Josh Gardner
@joshgardner
Commissioning editor, Guitar.com. The one you don’t like off the Blood & Mud rugby podcast. Variably competent dad. I cannot be reasoned with. 🏴
The world of fan wikis are rarely a place to find entertaining writing, but the Transformers one is a real exception to the rule:
Profoundly fucking weird to have a kit launch shoot where the players aren’t in the full kit? Unless we’ve so fully given up we’re gonna send the players out in chino shorts and Birkenstocks?
Nice to see the increasing apathy and disconnect between the Welsh public and the national team being reflected by Macron absolutely phoning the home kit in.
Antoine Dupont becomes the first men’s rugby player to have their own signature boot, I think, with the launch of the new Adidas AD9. Ellie Kildunne is the only other player in recent years that had one, to my knowledge, and that was with Canterbury.
The Bear has always been the pinnacle of depicting the pure bliss of stepping outside for a smoke after a hard day’s work, but the penultimate episode might be the apotheosis of the art form. Nothing can compare, honestly.
The WRU board looking back at 145 years of history and success in Welsh rugby:
Could not love this New Balance Waikato jersey more - classic hoops, classic collar without being too retro, rubberised crest: it’s gold.
The WRU hiring criteria for the new chair being "must agree with our terrible idea, even though the last guy got run out of town because of it and it's legally impossible" is such a perfect encapsulation of why rugby in Wales is fucked. Ultimately all they care about is protecting themselves.
Mike Tindall out here giving interviews about R360 like it's something that's still actually going to happen.
Ross Moriarty has already showed you the correct way to deal with this sort of thing, btw.
Let’s not forget that it was Gardner who was on the end of Matera’s legendary, “That’s not respect” rant when Argentina beat New Zealand in the Covid bubble in 2020.
Clearly Steve Tandy has some sort of Polymarket thing going on related to Wales record losses because that is not a team anyone picks without some sort of brain injury otherwise.
Rhun ap Iorwerth has the opportunity to do something really funny in Wales.
Really enjoying Ellis Genge going full “the kids aren’t alright” about Noah Caluori wearing a Meta Quest VR headset in public and, most insane of all ON A PLANE. I’ve seen some pretty antisocial shit on flights in my time, but if he was sat next to me I’d be having a full sense of humour failure.
Think about how shite going on EasyJet flight is currently… Now imagine how bad they’re gonna get when they’re owned by a private equity firm…?
Worst part is, three years ago, that same guy tackled that same guy so hard his shorts came down.
With that in mind, please enjoy the most tragi-comic moment of international rugby from this weekend. Fijian lad thought he could just watch that ball dribble over the goal line until…
ITV’s baffling tiny individual lecterns making this look like the least reassuring General Election Leadership Debate since 2019.
The look on Donovan Taofifénua’s face when he realises he’s just been dummied and stepped by a hooker.
Toulouse getting championship rings made to celebrate their Top 14 win goes incredibly hard, actually.