kansas matchup—presented by the Iowa Rugby Foundation and proudly supported by new sponsor Koality Work out of Iowa City. They cover huge news around the state: 🏉 Iowa Men clinch the #1 seed and will host playoffs vs Kansas 🏉 Iowa State Men head south to Oklahoma for the HOA Semifinal 💜 UNI Men advance to the Great Midwest Final after a dominant win ⚔️ Thomas More rolls past ICCC 53–7 💪 UNI Women return to action Nov. 14th Plus, an Iowa Rugby Union update —coaches are needed!—and a full Midwest Rugby Union standings and playoff breakdown . Check out an interview with Kansas Rugby's Marcus Williamson , followed by Iowa’s Ren Heimer to talk preparation and mindset ahead of the massive playoff clash. The lads also go global—recapping Ireland vs New Zealand , England vs Australia , and USA vs Scotland . They look ahead to November 8th’s weekend slate , discuss world rankings , and even debate potential USA Rugby World Cup host cities . Finally, they dive into how American rugby can grow the game by learning from other nations —with plenty of laughs, insight, and strong opinions along the way. #WayOfTheWombats #GrowTheGame #BsideBois

Oct 29

Mr. Gray, Nichols, and Sam Hendricks are back together to talk all things rugby! Well, Nichols and Same meet for the first time ever in this episode, but name another podcast that can cover Iowa High School Girls Rugby, National 7s Girls Rugby, an interview with Anna Degen from the Iowa Rugby Union Women’s Development Committee, a full recap of college rugby across Iowa, updates from the Midwest Rugby Union, and deep discussion on how to keep improving the game in the heartland—all in one episode! Of course, the bois don’t stop there. They dive into international rugby news, share plenty of laughs, and offer thoughtful insights along the way. Whether you’re a player, coach, fan, or just rugby-curious—everyone’s welcome in the B-Side Bois clubhouse. And don’t forget: tune in to our livestream of the Kansas Jayhawks at the Iowa Hawkeyes on November 8th , presented by the Iowa Rugby Foundation , live on our YouTube channel!

Oct 15

🎙 Episode 159: State Championship Preview + International Updates The B-Side Bois are back with a huge episode! We’re announcing that we’ll be live streaming the IAYRA Girls State Rugby Championship this Sunday at noon — presented by DirectVoice Services, LLC! We dive deep into a full preview of the 8-team state tournament , breaking down how each squad earned their spot and what to expect on Championship Sunday. We’re joined by Norwalk Co-Head Coach Bryant Reynolds , who shares how his team is preparing for the challenge as the #4 seed. Then we turn things over to International Correspondent Eric Nichols , who catches us up on everything from around the globe — the Women’s World Cup , USA Men qualifying for the next World Cup , Autumn International matches , pro league updates , and a discussion on R360 and what it means for the sport. We wrap up with a look ahead at the Midwest Rugby Playoffs and what clubs are heating up. Stream now on Spotify or Apple Podcasts , and don’t miss our livestream this Sunday at noon on YouTube! #IAYRA #RugbyIowa #GirlsRugby #BsideBois #RugbyPodcast #MidwestRugby #USAeagles #WayOfTheWombats #WinWithTheWombats

Oct 8

🎙️ Episode 158 is LIVE! Mr. Gray and Sam Hendricks dive into the IAYRA Girls High School season as the State Tournament approaches — and announce that the B-Side Bois will be LIVE STREAMING the State Championship on October 19th! We recap local college rugby from UNI, Iowa, and Iowa State before welcoming Davey LaCroix and Matt Derry of the Lincoln Wolves Rugby Club to talk about the club’s history, revival, joining the Iowa Rugby Union, and how they’re growing rugby and culture in their community. We wrap it all up with Sam’s new “Spooky Season” segment featuring a Top 15 lineup of horror movie icons 👻 Presented by Convergence Acquisitions (Direct Voice) and SingleSpeed Brewing. Listen now on Spotify or Apple Podcasts — link in bio! #BSideBoisPodcast #IowaRugby #MidwestRugby #LincolnWolvesRugby #WinWithTheWombats #WayOfTheWombats

Sep 17

Join us as we cover IAYRA Girls updates, Interview with Norwalk Girls Head Coach and Iowa Rugby Union President Bryant Reynolds, Senior Side Updates, College Updates, USA Updates, MLR Updates, and so much more!