Carl talks to Max Derbyshire, DotDarbs on Instagram, from a borrowed bedroom in Yerevan. Darbs has hitchhiked from Georgia, where he was filming the Didi 10, to spend time with Armenia's rugby community and the Iran national team.

It all started with a phone that went missing in the post and a cheap flight to Madagascar two days later. There he found what's reported to be the city with the most rugby clubs on Earth: kids playing in the streets with water-bottle balls, fifth-tier games on dust pitches with sticks for posts, and flares and pom-poms on final day. Yet you can't buy a rugby ball in a shop.

Before that, India: coaching in Kolkata, the West Bengal women's sevens, more than a day on a train to the nationals, and the story of Sumit Roy, who walked eight kilometres to training and is now one of the stars of the Indian Rugby Premier League.

Plus "small but quick", the Africa Sevens, cycling the length of Madagascar to raise money for rugby balls, and a bucket list running from China to Iraq.

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Rugby TTL exclusive: Arthur Lennon reveals his move to Barça Rugby — with Carl and Pasquale from Game Day Bites.

In this episode: the call from director Javier Soler and why a dropped-down Barça appealed more than the safe option; what new head coach Juan Pablo Socino wants from his fly-half; and what years in and out of Spanish rugby taught a player who arrived mid-COVID without a word of the language.

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00:00:00 A Rugby TTL Exclusive
00:00:30 Signing for Barça Rugby
00:01:00 Barça's Drop to Elite A
00:02:00 The Sant Cugat Game That Started It
00:02:30 The Call from Javier Soler
00:03:00 Juan Pablo Socino Takes Over
00:04:00 When Barça Come Knocking
00:05:00 Academies & Building the Base
00:06:00 Learning the Language
00:07:00 One-Year Deals & the "One Plus One"
00:08:00 Arriving Without a Word of Spanish
00:09:00 Taking the Plunge Mid-COVID
00:10:00 What Spain Taught Him
00:11:00 The Players Who Never Took the Chance
00:12:00 Natural Talent vs Hard Work
00:13:00 The Pull of La Vila
00:14:00 MVP Days & Memories
00:15:00 Coaching Connections in Toledo
00:16:00 South Americans in the Spanish Game
00:17:00 The Athleticism Gap
00:18:00 The Elite A Format
00:19:00 Contracts & Chances at This Level
00:20:00 Towns That Turn Out for Their Club
00:21:00 What Players Back Home Don't Get
00:22:00 How Barça Want to Play
00:23:00 Recruitment & the Set Piece
00:24:00 Turning Around a Poor Run
00:25:00 Never-Ending Excitement
00:26:00 A Packed Stadium & That Touchline Conversion
00:27:00 One Vision for Spanish Rugby

Two days before British & Irish Expats Rugby play their first ever fixture, Carl talks to the man who built it.

Dan Elsom grew up in Sydney, played Shute Shield, then spent five years in the English national leagues — and came home missing the culture he'd found in British and Irish grassroots rugby. The idea arrived watching the Lions take on the Wallabies. The maths arrived shortly after: there were already dozens of British and Irish qualified players out here playing Shute Shield and Hospital Cup, and nobody had ever put them in the same shirt.

What follows is an unusually honest account of how a concept becomes a team. A DM to Harry Fehily, former Shute Shield Coach of the Year, left on read for two days. Then a coffee. Then a head coach — and only then, players. Fehily asked 35. Three said no.

Dan is clear about the gap he's trying to close: Australia has the Shute Shield, and it has Super Rugby, and since the National Rugby Championship folded there's nothing in between. He's just as clear about the part nobody posts about — twelve months of nights after work, and personal money, with no headline sponsor yet.

Plus Sam Thomson as inaugural captain, a Pacific Warriors squad that made Dan glad he's retired, eight nations in one fixture, and where this goes next: World Cup warm-ups for Tier 2 nations, and Super Rugby pre-season.

🏉 Heritage Cup — British & Irish Expats v Pacific Warriors. Pittwater Park, Sydney, Sunday 27 September. 17:00 AEST / 08:00 UK. Free entry. Live on Rugby TTL with our own commentary.

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